Once upon a time Emily Angelica Fairport slept peacefully in the century old white four poster canopy bed surrounded by its sheer lacy curtains nestled deep between the heavy pink eyelet duvet and the several inches deep feather bed. Every detail of her boudoir serving to further magnify the image of an innocent southern belle, amplified with a sweet as tea nature that hung in the air anytime she was present and dripped from her tongue every time she spoke. A magazine feature existence that was about to experience a sudden shift of angle.

It was a Halloween like any other, dozens of children visiting the porch of the Fairport Estate to good naturedly threaten their tricks in order to obtain a small treat, Emily had dutifully donned the complete antebellum ensemble that had been passed down for several generations and played her annual spooky role of the ghost of a Confederate Soldier's wife waiting for the return of one long lost to the ages. As the church bells rang across the town to signal an end to the festivities, Emily picked up the baskets from the porch and pushed the wide hoops of her skirt through the narrow door, before she could maneuver her outfit out of the way to close the door a gust of wind knocked over the now empty baskets and startled Emily's feet right out from under her resulting in an outburst of profanity laced unhappiness coming from an unceremonious heap of crinoline on the floor. Before she could regain her composure, the door slammed shut and the inconsistent circuit breakers in the old house left the room in inky darkness.

As Emily gathered herself together and searched for the flashlight she knew was nearby, she swore that she could hear laughter echoing quietly in the room. Shaking her head, she chalked it up to the teens who always took a few extra minutes wandering through cross-lots before heading home after spending the evening with friends and simply set about her frequent trek to the breaker box. Once the power was restored Emily locked up and headed for the shower to remove the ghostly residue of the evening fully expecting to fall fast asleep once her head hit the pillow after all the excitement of the evening.

Fate would have other plans as more than a few dry leaves blew in with that gust of wind....

In the Darkness

Reaching out from under the covers, Emily pulled the chain on her bedside lamp extinguishing it's light, the warm glow of the sconces lining the hallway, peeking out from under her door, was a familiar comfort since childhood. But just as her eyelids succumbed to their own weight, she saw the lights had gone out again, caught between exhaustion and concern she convinced herself to deal with it in the morning. Her eyes flickered open once more and as she drifted off to sleep she felt the duvet falling away from the bed.

"Yes, this will do, this will do quite well" a voice stated with a deep but crisp matter of fact nature about it, "What great fortune to encounter one who exists such as this, dwelling on both sides of the veil." Emily was not sure if she was dreaming or hallucinating and was confused enough regardless of her mental state, the house having been left to her as the last remaining Fairport heir had always been a source of strange experiences but this was the first time she had ever heard someone speaking in coherent phrases. Searching the darkness for an image she could not see the form that had moved within inches of her bed and she would not have been sure of a presence except for the movement of the lace curtains against her arm as she reached out grasping for the missing duvet. Sinking back toward the middle of the bed she felt the sheet slipping away as well, although she tried to pull it back over her hips it was removed by an invisible force.

The air was cool against her naked flesh and the combination of the chill and confused fear made her skin extra aware of all sensations. Sitting up caused her to feel dizzy and disoriented, she was unable to see anything and the pounding of her own heart drowned out any other sounds. Always one to focus on the logical explanation, Emily decided to try stretching out into a few simple yoga poses to calm her mind, she was clearly over anxious from the night's spooky activities... Taking a few deep breaths she leaned over her knees in child's pose, after slowly rolling back up and leaning back on her heels she paused for a moment to listen, her heart had calmed and she could hear the breeze moving the branches outside her window. Still kneeling in the center of the bed she strained to see the window, but the moonless sky was just as black as the walls of her room.

Was it her imagination or did a hand just brush the hair away from her face? She did not have to wonder long as fingers wound their way into her hair from behind tilting her head back exposing her neck and causing her body to arch backwards her breasts forced forward, her mind racing in an assuredly failed attempt to explain her current predicament, her body succumbing to an as of yet unfamiliar instinctual response - one in which she experienced both the urge to struggle against the unwelcome control over her position and an unmistakable ache begin to build between her thighs.

"How did you get in here?" a quiet question she begged the darkness to answer.

"I have been here all along." was the clear reply, "I have been waiting for you to let me in and tonight I took the first opportunity."

Emily's hair fell back against her shoulders as the fingers released their grip, although she was sure that all the windows had been secured a cold wave of air washed over her body and she felt herself being pushed forward until she was laying prone on the bed her face was buried in the bedding allowing only the softest "unf" sound to escape her lips as she landed.

