Chapter 23 - Wendy's Whipping

Burnside almost immediately achieved her main goal with Wendy, to get her thought patterns away from what they had been over the past year. Wendy ceased to think about gambling. He suicide fantasies totally vanished from her mind. Instead her life and thoughts consisted of pleasing Burnside, her correspondence classes, and her art. Wendy did not have time to think about anything else. Burnside forced her to focus her time and her energies. Wendy learned to appreciate her life. She learned to cherish the few free moments available to her and use them to their fullest. In a strange way she was happier then she had been in a long time. Wendy's life was very structured, with very clear rules and expectations. As cruel as Burnside may have been, she deeply cared for Wendy, and Wendy knew it.

Burnside punished Wendy much less frequently than the student had anticipated when she began her period of servitude. Partly this was because Wendy adapted well to serving her. However, it also partly was because of Burnside's attitude about punishment. Burnside believed that physical punishment loses its effectiveness if given too frequently. The victim becomes used to it and eventually becomes less afraid of being punished. There also is the fact that the body compensates for punishments given too frequently.

Burnside never punished Wendy over an area that had not completely healed from the previous punishment. She wanted to avoid toughening Wendy's body, but at the same time she wanted to avoid injuring her. For example, during the second week Wendy broke a glass pan lid while cooking. She immediate confessed to Burnside about the lid, kneeling and holding the two largest pieces in front of her. Wendy's confession resulted in a lighter punishment, 20 strokes across the fronts of her thighs with a riding crop. Wendy's bottom and shoulders were still marked from the first switching, and for Burnside would remain off-limits until the marks were gone. The only unmarked part of Wendy's body suitable for punishment at that time were the fronts of Wendy's thighs.

Burnside wanted Wendy to fear each punishment as much as she feared the first one, which was another reason Wendy never received a severe punishment more than once every three or four weeks. Burnside never used the same implement twice. She forced Wendy to assume different positions.

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At age 41, Ruth Burnside had an insatiable sexual appetite. About half the nights Wendy was with her, Burnside had a lover over. In all Wendy counted a total of 16 lovers; 13 men and 3 women. Some came over only once, others came over several times. The majority of the lovers seemed to be in their 30’s, although there were a couple of guys who appeared to be in their 50’s, and one young woman who seemed not much older than Wendy. Burnside’s lovers included two Blacks, a couple of Hispanics, a guy from Mainland China, and a young man who appeared to be from the Middle East.

The discipline sessions all followed the same general pattern, but there were variations. For example, the young woman seemed particularly embarrassed at having to undress in front of Wendy. Burnside forced her to focus on her submission by ordering her to spend a long time standing under the spotlight with her hands behind her head, while Wendy walked around her and carefully studied her body. When the guy from Mainland China came over, it was Wendy who issued Burnside’s commands to him in Chinese. The Chinese guy spoke good English, but hearing the orders spoken to him in his native language added to his humiliation and sense of vulnerability.

Wendy never participated in anything beyond the initial part of Burnside’s discipline sessions. She came out to take the submissive’s clothing and serve the wine, and then was dismissed. When Burnside was entertaining, she allowed Wendy to close her bedroom door. Wendy’s reward from Burnside for participating in the sessions was that she could work on her art instead of studying. However, the sessions fascinated Wendy and she gladly would have participated even without the incentive of not having to spend the night doing her coursework.

Burnside made the rules very clear to both Wendy and her guests. Wendy was expected to perform her role in Burnside’s discipline ritual and serve wine. She owed the guests nothing else. The guests were to respect Wendy and not attempt to flirt with her or engage her in any conversation.

“If anyone who comes over here is ever disrespectful to you, let me know immediately. I want you to understand that to disrespect you is to disrespect me, and there will be hell to pay for anyone who tries it.”

Burnside invariably punished her lovers. Wendy often heard the CRACK!...CRACK!...CRACK!... of a punishment coming from Burnside's bedroom once the living room portion of the punishment was over. Sometimes she heard crying or screams.

Wendy was under the impression that Burnside cared little for most of her lovers. They came over, gave up their clothes, had their wine, received a punishment, had sex, and were gone after a few hours.

