As I walk side-by-side my reflection in the shop windows, my heart bursting inside my chest, I wonder, "Will I be good enough?"
I glance at my reflection to bolster my confidence. Gray suit, styled hair, chiseled face, and bright blue eyes and stare back at me. For a moment I think, "I'm too good," but then I realize that perhaps that's the reason I'm so nervous. This may be my last chance.
Before I left college, I had convinced myself that i was too good. Easy-living would come naturally to me. High-paying employers would most certainly throw important positions and benefits at me, and I would play it cool, play hard-to-get, because all that was below me, and they would have to do better than that to get me.
But now here I am, at the end of my dreams, wondering if I just might barely be good enough. It's depressing. But such desperate thoughts are better left for another day. I'm on my way to apply to a new job, one that will be the beginning of my career, my big debut. Will I be good enough? No, I'm too good.
I see the sign hanging over the sidewalk. I had seen pictures of it before, so I knew I was in the right place. I looked in through the window and saw exactly what I had expected. Workout equipment. Treadmills, stationary bikes, step machines, and weight-lifting machines of varying shapes, sizes, and purposes. Indeed, this was a gym. Soon, it would be my new workplace. I knew that later in my life, people would look back and say, "That gym was where Matthew Tenor started out his career!" I would make this gym famous!
Now bolstering with confidence, I set my teeth together and pulled open the door. A blast of air conditioning hit my face, and my nose was assaulted by a mixture of smells. Rosemary, lemons, oranges, bleach... but none of these smells could mask the heaviest of all: sweat. The stench of it seemed to emanate from all directions. The floorboards themselves were perhaps soaked in the permeation.
I spied a desk in the bag with a secretary behind it, reading a book, her feet kicked up on the counter. I strolled past the machines, a few of which were in use by people in spandex and t-shirts, all with the same expression of determination. When I reached the counter, I realized that the secretary didn't seem at all bothered by the sweat smell. Perhaps I too would learn to tolerate it. The secretary - if she could really even be considered one - wore the same workout attire as the patrons currently using the machines. I felt very overdressed, but nonetheless, I asked, "Is Mrs. Lee here today? I have an appointment with her concerning a job offer."
The secretary looked up from her book, and as her eyes rested on my face, her expression immediately brightened. She pulled her feet off the counter at sat up, putting her book down (without marking her page for some reason) and said, "Oh my gosh, are you Matthew?"
I was slightly surprised, not just that she knew my name but also but the sudden change in character. "Yes, Matthew Tenor," I replied.
"Hi, it's so nice to meet you Matthew." She stuck her hand out and I shook it. Her energy was hard to match, and it made me feel small, which made me uncomfortable because I considered myself as a Dominate kind of person. "I've heard so much about you!"
"That's great. I'm sorry, I'm a little late getting here. Our interview was supposed to begin five minutes ago, but I had some trouble finding the place. Could you please tell Mrs. Lee that I'm here?"
The girl's smile faltered a little, and I thought that I had offended her, until she said, "Oh, silly, I'm Mrs. Lee!"
Understanding dawned on me and I exclaimed, "Oh crap, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize..."
"No, no, that's my fault. I should have introduced myself. Come on, let's go somewhere more private."
I glanced back at the patrons. "Um, are you sure you don't want somebody out here watching them?"
Mrs. Lee looked back over her shoulder and said, "Oh, no need. Those people are frequenters. I trust them to know what to do if someone is hurt. Follow me."
Mrs. Lee led me through a doorway which led into a hallway lined with doors. We walked down the hall and entered a door at the very end. It appeared to be an office with filing cabinets and a desk in the middle, on which sat a computer. Mrs. Lee walked around the desk in a graceful, agile manner. She sat on a chair which appeared to not be a chair at all, but a large red ball. She balanced her weight on it. "Please, take a seat."
I was glad to find that that there was an actual chair to sit on instead of a ball. Any type of strenuous activity was hard to pull of in a suit. Mrs. Lee pointed this out as well. "I appreciate the professionalism, but you will find quickly enough that we're pretty informal here. I'll get you a uniform, we're going to have you try it on."
Wait. "Does that mean I got the job?"
She looked at me and laughed. "Yes, of course you get the job! We're very understaffed, so we need all the help we can get. Besides, it's really not that difficult. Now hold on while I find you an outfit. I'm just going to have you sign this form here. It just says that you will promise to return the uniform if you are relieved of your position." She handed me a clipboard with a piece of a paper and a pen. I signed my name on the line at the bottom and handed it back. She turned to a filing cabinet and began rifling through it. Meanwhile, I began rifling through my mixed emotions. First I was overjoyed. My anxiety washed away and the dreams for my future returned. It was happening. This was the beginning. But then came reality. How long would I have to work here? Would I get along with my coworkers? She says it's not difficult, but does that mean it will be boring?
