1 comments/ 70788 views/ 26 favorites A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 By: Munachi The following story takes place in a fictional small town in Eastern Germany, sometime in the late 1990s. Due to the German school system of that time (starting relatively late, and leading until 13th grade for those who want to attend university), most students were 18 or older during their last two years of school. This is also the case for all school students in this story. Please forgive my mistakes, I am not a native speaker of English. This story is fictional. Any similarities to real people or events are a coincidence. ~~~~~ At night, Lake Leskow looks like a black mirror. Its murky depths seem unfathomable. Sometimes, the wind makes its journey across the lake: Then, small waves ripple its surface and the moon's reflection dances on those tiny curls of water. The moon's big moment never lasts for more than a few minutes: The wind brings clouds that hide it from view. The trees of the Grünenberg Forest reach towards the shore and stretch their branches out over the water. There is silence all around, interrupted only occasionally by the quiet whispers of the leaves or the cry of an owl. At the South East, the lake is forming a bay, from which one cannot see the small town of Leskow, situated to the West of the lake. The forest is less dense here. A clearing right at the bay would make this spot ideal for swimming, if the shore weren't as muddy just here, and if there wasn't as much reed growing right at this place. As it is, on summer afternoons the families of Leskow prefer to go the "Beach", which is situated much closer to the town at the South Western shore. Of course, the sandiness of the beach is owed to the destruction of the turf by many hundreds of feet, rather than to it really being a beach. Still, the people of Leskow feel almost like at the sea side here. The small bay, on the other hand, is preferred only by young couples who appreciate mainly its isolation. Right now, however, in the middle of the night during summer break, most young couples are in the only discotheque or in one of the two bars in Leskow gearing toward a younger crowd. Some might also have taken onto themselves the long ride by regional train to the capital, to escape the boredom of their small town home for at least one evening. The little bay is quiet and dark; untouched by the existence of loud music, smoky heat, flashing lights and the drunkenness that characterizes the weekend for most of Leskow's youth. The reed is swaying softly in the wind. Finally the moon has free view of the bay for a few moments -- one cloud just left it free, the next one will reach it only in a little while -- and in its light something is sparkling in the reed: Something is stuck between its stalks. Something silver, seemingly precious. It might be a necklace or a bracelet. The silence is interrupted suddenly, the sound of human feet disrupting the quiet night. The clouds quickly hide the moon again, and thus only the silhouette of a man becomes visible, as he marches straight towards the shore of the lake. He sinks into the mud a bit, but he doesn't seem to mind. In the dark, the metal object between the reeds isn't sparkling any more, one can barely see it. The man finds it anyway; his hand disappears into the dark, cool water, grabs the little thing hidden there just underneath the surface of the lake, and pulls it out. Again, the sound of his footsteps in the shallow waters disturbs the silence. He reaches the shore and breaks a few twigs under his feet. Then he is gone, and Lake Leskow is once again surrounded by silence. In the meantime, somewhere in the little town of Leskow, a young man named Martin is drunkenly swaggering towards his home, while trying with all his might to forget that he has only two more weeks left until the start of the new school year. *** Martin was not a good student, nor did he enjoy school. He did not enjoy any kind of effort. And since open protest against the tasks life set him would have been an effort too, his attitude made him reminiscent of a thick lump of clay that with enough strength could be forced into any chosen shape, but which would never look particularly elegant in it. It was not only his behaviour, but also his looks that made him seem like a heavy, formless lump. From his elementary school years onwards, he tried to resist all tasks, like doing his homework or studying for a test, with a stubborn silence -- but only until it started seeming probable that resistance would be harder work than doing whatever was asked from him. He had to repeat the third grade. After that, he learned he had to avoid that kind of mistake, if he wanted to continue the comfortable life he had grown accustomed to. This realization was caused not so much by the beating he took from his father after he brought home his report card. Rather, it were the annoying tutoring lessons and longwinded discussions during which his parents asked him again and again to explain his opinion towards his own failure, that convinced Martin that too many problems in school would result in more work than doing his homework in the first place would have been. Thus, from that day onwards, his performance was remarkable in neither a positive nor a negative way. Despite not being a dismal student, though, his incapability for independent thinking, abstracting the learned facts, or forming an opinion of his own, caused at least the more committed of his teachers to worry. Martin got through a conversation about this very topic with his sixth grade German teacher by maintaining a stubborn silence and nodding his head just at the right places. The teacher let him go, full of doubt whether her charge had understood her point at all and with growing insecurities as to how to formulate her worries in a letter to his parents. In the end, she refrained from any action she had planned to face this problem, and gave Martin a grade that was high above the one he would have deserved -- maybe due to the guilt she felt about her own lethargy concerning the issue. Martin's parents urged him to go on with school after the compulsory ten years of education, and prepare for university studies, and even though Martin wanted nothing less than study at a university, he decided it was easiest to yield to their wishes. Thus it seemed probable Martin would graduate from 13th grade in a few years, even if his grades would be well below his class' average. Martin hated sports, and you could tell just by looking at him. However, he took care not to gain enough weight to find himself on the receiving end of his class mates' teasing and bullying, or worse, to give his mother the idea that he needed a diet. As it was, he was not only slightly taller than the average for a boy his age, but also quite burly without actually being fat. The features of his face weren't unshapely or crude, but even less could they be described as fine -- to call him ugly would have been a gross exaggeration, which would not occur to anyone anyway since his face was much too uninteresting for that type of description. His hair was of a dark, muddy grayish brown, and every other month he cut it down with a razor to a length of just a few millimeters. For many years Martin was not interested in girls, they were simply one of the many nuisances he had to face in the class room, and he ignored them as best he could. Only when he reached adulthood, he started realizing that he was strangely drawn to these creatures. He did not give himself in to any illusions, however. He knew that the girls in his school, or any other girls he might meet in town, did not like him. They seemed to never even look at him. Nevertheless, he did not concern himself with that too much. For the time being, he contented himself with the occasional magazine he bought at a kiosk, or, since he had reached his 18th birthday, with the porn section at the local video store. On a few occasions, he had a chance for a peek into the girl's locker room after P.E. class, and he took advantage of that opportunity. Afterwards, there was one girl in particular that he could not get out of his mind, a new and disconcerting sensation for him. He thought of her for many evenings while he was lying alone in his bed, and for a while the erotic magazines he was hiding in a nondescript box remained untouched, as closing his eyes and remembering her pale skin and red hair in the greenish light of the locker room was quite enough to give him the desired climax. Eventually, however, the school year was over, and not seeing her during summer break was enough to allow Martin to stop thinking of her. While Martin was very far from being popular, he never had a lack of friends, since he easily integrated into groups as long as they did not ask him to think independently. He had a reputation of being pleasant company for all those who liked having both the first and the last word, since he never disturbed them with suggestions of his own. In order to not have to argue, he agreed with everything, participated in everything as long as it was not too much effort. At the same time, he wasn't noticeable enough to be missed, when due to a changed balance of power and influence in the school he switched into a new group of friends, nor was his lack of loyalty ever challenged. It was just the way he was. * The first day back in school after the summer holidays started with horrible news: Mr. Seger, the mathematics teacher, had suffered a deadly accident the previous evening. Silence gripped the room, and twenty six pairs of eyes were staring in shock at Mrs. Jadrowski, who had entered the class room about five minutes after the bell rung, to bring the sad message to the students of the 12th grade Basic Math Course II. Twenty six pairs of eyes -- but in the room there were twenty eight students. Two students were not looking at her, two students sitting at the last table next to the windows. One of these two was Martin, who was gazing out the window, as he did so often, the other one was a quiet, red haired girl named Laura, who was looking down at her knees. It is impossible to tell what Martin was thinking of; quite possibly he was not thinking anything at all. At the very least, though, he heard enough of what was being said, to act appropriately and not be noticed. Laura, on the other hand, was thinking of that fateful afternoon almost two weeks ago, on which she had broken up with her boyfriend Daniel, while they were having a picnic on the small clearing at the Southeastern shore of Lake Leskow. * The fact that this had happened on her eighteenth birthday of all days, only seemed to make matters worse. Maybe the high expectations both of them had harbored for this highly symbolic day had played their role in the unfolding of events which had lead to their dispute. Maybe the tension both Laura and Daniel had felt in the days upcoming to this event had needed an outlet, and the worst fight in their relationship had been the inevitable result. After all, on Laura's 18th birthday "it" was supposed to happen. Laura's parents were conservative even for the standards of their small town home, and had made sure to ingrain in their daughter the idea that sexual encounters at too early an age might have unforeseeable psychological effects -- apart from the risk of getting pregnant. When, a little more than a year earlier, her relationship with Daniel had started becoming more and more serious, the girl had told him that under no circumstances would she agree to anything in this respect before turning 18 years old. Daniel was one grade above her in school and thus more than a year older. However, he proved to be the most understanding and patient boyfriend both Laura and her parents could ever have hoped for. Laura's parents knew Daniel's family. Not well, but the way most families in a town the size of Leskow know most other families. Laura and Daniel themselves had not had much to do with each other, going to different preschools and elementary schools, until Laura started 7th grade and thus began visiting the same school Daniel was going to for a year already. In fact, though he had never told her, Daniel had started developing a crush on her since the first time he saw her on the school yard a few days into that school year, sitting alone on a bench with her nose in a book, as Laura had been very shy at that age and had needed a few months to make friends with her new class mates. Daniel, while not a shy person in general, had needed several years to muster enough courage to ask the red-headed girl out: If he had been patient since then, what did it matter to wait another year, until she turned 18? The maturity of both of their behavior had not gone unnoticed. A few months before the appointed day, the trust of Laura's parents had grown so much that they allowed their daughter to go out until late in the evening, as long as she was with her boyfriend. When speaking to close friends, they already jokingly referred to him as their "son". Those who knew them well could deduct from these remarks that they hoped he might one day really become just that. Still, even with their new freedom, Laura and Daniel held on to their promise. Up to Laura's eighteenth birthday they had not exchanged more than kisses, even though Laura had recently felt unknown urges awaking in her, making her desire greater intimacy with the boy she loved. Accordingly, both Laura's and Daniel's expectations for the afternoon of her birthday had been big. They had decided weeks beforehand that this should indeed be the day. Laura did not want to celebrate her birthday with her friends -- it had been years since she had last thrown a birthday party, to her, such events were childish. Instead, she told her parents that all she wished to do was going on a quiet walk in the forest, just her and Daniel. It was the end of August, a warm and sunny day. Daniel had brought a blanket and a vast variety of food for Laura's birthday picnic, he knew her well enough to choose all her favorites. Thus, after slowly strolling through the forest for a while, the two of them sat down to eat by the shore of the lake, on the small clearing near the hidden bay on the lake's Southeastern end. However, Laura was barely able to eat anything at all -- there was a strange tension in the air. Finally they put the remainder of their picnic to the side, and started kissing so timidly; a passer-by would have thought this was their first date. Laura was not sure what had happened after that. All of a sudden, they had been in the middle of a huge fight. Of course they had had their disagreements before, but not a fight like this. How had it come to this? Vaguely Laura remembered Daniel pulling a bracelet out of his pocket. He claimed to have just found it, right at the place they had chosen for their picnic. He wanted to give it to Laura. And then? For some reason, she didn't want the bracelet. She had been angry at him, an anger that consumed her completely, that blocked out all reasonable thought. She had accused him of the strangest things. Why? It felt as if she hadn't been herself anymore. Finally she had run off, left the forest, yelling that she never wanted to see him again. * A soft touch on her arm jerked Laura out of her thoughts. She looked up and into Martin's round face. He returned her look with his usual, indefinable expression. Oh, how she hated him -- Laura had felt a strong aversion against this boy from her first day at this school. It wasn't like her to feel this way, really. She was the type of girl that saw something good in everyone, and she certainly was not into bullying or excluding people. But she was sure that there was something wrong with him. It wasn't just that he was stupid and seemed to have no mind of his own, it was more. He scared her. It made her uncomfortable that he had touched her. Why was she even sitting next to him? She vaguely remembered entering the room, the whole class being present, and looking for a place to sit, but she couldn't remember choosing this seat. Maybe it had been the only free seat, she thought. "Didn't you hear?" Martin asked. "What!?" Laura's voice came out louder than planned. "Mr. Seger has died. We can go home. Tomorrow there is a memorial gathering in the assembly hall, and then classes continue as soon as they can find a replacement." Laura looked around. Mrs. Jadrowski was standing near the door and talking to a few students. They all looked sad and worried; one girl was wiping tears out of her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. The others were packing their books back into their bags silently and with serious expressions. Shocked Laura turned back to Martin, many questions on her mind, but he was already halfway to the door. * The memorial assembly started at ten o'clock. It was scheduled to last two hours, afterwards classes would resume -- after all, the new school year had to get started at some point. It was loud in the assembly hall; the principal had to ask for silence repeatedly. He tried to remind the students that this was a memorial service, a moment to show respect. However, for about half the school's students, those who never had had any classes with Mr. Seger, this event was nothing but a welcome distraction in those frustratingly boring first days of school after the summer break. Laura sat near the door in the back of the assembly hall and was once again staring at her knees. Today, she was wearing a dark knee-length skirt. Normally she preferred jeans, but today seemed to be an occasion to dress a bit nicer and at the same time, as the school was in mourning, to wear black. She had discussed the issue with her mother, and both had agreed that this skirt and a dark blouse were the appropriate attire for this day. As the assembly started with a long speech by the principle, Laura grew unsettled. She had the strange sensation that someone was watching her. Searchingly, she looked around in the hall. She discovered Daniel about fifteen meters from her. After a few more reminders by the principal to behave befitting to the situation, the students in the hall finally quieted down. Daniel was looking to the front, apparently listening attentively. Laura believed to see that he was pale and had dark rings under his eyes. But that was nonsense, of course, he was sitting much too far away for her to notice such details. She turned away. Listening to the voice of the principal, reminding his audience of the life and achievements of Mr. Seger, who himself had once studied at this very school, was wearing her down, and making her sad. Laura had liked Mr. Seger. He hadn't been young anymore, at least from his students' point of view, and at the same time he seemed to lack experience of life in the world out there -- but it was just that which was making his students trust him and feel close to him. Most of them had hardly ever left their small town either and although some occasionally tried to rebel, their teacher's old-fashioned conservativeness had been something reassuringly familiar to them. He was just like everything they had known from their childhood onwards. Of course, Laura had never been particularly good at mathematics. However, since Mr. Seger had once been in the same class as her mother, he had greeted the girl with a friendly smile every morning when he entered the class room, and had been as lenient as he could be when grading her performance, without it becoming unfair to the other, more talented students. And Laura had shown her gratitude by studying all the harder. She was more interested in languages, literature and social sciences; however, she was well aware that the natural sciences and especially mathematics were just as important if she wanted to succeed in life. At least, that was what she had always been told, and willingly accepted. A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 All these thoughts drove tears to Laura's eyes. She just couldn't stand sitting there any longer, Laura eventually realized. She didn't want to remember at every moment that a person had died; someone that she had known. Last time this happened she had been five years old. That had been one of her grandfathers, her other grandparents were still alive and well. Death had not been part of her quiet little world yet, and thinking about her teacher being gone caused turmoil in her that she couldn't quite grasp. She didn't want to listen to speeches reminding her of his death anymore. And anyway, she had to use the bathroom. * After leaving the rest rooms, Laura wandered along the empty hallways back towards the assembly hall. The school building had been renovated just a few years earlier, and so far the students hadn't managed to destroy the impression of clinical cleanliness of the white walls, gray doors and yellowish linoleum floors. Of course graffiti, or more commonly the scribblings of a thick pen, appeared on the walls occasionally, but the perpetrators were always quickly found and had to paint over the evidence of their wrong-doing themselves. Laura stopped at a window and looked out into the school yard. She gazed at the bike stands that never seemed to provide enough space for all the bicycles. All around them, standing bikes and bikes that had been knocked over were assembled in a chaos of wheels and colorful frames. Behind them, in between the green of some trees, she could make out the dark waters of Lake Leskow. The forest was on the other side of the lake, its lush greenness calling out to anyone stuck in school. Despite the rather sad occasion, it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining down onto the forest, and the lake, and the school. The sky was still blue; it was a glorious September this year. The weather certainly took no consideration for the sadness that had gripped the school. Again Laura had the impression she was being watched. She turned around, but the hallway behind her was empty, and the silence wasn't broken even by the sound of footsteps. Her eyes fell upon the big clock hanging on the wall at the end of the hallway. Almost 12 o'clock. She couldn't believe that much time had passed. Hadn't she left the assembly hall just shortly after the gathering had started? How could she have spent over an hour in the rest room without noticing? This was strange... Maybe the clock was wrong? Or maybe it had been later than she thought when she had left the assembly? Well, either way, she decided that it wasn't worthwhile going back. Instead, she should rather go up to the second floor and get a coke from the machine there. Then she could wait for the others to come back out of the assembly hall, mix in with the crowd, and go back to class unnoticed. Yes, a coke seemed a good idea. She was thirsty, and felt a strangely bitter taste in her mouth. * Within a few days, the everyday rhythm of the school year had caught up with Leskow's students, and the traumatic message of that first day of school seemed forgotten. A short notice in the local newspaper informed the readers that the mathematics teacher Frank Seger had been buried on Wednesday with only his closest friends and relatives present. None of them lived in town -- Mr. Seger's parents, the only part of his family that had lived in Leskow, had passed away several years earlier -- so firsthand accounts of the burial were hard to come by. His classes were temporarily taken over by an elderly lady who had already spent a few years enjoying her pension. Once she had been feared for being a particularly strict teacher, but by now she was more noted by being a bit confused. She welcomed her return to the school as a nice distraction from her quiet, lonely life as a pensioner and quickly agreed to fill Mr. Seger's post until the regional school administration board would send an appropriate replacement. In the meantime, as the new school year went on, Laura realized to her surprise that she was sitting next to Martin in almost all of her classes. She wasn't sure how this had come about, she never remembered choosing that particular seat. Whenever she noticed, however, all the other seats in the classroom were taken and the seating already approved by the teacher, so it was too late for her to choose a different place to sit. She did not spent too much time worrying about this, however, as she had other, more urging problems: Even though she had decided that life must go on and that she shouldn't waste her time crying about the end of her relationship -- it somehow didn't fit the image she had of herself, that she would suffer too much about a boy -- her eyes were constantly wandering across the school yard and the meadow next to the school building in search of Daniel. However, she rarely ever actually saw him; sometimes she even wondered whether he spent the breaks indoors in order to avoid her. Also, the breakup seemed to affect not only her general mental wellbeing, but even her performance at school. At least that was the only explanation Laura could come up with for why she often could not even remember specific topics ever being discussed in class. Whenever she was asked a question by the teacher or had to write a test, it seemed to her like this was the first time she ever even heard of the things she was asked about. There were bits and pieces missing in her memory, and as much as Laura tried to concentrate on the tasks at hand, it seemed her thoughts were always wandering off during class, making her forget where she was. She was regularly surprised when the bell rang, indicating the end of a school day, since it seemed to her as if she had entered the school building just a few minutes earlier. Also, she was almost always tired. Once she even fell asleep during a school break, sitting underneath a tree right next to the lake. Her sleep was deep enough for her to miss two hours of history class. All students who were eighteen or older were allowed to leave the school building during breaks and free periods, as long as they returned in time for their next class. Once they had reached the appropriate age, during those last warm summer days most students thus preferred to spend their breaks on a small meadow at the shores of Lake Leskow, right next to the school yard, in the shade of a few tall trees. Here they sat in little groups, smoking and discussing their homework, or playing cards. Since Laura had only turned eighteen shortly before starting twelfth grade, she had so far not belonged to any of these groups. However, even now she preferred solitude over the company of the other students, and liked sitting by herself under one of the trees right next to the lake, looking out over the water. Usually she had a book in her hand and spent her school breaks reading, a habit dating back to the time before she had started spending most of her free time with Daniel. On that particular day, she dozed off doing just that, and when she woke up again, she had found the meadow to be completely empty, all students had returned to their classes. A look onto her watch told her that she had slept for almost two hours, but instead of feeling rested, she was more tired than ever. From the slight pain walking back to the school building caused her -- what in the world would her teacher say? -- she deduced, that she must have been lying in a quite uncomfortable manner. In the following class however, mathematics with the new substitute teacher, she was able to concentrate well, her thoughts did not wander off one single time. * As every year, the month of September ended with the celebration of the Leskow Castle Festival. Outsiders often had difficulties understanding why this small town called its yearly medieval spectacle a "Castle Festival". After all, in the area of Lake Leskow not even the ruin of a castle could be found, nor did any of the old documents mention the existence of the ominous castle. As every year, History and German teachers at all of Leskow's schools gave their best to wake their students' interest in the legends of a castle that had disappeared into the lake because of the acts of an evil wizard. Their explanations, however, were usually greeted with bored sighs; the students of Leskow had heard the same stories every year since the start of their education and could not find anything particularly interesting in them anymore. Despite this, however, they all looked forward to the celebrations, the highlight of which was the diving competition for Leskow's young men. Considering it was the end of September, the divers would have to expect considerably cold water, making their participation a proof of how tough they were. In fact, the diving competition was not only the central event of the Festival, but also the official end of the bathing season. After the diving festival, the beach would usually be deserted and the shower and changing stalls locked. Laura was one of the few students not planning on going to the festival this year. She knew it all by heart: the medieval looking costumes, the vast amounts of bratwurst and beer, the speeches, the stages on which children presented small theatre performances and local bands tried to win the audience's interest in their music. Apart from somehow not finding all of this interesting anymore, she couldn't help remembering how she had visited the festival together with Daniel in the previous year. And she knew that Daniel had signed up for the diving competition. When he had signed up, a few months ago, he had promised her that he would win "for her". Would he still participate? In any case, she surely did not want to see him dive. However, she could not stay at home either. Her parents had started noticing her strange behavior of the last few weeks. They had also realized that Daniel was not coming to visit her anymore. While they did not ask questions about what had happened between them, they thought their daughter needed distraction and insisted on her going to the festival. They were planning to go there themselves, sometime later in the evening, and promised to take their daughter along, should she still be sitting in her room at that time. Laura was not in the mood for arguing, and so she left the house sometime in the afternoon of the 30th of September and, once out of sight of her parents' house, started wandering the streets aimlessly. She met families and groups of young people, all going in the opposite direction, towards the lake and the festival site. The further on she went, however, the lonelier the streets got. Laura liked this; she enjoyed the quiet and let her thoughts wander. For once, it felt like she really had some peace and quiet. And then, suddenly, having no recollection whatsoever of going there, she was standing in front of the festival site. On a small stage some children were just presenting a play about the legend of the princess in the castle of Leskow, who had fallen in love with a wizard. While a little girl in a pink dress sang the love song of the princess, a little boy in blue wizard robes did his best to show the evil snarl of the wizard, who was already secretly plotting to let the castle disappear into the lake with the princess in it. He would follow her into the lake then, never to be seen again, so he could have the princess only to himself. At the Beach, a group of young men was getting ready for the diving contest. Laura's heart started beating wildly when she discovered Daniel in the group. He was facing away from her, looking out over the lake, which gave Laura the opportunity to stare at him unnoticed. His dark hair was messed up from the wind; his upper body was still as tanned as during the summer. Something was sparkling at his wrist, and with a little start Laura recognized the bracelet he had wanted to give her on her birthday. The bulky and pale figure next to Daniel surprised Laura -- it was Martin. Well, Martin was nineteen years old and had thus reached the minimum age for participating in Leskow's diving contest. However, neither Laura nor anyone else would ever have expected Martin to voluntarily participate in something as exhausting, especially when it was to take place under the eyes of the whole town. But there he was. He was wearing only his shorts, and a necklace. When he turned around for a moment to scan the crowds, Laura could see a heavy locket hanging from it. This almost free view of his formless body made him seem even less likeable to Laura, though she reprimanded herself for being so superficial. However, even though he was not particularly heavy, he reminded her of a pile of pudding. Just as she thought this, Martin discovered her and smiled and waved. Laura felt heat rising up to her cheeks and after an exaggeratedly friendly smile back she quickly turned away. She hesitated for another moment, and then Laura approached the lake, stepping into the crowd of onlookers. Now that she was here anyway she could just as well watch the contest. That way, she would be able to answer any questions by her parents to prove she really had gone to the festival. And somehow, she realized, she still wanted Daniel to win. The mayor's voice swept from the loud speakers out over the festival site, explaining the diving contest's rules both for visitors and for locals, who might have forgotten everything since the last year. A little box containing the winner's price, the voice said, had been hidden in a marked off area of the lake, on the ground, in a depth of about three meters. The contestants were to look for it underwater and "free the castle", which was symbolized by said little box. The lucky winner was allowed to keep the box and whatever he found inside it, and additionally he would receive a kiss from the "princess". The princess was the winner of a beauty contest that took place every year just before the festival. This year a tall and slender eleventh grader with long blond hair and a somewhat strained smile, dressed up in a medieval looking red-and-gold dress, was standing on the stage next to the mayor, awaiting the happy winner. Finally, the mayor gave the long-awaited signal to start the contest and eight young men left their spots by the shore on which they had been told to wait. They ran into the lake and threw their muscular bodies into the chilly water. While they quickly swam towards the area that had been marked with brightly orange buoys, the ninth boy, Martin, needed a few moments to splash water against his arms and stomach, before he dared to let his body sink into the cold lake. Once he started to swim as well, with calm strokes, the onlookers' attention was averted back to the other contestants, several of which seemed to have problems coordinating their swimming movements. They either slowed down considerably or inexplicably changed the direction they swam into, so that in the end only three men reached the area in which the box was to be found somewhere on the bottom of the lake. Both Martin and Daniel belonged to these three boys. The other contestants, in the meantime, were too far away now to stand a chance, and thus decided to give up. All three disappeared underneath the lake's surface at the same moment, as if following a command only they could hear. Now it was a matter of skill, who of them would reach the ground first, and a matter of luck, which boy would end up finding the box in the dark waters of the lake. The people at the beach cheered them on, shouting the name of their favorite, if they knew one of the three young men, or else just uttering general encouragements. After a while, the cheers subsided and were replaced by a growing murmur. People were starting to get worried. Shouldn't the three divers long ago have surfaced again, one of them with the little box in his hand? Or at least come up for a quick new lungful of air? No one had checked the time, but they seemed to have been gone awfully. Laura couldn't help thinking of Daniel, drifting down there, somewhere in the dark water. She held her breath, worried. Then, finally, one head appeared above the surface: To Laura's surprise it was Martin, and a moment later he lifted his hand from the water, tightly clutching the little box. It sparkled in the sunshine. He lifted it up into the air triumphantly. Some people started cheering; a certain relief in their voices, and the cheers grew in volume as a few seconds later Daniel's head surfaced from the lake. Both young men now started swimming towards the shore. But one diver was still missing, and as the seconds passed without him joining the other two, all relief and cheer disappeared from the voices and was replaced by more worried murmuring. Minute after minute went by, however, the third diver did not return. * The third diver's name was Peter Grabow, he was twenty years old and had been planning to start university in October to study P.E. and Geography, and become a teacher. Swimming and diving had been his passion ever since he had been a little boy; he was a member of the local swim team and quite likely the best diver in town. In tears, his mother told this again and again, to the reporters of various newspapers, to friends that had come to console her. Sobs interrupted her words, but speaking about Peter was the only way she felt she could cling on to a last bit of sanity. Daniel and Martin both said they had not as much as touched Peter. He had been with them, under water, but when they dived down, he reached the ground at a place too far away from the little box. When they both got ready to emerge from the water again it had looked -- as much as you could see anything in the murky waters of Lake Leskow -- as if he was still searching the ground of the lake. Daniel added something else: It had looked as if Peter didn't want to swim back to the surface. This kind of comment caused a small amount of suspicion, but a lot of people in town knew Daniel, and no one who knew him could agree with that kind of accusation. Finally, after the corpse had been pulled out of the water, the story of the two boys was confirmed -- there was not the slightest indication that Peter had suffered through any kind of struggle or had been hurt in any way. It seemed as if he had just swum along the lake's ground until he had drowned. There were no victory celebrations; the remainder of the festival was canceled. Martin, however, still looked satisfied with his victory. He did not seem to mind that he did not receive his kiss from the blonde princess in the mediaeval dress, but he held on to his little box and refused to show its contents to anyone -- though barely anyone asked to see it anyway. They were all too busy speculating about the cause of Peter's death. The word suicide hung over the little town like a dark curse, but no one dared to utter it directly. When the first shock started wearing of, Laura searched for Daniel in between the crowd, and finally she found him as he was leaving the changing rooms that had been reserved for the contesters that day. He did not see her, his eyes were fixed on the ground, his expression like a dark mask. * Two weeks had passed since the festival. The month of October brought cold wind and plenty of rain to Leskow, the surface of the lake rippled in little waves, the grass turned brown, and the trees lost their leafs almost overnight. As the weather grew worse, Laura found that she could concentrate better in class now. However, she still was often tired, but now her parents at least found a satisfactory explanation for this: The shock of seeing someone drown -- someone, who once had gone to the same school as her, someone who she had seen in the hallways and on the school yard and even once or twice spoken to -- could not go by without leaving traces in her young mind. Especially when it happened in such short succession after another death of someone she had known. Most people in the small town were shaken, and so was Laura, probably it caused her nightmares and thus made her night's sleep less restful, they concluded. In fact, the girl often awoke sweaty and with a racing heart, and for a few moments she was disoriented. She never screamed when she woke up, nor could she remember her dreams, yet Laura was almost as sure as her parents that nightmares were the reason of her strange condition. A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 Laura woke up that very same way one cold October night, and it took her a few moments to realize that she was safe and at home, sitting in her own bed, the blanket thrown to the side. As every time she woke up like this, she felt exhausted rather than rested. A thin sheen of sweat covered her skin, while the cold air made her shiver without her blanket. In fact, Laura realized, she felt surprisingly cold for being indoors. She grabbed her blanket and threw it back over herself. A strange bumping noise echoed through her room again and again. Laura felt her heart go faster, and she strained her ear listening for it. For a few moments she sat still, not quite daring to move again. Then she realized that the noise was caused by the window, shaking in the wind. With a sigh of relief she left the warmth of her blanket and got up to close the window. That movement helped her mind to start working more clearly, and memories of the last evening emerged. She remembered opening the window to let some fresh air in, but she also, very clearly, remembered closing the window again after a few minutes. Laura switched on the light and looked around in her room. At first look, everything seemed normal. Yet somehow, something wasn't right. When she looked closer, she discovered a few small dark patches on the floor between the window and her bed. She squatted down to observe them more closely. What she found was a bit of mud, some water, and a wet leaf, all of this arranged in the form of a slender, female foot, pointing at her bed. Her heart beating heavily, she looked around in the room once again, but there was no sign of an intruder. She was sure she was alone. A strange idea appeared in her mind. Laura sat back down on the edge of her bed and lifted one of her legs to take a closer look at her own feet: Between her toes there was some mud, and the soles were dirty too, at the heel of one of her feet, stuck another brown, half-way decayed leaf. * Laura started being scared of falling asleep. She also was scared of being awake, though, and most of all, she was scared of going to school. The only route of escape, it seemed, lay in becoming sick. This, of course, was not a conscious decision, but rather one created by her subconscious. However, her body obeyed: Fever overwhelmed Laura, and when one morning her mother found her lying in bed shivering, her face glowing red, going to school was completely out of the question. Laura was dragged to the doctor, who could not find any reason for the girl's sudden sickness other than maybe the shock of the recent demise of two people she had known, and he couldn't do anything other than prescribe some drugs and order Laura to stay in bed for a few weeks. So there she lay, wrapped tightly into her blanket, half awake and unbelievably tired, but struggling against sleep. This was, of course, a losing battle; again and again her eyes drooped and sleep overwhelmed her. However, Laura did not feel rested when she woke up -- just as she hadn't