During January Burnside entertained lovers about a half of the nights Wendy lived with her. During many of the nights that Burnside was not with guests she ordered Wendy to be with her. When it came to sex, Burnside was extremely demanding and often very cruel to Wendy. Occasionally Burnside used sex as a means to punish Wendy instead of the constant whippings Wendy had expected prior to coming over.

Sexually Burnside totally dominated Wendy during the first month of her servitude. During their first few nights together the professor learned the physical vulnerabilities of Wendy's body, and then used those vulnerabilities to completely control her. It was through sex, much more than the physical punishments, that Burnside forced Wendy to become truly submissive to her.

Burnside especially loved to torment her servant by bringing her close to orgasm but not allowing her to climax. Wendy spent countless hours with her wrists and ankles attached to her bed-posts and her eyes covered while Burnside played with her body. For hours on end she pulled desperately at her restraints and groaned while Burnside lightly teased her between the legs with her fingertips and tongue. When Wendy was almost insane from arousal, Burnside unhooked her cuffs and led her back to the master bedroom by the wrist. Sometimes she threw herself on top of Wendy and pressed her pelvis against Wendy's. Sometimes she forced Wendy's face between her legs. Sometimes she ordered Wendy to arouse her with her fingertips. Sometimes she shoved her fingers up Wendy's bottom or vagina. Sometimes she forced Wendy to use her fingers on her. Occasionally she was merciful to Wendy and allowed her to climax.

During that time Wendy was desperate to draw. The urge to draw burned inside her, to the point that she often sacrificed sleep to create drawings. By the middle of February Wendy had a sizable collection of top-quality artwork in her desk drawer. The drawings became Wendy's outlet for the responsibilities and torments she was enduring. The drawings themselves had changed from the ones she created over the summer. Besides intense suffering, the newest works also reflected intense pleasure.

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Wendy's work on her classes was one important part of her life while she stayed with Burnside. Each morning, right after breakfast, Wendy knelt at Burnside's desk and held her correspondence work in front of her for the professor to review. She watched nervously as Burnside looked over her assignments. Burnside never corrected anything, but if she did not think that Wendy had done good work, she brusquely handed the papers back with the comment "This won't work. Re-do it." It was up to Wendy to figure out what needed to be corrected. Burnside was determined that Wendy strive to do her best in her studies, and more importantly, to learn to solve as many problems as possible on her own. However, Burnside was not so cruel as to leave Wendy with no guidance with her studies. Wendy soon learned that during their breakfast or dinner conversations Burnside dropped hints about Wendy's work and how she could find the answers to her assignments. Wendy learned to listen carefully to the professor for any hints or tips that Burnside might be willing to give her.

Wendy learned the hard way not to try to slip anything past Burnside. At the end of January she needed to do a report for her independent study. She showed the report to Burnside along with some other papers. Burnside thrust the paper back in Wendy's face with the comment "Don't even think about turning this in! You will re-do it, and there will be no drawing until you have this report properly done!"

Wendy's drawing was her only outlet, so she desperately needed to get the paper out of the way and get back to her art. At that point she made a big mistake. She made a few corrections and e-mailed the paper to her accounting professor. The next day she received a response, a C+ on the paper. Then Wendy made another mistake, saying nothing to Burnside. She did not realize that Burnside had set her home Internet account to automatically copy all incoming and outgoing e-mail messages to her home and send the copied messages to her computer at work. From her office Burnside was able to review the entire correspondence between Wendy and her accounting professor. She downloaded and copied the paper and returned home with it in the afternoon.

Burnside said nothing to Wendy, but took out a whip and some wrist cuffs that were attached to chains. The implement was a thin buggy-style whip. The blows would sting, but the whip was not heavy and there was little risk of breaking Wendy's skin. Burnside would be able to hit Wendy many times with it, and even cross the welts, without much concern about injury. She laid the items on her dresser. This would be a long punishment, since Wendy had attempted to lie to Burnside by not telling her about her C+. However, Burnside was not planning to whip Wendy tonight. Waiting would be part of her punishment.

It was significant that Burnside was not planning to do the one thing that truly would hurt Wendy; take away her art supplies. Burnside knew the importance of Wendy's art as part of her therapy. The loss of her art supplies truly would be a severe punishment to Wendy, but one, thought Burnside, that ultimately would not help her. Wendy would suffer for the correspondence course paper and not telling Burnside what happened, but the suffering would be physical. Wendy's art was off-limits.