Feeling a weight on top of her she could not move or even turn her head but right into her ear were spoken very clear and plain:"We will do this slowly, but make no mistake now that I am here we will do this. I will not rest again until we are finished. I will see to it night after night until you are ready."

Her mind raced, unable to speak the question aloud, 'ready for what?' echoed with loud futility inside her thoughts.

"That is right, there is nothing to fear, We will get you ready in time, I am sure of that." the voice continued in it's vague discourse, delivering this threat, or perhaps it was a promise of some yet unknown desire, in her confused state Emily's mind and body were playing tricks on her, keeping her frozen in the same curiosity that surely resulted in the demise of many a feline.

And as the clanging alarm clock began its dance across her night table Emily found herself even further confused as she stretched out her limbs from underneath the sheet and duvet that felt as if it had been tucked in along both sides of her sleeping body. Reaching out to silence the alarm she looked toward her bedroom door, and with the sky still dark it was clear, the glowing light of the hallway sconces seeped into her room and cast their glow across the floor.

Awakening

Without having a restful night's sleep, Emily moved through the next day in and out of wandering thoughts, only minimally distracted by her obligations the question still ringing in her mind was "ready for what?" "There really wasn't anything else in life for me to be ready for" she thought to herself, ticking off the list of realities that made her life feel as if everything was perfectly in order.

Having lost her parents in a tragic car accident at the age of 16 Emily had spent the last 20 years operating as a fully emancipated human, her parents had set her up to be quite comfortable, she had been able to easily retain the estate's entire day staff, she studied whatever she had wanted in college, her life's work could be for love instead of money, she traveled as much and as often as she liked, her daily routines were set and she felt happy and fulfilled.

By noon, having convinced herself that the previous night's experience was simply a late night candy fueled dream she attempted to focus on eliminating any potential explanations for anything that might have triggered her subconscious into action. The electrician was scheduled to arrive at 3:00 pm to replace the faulty breaker box, the home security company was going to update the system with new cameras, and finally, she had a contractor coming to begin remodeling the master suite. Emily had continued to use her own bedroom instead of moving into what once was the suite of rooms occupied by her late parents, but now at 36 years old she had decided that it was time to give up the room of a little girl and move into a more sophisticated surrounding. Unfortunately, in a home as old as the Fairport Estate enshrining the suite for two decades left it in need of significant updating.

When evening rolled around on November 1, Emily was certain she was more than tired enough to sleep through the night without interruption but she stayed up an extra hour or so just to be sure, watching a lighthearted romantic comedy and laughing to herself at the nearly obnoxious naivete of the ingenue. Well after midnight, she climbed the stairs, walked down the hall flipping on the wall sconces that were sure to stay lit tonight thanks to the skilled electrician who expertly installed not just a new breaker box but a state of the art electrical system that she barely understood other than that it was now connected to a solar, battery, and natural gas backup generator. As she climbed into bed she could see the green light on the new security camera in the corner and as she pulled the chain on her bedside lamp she saw the red grid light up on the camera indicating that night vision was activated. Feeling safe and secure she stretched out under her covers and fell asleep as soon as her head made contact with the fluffy down of the pillows.

In what felt like mere moments later, she was startled awake by her own shivering, sitting up in the darkness the duvet and sheet were both missing again from the bed and her body had cooled to the point that she had curled up into such a tight ball that her joints ached. Looking around the room she noticed that it was again pitch black, no glowing light coming from under the door but the power must be on because the faint red glow of the night vision camera was visible from across the room but did not light up anything else. Before she could process another thought she felt a hand reach around from behind her to cover her mouth, as if her screams would elicit any reaction in the otherwise empty dwelling, the cold fingers dug into her face for a moment and then the hand fell away as a voice brushed past her ears..."Get on your knees like you were last night girl."

Emily felt her limbs respond to the demand, it was as if her mind was just following along to the automatic movements of her body, unable to stop the action but fully aware of it. As soon as her hindquarters had settled in on her heels "Spread your legs apart" was the next instruction, her knees just parted with her mind racing, trying to catch up to the situation. She felt the fingers wind their way through her hair again and tilt her head backward, her back arched and she could no longer reach the bed to steady herself "They are not mine to have so I can not take them, but you will take your fingers and pinch your nipples now." The hands that had been hanging limply by her sides were now animated by a force beyond her understanding, her fingers finding the hot pink protrusions currently pointed toward the ceiling by the angle of her body captured the sensitive bits between her thumb and forefinger and followed the instruction to pinch until a small yelp escaped her throat.