felt rested during the weeks before her sickness. In fact, her fever seemed to go up each time she slept for a few hours. Laura's room, which she was confined to now, still looked like the home of a young girl. The walls were pink with the wallpaper she had chosen many years ago and the furniture that was more fitting for a child than for a young woman. However, it was home to her, and she had always felt happy here. There were worse places to spend the long weeks of her sickness. Her parents entered her room a few times every day, to bring her a thermometer or a bowl of hot water so she could inhale the fumes, or some food or drink. Each time, they looked down at their daughter, their eyes full of sorrow. The doctor had not been able to answer their questions -- it was not clear why Laura was getting sicker and sicker. Her mother had gone to her daughter's school one day, on her way to work, to bring a note from the doctor to the secretary's office. In the hallway, she met Laura's English teacher, who started a conversation. This was a small town, people knew each other, thus the teacher had recognized right away, which student this mother belonged to, and had felt it her duty to inform the woman about the dramatic drop her daughter's performance had taken. After all, Laura had once been the best student in her English class. The mother listened calmly, and promised to have a serious talk with her child once Laura's health improved, but inwardly her worries increased. What was wrong with her daughter? Laura was her only child, and she and her husband expected a lot from her, especially in what concerned her education. Both of them were convinced that their daughter had a bright future ahead of her, should she make be willing to invest the required energy -- and they wanted to make sure that she did. The longer Laura's fever persisted; however, the less important her school performance seemed to them. It was her health, maybe her very life, they feared for now. Laura, in the meantime, kept trying to resist her urge to fall asleep. Whenever it happened after all, and she woke up again, she could not remember her dreams, but an uncomfortable feeling persisted, making her think that she must have had nightmares. Vague memories floated near the surface of her conscious, always just a bit too far to grasp them. She tried to concentrate on them, but just before they could take a recognizable shape, they disappeared. More and more often, however, she managed to wake up in the early hours of the morning, jumping up in her bed, her body sweaty as ever. Whenever this happened now, everything seemed to look exactly the same as it had in the evening -- no foot prints anywhere, and the window was always closed. October was approaching its end, and when November started, it brought new storms and more bad weather. Laura was almost glad to be sick and in bed, instead of having to go outside every day into that horrible weather. However, being at home didn't protect her from catching a cold in addition to her fever, and thus she sneezed and coughed all day long. Only at night, when once again she succumbed to sleep, did her parents not hear her coughing. * It was Sunday evening, and once again Laura struggled against the urge to fall asleep. She had spent a few hours reading, but she was barely able to concentrate on the words anymore. Finally she put the book to the side, to focus just on staying awake. In the end, however, she had to succumb to her tiredness, but some hidden corner of her mind continued its resistance, and without being aware of it, she desperately tried to wake up again. This had happened before, but this night was different: Laura had felt stronger and healthier all day, and that physical strength gave her mind more strength. So this night, finally, she managed -- after a few hours, she suddenly jerked out of her sleep. It took Laura a moment to even realize she was awake, and that it wasn't morning yet. Then, to her surprise, she saw that she was not sitting up in her bed, sweaty and with her heart beating rapidly, as was usually the case when she woke up. She was standing on her feet. Laura's eyes needed a few moments to get used to the darkness around her, to take in the strange and unexpected surroundings. It was cold, she was shivering in her little night gown. Under her feet, there was a cold and muddy mix of rain, dirt and rotten leafs. Around her, tall trees towered into the night sky. She stood in the middle of the Grünenberg Forest, the forest surrounding Lake Leskow, and she believed to make out the lake's dark waters somewhere in the distance in between the trees. The wind was icy cold, and raindrops ran down Laura's face. For a few moments, she stood still, paralyzed by the shock. Then she started screaming. * When Laura woke up again, she was lying in her bed. It felt as if not more than a few seconds had passed since she stood in the forest. She believed she could still hear the echo of her own scream. One look to the window, however, revealed that it was already morning. The sun was up, though hidden behind the gray clouds that obscured the sky most days this time of year. When she had been in the forest, it had been completely dark. The thought that she must have dreamt occurred to Laura. It was a comforting thought, a thought she wished to give in to. However, the memory of the cold wind and the rain drops cutting into her skin like icy knifes was too real. The feel of the cold mud under her feet. The ominous creak of the tall trees. Laura doubted any dream could be quite that vivid. And she had never even been able to remember her dreams at all during the last weeks. Also, there was the matter of the open window and the muddy traces on her carpet a few weeks ago. Laura jumped out of bed to squat down and search to the floor, before inspecting her feet. On first view, everything seemed normal. The soles of her feet were as clean as they should be, after her evening shower. When Laura looked more closely, however, she found some tiny remainders of mud between her toes. It looked as if she had wiped her feet, but hadn't done so thoroughly enough. She was confused, wasn't sure what to make of this. After all, dirty feet did not prove much. And even if she had, indeed, been in the forest, what did that mean? Was she a sleep walker without ever having known it? Unsure how to proceed, Laura began to further inspect her own body -- first her upper body, moving down towards her legs. When she reached the small of her back, she jumped a bit: Touching her anus with her finger hurt. She was sore there, and the area around it felt slightly swollen. The more Laura thought about it, the clearer she remembered that a few weeks ago she had felt a similar discomfort between her legs, as if her sex was a bit irritated and swollen, and that there had been a slight sting when she had to use the bathroom. With time, this problem had subsided and she had not thought much about it afterwards. So why would she remember this now? Somehow, Laura had the strange feeling that the two things were related. And yet, it all did not make sense... * Slowly, Laura's health started improving. She was not sure why she felt better. Maybe whatever was happening to her had stopped, or at least happened less frequently after that night she had woken up in the middle of the forest. Or maybe it was just her own wish to be healthy again that made her get better. She wanted to regain her strength, a strength she desperately needed if she wanted to figure out what was going on. She wanted to be able to think clearly, not see things through a feverish haze that made everything appear dark and mysterious. During that stormy day in November, after realizing that something was happening to her, she had crawled back to bed and had been lying there all day wracking her brain. Her head had hurt, and her temperature had risen. She hadn't been quite sure if everything she was thinking might not, in fact, be due to a fantasy caused by her disease. But eventually, she had been able form a plan. A crazy plan, of course, but this was a crazy situation. She was sure that with a clear head, this plan might work to give her some answers. All she needed was to get well again, and so she did. Now that she was able to get out of bed and sit at her computer, she started putting this plan into action. The first thing she did, when her parents allowed her to leave the warmth of her bed for half an hour a day -- not more, they warned, they did not want her to exhaust herself -- was a little search of internet sites that offered various electronic devices. Sitting in her computer chair, wrapped in blankets, next to her a hot cup of tea her mother had made, she quickly found what she needed: A small digital dictation machine with enough memory to record for several hours. She could not afford to buy it from her own allowance, but Christmas was close -- Laura just had to find a way to convince her parents that this was what she wanted and needed. This was easier than expected -- they were glad to find their daughter without a fever and almost back to her old, lively self, joining them at the dinner table again a few evenings later. She even announced that she wanted to return to school as soon as this would be possible. The reason for this, Laura explained over the vegetable stew her mother had prepared this evening, was that she had decided on which career she wanted to pursue once she graduated. She wanted to become a journalist, a profession which was well within the range of suitable futures Laura's parents had envisioned for their child. The need of a dictation machine as a means with which to practice interviewing techniques was a logical conclusion. Laura's father, usually a quiet man, was surprisingly talkative during this dinner. While the storm shook the bare branches of the trees in front of their kitchen window, the family shared a happy meal, Laura and her mother smiling as he named all big and reputable newspapers in the country, in which his daughter should try to do an internship during her time at university -- and maybe, with the help of some of his friends, who knew influential people, even already as a school student, during the next summer break, so she would have a head start in front of others, who might enter university with similar future plans. Laura, who so far had not seriously thought about a career in journalism -- after all, the only reason she had said so was because she needed an excuse to ask for that dictation machine -- got so caught up in his enthusiasm that she started wondering whether becoming a journalist might not really be the right future for her. She went to bed slightly exhausted, after all she was not used to spending meals at the table anymore, but very happy, and slept a deep and restful sleep that night. * Two weeks before Christmas, Laura returned to school. Her doctor offered to let her stay at home until after Christmas break, but Laura said she was in fact looking forward to leaving the house again, and besides, she did not want to fall too far behind the other students. Only very few of her classmates seemed to have noticed her absence. Laura had never been one of the most noticeable students; she had good grades but was quiet and had only a few friends. In the last years she had spent most of her time with Daniel and thus even her friends were not used to her hanging out with them. While this meant that now, without him, she was often alone even after her return from her sick-bed, it had the advantage of being able to settle back into her normal routine without having to answer too many questions about her sickness. A few teachers asked her how she was doing, of course, but they were happy with a cheerful but vague answer. Everything seemed back to normal. When Laura entered the school on that very first day, however, she saw Daniel standing in the hall way with a few of his friends. He was glancing towards the door, maybe waiting for another of his class mates, just when Laura discovered him, and their eyes met. Daniel's expression changed, but Laura did not know how to interpret it. His eyes seemed even darker than usual and she believed to see something like fear in them -- or was it disgust? Then Daniel turned around and disappeared in the bustle of students on their way to their class rooms. Laura, on the other hand, found herself unable to walk on. She had not seen him in many weeks, and now she realized that she had barely thought of him during that time either. The way he had looked at her, however, the short moment his dark eyes fixated her, made her stomach curl and her legs freeze to the spot she was standing on. This spot, of course, was not the most convenient location -- she stood right in the door frame, and more students swept into the building behind her, pushing her along and forcing her to come back to her senses. For a moment, Laura considered turning around. She could easily have claimed that she did not feel good and wanted to take her doctor up on his offer to give her another two weeks of sick leave. Finally, however, she decided that a return to her normal life was the best thing she could do. Her legs still felt strangely weak, however, while she entered her class room and walked to the back, to her seat. She could not push the memory of Daniel's face out of her mind. Thus, it took her a while to notice that Martin seemed to not be attending class that day. Since she rarely had talked to him, other than on that first day of the school year, she did not think much about it. After all, with the weather of the last weeks she could not have been the only one who got sick. In fact, several seats in the class room remained empty. * Christmas came and passed without any noticeable events. Laura was in good shape again, her fever seemed long ago and forgotten. She enjoyed the rich Christmas meal her mother prepared, as every year, and felt a certain nostalgia celebrating with her family as she had done since her childhood. Her father, it seemed, had invested more than usual into the Christmas tree that year: It was huge, and beautifully grown, and her mother and Laura did their best to do it justice with the decorations. Somehow, each of them felt like they were repeating an old tradition for a last time: Laura was grown up now, and soon their family Christmases might cease to exist in this manner. If that was the case, they wanted to enjoy this one more than ever. On the second day after Christmas, Laura and her parents went to Bavaria to visit an aunt and celebrate the New Year with her. This was another family tradition; they went there almost every year. Though most of Laura's friends preferred New Year's parties with a lot of loud music and even more alcohol, Laura always participated in the family journey without protest -- after all, this gave her an opportunity to go skiing, which was not possible in the flat area around Leskow that only saw a thin layer of snow in winter. Also, she had never been very interested in the kind of parties most of Leskow's youth seemed to prefer. Laura had received the Christmas present she had asked for, along with a few books about Journalism and writing techniques -- however, by now she almost started doubting this Christmas wish had been necessary. Since that night in the forest nothing of the kind had happened anymore. She felt well rested every morning, and in the last two weeks of class before Christmas break she had had no trouble concentrating, and had managed to even out some of the previous bad grades with her performance in the newest tests and exams. The fresh winter air in snowy Bavaria seemed to do her health good, Laura felt better every day. She all but forgot about her worries at home, and spent most of the day outdoors, in the beautiful nature that surrounded the village her aunt had moved to seven years earlier. As it was Christmas break, some of the younger inhabitants of the village spent their days skiing as well, of course with a lot more skill than Laura, but they were friendly and patient in teaching her. She knew most of them from previous visits, but to her surprise more than one of the boys seemed to receive the news of her break-up with Daniel with great interest: Laura was not used to being courted, but she enjoyed the situation though none of the boys was really her type, nor did she have much interest in a long distance relationship. Still, during the week in the South she felt almost as calm and happy as she had before her birthday. *** Martin returned to school on the first day of class in the New Year. When Laura entered the class room that Monday morning -- as every Monday, the day started with math -- she saw him sitting on his spot, in the back of the room, by the window. He looked up as Laura walked toward him, and when he saw her, a smile crossed his round face. Automatically, Laura smiled back, though she could not stop herself from thinking just how false and unlikeable his smile looked. Like something that did not belong onto Martin's face. Despite these thoughts, she was surprised. Martin did not tend to smile very often. When she sat down, his smile had vanished already, and he had resumed staring down onto some scratch marks on his desk with a vacant expression. A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 The first half of math class went quite well. Laura was rested and in a good mood, she listened attentively and found she had no difficulties in solving the tasks the old substitute teacher, Mrs. Koch, set the class. After the long days of skiing and hiking in the snow, she had spent the evenings catching up with everything she had missed due to her sickness, under the approving eyes of her parents. Even though math was certainly not her favorite subject, Laura could raise her arm various times and give correct answers to Mrs. Koch's questions. After a few exercises, Mrs. Koch was delving deeper into a new topic. The old lady's voice had grown weak over the years, and her tone of speech had always been monotonous. Despite her best intentions, it became more and more difficult for Laura to listen to her drone. She looked around the room. Two boys in the front row were obviously playing cards under the desk. A girl was reading a magazine, another one a book. Some students had their arms on their desks and were resting their heads on them, others were scribbling into their note books -- it did not look like what they were writing were actual notes. 'Focus', she told herself. She couldn't afford not listening to the teacher. The others had not been sick, they had a head start. Laura opened her eyes as wide as she could, until they hurt, to force herself to stay attentive, and stared at the teacher. "... and if you want to get to this result in a faster way, you can also skip step three and rather just multiply ..." What was step three again? Laura didn't remember -- she should have taken notes. She decided to open her math book, maybe there was a better explanation in there, than the one the teacher was giving? She leaned down towards her bag to look for her book ... ... Suddenly the bell rang, and Laura jumped -- she had no idea what Mrs. Koch might have talked about during the last ten minutes. Nor could she remember what she had done instead, what she had thought about -- had she really just spent ten minutes or more searching her bag for her math book? But that was already lying on her desk... She felt a bit like waking up from a short but deep sleep. Also, Laura's behind hurt -- not in a way that might be normal after spending an hour on her hard wooden chair, but rather, as if someone had pinched her repeatedly and quite hard. Slowly, Laura picked up her things, putting them back into her bag as neatly as always, and left the classroom. While she wandered along the hallway towards the room she would have her next class in, her mind was full of questions and strange ideas. Her next class was history. She liked History. Actually, it had been one of the few classes in which she had no problems even back in October, when everything had gone downhill. Suddenly, she realized that Martin was not taking History. She was sitting alone there. But not only History, also English and Art class went by without anything remarkable happening -- and those were classes during which he did sit next to her, though he never once turned to look at his neighbor, much less repeat the smile he had given her in the morning. Still, Laura was worried. This had been the first time in weeks that she had been unable to concentrate, and that a chunk of time was missing from her memory. When it was time to go to bed, she decided that today was the day to try out her new dictation machine. She had sewn a hidden little pocket into the insides of her night gown which was just big enough to hide the little machine in. Before going to sleep at eleven in the evening, she turned it on. She had eight hours until she would have to get up again, and the memory of the machine should be enough for that amount of time. *** When Laura woke up the next morning, she felt more exhausted than she had felt in a long time. She was sneezing and coughing, and even though she was lying under her thick blanket, she was shivering. Outside, it was still almost dark, and through that darkness little snowflakes danced by her window. Hesitantly, she removed the blanket, and trembling in the cold, she went into the small bathroom next to her room. There it was a little bit warmer -- her parents believed that it was a waste of resources and money to leave on the heating in her room over night, when she was in bed anyway, or during the day when she was in school. Only in the late afternoon, when she returned home, was she allowed to switch the heating on. Under the shower, she started feeling more awake, and her mind slowly began working again. Remembering the previous evening, Laura's beat faster: She had started to put her plan into motion. She finished her shower more quickly than she normally liked to. As soon as she had climbed out of the shower, Laura grabbed her night gown, which she had let fall to the floor earlier, and checked for the dictation machine. It was still there. Relieved, she grabbed her towel. She would have liked best to sit down at her computer as soon as she was done dressing, to check what she had recorded during the night, but first she would have to sit through another long school day, if she wanted to avoid her parents' questions. Before putting her bra on, Laura believed to see a very slight bruising on one of her breasts, and her nipples were, now that she thought about it, particularly sensitive to touch today. They had felt somewhat raw when she had rubbed the towel over them. Laura remembered the other odd things she had observed about her body in the last month. Still, she would have to wait until the afternoon before she would learn more. The day went by without any event of note; Laura had trouble keeping her eyes open, but managed to listen to what the teachers were saying. However, a few times she caught Martin looking at her, a strangely hungry expression on his face. He turned away quickly each time she looked back, and she was never quite sure afterwards, if she might not have just imagined it. As soon as she returned home, Laura sat down at her desk and placed the little dictation machine in front of her. Her parents were still at work; Laura had the house to herself as every afternoon when she returned from school. Usually, she first did her homework: She was aware of her duties and fulfilled them without pressure from her parents. Today, however, her curiosity and also her fear were too strong. She had to find out what was going on. Still, for a few minutes she sat motionless, staring down at the silver little machine. Now, that the time had come, she felt her heart beating faster and her fingers tremble. What was she about to learn? To win a few more seconds, she decided to switch on her computer -- if she connected the machine, she would be able to listen to the recording through the speakers, and thus not lose any detail. It took a while for her computer to start, and while she waited Laura's fear grew. She wasn't quite sure what she was afraid of, but somehow she was sure this was something big. 