While Wendy was preparing dinner Burnside quietly slipped in her room and placed the downloaded paper on Wendy's desk. Wendy would discover it after dinner and then would have to approach Burnside about it. Burnside was pleasant during dinner and allowed Wendy to sit with her. Wendy was cheerful, thinking she had outwitted the professor. After the meal Burnside sat down at her computer to work on an article for a professional journal she contributed to, while Wendy cleaned up from dinner. Wendy knelt at the bathroom door, as usual, for Burnside to take her collar off for her bath. She came out, knelt again for Burnside to put the collar back on, and then was dismissed.

Wendy's heart stopped when she went in her room and saw what was on her desk. Her hands shook as she picked up the paper. She looked out her door at Burnside, typing away at her article. Wendy could not wait anymore. Shaking, she walked out and knelt next to Burnside's desk.

"Dr. Burnside...I...I...request...per...permission to...sp...speak."

Burnside said nothing. She was in the middle of a paragraph and typing furiously, not wanting to lose her train of thought. Wendy waited until she finished with the paragraph. Burnside said nothing. She thumbed through a book, found the quote she was looking for, copied it to the article and typed the reference footnote, and started the next paragraph. Wendy became more and more nervous.

"D...Dr. Burnside...I...re...request...permission to...sp...speak."

Burnside did not look up. She kept her eyes focused on her computer screen and with a cold, flat voice, responded, "I heard you the first time, Wendy. Your problems are not the only thing I have to worry about in my life. I will finish this article, send it out, and then we will discuss your paper."

Burnside typed for another hour. Wendy did not know what to do. Should she get up, return to her room, and wait for Burnside to finish? Should she stay there, kneeling until Burnside was ready to talk? Wendy decided not to move. Her legs began to cramp from kneeling, but she was afraid to get up without being directed.

What un-nerved Wendy the most was that Burnside had not looked at her when she responded. With anyone else that might have seemed a trivial detail, but with Burnside it wasn't. Burnside was fanatical about looking people in the eye when she spoke to them. Wendy realized that she truly was in disgrace. Burnside had refused to even grant her the dignity of eye-contact.

Burnside finished the article, ran spell-check, reviewed her footnotes to make sure she had properly cited her sources, logged onto the Internet and her publisher's account, and sent off the article. She disconnected, brought up her screen-saver, and finally turned to face Wendy.

"OK, Wendy. Now you have permission to speak."

"You...you were right. I...got...a...'C' on...this p...paper. I...I'm sorry, Dr. Burnside."

"Two things. First, you got a 'C+'. Don't sell yourself short. Second, don't tell me you're sorry. If you were sorry you wouldn't have done it, and you wouldn't have tried to slip this past me. Telephone operators say 'sorry', which is what you'll be if you don't pull yourself together. I expect you to take responsibility for what you do and not be 'sorry'. Another thing. You saw full-well that I was working on an article. Your problem was not urgent. I did not appreciate the interruption."

"Y...yes, Dr. Burnside."

"So…where do we go from here? I told you not to send that paper for a reason. It's shit, and you should be ashamed you wrote it. Had you turned that to in me, I would have given you a 'C-'. Then you thought you could trick me. Send it off and I wouldn't know. Worse, you deleted your correspondence with your professor so I wouldn't see it, after I specifically told you to NEVER delete e-mail messages on my Internet account. You deleted your correspondence to deceive me. Now, stand up and turn around."

Wendy stood up, momentarily grateful to relieve the cramping in her legs she was suffering from kneeling so long. Burnside scanned her back and bottom. There were no marks from the switching a month ago. Wendy was ready for her second severe punishment.

"Now face me...OK. Where do we go from here?"

"I...I guess...you'll punish me...Dr. Burnside."

"That's true. That is what will happen. I will whip you tomorrow afternoon, when I have some time to punish you properly. Now get in bed. I want you up at 6:00, my breakfast at 7:00."

"Yes, Dr. Burnside."

With that Burnside turned back to her computer and typed her password. Wendy was dismissed.

