A new submission from Jay! This one was based on a real situation.

"THUMP"

She'd looked at me in a strange way, rather different from her usual bubbly demeanor on welcoming me. It excited me, with visions of new possibilities with the Tawny Goddess, Tatiana.

The Equinox is a special time for Me, and I'd like to ask you to share something special with me. You can refuse, with no consequences, but I hope that we can do this together."

Hmm, what could She possibly have in Her seemingly endless bag of delights? I nodded silently in assent.

"Next weekend I'm teaching a class on mummification, and I'd like to make this session about what I'll be teaching. This is way beyond anything we've done before, and I'll reiterate the option to say no, again with no consequences."

"This is a pretty deep, scary thing for me, but I trust You and will agree."

She smiled brightly, "OH GOOD, I'd hoped you'd accept! Let me explain what's going to happen..."

She proceeded to explain, with strong emphasis on safe words and general safety issues.

"You've probably never experienced the degree of sensory deprivation that this provides. Your world will collapse on to the most elemental feelings with no outside inputs. I will be here, but you can't tell, you must trust that I won't harm you."

My heart raced, but I again nodded silently.

"OK, we'll begin."

THUMP

She went to the cabinet and extracted a spool of pallet wrapping film. She muttered a small oath about others failing to leave the end folded over as She struggled to find the end and release it. It didn't take long for Her to pull out a foot or two and beckon me to stand in the center of the room.

"Put your arms at your sides in a relaxed position and your legs comfortably together."

THUMP

The first layers of wrap went around my waist and over my arms, then she proceeded to wrap around and around my torso and upper legs. It wasn't tight, but a few brief attempts at movements told me that there would be no way to struggle out of the bondage. With each pull from the spool my freedom of movement diminished. I noted the intense concentration in Her face as She proceeded. With the wrap covering me from my knees to my shoulders, She moved the table behind me, and guided me to sit down on it.

"This is where your trust in Me really happens. You know the safe word."

"Yes, Ma'am."

THUMP

She kept Her hand under the wraps as She covered my neck and left my mouth and nose completely exposed, though for a moment I had panicky thoughts of the wrap covering them. Gently, She turned me and lowered me onto the table.

THUMP

My God, that's my heart!

Time has slowed so much that I hear each beat, my thoughts racing in between them. My ears and eyes are covered and I can't sense whether She's still there. I have to believe that She is, that's how deep this has become. The safe word is a lifeline if I need it, but I have to trust that She'll hear it. Irrational fears wash over like ocean waves. I'm so vulnerable! What if She just leaves and abandons me for a while?????

THUMP

"Ma'am?!?"

"Hush, I'm still here." I feel her reassuring touch through the wrapping on my chest, over my heart. The warmth and the pressure of her hand is a lifeline. She must be able to feel my heart pounding under her palm.

THUMP

I calm down and focus on my remaining active senses. I can feel my sweat pooling below my back, and hear my breathing in a way that I'd never noticed before. I try to project my mind to a place of complete calm. I can almost feel my heart rate slow. Ocean waves wash over a gentle, rocky beach where the pebbles cause the receding wave to gurgle through them. The waves cycle in a calming rhythm.

I have absolutely no idea of how much time has passed. Minutes? An hour? All my life? I've been time driven in almost everything, deadlines, schedules, PERT charts... But now, I'm utterly removed from any way to measure the time. I can't even count heart beats or breaths, both have dropped way down from the earlier racing.

DRAT! That old hamstring pull from a misconceived grad school touch football game ("Aren't you a little old for this?" said the Doc at the health service...) is coming back to life!

"Ma'am, mercy..."

Immediately, I felt the bandage cutter slice the wrap from my chin to my ankles. The sensation of the cool air was amazingly delightful. She left my eyes covered, but loosened the wrap over my ears.

"Open your mouth."

She placed something on my tongue. What is that smooth coolness? Ah, the little fruits from a pomegranate!

"Not too many, I don't want winter to last too long."

I heard Her laughter. "I thought you'd get the allusion! You know, for an engineer, you've got a pretty good literary background. Trust Me, I'm not really Hades, these aren't the magic ones, and you probably need the fluids."She slipped off the blindfold and remaining wrap. "Sit up and have some more of them and some of this water."

The dimmed light seemed very bright as I left the remains of my plastic cocoon and sat up on the table with Her help. She was smiling.

"That went very well! I was a little concerned that it would be too intense for you, but trusted that you would use the safe word if it were."

"What time is it?"

"You were wrapped up for about 45 min."

She allowed me to sit for a few minutes at her feet, recalibrating myself. I felt strangely renewed, perhaps not surprising after the death and rebirth She had orchestrated. After I took a quick shower and got dressed again, we embraced.

"Thank You, my Goddess!"

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