'Come on', she urged the computer in her mind -- it was not the newest machine, but so far she had never felt it was too slow for her, after all she was lucky to even have one, half of her classmates didn't. Her parents, however, had decided a bit over a year ago that this was one of the new standards of the time, and that a computer and an internet connection would help their daughter in her school work. So far, Laura had indeed used her computer mainly for that. She was not too interested in computers, and Daniel had been the one to help her to keep the machine running. Finally, it was time. With trembling hands Laura switched the dictation machine on. For a while, she could hear nothing but her own, calm breath and every now and then a creak from her bed, when she turned around in her sleep. Still, Laura listened attentively and did not allow her thoughts to stray. Finally, after maybe an hour, which meant that it must have been approximately midnight, the creaking sound increased. Laura's bed was old and made of wood, it always made sounds, and Daniel had sometimes joked that the noisy bed was her parents' control mechanism, so Laura would not get up to anything naughty in her room, when he visited her. The sound she heard now, however, could only be explained by her sitting up in her bed. Then it was quiet again, and only when Laura listened very closely to the recording, she believed to make out the sound of soft footsteps, and then another creak, a different one this time, as if her window was being opened. Then there was a short thumping sound, followed by more footsteps, this time more loudly and thus easier to make out, because under those feet Laura could hear scrunching snow. Laura's heart beat wildly as she realized that now she had proof: It had indeed not been her imagination that made her think she had been outdoors at night. Last night she had left her room through the window, and probably she had done the same thing numerous times in October and November. Waking up in the middle of the forest had not been a dream. She had to stop the recording for a few minutes to think. Finally, her heart still beating wildly, she pressed play again. There was no other way of finding out exactly what was happening to her at night. For a while, nothing other than footsteps in the snow could be heard. There seemed to be only one pair of feet; her own, Laura supposed. Finally, however, the sound of those footsteps changed -- as if she was indoors now, as if she had entered a place with an old wooden floor. And then, suddenly, there was a voice. It sounded strangely hollow, probably this was the effect of the recording -- it hadn't been the most expensive dictation machine. "Hello Laura," the voice said. "There you are, finally. I have been waiting. Very nice to see you again." Again, Laura had to stop the recording. 'Water!' she thought. 'I need a glas of water.' She got up and for a moment had to steady herself against her desk. She was dizzy. Then she walked quickly into the kitchen, glad her parents still weren't home and thus couldn't ask her any questions. With shaking hands she opened the cupboard and took out a glass, then walked to the sink to fill it with water. She drank it in one go, and then filled it again. She felt a bit better now. Leaning against the wall opposite the sink she looked out the window towards the dark night sky. She had to think, but the sound of a key in the front door interrupted her thoughts. It was almost five, she realized, her mother always returned from work at around this time. Quickly Laura retreated to her room. She did not want to have to face her mother right now, she needed to be alone. She still had two hours until their usual dinner time, and she knew her mother would not bother her, as she would assume that Laura was studying or reading. Laura sat down at the computer again. She had to know what would happen in the rest of her recording. For a few more moments she stared at the screen, gathering up her courage. Then she pressed play again. But the sounds were difficult to interpret now. Martin -- was it really him? Laura was sure that it had been his voice -- did not say anything else. But she could hear him breathing heavily, could hear a rustling of fabric, and then a thumping sound, as if the dictation machine itself had fallen to the ground. As it had still been securely hidden in its pocket when Laura got up in the morning, she could only assume that he hadn't found it. This could mean nothing other, than that it had fallen to the ground together with her night gown. The sounds were more distant now, muffled, and difficult to make out. Still, Laura believed to hear Martin breathe, while there were other, inexplicable sounds: rhythmical sounds, a piece of furniture seemed to be shaking first in a slow rhythm, and then getting faster and more urgent. The breathing got faster and louder too, and finally turned into groans. As hard as Laura tried to find good, sane explanation for what she was hearing, she could only come up with one thing. Her eyes wide in fear, Laura switched off the dictation machine again. She could not continue listening to this -- she felt sick. In the end, she decided to skip over the next half hour of recording, but what followed after that was only the sound of footsteps in the snow, and later on her own, calm breaths as she was sleeping in her own bed. *** This evening Laura fought against sleep with more desperation than she ever had done. She spent hours in the living room, with her parents. They were watching TV, as every evening, and even though Laura was not particularly interested in the show they watched, she watched it along with them, her eyes glued to the screen. As long as she was sitting on the sofa, cuddled to her mom, she was safe at least. Finally, however, her parents went to bed and Laura was alone. She stayed on the sofa, despite her mother's recommendation to go sleep soon, and watched some typical late-night-movie. However, she was not able to concentrate, her eyes kept closing on their own accord. Finally she decided to go to the kitchen and make herself a cup of coffee. She stood up from the sofa and... ... Laura's eyes popped open. She was lying on the floor. It was not the carpeted floor of the living room in her parents' house, nor was it the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, or the floor of her own room. No, the floor she was lying on was wooden, and it was also very dirty. She was sure she had never seen it before. She was lying on her back, her head turned to the side, and her legs spread wide open -- and there was someone lying on top of her. No, he was not just on top of her, he was inside her. For one, strange moment the thought "So this is what sex feels like" surfaced and dominated her thoughts. It did not hurt, so Laura assumed that she wet enough, even though she did not feel aroused. She just felt how something hard -- his penis, his dick, his cock, his manhood, her brain suggested different terms to her -- was pushed into her again and again, with great force. Laura felt strangely disconnected from her own body and from what was happening to her. She just took in her surroundings with big eyes, and tried to analyze the sensations, trying to assign meaning to them. Slowly, she turned her head. Martin's face was hovering somewhere above her. His brow was sweaty, his eyes closed, and the aroused expression around his mouth made him look ridiculous and also somewhat creepy. He was naked, and just like during the festival, when Laura had seen him without clothing by the lake, his skin was pale to the point of appearing blue in the darkness of the room. His body, as far as she could make out, was as formless as ever. From his neck, the same locket was hanging down that she had seen him wearing during the diving contest. He was uttering soft groans that sounded absurd and gross in her ears. Laura needed only a few seconds to recognize all of this. The shock made her unable to move her body out of the grotesque position it was lying in, presenting itself to Martin, completely open to him, letting him do whatever he wanted to it. Then, however, she seemed to wake up, her numbness subsided. His assault on her sex suddenly felt rougher, made her hurt, and at the same time she found herself able to move. "No!" she screamed, while hitting her flat hand against Martins pudgy chest. The clash of her hand on his skin echoed through the room. Martin opened his eyes -- for the first time ever Laura realized that they were of a muddy gray that could almost be called colorless -- and looked at her in confusion, and then... ... Laura was lying on her bed. The window was closed, and her night gown was sticking to her sweaty body. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just run a great distance. Between her legs, Laura believed to still feel a little wet. Somewhere in the distance, the clock of the church tower was striking four times. Laura climbed out of her bed and swaggered towards the bathroom, balancing with the help of her hands against the walls so as not to lose balance. When she did reach the bathroom, she did not take the time to turn on the light, but hurried to the toilet, which she reached just in time before she started throwing up. * Laura stayed awake for the rest of the night. She did not have to struggle this time, she was in a state of shock and her body was shaking in disgust. Sleep was just about the farthest thing from her mind. She sat at her computer, a cup of tea next to her, which she had hoped would help her calm down a bit. Somehow, however, the tea tasted bitter, seemed to increase the foul taste she felt in her mouth. Again and again she listened to bits and pieces of her recordings of the night before, taking notes and writing down the exact times at which she could hear the most obvious sounds. Also, she wrote down any strange event, or even the hint of anything being out of order that she could remember, from the beginning of this school year. There was more than she had realized; little things she had not thought much about, but which now, somehow, all seemed connected. The sky outside was already changing its color from black to a wintery gray when she was done, and a look at her computer's clock told Laura that it was almost seven. This meant she still had some time left before she had to go to school. She was already dressed, and she needed fresh air, so she just took her school bag and her coat, and left the house without having breakfast. Her mother was in the kitchen -- Laura had not heard her getting up, but was not surprised, usually her mother was up before her. When she heard her daughter open the front door, the mother called after her. Laura, however, did not stop. She just turned around quickly and called: "I have a report today in class. I still have to prepare a bit for that." She caught a glance of her mother, stepping into the hallway, worry creasing her face, before she closed the door behind her. For a moment Laura expected her mother to open the door again, call her back into the house, ask her for an explanation for her odd behavior -- but the door stayed closed. * Laura lived only a ten minute walk from her school, and classes wouldn't start until eight. There was time, and the idea of how to use that time appeared suddenly in her mind; it seemed so logical that she did not know why this hadn't occurred to her earlier. She turned around and walked into the opposite direction, away from her house, and the school, out of town, to the outskirts where, not far from the forest, there was the main office of the local police. There were only four police officers in Leskow, it was a small and peaceful town and there was not much to do for them. Laura had been to the police station many times before: The chief was her uncle. Her favorite uncle, actually, and she felt quite certain that she was his favorite niece. If anyone was going to believe her, then it was him. If anyone was to believe her... There was a big chance no one would, the girl suddenly realized. This was her only chance -- but if it went wrong, what was she to do? For a few moments Laura stood hesitantly by the door, but she had to try. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand, her trembling fingers slowly approaching the door bell. It was early. She hoped her uncle had already arrived at work. She already felt the cool plastic of the bell touch her finger, was about to push against it, when she noticed a strange sensation in her back, as if someone was watching her, she wanted to turn around and check who it was and... ... Laura was sitting on her chair at school. The class room was still empty. The big clock on the front wall, above the black board, told her there was another half an hour left until classes would start. It took her a moment to realize that her arm was hurting. Surprised, she looked down at her body and saw that her arm was behind her back, twisted and held in a painfully tight grip. Next to her, Martin sat in his chair, his face much closer to hers than she would have liked. She felt his breath, smelling of the eggs and onions that he apparently had for breakfast. His lips almost touched her ear. A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 "Don't you dare!" he whispered. His voice sounded strangely distorted, the bored drawl with which he usually spoke had disappeared. "No one is going to believe you. And even if they do, do you really think they've got a chance against me? I could control every single one of them just as easily as I can control you." His breath was hot against her ear. Laura cringed, tried to move away. She did not want him to be so close to her. "I really should give you less freedom," Martin continued. "It is quite obvious, that I have been too nice to you. You are taking advantage..." His grip on her arm tightened, the pain made Laura groan. And then the feeling of his breath against her ear was replaced by something wet and slimy -- his tongue. "You are sick!" Laura hissed angrily. Martin replied with a laughter that sounded more like the giggle of a teenage girl. No, it sounded crazier than that, manic somehow, as it started echoing in her head, the last thing she heard before her mind went blank. *** The next time Laura woke up, she was lying on her bed. A look towards the window told her that it was night. In the darkness, she could make out the shapes of the trees in her garden moving in the wind and heavy raindrops splashing against her window. She clearly remembered the snow that had covered the ground just yesterday, or in fact, in her memory, less than an hour ago, when she had walked through the crisp morning air towards the police station. Wasn't it much too cold for rain? She got up, feeling sorry for a moment to leave the warm comfort of her bed, and the reassuring numbness of still being half asleep, and walked to the kitchen. She had to squint for a moment when she turned on the light. Once she got used to the brightness of the kitchen lamp, Laura got a glass from the cupboard and held it under the tab, filling it with water. She looked around in the kitchen. On the table, there was a newspaper; probably her father had left it there after reading it last night, as he did every evening. Laura drank a sip of water, and then went to sit down at her usual spot, pulling the newspaper closer to herself. Her eyes flew over the front page and soon enough got caught at a headline. Who in the world would break into the museum of local history? There was nothing worth stealing there, just a bunch of old documents and photographs showing views of Leskow from different decades. She started reading. "In the early hours of Sunday morning intruders broke into the Leskow Museum of Local History. According to the museum director, Mr. Peter Schmitz, PHD, they only stole 45 Euros from the museum's cash register. The intruders broke a window; the noise of the breaking glass attracted the attention of a neighbor who called the police. The intruders managed to flee, however, before the police reached the museum. The neighbor claims to have been watching the place the whole time after calling the police, and it took not more than five minutes for a police officer to arrive at the scene -- how the intruders managed to flee so quickly is yet to be determined." A strange instinct told Laura that this article meant something important, that it had something to do with her. Maybe the intruders had, in fact, not been able to flee unseen? Maybe the truth was that they had calmly walked out of the museum right under the eyes of the police, and the policeman in question, her uncle or one of his colleagues, just had not done anything to stop them? And maybe he now just did not remember any of this anymore? Laura decided to cut out this article from the newspaper, to put it to the notes that she had made to show to her uncle. It might be another item with which to prove her story. While she was carefully tearing the article from the paper, her eyes wandered up to the top of the page. There, at the right side, the day's date was printed along with some other information about the paper. Her breath stopped when she read what it said up there: It was the second of March. * Martin had stolen almost two months of her life! Almost two months that she could not remember, that were lost forever. Laura was sitting at the breakfast table, staring angrily at the toast she had made herself, but the thought of even trying to bite off a piece made her feel sick. She had spent the whole night searching the house for old newspapers, and getting her dictation machine ready for another session. It was hidden in her pocket now, but she was not sure if she should switch it on yet. She was not sure of anything. She was just angry. Much too angry to eat. Two months! Why had he let her wake up again just now? Was there any reason or was it just his idea of fun, to torture her with the awareness of how much control he had over her? Or maybe, Laura wondered, he had not allowed her to wake up after all? She picked at her toast, taking a small piece between her fingers and crumbling it. It was dry. No, surely she could not eat this, or anything, she felt much too sick. The idea, however, that she might have escaped Martin by her own strength, seemed like a little glimmer of hope in this otherwise dark morning. Her research had not yielded many results. Nothing important seemed to have happened in Leskow during the last two months, except for the event at the Museum of Local History and a few more strange robberies. Never more than a little bit of money was stolen. Laura thought about the robbery. Maybe that was the reason she had woken up? Maybe Martin had been distracted in some way, trying to keep his control over too many people at once: The police, the neighbors staring out their windows... But then, why had she only woken up last night, if the robbery at the museum had already taken place the night before? Laura was torn