I ceased my train of thought when Mrs. Lee pulled a bag out of the cabinet and said, "There is a bathroom at the end of the hall. Go try this on and come back."
"Mrs. Lee, how did you know my size?"
She scoffed. "Oh please, I'm a physical therapist, I'm pretty good at determining body size."
I stood up and exited the room. I found the bathroom and locked the door. It was a well-sized room, very well-kept, and bright. I began quickly redressing. Once finished, I looked into the mirror and sighed inwardly. It was a pretty geeky outfit, but I would have to get used to it. I wore a gray and neon green Under-Armour t-shirt and orange exercise shorts that ended above the knee. On my feet were black tennis shoes and red and orange Nike elite socks. It was a pretty outrageous mixture of colors and brands. I was even wearing some other weird accessories included in the bag: compression underwear that hugged everything down there, a red, white, and blue sweatband on my forehead, and two wristbands of the same color and material as the sweatband. There was one other thing about the uniform too: it was one size too small. Everything clung to my skin tightly, and it was very uncomfortable. Only the shoes and socks fit right.
I decided to go back and tell Mrs. Lee that she had judged wrong. I unlocked the door and walked down the hallway. A strange sense of foreboding came over me. I felt a little fuzzy. I hurried along so I could get new size clothes and change out of these ones. I entered the room and found that it was empty. I walked further in, and suddenly something wrapped around me ankle. It pulled my leg out from under me, sending me crashing to the ground. I heard the door slam. I looked at my ankle, and there was a rope wrapped around it, leading to one of the filing cabinets. As I watched, more ropes slithered out of the cabinet and towards me.
I was dumbstruck by what was happening. I thought perhaps I was being pranked, or maybe I was drugged. Whatever the reason, I was frozen there on the ground. The ropes slithered closer and closer to where I lay motionless, and suddenly I was very scared. Tried to stand up, but at the same time, the rope attached to my ankle began to draw me closer to the cabinet. I turned over on my stomach and tried to grab onto anything to slow my progress, but nothing held. Soon I felt another rope wrap it's way up my legs, coiling around an around and finally tightening around me knees. More ropes began to coil around my body, reaching up and taking hold of my wrists, pinning them behind my back, another rope tying them to my waist. The ropes wrapped around my chest and arms, pulling me closer and closer to the cabinet. Finally they stopped, leaving me in the middle of the floor, but now I was wrapped in ropes like a cocoon. My legs were pulled back to my butt and held there. Not a single part of my body or clothes was visible through the ropes. I was completely encased.
I struggled and struggled, but the ropes held tightly and I could hardly move. I tried to call out, but more ropes wrapped themselves around my head and face until it too was completely encased, except for my nose. My clothes felt even tighter now that my muscles were bulging out. Despite my confusion, I was extremely turned on. My penis pressed against the ropes and compression underwear. It hurt, but it felt really good. I began to moan.
Soon I heard the door open and there was a snapping sound. The ropes covering my face loosened and flew away, leaving me face-to-face with Mrs. Lee. She was smiling. "Well, look at you! You look good with all those ropes on you. How did your uniform fit?"
I was still dazed from the ropes, and I stuttered, "Mrs. Lee-"
"Oh, I think we can do away with the formalities. From now on, I want you to call me Master."
"Are you kidnapping me?"
"No, of course not silly! After all, you signed up for this." With horror, I remembered the paper I had signed at the beginning of all this. Had I even bothered to read it?
"What the paper really said was that you gave your permission to take part in our research. Yes, I said research. This is not a gym. That's just a front for our laboratory. This is actually a government-funded research facility."
Now I was very scared. "What are you going to do to me."
"Oh, nothing terrible. In fact, you might find that you enjoy it. We are interested in bondage. More specifically, people like yourselves who enjoy it. We want to find out what makes such a thing enjoyable, and how can we maximize your enjoyment of it. So you see, this is going to be a fun experience for you. We will do all the work. All you have to do is sit back and let it happen."
Although I was still anxious at this predicament, I felt a little excited. Perhaps this would be fun.
Master said, "Now, let me give you the real tour of our lab."
She pulled my headband down over my mouth and pulled a hidden tab that I hadn't noticed before. It tightened the headband to form a gag. It tasted metallic. Suddenly I grew very fuzzy, very unlike how I had felt in the hall a bit ago. This effect was very amplified, and I found that I couldn't think straight. I knew that there was no way I would be able to run away. She had me. And I wasn't going anywhere.
At least I got the job.
*To be continued*