"Now pull on them, that's it, Good Girl!" the voice in her ear had grown deeper, almost a growl and then her body collapsed forward as the grip on her hair was released. "You are not mine so I can not take what I want, but you will follow my instructions until you are ready." Icy cold fingers stroked down the length of her spine pausing a moment over her tailbone setting off a series of lightning strikes inside her body, the sensation of electricity was outlining the curve of her hips and sliding along just under the ridge where her thighs emerged from her buttocks.

Emily was again pushed forward, face down onto the bed, a pressure across her shoulders shoving her face deep into the bedding until she could barely breathe. "Your body clearly knows more about you than your memories do dear girl, it knows exactly what you are supposed to do, I can see that your flower is dripping with honey, you are not mine so I can not touch your secret places, you will have to prove me correct in my assessment."

"NOW"

And just as the voice predicted her body responded before her mind could capture control of her movements, her hand slid between her body and the bedding and her fingers discovered the accuracy of his words as they became slippery with her own fluids, she could nearly imagine steam rising into the chilly night air from what felt like a boiling tea pot ready to scream it's readiness to the world.

"Slowly, this is something that must happen slowly...You are not ready yet" And the pressure on her shoulders was gone leaving her able to move freely in the bed her hand still tucked underneath her body fingers dipping dangerously close to the source of the heat.

Legs shaking and head reeling Emily reached down by the side of the bed and pulled the sheet and duvet back up covering her shivering body, and within moments the alarm clock was again stirring it's urgent racket on the bedside table.

She wondering if they were just dreams, maybe she was simply repressed and her subconscious seeking an outlet for natural sexual desire? Has a dark force  invaded her home?

An Unexpected Discovery

For days on end the cycle continued, with Emily feeling much like an Ambien addict who doesn't know if they are awake, sleepwalking or dreaming, except that she could remember the events in all of their potentially mortifying details.

She checked the footage from the security cameras and found that the angle left her bed blurry and the curtains around the canopy further obscured the view, but it did look like she was perhaps moving around in the bed during the night.

Every morning she checked her skin looking for evidence of the cold fingers that she had felt grabbing her wrists, sliding around her throat and pushing her into various positions. Even more confusing was the vague information that had been filtering into her "dreams" why would she dream about a man controlling her, and why would the man make her do sexual things, and if she were having some kind of sexualized dream why did he keep saying that she wasn't for him?

Despite feeling rather tired each morning her daily life needed to continue moving forward which included the remodeling of the Master Suite. The contractor was coming this morning and Emily was feeling very emotional about the idea of tearing apart her parent's bedroom, she had hired movers to remove all of the contents of the rooms and store them in the spacious attic, but she herself had not even gone into the room for more than a few moments since it had been sealed up twentyh years in the past. The contractor had asked for some measurements and she had been unable to obtain them for him so she was pacing outside the suite's door willing herself to open it as she heard the doorbell chime. "Saved by the bell so to speak" she thought to herself as she hurried down the center staircase to open the front door.

"Charles A. Willingham - the third if you don't count the blanks - at your service" was the boisterous greeting as the tall man strode into the room, his dark blue eyes flashing a hint of irony as he was clearly one to take control of any situation. His light drawl and casual wink might have been considered charming, but in Emily's current state she did not respond with even a polite smile, instead she looked Charles square in his beard covered chin to avoid eye contact and said "You know, for what I'm paying you, you really should take care of getting your own measurements, the room is up those stairs at the end of the hall on the left, I have other things to do, please come find me when you have a plan."

Charles watched her disappear behind the staircase with a perplexed furrow in his brow, "Well this is certainly going to be entertaining," he thought to himself as he bounded up the stairs taking them two at a time. As he reached the suite, he discovered that the door was stuck, not one to waste much time or effort he pulled the screw driver out of his tool belt and with two swift movements popped the pins out of the hinges and pulled the door away from the frame that had expanded in the humidity as if the house was reluctant to release it's grip on the door. Charles could relate to the impulse. Once inside he discovered that the room looked much smaller than the dimensions of the house would suggest from looking at it on the outside. The bedroom was 14 X 14, the dressing room 10 X 10, the bathroom 8 X 8 and the walk in closet 6 X 6. "Well," he thought to himself, "there must be a lot of wasted space between these rooms" since as he drew the dimensions on his graph paper they simply did not add up.

Noticing a piece of ancient wall paper drooping from the corner of the dressing room and knowing that the entire space was about to be taken down to the studs, he grabbed the corner and pulled it away from the wall revealing a seam that would not have been normal in a house that had not been built with wallboard. Thinking to himself that perhaps the wall had been damaged and repaired he poked at the seam to see if the wall was secure behind it, his action revealed that the wall was not a wall at all but a hinged cupboard door that swung into the space behind the wall and had just been taped and painted over to blend in with the rest of the wall.