from her thoughts when her mother entered the kitchen. She looked up and caught her mother glancing over at her. She looked worried. Somehow, it seemed to Laura, her mother's face seemed to be accustomed to taking up a worried expression at her sight. Probably it was noticeable that she hadn't been quite herself during these last months. "Are you okay, Laura?" the mother asked, her voice tired. "You aren't eating anything. You know, the principal has called me again yesterday. She never has seen such a sudden deterioration in a student's performance. Why won't you tell me what is going on with you?" She sat down at the table and took Laura's hand; her face desperate as she looked at her daughter again. Laura believed to see tears in her mother's eyes. "Please say something. Please talk to me again. I miss talking to you." Laura pulled her hand away. She felt a big lump in her throat that seemed to make it impossible to speak, and tears starting to well up in her own eyes. Quickly she looked away. "I've got to go, mom," she whispered. For another second, she hesitated. Then she quickly got up, grabbed her backpack that was ready and standing next to the table and went to the hallway to get her jacket and hastily put on her shoes. Her mother didn't try to call her back. Only when she was outside, breathing in fresh air, could she pause to think again. What should she do now? She couldn't tell her mother what was going on, could she? Laura felt almost as if it was her fault her mother was suffering. She wondered what exactly her parents were thinking. Maybe they feared their daughter was involved with drugs? Or whatever other explanation people would come up with when someone behaved like she must have during the last two months. The truth, of course, was much too unbelievable, unimaginable. Laura still wasn't sure she believed it herself, but the bright blue spring sky, the trees that started to show the first little bits of green on their formerly bare branches, the crocuses and snowdrops in the garden told her it was, indeed, true. Laura didn't try to choke back her tears anymore. She had lost two months of her life; she had no idea what horrible and embarrassing things she might have done during that time, against her own will, losing all control of her mind and actions. But she was awake now, and it was a beautiful spring day. Maybe Martin would leave her alone from now on? Maybe he had grown bored with her? Laura barely dared to hope so. It did not seem like him, somehow. Deep in thought, Laura walked along her normal way to school without realizing. When she looked up to find herself on the schoolyard, which was already bustling with students, it was too late to turn around. And why, after all, should she leave? The more time passed the more hopeful she grew that she could from now on continue with her normal life. As she walked toward the staircase that would lead her into the school building, a few of her classmates greeted her. To her surprise, most of them were people she did not remember ever hanging out with. In the classroom she sat down at her usual spot. Martin was not there yet. Maybe he had gone? Left town, left her life? It seemed almost too good to be true. But then, suddenly, she had the strange sensation of someone staring at her, a burning gaze that made her look up. She had been right; Martin was standing at the door, his eyes on her. He looked tired, and as if he had been in a fight: His face was slightly swollen, and he sported a prominent black eye. His eyebrows were pulled down, his expression a mixture of anger, determination and, to Laura's surprise, fear. He did not move from his spot at the door, even though more and more students gathered behind him, trying to shove him out of their way so they could enter the classroom. Martin did not seem to notice them; he focused all his concentration on Laura, not even blinking so he would not have to break his stare. Laura tried to stare back at him defiantly, when she suddenly grew aware of a strange tremble in the air. It felt, as if everything around her took on a different quality, as if the air itself grew thicker, started moving in waves that wanted to carry her brain away with them. Her thoughts became a blur, and for just a moment she still noticed herself grasping on to the edge of her desk, as if she could keep herself present by that physical action, before everything disappeared. *** Laura felt wet lips pressing onto her own. A tongue was rotating clumsily inside her mouth, intrusive and slimy. She tasted saliva, its taste unfamiliar, felt it running down her throat. Laura wanted to pull away, to escape this kiss that felt more like an assault than like an act of affection, but a hand was holding her head firmly in place, another one on her back made it impossible to escape. Martin was holding on to her, he was too strong. Finally he let go, and Laura looked around in shock. Her surprise let her forget to protest, to express her disgust with the insults she had already laid out in her mind: She was sitting on the meadow in front of her school, in the midst of a circle of students from her own grade and from 13th grade, almost all of them boys, most of them known to be bullies. Martin's friends. They were grinning at her and Martin approvingly. Martin was grinning as well. Laura was sure that he meant to smile at her, but his face was just not suitable for that kind of expression -- the strain he had to put into it, took all tenderness out of the gesture and made it seem cynical and hollow. Martin reached out for her hand, took it between both his own hands and held on to it tightly. The pressure was enough to let Laura guess that this apparent sign of affection was meant, in fact, as a warning, telling her to remain quiet, to not betray her true emotions with a single wrong word. Laura guessed enough about Martin and her own situation to take this warning seriously. "Oh Laura," Martin said with a pathos that must have sounded sarcastic to any of his friends, though they did not seem to mind. "You can't imagine how glad I am that you said that. Yes, I love you too, and everyone shall know it. Everyone should know that the two of us belong together." Laura's eyes widened, betraying some of her fear. She felt Martin pressing her hand once again painfully, while his friends cheered and seemed to consider the whole situation normal, albeit highly entertaining. She looked around. The meadow was full of students. Almost everyone seemed to spend their school breaks outdoors today. It was no surprise; after all, it was a beautiful day. The sky was dark blue, and most of the trees already were exhibiting many small green leafs. Laura estimated that it was at least the end of April, if not the beginning of May. The image of the date on the newspaper appeared in front of her inner eye. Once again several months had passed since the last day she could remember. It did not feel like any time had passed, more like she had just been sleeping for a bit, and woken up right here on the meadow. Then her eyes fell onto someone else, someone that wasn't part of the group with which she was sitting on this meadow or any other group, someone who was not sitting on the meadow at all, but standing near the schoolyard's gate and looking into her direction with a gloomy expression. Daniel. For just a moment, their eyes met. He pulled his eyebrows together. Then he turned around and walked away. Just then, Laura started feeling the same tremble in the air, she had felt that morning in march as she was sitting in the classroom, staring at Martin's bulky figure in the doorframe: The sensation of the very atmosphere becoming thicker, materializing around her and drowning her, pulling her thoughts into an abyss. She didn't want it. She didn't want to submit to the blackness that started engulfing her every thought. Laura concentrated all her strength on staying in the present, on staying conscious -- and for a few short seconds she was successful. She heard Martin's angry growl, then everything became a blur again. *** Laura gagged. Her mouth was open, her jaw forced into an uncomfortable position. She felt drool running down the sides of her mouth as something was jammed deep down in her throat. Something warm and hard. Laura's mind tried to fight the realization of what she was doing here, but as Martin withdrew his cock, her eyes focused onto the pale skin of his stomach, onto the line of dark blond hair trailing down from his belly button to his curly pubes. Then he rammed his cock again deep into her throat, forcing her to bury her nose into his pubic hair. He did not smell like he had washed this day. Again, Laura felt the urge to gag. She tried to pull away, but she was kept from it by a strong grip in her hair. He held on to her head and now started to ram his cock into her mouth at a faster pace, barely giving her a chance to breathe. Somewhere high above her, she could hear his groans. Finally, he slowed his pace again, took another break during which he almost withdrew from her mouth -- just for a moment, just for enough time so he could speak to her. "Funny, isn't it?" he said. And again, before she could put her thoughts in order, before she could make sense of anything, there was that strange buzz in the air, the feeling of everything turning into thick gel that enveloped her consciousness. Before she could wonder how much time had passed, and how much time would pass before she would wake up again, Laura's thoughts were drowned in the familiar darkness. *** Laura's father was standing in her room and shouting at her. His face was a dangerous shade of red, one of the veins on his forehead was clearly visible. This was not a good sign. For a moment, Laura was just disoriented, and then she tried to concentrate on what he was saying, to find out what he was angry about. If she could reply well, maybe she could get him to calm down. To have a chance to say something. Tell her story. And maybe, just maybe to find a chance to somehow make him understand what was going on. She needed help, but how could she ask for it? "... could you ever even have a boyfriend like that? He is impossible! I thought I knew you! And you want to move in with that guy? I just can't understand ..." He would not stop. He was asking her questions, but his voice, loud and strangely shrill, did not cease shouting for long enough that she could get out even one word. Laura felt tears sting in her eyes, but he would just account those to their fight. Maybe, if she did something strange? She looked around the room, for anything to help her. The room, her old room, the room she had grown up in -- it still looked like always. Clean and neat. If she started throwing books out of the shelves, just to get his attention? But then, it might just make him angrier. It was no use. When the air started growing thick again, filling her head with mist and drowning her thoughts, Laura considered just resigning to her fate, but something inside her told her to keep struggling, and so she did. To her astonishment, she was successful for a few seconds, while in the background her father kept shouting, without that she could take in the words anymore. Then, however, it grew stronger than her. The last thing she saw was a stuffed animal, a pony that she kept as a childhood memory on the top of her bookshelf. Then everything grew dark again. *** Darkness. Someone was snoring in the darkness. Laura was lying in a bed, the warm cover felt heavy on top of her. The window was open, but the breeze blowing into the room was warm as well. It had to be June at the very least, the warm air told her. Somewhere in the night she could hear a nightingale's song, intermingled with the distant roar of a car. Was that a real nightingale or a thrush nightingale? For a moment she was tempted to ponder the difference -- that was certainly easier than starting to think about where she might be. Reality couldn't long be kept out though. Next to herself, Laura felt a heavy body, heard even breathing. She did not dare move; she did not want to wake Martin. She was lying with her back turned to him, and could feel his squashy stomach touching the small of her back. He seemed deep asleep. Why was she awake? Why was she conscious? The last few times it had seemed to Laura, that Martin had allowed her to become conscious on purpose, as another means of torturing her. He wanted to show her the extent of the power he held over her. Those glimpses of reality lined up in her memory like things that happened just moments apart. Moments that made her shudder in disgust. Her desperate struggle against his control, when he wanted to subdue her again after just a few seconds, seemed to only have happened a few seconds ago as well. Was this a late effect of her struggle? Had she just woken up from her own free will? Some residue of the resistance she had tried to put up against him back then -- maybe months ago, or weeks, or maybe just today -- there was nothing in her last two memories to indicate the time of year they had happened --? It had to be like that. Vaguely, Laura remembered other times she had woken up at night, when it did not seem like Martin's plan for her to do so. Maybe his power was not as strong when he was asleep. Laura lay as still as she could, she did not want to wake him. She had to put her thoughts in order. Martin should not find out that she had been awake. Her resistance was growing, she realized, and she should not let him know that. Maybe, with time, she could learn to rid herself of his control altogether? But she had to think. There had to be some secret behind his power, and she had to find out what it was. Without realizing it, Laura turned to look at Martin, as if in hope to recognize his secret by a long look at him. The mattress moved, she turned too suddenly, and before she could feel him stir Laura already knew that Martin was awake. Her first instinct was to jump up, move away, leave the room, but she lay still, hoping he might think she was still asleep, that she had just turned in her sleep. She felt him sitting up, felt him move his massive frame over her, and then she saw his face. Sleepy and incredulous. A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 "Laura?" he mumbled. Then the strange quality to the air returned, everything seemed to become thicker and darker, blurring any thought in her head and pulling her in. Laura struggled; she tried to concentrate on keeping control over herself. The shock in Martin's expression grew -- he had not expected her to fight. For a short moment, Laura's mind cleared up again, and just then, her eyes fell on the locket that was still dangling down from Martin's neck, suspended by a long chain, and gleaming unnaturally in the dark room. 'Of course! The locket!' was all she could think, before Martin had regained his composure, and the darkness that drowned all her thoughts won her over once more. *** Water, everywhere water. Above her, underneath her -- water. Where was above, and where was underneath anyway? Laura turned around, panicked. She swam here, swam there, without knowing if she might not be swimming further away from the water's surface. She swallowed slimy, bitter water. Her lungs started screaming for air, soon she would have to open her mouth, and flood them with more water. Somewhere above her she could make out a dim light. She moved towards it with her last strength, and a moment later, her head broke through the surface of Lake Leskow. Air rushed into her lungs, and for a few moments Laura could not concentrate on anything but breathing. The air felt harsh in her lungs, yet she craved as much of it as she could get. Finally, her breath and the beating of her heart calmed down, and she started looking around. The lake was bathed in bright sunlight, its reflections dancing on the waves. The air was not as cold as it had felt at first. In fact, it was quite warm. The air smelled of summer, of trees and flowers -- though those trees were quite far away from her; Laura was in the middle of the lake. The shore closest to her was the southeast corner of the lake. Laura could see the little bay that she had not visited since her 18th birthday. She was at least 50 meters away from it, however. After hesitating one more moment, to look around the lake and find that there were neither boats nor swimmers to be seen anywhere, she started swimming towards that bay. She was surprised how nice it felt to be swimming; she had never been a great swimmer after all. But the fact that she felt her arms and legs finally obey only her own wishes, and the feeling of the velvety water rushing by her naked skin, all this made Laura feel alive. Too alive, to want to think yet about what she had been doing in the middle of the lake, under water. Only when Laura had reached the shore and was stepping onto land, Martin left the shade of the trees between which he had been hiding. He grinned at her, his expression devoid of any friendliness. "As you see," he said slowly and coldly, "I can kill you whenever I want, and no one will ever know it was me. So think well, before you try to resist me again." Before she could reply, Laura once again felt her consciousness being enveloped by darkness -- and this time, she did not dare to fight back. As everything went blurry, she heard Martin's voice once more: "Oh, by the way: Happy birthday, Laura." *** Martin groaned. His eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open, giving him a yet more stupid expression than he usually wore. He had propped up his upper body with the help of both arms, his head was somewhere above Laura's, his face turned upwards. His stomach rhythmically slapped against hers, with every thrust he did, and Laura could feel his sweaty skin against her own. His cock was sliding in and out of Laura's sex with ease; she did not feel pain or even physical discomfort. In fact, she felt something like a slight arousal. Physically, that is. Her body, surely accustomed to Martin's proximity by now, was reacting to the intrusion into her sex. In her mind, on the other hand, all Laura could feel was horror and disgust. Martin groaned again, he was trembling slightly. He had to be close to his climax, Laura realized. He seemed much too engrossed in what he was feeling to realize that she was conscious. His thrusts grew more violent, and to her surprise Laura realized that her body liked this, craved for more, anticipated each new thrust. For a moment she considered closing her eyes, ignoring who he was and why she was here, and just giving in to the sensations he started causing her. The touch of something hot and metallic against her chest made her forget any such ideas. The locket! Laura knew that Martin was still wearing it on a chain around his neck, even before she looked down and saw the little thing glimmering in the dark, jumping up and down against her chest, in the rhythm of his movement. Under Laura's gaze, the locket seemed to grow brighter. She almost thought the thing was winking at her. Mocking her, showing off the fact that not Martin, but it, an inanimate little object, was who really stood behind everything. And yet, she couldn't look away. She stared at the thing, barely even registering Martin's presence in the room, inside her. Something drew her. The locket seemed to hum with power emanating from it. Its touch, again and again against the soft skin of her breasts, was hot, almost burned her skin, and yet she did not find it uncomfortable. The locket seemed to call out to her, promise her a way to end all her suffering -- everyone's suffering. Did one have to wear it, to use its powers? Or could she, maybe, control Martin with its help even now, just as much as he was usually controlling her? Now Laura closed her eyes, but not to give in to any false sensation of arousal her body had created to cope with the unwanted intrusion. No, in fact she barely noticed anymore what exactly Martin was doing to her. The touch of the locket, warm metal on her skin, again, again, again, created a rhythm that was stronger than beat of his pallid flesh slapping against hers. Laura listened to that rhythm, as if it was a heartbeat, searched for a voice belonging to that heart. Searched for it through her head, her mind, through whatever, searched the room, the darkness, the air. Searched for that strange feeling of everything growing thick, that sensation she could barely describe. She wanted to find it, just as it had found her before. And suddenly she believed to have found something. There was a connection between Martin and her, a connection he had forgotten to keep under his control. He took up the speed of his thrusts, burying his cock deep inside her, arhythmically now -- he was indeed close to coming -- almost distracting her, but Laura was too desperate to allow herself to miss such a chance. Martin groaned once more, pressed his body against hers, Laura felt his weight, felt his sex twitching inside hers, felt the spurts of his hot seeds, but all she could think was that the moment had come. Now or never, she thought, and reached out to that connection, for the power of the pendant that she could feel as clearly now as if the power itself was a thing in front of her she just had to grab. She spun her mind around it, concentrated on it with all her might, concentrated on the power of the pendant, and on Martin. Besides the hot and golden glow of the pendant, her mind found something else, something tepid and bland, without much strength of its own. Martin's mind. Laura concentrated on it. Both of their eyes opened at the same time. Laura could not help smiling, as