Wendy returned to her room, terrified. A whipping. She was sure that Burnside meant exactly that; Wendy would be flogged with a whip.

Wendy got in her bed and quietly cried. It was terrible to have to wait like this. She would not be able to sleep much, if at all. She thought about Amy and Suzanne, about their freedom and how they must be enjoying this evening. She thought about her parents, and wondered what they would think if they could see her now. Why had she done this to herself? Why had she messed up her life like this? If she could only go back and undo everything she did a year ago, she could have a happy, decent life right now. Instead...

As much as Wendy's heart filled with regret, if never occurred to her to pick up her cell phone and ask Amy or Suzanne to come get her. This was her life now, the one she had chosen for herself. She had nowhere to go, nothing to do, other than her life here in this house. Tomorrow would be a terrible day, but somehow she would get through it.

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The following day started out normally, except that when Wendy went into the living room, she saw a pair of open leather cuffs suspended, about three feet apart, from chains attached to the ceiling. Wendy's punishment would not be until after lunch, but Burnside hung the cuffs as a reminder to Wendy of what she would have to face later in the day. She also hung the cuffs in the morning to test Wendy's determination to remain her servant. Wendy had the entire morning to think about what she would face in the afternoon. Her cell phone remained in her room. There was plenty of time for Wendy to call Amy or Suzanne and leave Burnside's house if she so desired.

Wendy rushed into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Burnside had not said anything about Wendy eating or not eating, so she fixed herself breakfast as well. However, Wendy did not feel like eating.

Burnside came out, already dressed for her early class. Wendy seated her, then looked at the professor, wondering whether to sit down herself.

"Wendy, sit down and have a good breakfast. You won't be eating lunch and I doubt you'll want dinner."

Wendy forced herself to eat. Burnside said nothing more. She finished and went out to her car, leaving Wendy to clean up.

Wendy tried to keep herself busy the entire morning, to forget about what she would have to face in the afternoon. She cleaned up from breakfast and cleaned the two bathrooms. Burnside had expected her to study, but there was no way she could concentrate.

Wendy sat at her desk and glanced at her cell-phone. She felt a fleeting temptation to call Amy and ask her friend to pick her up. The temptation was only momentary, however.

Wendy had entered into her agreement with Burnside at her own request. It had been her choice to be Burnside's servant. It had been her choice to attempt to deceive Burnside about the assignment. It now would be her choice to stay and accept the consequences of her actions. The thought of being whipped terrified her more than ever, but she would stay and face that fear. She realized this was the moment, the opportunity for her to face her terror directly and overcome it. She would conquer her fear and finally achieve the transformation in her soul that she so desperately wanted. At that moment Wendy felt more liberated than she had ever felt before.

Wendy she filled the rest of her time that morning drawing a picture. Her emotional turmoil came out in the drawing. She finished the drawing and was contemplating starting on another when she heard Burnside's car pull into the garage. Wendy ran out into the center of living room and knelt on the floor. Her heart pounded as she glanced up at the cuffs hanging from the ceiling. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking.

Burnside came in and glanced approvingly at her servant. Burnside was well-aware of the temptation she had given Wendy by leaving her alone all morning with the option of fleeing the house open to her. She had decided to test Wendy because she had doubted Wendy's determination to fulfill her part of the agreement. Wendy, by staying in spite of her fears, had proven herself to her mistress. Wendy’s determination to stay would in no way alleviate her upcoming whipping, but it would very profoundly change the relationship between the two women once the punishment was over and Wendy’s welts had healed.

Burnside went to her room to change and pick up the rest of the items that she needed for Wendy's whipping. Burnside changed into shorts and a sports bra. She wanted maximum freedom of movement and was not interested in dressing the part of a dominatrix. She took out leather cuffs for Wendy's ankles, a black scarf to blindfold her, and some short chains and hooks to attach Wendy's ankle cuffs to eye-hooks installed in the floor. She picked up the whip and carried everything back out to the living room.

Burnside laid everything in front of Wendy. She let her servant have a good look at the whip before picking up the scarf. Wendy's terrified eyes met the professor's. Wendy was scared, and with good reason. Burnside folded the scarf, placed it over Wendy's eyes, tied it behind her head, and checked to make sure Wendy could not peek out if she raised her head.