"That explains the odd dimensions" he thought as he grabbed a flashlight to look into the hole that had now been opened in the wall with no way to close it again since the door handle had been removed and the hole where it had been filled in. The cupboard contained a locked box that looked like it was over 100 years old, not an entirely surprising find in a home of this advanced age, however something he thought he should bring to the attention of the owner. With the measurements taken and the discovery that there might be more to the room than meets the eye, Charles knew that the one hour appointment Emily had scheduled would not be adequate to fully prepare the plans for the remodeling project, anticipating her displeasure at this information he was steeling himself for a negative response as he headed back toward the staircase. However when he reached the top of the stairs he heard Emily yelling out and he was confident it had nothing to do with him but he wasted no time getting down the stairs to see what was going on.

"AAAGHH, For all that is holy, Get me out of here!!!" was the somewhat muffled shout coming from under the stairs, as Charles rounded the corner all he could see were two smallish tennis shoes sticking up out of the floorboards.

"What happened here?" He asked doing his best to mask the amusement in his voice, he was lucky that Emily could not see the laughter welling up behind his sparkling eyes since she was already quite upset.

"Who's there?" she yelled out seeming startled by the presence of another person even though the house was full of staff by this time in the morning.

"It's Charles Wellingham, the contractor, for the bedroom situation, I have tools that might be able to get you out if you can give me a hint as to why your feet are the only part of you visible at the moment."

Emily became remarkably calm for a person completely stuck under her own floor, but she felt as if Charles was probably right so she tried to explain what had just happened. "Well, the floor board was loose so I picked it up to see if I needed to have someone come take a look at it, and it came right up and the one next to it, there seemed to be a tunnel of some sort under it so I thought I'd find out how far it went, well it doesn't go very far.."

"I'd guess about five feet and an inch or so huh?" Charles blurted out as he cut into her explanation, "So you are horizontal under there? Not in any danger of falling on your head right?"

"I think so," she replied as he was already prying up the rest of the floor boards although, if he were honest, he was quite tempted to leave her to her own devices after that greeting she had given that morning. He figured that her embarrassing moment of karma was probably punishment enough this time.

Once he could see her entire form he couldn't believe how tightly she had gotten herself wedged under there, "What on earth possessed you to climb in there?" he asked, enjoying the view he had of her trapped form, this time not even attempting to hide his response to the humorous nature of the predicament she had created for herself "Darlin' you are aware that curiosity is what killed the cat right?"

Allowing Charles to extract her from the tight spot between the floor joists Emily was too embarrassed to admit her appreciation for his assistance. "Well, I guess I'll need you to add this to your estimate then..." she said as if a handsome man had not just lifted her straight up out of the floor.

Shaking his head a bit Charles played along and got back down to the business at hand "I'll be sure to jot that down when I get back to my truck, speaking of my estimate, I am going to have to come back tomorrow for at least 4 hours to get a better look at that room, did you know there were cupboard in the walls under the wallpaper?"

Emily had not known and now stood there looking at Charles unable to process the information completely, "what do you mean cupboards?" she asked.

"Well, I do not know the extent of it yet, however I did find this box" he replied while handing her the box, "it looks like you might need a locksmith to get that off, not sure how old that thing is, but it's heavy so there's definitely something in it."

"Thank you." Emily said staring at the large metal box in her hands.

"I'll see you again tomorrow morning Darlin' stay out of the floor until then ok?"

"OK"

"That's a Good Girl"

Shrugging his shoulders, Charles headed back out the front door leaving Emily to discover what was in the box.

All Locked Up

With the day behind her, Emily sat on her bed with the metal box between her legs, sitting next to her bent knee was a large key ring that she had found in her father's desk shortly after her parent's death. After determining which keys opened the doors and separating those onto a new ring, she had left all of the "mystery" keys in the drawer, now there was a lock that needed a key so she set about testing each one in the old clunky lock. She spun the keys around the ring looking for one that seemed to be the right size for the lock and decided to start there, after trying about five keys she began to wonder if it was worth opening the box at all, "sometimes things from the past are meant to stay in the past," she thought to herself.

Then, as if fate heard her silent question, the very next key turned in the lock and the clasp swung open unlatching the lid. Her hands were almost trembling as she ran her fingers around the edge of the box looking for a the least rusty place to pry it open and then with a burst of effort she pulled the lid away revealing the contents inside. Instantly she could see why the box was so heavy, laying on top of a pile of papers were a set of what appeared to be prison shackles, they were old but not as rusty as one might expect from what may have been a centuries old item, they reminded her of the cuffs and chains that criminals are shown wearing as they are transferred to court, except in addition to the four sets of hinged semi-circle pairs, there was a larger one attached to the chain as well. Picking the entire contraption up out of the box by the larger hinged pair the chain hung down in front of her with the smallest set branching out and the larger set resting on the bottom of the box with chain still coiled around them. There were locking pins that slid through the place where the semicircles met when closed to form a cuff on all five items.