Martin stared at her, wide-eyed. She could still see the arousal on his face, before it was replaced by questions and confusion, and then by panic. She smiled and did not move, but inside her, her mind was fighting the hardest battle she had yet fought; fueled by the disgust and humiliation she had accumulated over the months, she concentrated on the thought that she wanted him to stop, that she did not want to feel his touch anymore, that she wanted him to let go of her. These thoughts, her hatred and her fear, were like needles she was throwing at him -- but suddenly these knifes seemed to dull, seemed to be held up by a layer of protection. The familiar sensation of the air growing thicker around her, of darkness drowning her, overwhelmed Laura. Martin was fighting back. Laura's thoughts became confused, she was losing control. It was so tempting to give up, to allow her mind to be dragged back into a darkness that, in the oblivion it brought, was comforting. Thinking became almost painful. Why would she want to face a reality that could never be the same as it had been a year ago, anyway? Why would she want to feel Martin's weight on her, know what he had just done to her? For a moment, Laura relaxed, stopped struggling. Numbness flooded her body. Then, however, her eyes caught the locket's sparkle again and she knew she had to act. She tried to lift up her arm to grab it, pull it off his neck, but her arm refused to obey her mind, it was like dead, didn't belong to her body anymore. It wouldn't move. Laura gathered all her concentration, and stared into Martin's eyes. She was not going to give up; she wanted him to get off of her, right now. She could feel that he had grown soft inside her, and she felt his semen drip out of her sex, running down towards her rosette. Her disgust turned to fury, and it was this fury she was concentrating against him now, without ever moving, but with all the strength she could gather. Martin's body started twitching, his eyes grew unfocused. And then, suddenly, his body flew away from hers -- yes, he was indeed flying through the air, as if a great power, maybe an explosion, had thrown him off her. His heavy, naked form was describing a perfect bow through the room, and then slapped against a wall three meters from Laura, from which he slid to the floor and remained there, a motionless heap of flesh. Laura sat up with a start. As she gulped for breath, the air rushed back into her lungs -- only now she realized that she had been holding her breath all that time. She felt light, all of a sudden, without the weight of Martin's body on top of her. She still could feel some of his sweat on her skin; felt his juices mixed with her own between her legs. But her head was as free as it hadn't been in a year. There was nothing there anymore, that tried to drag her down into darkness. If Laura had ever wondered what it might feel like to be able to fly, this would probably come closest to the sensation she would have imagined. For a while she just sat there, staring out into the dimly lit room. There wasn't much in there, just the mattress she was sitting on, some dirty curtains in front of a small window, a tiny rug on a linoleum floor, a half empty book shelf on one wall and some clothing piled up on top of a chair. She was strangely curious -- to see this place that everyone thought of as her home, and to see Martin, investigate whether he was still alive. However, she waited. Despite the newly discovered power of her mind, she felt weak physically. Finally, Laura managed to stand up. Her legs were shaking as she stood next to the bed, and her first steps felt as if she had not walked in months. Slowly, she approached Martin's motionless body. Pale, formless, not quite fat but nearly so, he was lying on the ground, his legs and arms twisted away in a strange manner. The necklace with the locket had slipped off his neck and was lying on the floor next to him. Carefully, Laura knelt down and picked it up. Again, the metal felt strangely hot in her hand. Laura stood up again, and observed the glimmering piece of jewelry in her hand more closely. It looked old, and on its front a crest was imprinted, showing a bear, a tree, and a castle on an island. The crest looked vaguely familiar, but Laura couldn't quite remember where she had seen it before. It was beautiful, though. For a moment, she felt the strong urge to put the chain around her own neck. It seemed to Laura, that the locket shortly glimmered more brightly, as if it was agreeing with her idea. And maybe it was this glimmer that reminded her of everything the locket, or Martin with the locket's help, had done to her. Loudly she said "No!" as if the sound of her voice would give her more strength; break the spell this glimmering little piece of metal was casting over her. Quickly she closed her fingers around it. She did not want to see it anymore. In her hand, the locket remained warm and it seemed to Laura like she could feel it pulsating, like a heartbeat. Only after a few moments she realized that what she felt there must be the pulsating of her own blood through her veins, because she had her hand closed so tightly. Instead of looking at the locket, Laura decided to investigate the room a bit more. From the little she understood by her last conversation with her father, she had moved in here with Martin. When? By the look of the room it could not have been more than a few days ago, but who knew? Martin did not seem the type of person who put furniture or cleaning very high on his list of priorities. And it was not like she had had much of a say in their relationship. Relationship. She shuddered at the word and threw another glimpse at the heap of flesh that was Martin. He was breathing, she could tell that much, but he didn't look like he would wake up any time soon. The mixture of disappointment and relief she felt at the realization that he was, indeed, still alive, confused Laura and she pushed any thought of him out of her mind. On the other side of the room there was a door. Laura walked towards it and opened it to step out into a small hallway from which other doors led to a kitchen and a tiny bathroom. Without thinking twice, Laura headed for the bath room. She could feel Martin's presence even here, and see it in his dirty and chewed out tooth brush, the open toilet seat, the socks left carelessly on the floor. Still, it was much better to be here than in the bed room. There was a mirror there, and for a while Laura stood in front of it, staring at her own reflection in amazement. How little she had changed -- and yet, how different she had become. This is me, she thought, looking into her own eyes, and I am only going to do what I want, from now on. In the end, however, the fascination with her own face diminished, and the remainder of Martin's cum on her inner thighs was starting to form a crust, causing her to itch. Laura looked towards the door of the bath room, and found two towels hanging there. She assumed that the cleaner of the two was hers, and put it within reach of the shower cabin, before she turned on the hot water. Only after showering for half an hour and with very hot water, Laura finally got dressed and then went to a phone she had seen standing in the hallway, to call the police. *** Laura awoke with a start. The open window of her bed room was shaking in the wind. Probably its loud thumps, opening and closing again and again, were the reason she could no longer sleep. The open window stirred a memory, and for a moment, she felt little pearls of sweat gathering on her forehead, and the pace of her heartbeat increasing. Then, however, memory of the last few days returned and Laura sank back into the cushions with a sigh of relief. She was lying in her own bed, at home, in her parent's house, in the room she had lived in since she had been a small child. Her parents had accepted her back happily, when she had appeared on their door step, accompanied by her uncle, the police chief. Her mother had hugged her without a word, and her father had taken the small bag with her clothes, that Uncle Stefan was carrying, and brought it to her room. There was no question in his mind, as to where Laura belonged. Even though Laura's parents had surely not approved of Martin, they did try to display sympathy about the tragic accident of their daughter's supposed boyfriend, and promised Laura to give her all the support and shoulders to cry on, that she needed. Still, though they could barely admit it to themselves, Laura could feel their relief at how things had ended. Almost two weeks had passed since she moved back home. Tomorrow was going to be the first day of the new school year. She hoped for a return to normality -- if she put a real effort into it this year, she would hopefully be able to catch up in class and manage to graduate with acceptable grades. In what concerned her class mates, she did not care anymore what they thought of her. She had rarely left the house in the last days, but whenever she did she could hear the whispers, feel the looks burning into her skin. Not one of all these people looking at her and talking about her, however, ever dared to ask her about Martin into her face. Of course they all thought she had been in love with him and had to be mourning now. It had been shockingly easy; everyone believed her story about the accident: She had told the police that she had returned from a little walk out in the forest, and found his lifeless body on the bedroom floor. Maybe the ease with which she convinced them should not come as a surprise, after all everyone in town knew her, and additionally Martin was about twice her size. What had happened to him, however, remained a riddle -- and was all the more reason for whispers and stares. Martin was in hospital, in a coma, ever since, and it looked like he might never wake up. No, Laura didn't enjoy it when she was with other people. She had met up with only one of her friends so far, and was not looking forward to seeing the others. What was she to talk about with them, anyway? None of them had realized how seriously wrong things were with her throughout the past year; no one had made an effort to find out what was going on. And she, Laura, had managed to free herself with only her own strength to rely on. She did not need the others anymore, and maybe this lesson was the one good thing she got out of all this, she thought. Despite all this, she looked forward to returning to school. Everything was going to be well again -- everything was going to be normal again. There was just one thing that kept bothering Laura: The locket was still hidden in one of the drawers of her desk. She had thought about it for a long time, wondering what to do with it. Every time she took the gleaming little thing into her hand, she felt power surging from it, drawing her in, tempting her. Every time she considered wearing it, for just a few minutes, just to feel what it was like to use its power. But Laura fought against this temptation. She had suffered too much from what this thing could do, she felt sick at the thought of doing something like this to anyone else. Outside, a heavy wind was blowing, and suddenly Laura could not help thinking of Lake Leskow. She could picture it perfectly, what it would look like right now, its dark waves topped by white little crowns, the moon above it hidden by clouds, the tops of the trees swaying in the breeze. The lake was deep, one of the deepest in the region. Maybe she should just throw the locket into the lake? Then it would be gone, it could not fall into the wrong hands anymore. She had made up her mind. Quickly, Laura got out of her bed and put on her jeans and a T-shirt. It was still quite warm outside; she would not need a jacket. She opened her desk's drawer. Her hands were trembling just a little bit, when she reached for the little package: A handkerchief in which she had carefully wrapped the locket, in the hope that not seeing it would help her not feel its presence. It was heavier than one would expect of a thing its size, and Laura believed to feel heat radiating from it, even through the material of the handkerchief. She put the little package into the pocket of her jeans, she did not want to feel it, did not want to be tempted by its warmth. Then Laura climbed out of the window into the night. The edge of the forest was very near her house, and soon enough she was surrounded by tall, dark trees. Their tops were swaying in the wind, leafs rustling. Laura felt a bit cold after all, missing her warm and comfortable bed. She picked up pace, and soon she reached the little bay that she deemed the perfect place to dispose of her unwanted property. The lake lay in the dark, its deep waters as black as always; hiding away she did not know what secrets. Little waves rippled on the surface, and the reflection of the moon was broken into a thousand pieces, dancing on the waves. A Battle of Minds Ch. 01 Laura pulled the package back out of her pocket, a task that was made difficult by the fact that she was wearing her tightest jeans -- it was almost as if the locket was refusing to leave the place she had stored it in, as if it knew what fate she planned for it now. Finally however, Laura held the package between her fingers, and carefully unwrapped it. There it lay in her hand, gleaming and simple yet beautiful and as surprisingly warm and heavy as always. Before she could look at it for too long, Laura closed her hand to a fist and raised it. Then, however, she hesitated. It felt almost as if the locket had grown yet warmer; the heat pulsing from it reminded her of a little animal squirming and biting in its defense. Should she really throw this thing away? It obviously wanted to stay with her. And she could do so much with it. The heat subsided a bit, changed into a more comfortable warmth, like a promise of the bright future she could have with it. If she wore it, just once ... But no, that couldn't be. The wretched thing was trying to trick her. Laura was almost sure now that it had a mind of its own. Gathering all her strength, she pulled back her arm to gain momentum, and then threw the locket out into the lake, as far away as she could. There was one short plopping sound somewhere in the distance, and then it was silent again. Laura turned around, and slowly walked away from the shore of the lake. "I believe you have lost something," she heard a voice from behind. A strangely familiar voice, though she could not quite place it. Slowly, while her heart was beating wildly, Laura turned around. Right at the shore of the lake, she could make out a man. He was standing quite still, one of his arms raised, and grasped in his hand he held the chain from which the locket was dangling, strangely bright in the darkness. Laura could only make out his outline, and thus several moments passed until she recognized the haggard, tall man. "But I thought you... you are..." "Dead?" Mr. Seger completed her sentence. Laura nodded. "Well," Mr. Seger explained in a tone resembling the way he had always spoken in the classroom. "It wasn't that difficult to stage my own death. With my little friend here," he moved his hand, causing the locket to swing back and forth, "I had no problems to get all the 'witnesses' and newspaper articles I needed to convince the town that I am dead. I even wrote my own obituary." Though Laura could barely see his face, she believed he was grinning, obviously proud of his feat. The tone in his voice caused goose bumps to emerge all over her body. "Of course you can probably barely appreciate that. After all, you weren't spending much attention at my memorial assembly." It took Laura another moment to remember, but then realization hit her: The very first gap in her memory had occurred on that day, on the second school day of the year, during the assembly. "And Martin?" she asked. "Martin." The teacher let the name linger in the cool night for a moment, making Laura tremble from vague memories, before he continued to speak. "Well, since I was officially dead, I couldn't really risk being seen in town. So I needed some help. Someone, who was easy to control. And to control Martin was just about the easiest thing I have ever done, even when I was just learning how to use the locket. It was almost as if he wanted me to think for him. Still, I decided it is better to keep his good will, so I got him a little reward -- I let him do with you whatever he pleased. After all, the poor boy has had a secret crush on you for years, in case you didn't know." Laura shivered, full of disgust. Mr. Seger was grinning again, this time she could see it more clearly. All was his fault! Not Martin -- as strange as it still seemed to Laura, Martin had been his victim as well, just like herself. She suddenly realized that she could barely control her rage against the teacher; it was struggling to burst out of her. However, she reminded herself, she had to remain calm. He had the locket; she stood no chance against him. Provoking a fight would be stupid. And who knew what his plan was now. Maybe if she kept him talking she would find a way out of this. "Why did you do all this? What did you get out of it, when Martin... when he... I..." She was still not able to say it out loud, Laura realized. "Why not?" There was honest surprise in Mr. Seger's voice; he did not seem to understand her question. "Imagine, you would find such a locket, and as soon as you wear it, you can make anyone do anything you like. Just imagine the possibilities. But at first, of course, I could not fully deal with it; I had to learn how it worked. And I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I tried it out a bit here and there, and then I decided it was better if I disappear -- so no one would find my little secret. A dead person can't be punished for anything either. And it is also much harder to steal something from someone who is not there." For a few moments, he remained silent now. Then he took a step towards Laura, and another one. She wanted to back away, to escape him, but her feet were glued to the forest ground, she was unable to take even one little step. "You know," he continued, "the locket called me. I didn't just find it; it wanted to be found -- and it wanted to be found by me. And when you took it away from Martin, it wanted you to return it to me. You did exactly what it wanted you to do. It isn't me that decides what's to be done, it is the locket. And it tells me what's right and what's wrong." He took another step toward Laura, and the girl believed to make out a mad gleam in the eyes of her teacher. She suddenly felt that despite the cool night air sweat was covering her brow, and her knees were trembling. She cleared her throat, before she spoke in a weak voice. "Why don't you resist then? Why are you doing whatever a piece of metal wants you to?" With a mirthless laughter he replied: "Why, why, why! You have so many questions, Laura. And the answer is the same for all of them: Why not? Imagine what power I can aspire to with the help of this locket. Quite apart from all that, your little morals and worries are a bit late. What would I do without the locket anymore? Should I return and tell everyone I am not dead? That they buried a bag of potatoes?" He took another step, and another; Laura could already almost feel his breath on her skin now, as his face approached hers. Her heart was beating madly, every instinct told her to run. But she knew that running was not going to help. "So what is your plan now?" she asked instead. The teachers smile seemed thoughtful, almost dreamy. He cocked his head slightly to the side, a gesture that looked somewhat strange for a man his age, and gazed at Laura. Then he took another, final step towards her. He was so close to her now that she could smell him, feel the warmth of his body. Mr. Seger raised his hand and softly let it glide over her hair. Laura winced, she did not want to allow him to touch her head, but before she could turn away, he grabbed a thick strand of her hair and pulled her face towards his own. "Well, I can't really just let you go," Mr. Seger whispered with a rough voice. "At least not as long as you are in full control of your own mind. The risk is just too big, you understand? Also," he moved his hand down, his fingers still entangled in Laura's hair. A short yelp escaped her lips, as he forced her head down, made her slowly get onto her knees. "Also, there is still the issue that I need someone to help me with things here and there sometimes. I will have to replace Martin somehow. After all, he is in a coma thanks to you. Not even the locket can get him out of that." Laura's eyes stung from tears, she was trembling in the effort to suppress them, to not show any weakness. But it was too late: She felt her vision blur from tears, felt one of them running down her cheeks. He had won, before she could even try to fight back. She stood no chance, she knew that. Yet the memory of the freedom she had felt the day she defeated Martin, the thought of having lost all that she had believed to have won, made her furious. She couldn't just give that up now! She gathered all her strength, concentrated, in expectance of what was to come. She waited for the air around her to grow thick, to drown her thoughts, for the abyss in which she was to fall. Mr. Seger smiled again. "Don't even try to resist, it's no use anyway. I am not Martin. I am much stronger than he ever was. And contrary to him, I do all this completely by my own choice. I am free. You can't fight me." Laura clenched her teeth. She would try anyway. For a moment, she could still see the forest