Wendy heard the rattling of the chains as Burnside attached them to a set of collapsible eyehooks in the floor. Burnside had several sets of these buried in the carpeting. They were barely noticeable metal squares, but each had a metal loop that popped up when needed and that folded down flat when not needed. There were several sets of the same type of eyehooks in the ceiling, drilled into the wooden studs through the ceiling drywall and easily capable of supporting a person's full weight.

Burnside then grabbed Wendy's arm and ordered her to stand up. She positioned the trembling girl under the suspended cuffs, lifted each of Wendy's arms, and wrapped her wrists in the restraints. Wendy was not suspended, but as soon as her feet were spread and attached to the floor she would have very little freedom of movement.

"Put your feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart."

Wendy complied, and felt the cuffs wrap around her ankles. She now was mostly immobilized, with her arms and feet spread. Burnside had access to every part of her body except the soles of her feet. Burnside knew what she was doing. Wendy would be able to move just a little, enough to maintain her circulation and not go numb during the punishment.

Burnside backed away to admire Wendy's attractive body. She resisted the urge to unhook Wendy and have sex with her before starting her punishment.

"Wendy, why am I whipping you?"

"I...I...t...turned in...a...a bad...p...paper...Dr. Burnside."

"That's not the main reason. Try again."

"I...t...tried to...h...hide it...from you."

"That's somewhat closer to the truth. I am whipping you because you tried to deceive me. Remember when I first punished you with Amy? I punished you two for the exact same reason I'm punishing you now. It wasn't that Marshall Plan paper that pissed me off. It was the deception. This is the second time you tried to deceive me. You will learn that trying to deceive me is not a good idea."

"Y...yes, Dr. Burnside."

With that Burnside picked up the whip. She planned to hit Wendy many, many times with it.

The first two strokes took Wendy by surprise. Wendy had expected to be hit on the bottom. Burnside knew that, and instead hit her across the fronts of both thighs. Wendy was shocked by how sharply the whip stung. The pain was somewhat sharper than Burnside's switch.

Wendy gasped and thrust herself backwards, only to thrust forward again when Burnside slashed at her bottom. Wendy screamed. Burnside laid three strokes across Wendy's shoulders and then three more on her bottom. Again Wendy thrust forward. Pain radiated over her body. She screamed again as Burnside lay a series of strokes on the fronts of her thighs. The professor stopped.

"Wendy, you are not showing any self-discipline at all. I expect you to stand still for this. Instead you're moving around like a ballet dancer. Stick your butt out and keep it out. If you don't, I know how to make this a lot worse."

Crying, Wendy shifted her bottom out.

CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!.... Burnside laid a long series of strokes across Wendy's bottom and the backs of her thighs. She spaced the blows apart to let Wendy feel each one and appreciate it.

Again and again Wendy screamed. With every bit of willpower she tried to keep her bottom out, fighting her instincts to shift forward and attempt to escape that horrible whip.

As was the case for the switching at the end of December, Wendy's world was reduced to the pain being inflicted on her body. She was not conscious of anything other than her physical sensations. Her instincts demanded that she do anything, anything at all, to get this to stop. And yet she was able to resist the temptation to beg for mercy, knowing full-well there would be no mercy.

CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!.... Burnside continued to lay the sharp blows on Wendy's bottom and thighs, leaving a mass of swollen reddish lines criss-crossing her tender brown skin. Wendy continued to do the one thing that Burnside permitted her to do, scream. Her blindfold was becoming wet from tears. Every so often Burnside paused, waiting for Wendy to stop screaming and get her breath back for the next round.

Burnside turned her attention to Wendy's shoulders. This time it was not important that Wendy stay in position. Wendy's shoulders were vulnerable, no matter what. Again and again Burnside struck Wendy's shoulders and upper back, until the mass of reddish lines matched the lines on Wendy's bottom and the backs of her thighs. Again Wendy screamed, thrusting her head back and forth, her face distorted with the pain and fear of what she was enduring.

Burnside stopped. She noticed a couple of blood blisters on Wendy's shoulders. She had not broken the skin, but the blisters signaled to Burnside that she had to be more careful. She waited for Wendy to stop screaming and get her breath back. She positioned herself for the next portion of the whipping, across the fronts of Wendy's thighs. Wendy's sobbing died down a little.

CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!.... Burnside struck Wendy again and again across the fronts of her thighs. Wendy screamed much louder when Burnside carefully laid a series of marks on the insides of Wendy's legs, frighteningly close to her vagina. In her haze of pain Wendy realized that yes, Burnside was perfectly capable of whipping her...there.

Once again Burnside paused to let Wendy stop screaming and get her breath back. For a long time Wendy sobbed loudly, as she hung by her wrists. When her sobs died down Burnside spoke to her.

"OK, Wendy, now you know what I am capable of. I haven't hit you there, yet. I will if you don't obey me."

Wendy, breathing in broken, frightened gasps, nodded.

"Get your butt out. Keep it out. You've had your warning."

Wendy thrust her bottom out as far as she could. She was terrified, much more so than before this punishment began. Now she knew real fear.

CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!....CRACK!.... Burnside laid another long series of strokes on Wendy's already punished bottom. Wendy screamed, but this time her fear of being hit...there...between her legs on the most sensitive part of her body, motivated her to stay in position. Again and again Burnside struck Wendy's bottom and thighs, stopping only when she noticed several blood blisters among the mass of welts. Wendy screamed louder than ever.

For the last time during this session Burnside stopped to watch Wendy sob and slowly get her breath back. She noticed that Wendy was hanging by her wrists and not supporting her weight with her feet. Burnside decided to end Wendy's punishment.

Saying nothing, the professor unhooked Wendy's ankle cuffs and took them off. She then put her arm around Wendy's waist and with her free hand struggled to unhook Wendy's wrist cuffs. Wendy was still sobbing as the second hook was released and her weight shifted into Burnside's arm. Burnside led the sobbing student back to the guest bedroom and guided her onto her bed on her stomach. Wendy was still in too much pain to be aware of much going on around her and was crying violently. Burnside took off Wendy's blindfold and for a while sat next to her on the bed to make sure she would be all right.

Burnside went back out into the living room, took the chains down from the ceiling and put everything away. Then she checked on Wendy, who was still on her stomach, crying. She examined the welts on Wendy's shoulders and bottom. She had not broken Wendy's skin, but in several spots she had come close. Wendy was crying more quietly now. Burnside decided to leave her alone, but check on her periodically for the rest of the day.

Burnside had a guest over later that night, but Wendy did not see him. Just before he came over Burnside left a glass of water on Wendy's desk. Wendy still was crying quietly from the shock and pain of her punishment. Burnside knew that she was in no condition to do anything or face anyone. Before she left Wendy's room, Burnside had a final comment for her servant.

"Wendy, I expect top performance out of you for everything. I do not expect haphazard work and deception from you. Now you know what will happen if you don't take our agreement more seriously. Do you understand?"

Wendy sobbed. "Yes, Dr. Burnside."

"Good. Try to drink some water and get as much rest as you can. You can keep your door closed tonight. Tomorrow we start fresh. I want you up at 6:00, my breakfast at 7:00."

"Yes, Dr. Burnside."

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The whipping was a turning point in Wendy's life and her relationship with Burnside. It was the closest Burnside ever came to punishing Wendy as severely as what was in her pictures. Now Wendy knew what it felt like. The experience was somewhat different than she had imagined, but every bit as intense. The whipping traumatized Wendy for several days and that trauma was reflected in her pictures over the next several weeks.

Wendy’s character changed after the whipping. Although she had adapted well to serving Burnside from the beginning, now Wendy was determined to perform her duties in a way she had not prior to the end of January. Wendy became very diligent in all areas of her life; the housework, the meals for the professor and herself, her classes, her art. Wendy pushed herself hard.

Wendy's diligence extended to her sex life with Burnside. There was a passion in Wendy's sex drive that had not existed prior to the whipping. Wendy was not passionate out of fear of another whipping. She was passionate because the whipping put a new intensity into her soul, an ability to do things 100%. Wendy now wanted all areas of her relationship with Burnside to be 100%.