The same curiosity that got Emily stuck under her floorboards was overwhelming as she placed the largest set up to her neck, the chain hung down in front of her chest and she had to reach behind her head to match up the edges and slide the locking pin into place, the metal was cool and heavy against her skin and her imagination wandered back in time wondering what happened when the soldiers came through town clearing out the confederate sympathizers, did they arrest everyone? Even the women and drag them off in chains such as these?

As her mind wandered she pulled the medium sized set from the box and placed them around her ankles, there was a little slack in the chain allowing her to stretch her feet out in front of her but not enough to move freely, the sensation of the restriction was a bit frightening, however her curiosity had the best of her and she didn't think about the consequences of continuing her exploration, sliding two more locking pins into place she was too caught up in her own fascination with historical things.

A Long Hard Night

Laying on her back with her knees bent Emily tried to get some rest although as the night wore on. Relaxation was fleeting as every time she moved the heavy cuffs and chains became more and more uncomfortable. At some point her legs had fallen askew and the chain running from her wrist to her ankles had fallen between her legs and was firmly wedged against her her panties refusing to be ignored. With a pattern of waxing and waning sleep she grew more and more disoriented with each interruption.

"Well, this is quite the surprise little one," a voice echoed from across the dark room. "Since you've gone to all this effort it would be truly shameful to let that go to waste." Emily's limbs ached from being stuck in the same position, her hips were bruising from being pressed into the hard floor and her neck, wrists and ankles were beginning to chafe against the cuffs so her mind was wracked with confusion about how this could possibly end up like all of the other dreams she had been having.

"You look quite uncomfortable already but I can't help myself," said the voice as Emily felt a tug on the heavy chains pulling her over onto her right side with her shoulder now compressed against the floor her breasts falling into an odd angle with the chain trapped between them, the chain between her legs was even tighter as her ankles were pulled back behind her body, in fact every time she moved her hands the slightest bit the pressure grew more intense.

When asked if she enjoyed the surprise from the box Emily's mind raced wondering how her now quite regular night time, most likely imaginary "visitor," knew how she found the source of her predicament; however she was powerless to respond in anyway other than to follow every instruction no matter out of character it may have been before Halloween.

"Can you feel that chain pressing up against you? Aww, you can't help but rub that chain against your little tulip can you? Can you feel your wetness? You can reach it, go ahead, use your fingers and push that chain closer and against yourself as far as it will go, good girl, that's it, if only you could see that chain growing wetter, so wet it's reflecting the moonlight"

Emily had touched herself before but it had held no special appeal so it was not a frequent pastime but tonight the source of the interrogation was correct. She couldn't help herself as her juices poured out over her outstretched fingers unable to move more than a few centimeters in her awkward position.

"You are almost ready for the one you belong to, you are probably picturing him now as the heat grows inside your belly, instead of that chain you wish his gallant manhood was pressing up against you right now don't you?"

But Emily wasn't able to picture anything, the pressure was too intense for her mind to function, the questions and instructions rolled over her in waves until she felt as if fireworks were going off inside her body, straining against her self-imposed mini prison Emily writhed and bucked until she passed out in her own sweaty release.

When she came to in the morning, she found herself sore, but freed from the bonds and tucked into her bed, she felt a heavy weight on her feet and discovered that someone had laid out the chains across the end of the bed providing proof that she hadn't dreamed that part of the previous evening. As her vision came into focus she saw that someone had gathered up the rest of the contents from the box and placed it on her bedside table. Mortified that anyone had found her in that condition Emily was thinking that she may need to fire the entire staff to protect her image, but then came to her senses and felt awash in gratitude that she was safe and well cared for.

But it was time to face the music as she saw the tall frame of the contractor appear in her doorway…

In Shining Armor

Emily rubbed and blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing anything that wasn't really there, but sure as the daylight streaming through her open blinds there he stood, the person who had reminded her how dangerous her curiosity could be.

"Rise and shine darlin', you look like you had a pretty rough night so I hope the noise down the hall didn't bother you any," he prompted wondering if she would admit to the condition he had found her in when he arrived bright and early to get a jump on the Master Suite project that was growing more and more extensive.

"You could say that, I don't suppose that you had anything to do with that did you?" she inquired wondering if he would admit to the nefarious plot she was beginning to suspect.