around her, the lake that was bathed in moonlight. She smelled the dry needles from the pine trees on the ground, and felt the night air touch her skin coolly. All this, it seemed, felt more intense, as if her body and mind wanted to take in the beauty of the world one last time. Laura tried to hold onto all of this, tried to stay in it, in the forest, in the summer night. But the teacher's face appeared between her and all that she rather wanted to see. Mr. Seger's face above her, looking down on her with a slight smile, blocked out all other view. And then it started. Everything around her grew blurry. The air seemed to thicken; the smells and sounds of the summer night weakened and disappeared. For another moment, Laura tried to concentrate all her mind on staying conscious, but it was as if her brain itself was slowing down too. Inevitably she sank down into a dark abyss... ~~~~~ Thank you for reading. The next chapter of this story will be published in the same category. A Battle of Minds Ch. 02 This is the second chapter of a story mainly situated in the mind control category. I recommend reading the first chapter, but for those that do not want to do so here is a short summary: The new school year did not start well for 18 year old Laura: First she breaks up with her boyfriend Daniel without ever having planned to do so, then her mathematics teacher Mr. Seger dies, and finally, she starts experiencing strange memory lapses. After a while she realizes that someone is controlling her thoughts and actions in some way, and she suspects her classmate Martin and a mysterious golden locket he is wearing. With time, however, Laura learns to resist, and after the end of the school year she finally defeats Martin. Laura believes to be free now; the only thing left for her to do is destroying the locket. Just then Mr. Seger, whom she believed dead, suddenly appears and turns out to be the true owner of the locket – Laura's ordeal has only begun. I hope you enjoy this story, and I would be very happy about comments. The story takes place in a fictitious small town in Eastern Germany in the late 1990s. As in that time school took 13 years in Germany, all students in this story are 18 or older. ~~~ Dark are the waters of Lake Leskow, as it lies quietly beside the Grünenberg forest. The night sky is covered with clouds, the moon is not shining. Only the street lanterns in the small town of Leskow, on its Western shore, shine dimly in the night. These lanterns, however, are fighting a lost struggle against the darkness enveloping lake, forest, and town. Their orange glow is swallowed by the darkness. No reflection brightens the waters of the lake. Suddenly, a gust of wind blows over the lake, waves ripple its surface. The trees in the forest start swaying in an ancient dance, forgotten by humankind. It seems, the wind was all they have been waiting for, and now they wake up from a thousand years of sleep, they raise their voices in a song of rustling leaves. Then the waves of the lake are hit by the first drop of rain, it bursts on the surface of the water in a small explosion. Another drop follows, and another one. The rain drops are heavy, and soon the sound of falling rain fills the forest. But no one can hear it; it is too late in the night. Leskow is asleep, even the last guest of the little town's pubs has returned home and gone to bed. And who would want to be outside in this type of weather? Suddenly, however, something is stirring at the edge of a small, hidden bay at the Southeastern shore of the lake. Some tiny movement that is not due to the wind. A bird flies up from the scrubs under the trees, fleeing from an unknown danger, though the rain is covering up all other sounds. A moment later, a figure appears. A human figure, a man, though barely visible in the shadow under the trees. He stands motionless at the shore, staring out over the lake. He looks almost as if he is thinking about something. One of his hands is closed, forming a fist. Then, however, he slowly opens the fingers, one by one, and for a moment something bright glitters between them – a shining piece of metal, a precious piece of jewelry, that he is holding in his hand. He remains silent a few more moments, and then his voice tears through humming of the wind, through the dripping of the rain. He says only a single word, a name, but he shouts it out loudly, so it echoes over the waters of Lake Leskow: "Laura!" *** Laura stared at the monitor of her computer. "It was awesome! I had a great time with you! See you next week. Thomas." She did not know what to make of this mail. It was addressed to her, it was in her email account, but what did it mean? Which Thomas had sent it, anyway? There were four boys of that name just in her class, and many more in the whole school. The address of the sender gave no indication which of them it might have been, and she had never been more than loosely acquainted with any Thomas. So what was he referring to? What had been awesome? Was she, without knowing it, dating this Thomas? Laura massaged her temples. It was five o'clock in the morning already, and she had not succeeded in finding anything that made sense. She had no idea what was going on in her life. The last thing she could remember were the events of a warm August night. Now it was the end of October. She had woken up about three hours ago. After sitting up with a start, disoriented and scared, she found that she was back in her own bed, in the room that had been hers since her childhood. Everything looked normal, as it always had; the room was neat and clean: She always kept it that way, since her earliest childhood. Her shelves were filled with books, her school bag was stored in a corner, and her computer stood on her desk. Laura had awoken like this before – but something was different this time. 'Not again!' – Those words echoed through her mind the moment she woke up, as if they were coming from the past, as if she was not thinking them now but had thought them a long time ago. And there were other words there, words not spoken by herself, but by Mr. Seger, her old math teacher. Words that she seemed to have heard only minutes ago, though in fact they had been uttered back in August, out in the forest, by the lake: "You can't resist me." The window to her room was closed when she awoke, and it was warm and comfortable in her bed, but Laura could see the outlines of trees outside, in the dark. She could see that those trees did not carry any leafs anymore. It looked cold outside, it was fall. After understanding that many months had passed since that day she met Mr. Seger at the lake, she left her bed and ventured out into the kitchen, searching for a pile of old newspapers that her mother kept to place them at the bottom of the garbage can when necessary. She needed those papers to find out as much as she could about the months she had lost, any trace that could indicate what her former teacher was up to. Of course, the newspaper pile was not very complete and her search did not render many results. There were a few articles about a recent series of strange robberies, for example another one in the museum of local history, similar to the one that had happened during the last school year, but that was it. And there was one more article that interested her. Laura tore the page out of the paper, to keep it for future reference. Now, sitting at the computer, she unfolded it again and again to stare at the accompanying photo. The article itself was short; it was concerned with the Leskow Castle Festival end of September. No, it wasn't the article itself that made her stomach turn: It was sad of course, a reminder of the horrible events of the past year, when one of the participants of the diving contest had drowned. The photo accompanying it, however, showed this year's winner. The fact alone, that the diving contest was still taking place, would have been enough to make Laura feel sick, but it was worse: On the photo, the lucky winner was receiving his victory kiss – from her. She had no idea why she of all people had been elected "princess". Probably it was Mr. Seger's doing. But why? Why was he doing all this? His reasons did not seem any clearer than Martin's motivation last year to win the diving contest, and to even commit murder in order to win. Apart from this, Laura had not much success with the newspapers. Finally, she returned to her room, searched her school bag with even less success and in the end switched on her computer, drumming her fingers impatiently on the desk while the machine took its time to get started. She read through all her Emails, but there was nothing she could make sense of. Only this mysterious email by a guy named Thomas. Just one sentence, no information. Laura moved the mouse to the reply-button and clicked. "Thomas", she started typing. "It might sound strange, but ..." She hesitated. What could she write? How could she make him understand, when she didn't even know who he was? And what use would it be, if he replied later in the day, or maybe even only in a few days, when she would surely not be herself anymore? For another moment, Laura let her fingers rest on the keyboard, trying to come up with any words that could express the strangeness and horror of her situation. Then she put her hand back on the mouse and logged out of her Email program without finishing the reply to Thomas' mail. She decided to have a look through her school backpack next. It was neatly packed, which was not unusual for Laura. She had never been one to just throw things into or out of the bag, she liked finding everything easily, and crumbled paper or ear marked books annoyed her. One by one she pulled out everything in her backpack, books and notebooks, and quickly went through them, but with no result. Her notes from class seemed normal and complete. There was a math test from the past week, she had received top grades. The signature told her that her math class was still being taught by the elderly woman that had been called back from retirement after Mr. Seger's supposed death. While Laura looked at the test, amazed that she had passed it so well, since she could not recall ever learning about this type of calculations in class, she suddenly remembered the small voice recorder that had helped her to find out more about Martin in the previous year. Where could it be? She carefully returned the books into her back, and started pulling her desk's drawers open. Eventually, she found it on top of one of her book shelves, next to the handbooks on journalistic writing her parents had given her for Christmas last year. Laura turned the little silver machine over in her hand a few times, before she finally switched it on and held it to her mouth. "Hello, hello!" she said, feeling slightly silly. Her voice sounded weird, and for a moment she worried whether her parents might hear her. Then she realized that even if they did, they would not think anything of it. As far as they were concerned, their daughter had been with them all the time throughout the last months. She turned the dictation machine off again, and then pressed on play. "Hello, hello!" her voice sounded back at her. So it worked. Good. How long the batteries in there would last was another question. She had not replaced them since she last had used it. She just had to hope they would be fine, Laura decided, as she turned on the recorder and placed it in the front pocket of her back pack. A look out the window, into the sky, which was already turning from pitch-black to a murky gray, told Laura that it must almost be time to get ready for school. She guessed that Mr. Seger was still asleep, and that this was the reason she had managed to wake up, and stay awake for so long. However, once he realized what was going on, he would surely regain his control over her. Laura had no illusions about that. Would he know how long she had escaped him? Would he guess that she was trying to find out what he was up to? It might be better if she went back to sleep. Maybe then he would not realize she had been awake. And she felt tired, her bed looked enticing. After a moment's hesitation, Laura crawled back under the covers, feeling her body warm up – she had not even realized that it had been quite cold in her room until now. Sleep came over her quickly, but just when her eyes closed Laura was overcome by the familiar sensation of everything around her growing dark and pulling her down into an abyss, extinguishing any thought from her mind. *** Thomas stood at the gate to the school yard and watched as Laura approached. He was standing there since early in the morning, waiting, and when she finally appeared, made her out from far away. Her slender form and her red hair were unmistakable. The closer she came, the faster became the beat of his heart. In a moment he would smile at her and say "Hello!" He braced himself for that moment, taking a deep breath – but the Laura passed him without looking up. She seemed deep in thought. Thomas sighed and followed the girl into the school building. As he walked behind her, his eyes were fixed on her exquisite little behind, whose forms were clearly visible in the tight Jeans she was wearing today. Fleetingly the thought passed his mind that she had never worn this type of sexy outfit before the start of this school year, while now she always offered him and the other boys quite a view. In fact, until a few months ago, Laura had been one of the quiet, shy girls; almost conservative in her manner and way of dressing. Of course, she had always been pretty with her long hair, shining in a soft tone of red, and those big blue eyes, but back then she was too introvert to really catch the eye. Apart from that, she had been off-limits in those days anyway, after all, throughout most of the last few years she was Daniel's girlfriend. Well, but Daniel had graduated by now. And the two of them, Laura and Daniel, broke up more than a year ago, much to the whole school's surprise. And the surprise grew, when Laura suddenly started going out with Martin, a dislikeable and boring guy from her class. He, Thomas, with his constant struggle against acne, with his innate lack of coolness, his too skinny body that seemed unable to build up any muscle, had seen no chance to ever end up with a girl like Laura. However, if this was impossible for him, it was absurd to think that Martin would stand a chance. In fact, it seemed absurd that any girl, not just a pretty one like Laura, would ever want to go out with Martin, Thomas thought. He still could not figure out what she had seen in him. Then, of course, Martin had this strange accident and was now, almost three months later, still in a coma. The doctor's were out of ideas in what concerned him – at least this was what Thomas had heard. No one knew what exactly had happened to the guy, and apparently there was no medical reason for him to be in a coma, but that's what he was. Either way, it must have been tough on Laura. In fact, it was shortly after Martin's accident that she changed her demeanor so radically. Almost as if she had become a different person. She started dressing sexily, almost provocatively, and started hanging out with people who according to most of Leskow were "the wrong crowd". And suddenly there were rumors about her in school. She would do almost anything for money, that's what was being said. Strangely enough, despite all this, Laura's grades improved a lot, especially compared to the previous year. And her best subject now was mathematics – something that apparently surprised all those who had known her for a while. With a sigh, Thomas tore his eyes from the view of Laura's ass, as she continued down the hallway: He had reached his classroom. He entered, and sat down at his usual spot, just in time before the bell rang. Laura would be late for her own class, it seemed. But what did he care. It was not her punctuality he was interested in. While the teacher started talking about something or other, Thomas preferred to let his thoughts run to the previous day – and to those aspects of Laura he was interested in. Finally he had managed to get a "date" with Laura. After weeks of worry what she would say when he addressed her, it was surprisingly easy, almost as if she had been expecting it. She took the words out of his mouth, told him she had been thinking they should meet up for quite a while now, and suggested for him to come to one of the girls toilets after class, where she would be expecting him. He was hardly able to spend attention in his classes all day, waiting for the afternoon, when most students and teachers would be at home. He walked back and forth through the different hallways until they were empty, checking the time again and again. Finally, he sneaked to the girls restrooms. He had never entered them before, and they seemed to him like a strange and mysterious world, a wonderland, to which he until now had been denied access. Among the usual, not particularly pleasant odors he believed to make out the fragrance of feminine secretions. In front of his inner eye he saw the restrooms populated with hundreds of girls, all pulling down their knickers in the little cabins. He believed he could still here an echo of their voices and of splashing streams of urine... Of course, the room was empty now; he stood there alone, in the girls bathroom, feeling a bit out of place and nervous. Most of the doors to the different booths were closed – one was locked even, a little red square was shining underneath the door handle. Hesitantly, Thomas walked towards this door, stood in front of it, waiting, not daring to knock. Suddenly, he heard the clicking sound of the lock; saw the little square under the door knob change from red to green. Then, the door was pushed open from inside. Inside the small booth, in front of the toilet, stood Laura. Wearing tight jeans, as usual, and an even tighter sleeveless shirt. Her pullover, which the cold had forced her to wear during the school day, was now crumbled up on top of her backpack, on the floor. It was obvious that she was not wearing a bra under that tiny excuse for a shirt. Her soft red hair was hanging into her eyes, and Laura pushed it to the side with a slow movement of her hand, before she gave Thomas a mischievous smile. "Come in!" Thomas entered the booth. It was small, especially now that they were two people inside. He was very close to Laura, he almost touched her, could feel the warmth of her body, hear her breathe. Suddenly he realized that never in his adult life had he been that close to a woman – unless he counted the occasional hug from one of his aunts. Laura's breasts were clearly visible underneath the tiny shirt; even though the light in the cabin was only dim, Thomas could make out her nipples. He felt his cock twitch at the sight. Slowly, he raised one hand; his fingers carefully touched her left breast. Even through the material of her shirt they felt better than anything he had ever touched in his life. For a few moments, Laura let him proceed at his own leisure, and then she took his hand and decisively pushed it underneath her shirt. Thomas added his other hand, and for a few minutes he forgot the whole world around him, as he concentrated only on the divine feeling of Laura's breasts under his hands – the first breasts he touched in his life, apart from the time when he was a baby. They were beautiful, those breasts, round and firm, not huge, but bigger than Laura's slim figure would have made him expect. Her skin was smooth and soft, her nipples small and hard. Laura just stood there, silent, unmoving, while he played with her breasts. Finally, however, she took his hands into her own again, pressed them against her breasts one more time, and then moved them to the side. Thomas would have liked to continue for a while and half protested when Laura pulled away his hands – but her mischievous grin told him that she had more things in store for him. And she did not disappoint him: Laura pulled her tiny shirt over her head, and now he had a free view of those perfectly shaped globes. Her pale skin was glowing under the lamp's light; it looked as soft and smooth as it had felt; its color creamy and even. Laura's nipples were rock hard now, and it seemed to Thomas that they were pointing directly at him. Then Laura knelt down on the tiles of the floor; her face was now at the height of Thomas's crotch. While looking down at her, taking in the view of her breasts once more, this time from above, Thomas noticed how close her face was to his manhood, which was already straining with all its might against his trousers. Those trousers seemed much too tight all of a sudden, like a prison – but as soon as this thought occurred to him, he saw Laura pulling down the zipper to free his cock. A Battle of Minds Ch. 02 As soon as he felt Laura's fingers though, touching his skin as she pulled down his jeans and underpants a bit, and then on his cock, helping it spring into freedom – Thomas had to focus all his concentration on not coming right there and then. Once his cock was standing proudly, free of the restraining clothes, Laura wrapped her slender hand around it. Expertly, she moved it up and down a few times, with just the right amount of pressure to excite him even more, but not send him over the edge yet; it was obvious that she knew what she was doing. Thomas' breath quickened, and a low groan escaped his lips. Again he looked down at the girl, who just then raised her eyes up to his, a daring half-smile on her lips. Her mouth approached his cock now. Seeing Laura, once the epitome of a "good girl", leaning