On the nights they had sex, Wendy loved submitting to Burnside's kisses and caresses. Wendy treated Burnside with passion. There were moments when Wendy took control, pressing Burnside to the bed and covering her body with kisses and caresses. Wendy struggled to satisfy Burnside's sex drive as much as possible, to the point that Burnside looked forward to her nights with her servant. Wendy became an excellent lover. As a result Burnside lost interest in other people.

Burnside's sexual tormenting of Wendy did not stop. It intensified, as it became obvious that Wendy wanted to be tormented sexually as part of her relationship with the professor. Wendy grew to love the sessions of being restrained on her bed, helpless and at Burnside's mercy. As much as Burnside tormented Wendy during these sessions, she was determined to satisfy Wendy as well. Wendy had orgasms with an intensity she never could have imagined prior to entering Burnside's house.

Burnside noticed the hurt in Wendy's eyes when she had other lovers over. Wendy became jealous of Burnside. Burnside could have used Wendy's jealousy to torment her further, but she cared about Wendy and had no desire to hurt her feelings. As the semester progressed she cut back on her other relationships to spend more evenings with Wendy.

The only exception was Halsey. There was no way that Burnside would alter her relationship with him, not for Wendy, nor for anyone else. Wendy understood and accepted it. She made every effort to accommodate that part of Burnside's life, serving Burnside and Halsey with 100% concentration whenever he came over.

When Wendy knelt and presented herself to Burnside in the performance of her duties, her eyes reflected a passion for her goal of pleasing the professor. There was an intensity in Wendy's eyes that unsettled Burnside, but at the same time pleased and gratified her. Wendy's servitude was in no way relaxed, and the threat of a punishment always remained a part of Wendy's life. However, it was that same threat that put passion into everything that Wendy did.

Burnside punished Wendy severely three more times that semester. There was a caning the week before Mardi Gras, with Wendy restrained to the leather bench. In the middle of March there was a flogging with a martinet. Finally, in the middle of April there was a strapping, similar to what she had received from Amy the year before. As harsh as these punishments were, none of them came close to severity of the January whipping.

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By the end of February, Burnside began to think about the need to transition Wendy back to normal life. Wendy's servitude was not even half over, but Burnside had to begin the process of slowly preparing her to face the outside world again. Amy would be instrumental for helping Burnside achieve her goal.

Burnside saw Amy in her office on a daily basis, but never had mentioned Wendy. She knew that was hard on Amy. Every time they worked together Burnside could see the question in Amy's eyes, what is happening to Wendy? Amy's question now would be answered, but not by Burnside. The professor decided that Amy and Wendy should begin to correspond as the initial step for Wendy getting ready to leave her house. For the first time in two months, Wendy would be allowed a link to the outside world in her personal life.

Burnside began by asking Wendy to give her the pictures she had drawn so far to turn over to Amy. She suspected that Amy's photographer roommate could get them published. Wendy handed Burnside a sizable stack of artwork. Burnside was a bit surprised, realizing how much sleep Wendy must have given up to make all these drawings. All of them, without exception, were excellent. Burnside's disdain for the arts softened when she realized the power that could come out in images such as the ones created by her servant.

That afternoon Burnside saw Amy in her office. She made some tea and passed a cup to her student aide. Then she spoke.

"Amy, there is a question you've had, and that you tried to ask me back in December. You want to know what's going on with Wendy. You'll get your answer, but not from me. I cannot tell you what's going on with Wendy. It's up to Wendy to tell you what she wants to."

Burnside paused for a moment, collected her thoughts, and continued.

"I need you to start writing Wendy. Write her every day. News, gossip, poems, I don't care what. But write her. In three months she will come back out into the world. You’re going to have to help her, starting now. Whenever she chooses to write I'll bring her letters back to you."

"Why can't I just e-mail her?"

"It's not the same. If you write her letters you'll be forced to put some thought into them. You can't do that with an e-mail. Another thing. You asked if you could see her. Right now my guess is you'll start seeing her sometime in about three or four weeks, towards the end of March."

Burnside then took out the pictures from her briefcase and passed them to Amy.

"I'm giving you the drawings she's done up to now. If your photographer friend can get them published for her I would appreciate it."

Amy laid the drawings on her desk and carefully looked at them. The element of extreme pleasure in many of the images surprised Amy. She knew that Suzanne would be very happy to see these and that they were headed for publication.

Chapter 24