Sensing her mildly accusatory tone, Charles took a step back away from the door before responding: "Well, from the looks of where you got your ideas from, I am the one who handed you the box, the contents look rather entertaining to be sure, however, I am not the one who put that box into the wall, and well beyond that you seem to have taken the ball and run for the endzone."

Emily felt her skin slowly turning crimson as if the heat was rising up through her torso, approaching her collar bone, traveling up her neck and then, before she knew it, her cheeks were blazing and tears were bubbling out of her tightly closed eyelids.

"Oh, now stop that nonsense little girl, it wasn't the first time I've happened upon a client in a less than flattering situation and I am certain that it won't be the last, and to be bold it wasn't all that less than flattering, it was down right impressive how you got yourself, and I'm making an assumption based on the fact that the staff was just arriving to a fully locked house when I got here, into that ordeal... however.. you can't say that I didn't warn you to get a grip on your curiosity before you injure yourself, it makes me worried to let you know what else I have found in that project room of yours!"

Emily wiped away the tears of embarrassment and couldn't believe how unaffected Charles seemed by the entire picture, what a sight that must have been, heat flashed across her face again as she realized that he must have peeled the chain out from between her legs at some point. Caught in emotions that were oscillating quickly between a death defying sense of complete humiliation and a relieved sense of gratitude for this stranger who had now come to her rescue twice in 24 hours.

Finally in control of her voice, Emily dove into a stream of questions revealing all at once everything that had been running through her mind since she saw him standing in the doorway, "What else could be more interesting than what was already in the box? and I didn't even get a chance to look through all of it yet since I managed to knock it off the bed looking for the key, hey, where did you find the key anyhow, I looked everywhere? Are you sure you didn't know what was in the box? Did anyone else see me like that? Why was that in the box? Where was the key?"

"Whoa there sweetheart, slow down, everything is ok." He moved back into the room and motioned for her consent to sit on the edge of the bed, "When I got here I was the first one upstairs, your door was open and at first I thought you had been attacked, but the house had been totally locked and you seemed unharmed, were breathing, and quite soundly asleep so I put you up on the bed, there was a key on the bed and it unlocked all of the pins so I figured you had fallen off the bed after trying on your new outfit here" waving his hand in the direction of the chains and cuffs, his words punctuated with a slight chuckle.

"No one else saw you except for me and I can keep your new proclivities in confidence, you can trust me," he said with a wink and cough that didn't exactly ease Emily's concerns, "And as for what else is in the suite of rooms down the hall, well my dear, you wouldn't believe me if you hadn't just spent the night on the floor in chains I'm sure."

Inside the Walls

Emily swung her legs over the edge of the bed only barely aware of the ache left behind from her harsh sleeping position and hopped out. Turning back to Charles who was still sitting on the edge of the bed "Well come on then, after last night I simply must know what else there could possibly be!" she expressed with just a little bit more than mild enthusiasm.

"Well aren't you quite the morning person! I don't know if I would have recovered so quickly from that little ordeal you had there" Charles stated shaking his head wondering what he had gotten himself into by taking on this remodeling project. "Well, I suppose there is no such time as the present, or should I say 'Presents', with an emphasis on the air quotes."

Emily was out the door before he had finished the statement, but his long legs made quick work of catching up to her just outside the doorway, the door still propped up against the wall and the old door frame was completely removed. As she peered into the bedroom,  she could see that the walls were no longer solid surfaces covered in centuries old wall paper, now there were geometric patterns etched across the room, a series of square and rectangle outlines as if someone had taken a scroll saw to the wall before putting it into place.

"WHAT DID YOU DO??" she inquired rather insistently.

"Dim the high-beams there sugar cube; ain't nothin' here now that weren't a hidin' under all that paper you wanted pulled down," he drawled as he swiftly positioned himself in front of the largest rectangle on the wall. "Now brace yourself sweetheart, if you had fun with the contents of that box last night, well... I might suggest that you not stay in the house until I can get these contraptions removed lest you figure out some way to hang yourself in here and that is not a sight I need to see first thing in the morning. No ma'am!"

Emily stood in the doorway holding her breath, "What on earth were her parents up to in here" she wondered silently before realizing that the wallpaper was incredibly old and had been on the wall longer than her parents had been in Master Suite, and from the looks of things maybe not even her grand daddy knew what had been hidden in the walls. Taking a deep breath she finally spoke, "OK, let's see what's in that one..."

As the last word left her lips Charles tapped the rectangle and the door swung open, reaching up and pulling on a chain a large arm lowered into the room and suspended as if ready to attach to a wagon was what appeared to be a full draft horse team driving tack complete with matching hames and neck yolk. The thick leather and mahogany wood was dusty but looked in remarkable condition for being locked behind a wall for so long, but just as Emily had let her mind wander to the craftsmanship and quality of the tack, it failed for the moment to occur to her that it didn't belong in a bedroom.

"So little miss, I strongly suggest that if you want to play with this that you call my cell phone no matter the time of day or night," he said with a wink, "just kidding with you there," he quickly added followed by a "only if I have to be," under his breath.

"What do you mean play with it?" Emily asked her eyes growing wider, "I have no idea why this is where they would choose to hide this, maybe it was to protect it during the war, this house does date back to before the Battle of Gettysburg you know, but this equipment should be moved out to the stables, not be 'played with."

Frozen for a moment in the sudden realization that Emily was perhaps far more innocent than he had given her age of thirty six years credit for, Charles searched his mind for a way to gently explain what was clearly going on in this room at some point in the history of the estate. There were many books exploring this subject in European history, however he wondered how such a lifestyle had made its way to the antebellum south? Today, sure, there was some sort of S&M club in every major city and the entire internet was now teeming with images and videos, no red blooded American male over forty hadn't seen some sort of inventive torture chamber, but how had it escaped a college educated young lady such as his client?

This time it was his curiosity that could become an issue as his propensity for the more kinesthetic type of demonstration took over, grabbing a rag from his back pocket he wiped the dust from the leather and wood dangling from the wooden arm. Jumping up to grab the arm to test it's strength he dangled from it with a few bounces and it didn't seem to be rotted or weakened and held his large frame without even the slightest creaking. "All right, come here..."

Emily hesitated for a moment thinking that she still hadn't showered and was standing in the middle of the room in just a tank top and panties, and now he wanted her to come check out old dusty equestrian gear that had been squirreled away for an era, she opened her mouth to protest.

"Do you want to know why this is here or not?" was the stern response that took Charles by as much surprise as it startled Emily into an unnatural, for her, instantaneous obedience.

A quiet "Yes, Sir," escaped her lips before she could stop it and she found herself standing just a few inches away from the closest collar and hame.

Charles coughed a bit from the surprise and then a warm smile spread across his lips, "that's better, good girl then, so here's how this works, now I sure ain't never seen any kind of horse this long with a neck this small, have you?"

Emily gulped as what he was saying began to sink in, "Um, no I haven't either."

"Now bend over a bit here and let's see..." She bent her head forward as he positioned the horse collar around her neck and fastened it behind her head. " Now, it looks like you're going to have to trust me here for the next part; do you trust me darlin'?" he inquired gently.

"I guess so, I mean so far you don't seem like any sort of deviant," she replied.

With his head tipped slightly to the side he looked her up and down before responding "Right, so then in a few moments your feet are not going to be on the ground, how do you feel about that?"

Emily took a deep breath and thought to herself "in for a penny in for a pound" and said. "Sounds like fun," attempting in vain to mask the effects of her pounding heart.

Charles placed the leather straps across her breasts, one set over and one set under buckling them snugly behind her back, Emily felt her nipples harden as the straps caused her breasts to jut out further than they ordinarily did, Charles pretended not to notice this hint at arousal and continued to attach the complicated set of leather straps to the rest of her body. One around her waist, one around the top of each thigh, then a forked strap running from front to back creating a harness around her hips, next one around each knee and then he started hooking those straps to the straps hanging down from the arm.

Emily was off the ground as soon as he reached the harness around her waist and thighs and unable to move anything other than her arms which were dangling down in front of her at the moment

"Is this some sort of medical device?" she asked wondering if perhaps after a long day of farming people enjoyed stretching out their vertebrae by hanging from a closet door or something.

Charles took a walk around Emily who was hanging there limply, fully supported by the expertly designed device and felt a sensation he knew all too well beginning to stir a rather unprofessional part of his anatomy. Her breasts were hanging out between the straps, her tank top had gotten scrunched up around the bottom strap, her panties were tiny to begin with but were now wedged up inside the harness. Overwhelmed with a desire to make full use of the contraption he knew that it would be better if they both had a little cooling off period. Then he had a devilish idea.

"Not exactly my dear, well this all looks nice and safe, you just stay there for a minute, I'll be right back," he said before heading out for his lunch break.

Visions of Futures Past

As the minutes ticked by Emily experienced a rather extensive variety of emotions; at first she was amused by her situation and even enjoyed the sensation of being suspended in mid-air, but then after several moments of rocking herself back and forth to feel how the straps supported her weight she began to worry, then came a feeling of disbelief, then irritation, after about 30 minutes there was a pang of anger, then confusion, and ultimately a defeated sense of exhaustion had enveloped her as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Where did you go?" she demanded as Charles walked back into the room.

"To lunch sweetie, I told you that before I left silly girl." He responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world to leave a lady hanging from the ceiling and take a lunch break, then without hesitation he continued on "I hope you don't mind my curiosity, but when I picked up after your little experiment with the chains this morning I noticed my name on some of the papers that you left strewn about the floor in your haste to play with your new toys."

Emily started to protest against the characterization but was quickly quieted by a single sharp swat of a riding crop against her hind quarters.

"Oh, you'll want to hear this, you can argue with me later if you really want to, but this is far more interesting darlin'" Charles paused for a moment as he realized that this conversation might be better had in a more comfortable setting and began to unfasten Emily from the tack. "Coming down safely requires a bit more ... uh... contact... than going up," he explained as he positioned himself such that as he released her hips her body was resting against his torso, and then as he released the chest straps and Emily was again responsible for supporting her own weight he held her firmly against him until her legs had found equilibrium. Emily's face burned bright red as her involuntary arousal was obscured by embarrassment and masked by an urge to express some very righteous indignation. He supported her as they walked back to her room where he scooped her up in one motion and set her on the bed.

"Now that you are more comfortable, it seems as though we have an interesting situation here," he continued, "So as I was saying before, I noticed my name on the papers as I picked them up this morning, but it wasn't exactly 'my name', it was my great, great, great grandfather's name - he was with a Connecticut Regiment Cavalry unit that was sent here during the Civil War. An enterprising young man it might seem, and apparently a bit nostalgic for the very institution he was supposed to be fighting against."

Emily picked up the papers that were stacked on her bed and began scanning them for corroborating information to what Charles was saying, and indeed there was his name signed across the bottom of several pages that looked like contracts.

"Yes, it seems as if my dear old Grandpa-papa... was interested in owning his own slave and had found a loophole of sorts, although I imagine it was not exactly legally binding, but he definitely was a forward thinker that one."

"OH MY GOD" exclaimed Emily as she pored over the various clauses of the document, "NO, this is a joke, you planted these things here, how did you get in here? How long have you been planning this? There is NO way this is legal, I'm calling the police right now."

Charles watched for a moment as Emily patted her duvet cover searching for her cell phone before interjecting, "Hey now little miss, this is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you, you found my company in the yellow pages and called me, I had never set foot in this home until two days ago, look, I have no intention of treating those documents as if they are in any way legal so please calm down, but you have to admit that this is absolutely fascinating."

Emily having worked herself up into a panicked state looked up from the bed, her frightened tears still flowing freely because even if he was telling the truth she knew an even bigger truth, she knew at some level that she was bound by the agreements in those contracts if only by the disturbance caused by whatever presence had swept into her home on Halloween.

Emily began reading out-loud.. "In exchange for the protection of Charles A. Willingham, 1st Regiment Connecticut Cavalry for the persons, property and livestock of Nathaniel P. Fairport it is sworn on this day that at the first instance where the Fairport family produces a direct female heir of an appropriate age of legal maturity that female heir is promised as payment in full to live the rest of her days as the sole property of Charles A. Willingham or a direct male descendant."

"I am the first female born to the Fairport family in over 250 years, the Fairports were famous for producing only male offspring so my great, great, grandfather must have written this off as a fool's bet at the time never anticipating a female heir and never having to repay the original Charles A. Willingham this debt." Emily mused, quite impressed by the tactic.

"Well my dear, I am the direct descendant of that Yankee, my family settled here after the war and never returned to the north, and I can't say as I blame them seeing how winters get up there, but it would seem as if you are mine," he said with a chuckle, very amused at the situation and also wondering to himself if impregnating a female while they are suspended in the air was the key to producing male heirs.

"I was sure that I was going crazy, and now I don't know what to think anymore, for nights now something has been in my room, talking to me, compelling me to do things, telling me that I had to get ready for 'the one I was for,' and now it seems as if I have to start believing in ghosts." Emily confessed this all not knowing if it helped or made the situation worse. Flipping through the rest of the papers on her bed her hand came to rest on what looked like an old Diary, carefully opening the cover, both she and Charles gasped slightly as they saw the first page come into view.

Inside the front cover was a sketch of a rather buxom female suspended in the contraption from which Charles had just released Emily, and on the title page of the journal were the words: "December Delights" followed by a subtitle: "The Perverse Adventures of Charles A. Willingham and the lovely ladies of the Fairport Estates."

"Well at least now we know who originally designed the Master Suite!" Emily said meeting Charles' stunned gaze with a bright smile.