forward, her lips now pursed, mere millimeters from his dick – that view burned itself into Thomas' mind; no matter what he would go on doing in his life, he knew he would always remember this sight. Laura paused for just a moment, allowed him to feel her breath on his tender flesh, allowed his expectation to rise; then she ran her tongue along his shaft before licking the little drops of precum that were gathering at the tip of his cock. Thomas groaned again, closing his eyes, so he could concentrate only on the feel of her soft, wet tongue. At first, that touch was only tender and teasing, making him long for more. Finally, however, Laura engulfed the whole tip of Thomas's cock into her mouth and for a third time he groaned as he felt the warmth and wetness of the orifice, her tongue all the while dancing over his bell-end. For a few long moments he kept his eyes closed to only feel, not see, but finally he could not help looking again, and as his vision refocused he saw the girl's head slowly bobbing up and down, taking him deeper into her mouth each time. Fascinated, he watched more and more of his manhood disappear between her lips. Her tongue never stood still, one moment it was swirling on the tip of his dick, the next moment, as she took him in yet deeper, it was dancing along his shaft. Eventually, as his entire cock seemed to have all but disappeared into her mouth, he could feel the resistance of her throat at his tip, and her nose was buried deep into his pubic hair. Laura paused for a few moments now, letting him relish in the feeling of being fully engulfed in her. He felt a vague surprise at the lack of a gag reflex in her – but as she started bobbing her head again, sucking at the same time, his mind was much too occupied with the sensation to ponder on this issue. Instinctively, Thomas started moving his hips to meet the motion of Laura's head. Then he felt Laura's hand at his balls, playing with them, squeezing them softly, and cupping them. Again, Thomas groaned – he would not be able to hold back much longer. Much too soon, he felt the pressure build up in his dick, felt a wave of arousal take hold of him that was stronger than anything he had known in his many lonely hours of wanking at home – his cock in one hand, a magazine in the other, or the thought of one of his classmates on his mind. No, this was of a different quality, he felt almost as if he was going to explode, and the small toilet booth and the graffiti on its walls and even Laura kneeling in front of him seemed to blur into an incoherent mix of color as Thomas shot spurt after spurt of his cum into her mouth. Only afterwards he realized, that all that time, his hands had been entangled in the girl's hair, pressing her head against his groin until she had swallowed every last bit... [/i] Thomas only awoke from his memories when the ringing of the bell announced the end of class. Even realizing that he was still sitting in his classroom, and that the events in the girls bathroom already lay twenty hours in the past, could not chase the happy smile from his face. Yes, he had bought the first sexual experience in his life with money, and at that, a surprisingly small amount of it – but it had been incredible, and with a girl of whom he had not even dared to dream until that day. And the best thing was that he had already set up a new appointment with Laura, for the following week. If he cut down on the smoking for a week, thus saving up some more money, and then maybe on Sunday paid a visit to his grandma, who was always eager to give him small presents of financial nature – maybe he would be able to get Laura to go even further? Thomas made up his mind to ask her as soon as possible. *** Nervously, Frank Seger checked his watch again. It was almost three in the afternoon, finally; school had finished for the day about twenty minutes ago, and Laura had to arrive any moment now. It had been three days since he last saw her, her mother was sick and thus stayed at home; it would have been too dangerous to make her come to the forest after school. Now, however, the mother was back to work, and he was leading Laura's footsteps to the small hut that he renovated over a year ago with Martin's help, hidden between the trees of Leskow's forest. Finding the hut had been a real stroke of luck, not as important as finding the locket of course, but Mr. Seger still shuddered at the memory of those first few nights spent just sleeping on the forest floor. Strangely, he never noticed the decayed little house near the shore of the lake, at an edge of a clearing not far from the small bay, hidden under beech trees, before the day he decided to take Martin into his service. Now it was his, and thanks to his powers, no one else could find it. He could live quite comfortably in his hut. And he could spend time with Laura in there. If only she would finally show up... Yes, it made him nervous not to see Laura for a few days. His control over her was strong; he could influence her general behavior even without giving her direct orders, and without knowing what she was doing at any specific moment. She just behaved the way he wanted her to. Still, he preferred to reassert himself of his power over her every now and then. The fact that in last year she managed to defend herself against Martin's control scared him, he just could not forget what she did to him – the boy did not seem like he was ever going to wake up from his coma. Of course, his own will power was much stronger, he was not weak like Martin, but he still felt he had to watch out for this girl. Frank Seger was a careful man; he knew he should not underestimate Laura. There was something about her, something strong. The way she tried to resist even him, the day he finally revealed himself, was almost admirable. However, his admiration did not go as far as wanting to end up in a coma himself. No, he couldn't allow her to do something like that to him. However, everything seemed to be alright: He could feel Laura approach now, the way he always felt her approach by the slight hum of the locket – it reacted to her presence more than to anyone else's. A few moments later she appeared between the trees. Her red hair looked strangely bright in the darkness of the forest, her skin pale – and she was showing a lot of skin, despite the cold she was wearing only a tiny sleeveless shirt and a mini-skirt, her jacket slung carelessly around her hips. Only the tall boots looked somewhat appropriate for the weather. Mr. Seger licked his lips. This was the kind of attire he liked; he had always preferred it when his female students showed what they had. Not that he would ever have let anyone notice those kind of preferences, of course, but what a shame it used to be when Laura of all girls still insisted on just wearing her usual jeans and wide shirts. A figure like hers just had to be shown off. Laura walked across the clearing, towards him, smiling and pursing her lips in a promise of kisses to come. She walked slowly, with a tantalizing swing to her hips, just as he liked it. For a moment, Mr. Seger wondered what Laura's mother would be thinking about the way her daughter acted lately, and that thought made him grin. Yes, Laura's mother... Marion... Frank Seger's grin turned into a grimace. She used to be in his class, so many years ago, when he was just as old as Laura was now. On first look, her daughter seemed just like she once had: One of those pretty, but seemingly good and hard-working girls, who no one would expect anything bad of, but to whom there was more than what met the eye. Contrary to Laura, however, Marion had been one of those girls that used any absence of a teacher to poke fun at ugly, scrawny boys with glasses and braces – on all other occasions, she did not even acknowledge their existence. And Frank had been so much in love, throughout the last few years of school he had not been able to think of anything but her. Marion, however, only cared for older, good looking guys. Like the one she married in the end, a few years after graduating. The fact that Laura looked so much like her mother made Mr. Seger both hate and desire her. She had been as ambitious in school and as well-behaved as her mother in the presence of teachers, though he guessed that she was lacking her mother's maliciousness to those she considered beneath herself. Still, Frank Seger had recognized his old flame's offspring the moment Laura had first stepped into his class room, more than six years ago. At first she was just a student, her presence tantalizing him only because she made him think of Marion. But as Laura grew up and reached adulthood, his desire for her awoke and increased. Laura, innocent as she was, had always returned his smile and sat down on her seat, put her neatly kept notebooks and books on the desk in an annoyingly assiduous fashion and had gone through her notes of the previous week – even though she did neither particularly like math, nor had any talent for it. She just was the kind of student that took school seriously, because she had been taught from childhood onwards that she should strive to become something good, something better than the others, to be successful in life. By the time she was eighteen, he couldn't help fantasizing about the quiet little beauty, he couldn't stop the thoughts that occurred to him each time he ran into her in town. It was especially around the time he found the locket, but did not yet know what to do with it, that he imagined to get her to break her usual, stuffy demeanor. He envisioned her giving blow jobs to fellow students in the toilet, during lunch break, imagined her turning into a right little slut – and imagined how much that would hurt her mother. When Martin ran into him, that summer evening in the forest, shortly after his "death", it did not take long to find out that the boy was hopelessly in love with Laura. Martin's mind did not only seem to have waited for someone with a little more imagination to take control, it also was an open book from the first day onward. It did not take him long to decide – he wanted to reward Martin for giving himself almost voluntarily into his power. And he had always dreamt of having Laura at his mercy. The plan was quickly born – Mr. Seger did not mind sharing, and after all, Laura's nightly visits to the hut were not only for Martin's benefits, though watching Laura willingly give herself to a boy, who could not be any more popular with the girls at school than he, Frank Seger, had once been, might have been what he enjoyed most throughout that year. As much as Mr. Seger enjoyed watching all the things Martin did to Laura, things were even better now, without him. Just thinking of the shy girl prostituting herself to half the school, made the old teacher's heart go faster. By now the whole school must know what she had become; maybe the rumors reached even some of the teachers, and the offers Laura received were increasing every day, not least because of her very affordable prices. Unfortunately he could not be present when she gave herself to those young men in the school's bathrooms; after all he wanted them to be fully conscious while they used Laura's body. Letting her tell him about every moment of these encounters to the smallest detail was the closest he could get. Laura was standing in front of him now, her eyes focused onto some point in the distance, as always when she was under his control. On her outstretched hand, she presented her former teacher with a few bills, the money she had earned on his orders, as if she wanted to prove to him that she had done as she had been told. Not that there could be any doubt. Mr. Seger raised his hand and touched her cheek for just a moment. "Good girl," he said in a hoarse voice. Of course it was nonsense to speak to Laura. She followed his orders blindly, as soon as he thought them, sometimes before he even became aware of thinking them. Still, it somehow helped Mr. Seger, calmed him down to hear the sound of his own voice and of hers, to have the illusion of a normal conversation. And letting her talk to him was of course the only way to share her adventures at school. "How did it go with Thomas yesterday?" he asked. Laura's voice sounded somewhat different to what it had been like in the old times, over a year ago, when she had been one of the students sitting in his classroom. Mr. Seger assumed that it was his own timbre, his influence that mixed itself into her speech and changed its tone. However, he did not mind. It was still close enough to sounding like her. "I waited for him in the girls bathroom", she started her tale. "He was a few minutes late, but not much. At first he didn't dare to enter, he stood in front of the door to the bathroom, and then again in front of the booth I was waiting in, without knocking or saying anything. When I opened the door to let him in, he looked at first as if he considered just running away. But he had a huge hard-on, I could tell even though he was wearing Jeans." Mr. Seger felt his own cock twitch in his trousers, which he knew would soon feel too tight, too. Oh, the thought of that nondescript, shy guy – he did not even remember what Thomas looked like, though he remembered his name from marking various of his math tests with excellent grades – a young man similar to the young man he had once been, going to the girl's bathroom to meet up with a little beauty like Laura, to pay her for sexual favors... It reminded Frank Seger of fantasies he had in his own youth. "When he finally came into the booth I locked the door, and for a while I just let him play with my tits", Laura explained. Her word choice was one of those things about her manner of speaking that showed Mr. Seger's influence. He knew that Laura, had she been herself, would not have chosen to use a word like "tits" – and that was exactly the reason why he liked it so much to hear her use that word. "Like this?" asked Mr. Seger, and pulled Laura's small shirt over her head. She was not wearing a bra this day either, and her nipples stiffened in the cold November air. The teacher took those enticing little buttons between his fingers and pinched them slightly, and then he cupped Laura's breasts with his hands, as if wanting to check their weight. Eventually, he leaned forward to take her nipples into his mouth and lick them and suck on them. Even though Thomas had proceeded quite differently, Laura did not protest. On the contrary, she started breathing faster and moaning every now and then – exactly like Mr. Seger wanted her to: Standing there half-naked in the forest, like a little slut, enjoying the attentions of him, her teacher, who was old enough to be her father... Again, Frank Seger wished Marion could see her little girl. Finally, he let go of her breasts, and asked Laura to continue her story. "Then, I knelt down in front of him," she said, "and I opened the fly of his jeans, at first just to play with his dick a little bit. He was quite hard already, and surprisingly big. Had I continued wanking him for a little bit longer he would probably have come just from that, but that wasn't the deal after all. So I..." "No, wait!" Mr. Seger interrupted her. „Don't just tell me. Show me." Obediently, Laura knelt down in front of Mr. Seger. Playing with her breasts had not been without effect on him. His cock was hard and throbbing, straining against his trousers. Slowly, Laura opened the fly, and the teacher's manhood proudly jumped into freedom. Looking at it, Laura licked her lips, a lustful gleam in her eyes – Mr. Seger congratulated himself on the amount of control he had by now, even over her smallest reactions. He knew that her pussy was wet, and he liked giving in to the illusion, that what he was doing to her was arousing to the girl. Maybe, he told himself more than once, this arousal at being used by someone like him had always been a possibility for her, just something she had not permitted herself as long as she was conscious and in control of herself. Maybe, he managed to convince himself, he was doing her a favour by subjugating her like this. Exactly like she had done the previous day, with Thomas, Laura at first let her tongue dance on the tip of Mr. Seger's cock, eagerly licking up the small drops of precum that appeared on it, and let it run along the shaft. After a while, however, she took him into her mouth, at first sucking on the tip, before she started bobbing her head up and down, letting the teacher's manhood glide deeper and deeper into her throat. *** Laura startled out of her sleep. Wide-eyed she stared around the dark bedroom. In front of the window, she could see snowflakes dancing through the night sky. For a few moments she was not quite sure where she was or what was going on – she vaguely remembered falling asleep – but what had happened after that? Judging by the look out of the window, it could not be the same night anymore – actually, quite a while had to have passed. After all, the last time she had woken up, there had not been a trace of snow outside yet. It had only been October, now it had to be December at the very least. Laura looked at the small alarm clock that stood next to her bed, as always. It was shortly after midnight. She still had quite a bit of time until the morning – as long as Mr. Seger was asleep, hopefully, he might not notice her escape and she would remain free. She sat up in her bed and tried to get order into her thoughts and confused memories. What had she found out the last time she had woken up? What had she done? The recorder! Of course! There should be a recording of at least the first few hours of that day, of what she might have done or said or heard after she had been back under Mr. Seger's control. Maybe that would help her, in some way. She jumped out of the bed and started looking for the small machine. Where had she hid it? Laura saw some jeans lying on the floor, much tighter than what she usually liked to wear. Quickly she picked it up to search the pockets. But of course it would probably not be the same jeans she had been wearing so many weeks ago. She felt blood rush up to her face at the thought of the recording machine maybe having ended up in the washing machine. Perhaps it was in her jacket though? Her jacket was not in the room, it was hanging in the hallway; at least that was where she used to place it a year ago. Just when Laura reached the door of her room, her eyes fell to her backpack, standing innocently by the desk. Of course! Now she remembered. It was in the front pocket of her backpack. Laura knelt down and with trembling fingers opened the pocket. The zipper slipped out of her fingers twice, but finally she managed. There it was, small and silver and innocent, and maybe holding the key to her freedom. After finding new batteries to replace the old ones, Laura sat back down on her bed, one hand clutched tightly around the recording machine, while with the other one she opened the notebook in which she already had taken notes during that October night. She knew that whatever she was to hear now, it would not be easy for her – she had no illusions that Mr. Seger would treat her any nicer than Martin had done. But she had to find out what was happening to her. A Battle of Minds Ch. 02 * The sky outside the window was already getting lighter, when Laura finally gave in to the urge of burying her face in her pillow and starting to cry. She felt sick. Her mind was buzzing, thoughts of anger, fear, and disgust coursing through her brain, without being able to concentrate on any of them. The batteries had lasted well into the afternoon, and after the sounds of a normal boring school day, she had heard her own conversation with Mr. Seger. From the various sounds accompanying it, she had been able to deduce that she had not only talked to him. It was horrible. Trying to conjure up the details of the events out in the forest made her want to scream. And yet, Laura knew that as soon as the teacher woke up again, he would regain control over her, he would force her to continue selling her body to the boys at school. She would continue to prostitute herself without knowing what she was doing. Slowly, her fear and disgust turned into rage. Oh, what she would do to that slimy... But what could she do? She had always thought Mr. Seger a nice teacher, one of those that smile even when it was obvious she had no talent for the subject he taught. Every now and then she used to have nice chats with him after class. He always told her to say hello to her mother... She had to do something. She had to defend herself, somehow. Free her mind from his power. After all, she had managed to wake up more than once already – but Laura had no idea how she accomplished that, and why this day, and not the previous one or the one before. However, she managed to get rid of Martin, and, she decided, she would get rid of Mr. Seger too. She had to. It was seven in the morning by now, when Laura realized that it was becoming difficult to breathe or to think. It was as if the air was taking on a different quality. Somehow it was thicker, and the room, despite the lights still being turned on, seemed to grow darker. A darkness that reached out to her, wanting to drown her every thought. With all her might she started struggling against this darkness, clinging on to her consciousness. She knew it was a losing fight, and yet she only gave up when she was engulfed in blackness and had already forgotten who she was and what she was fighting for. *** Frank Seger was trembling. He was cold, even though he knew that it had to be quite warm in his little hut. Last winter, Martin built an open fireplace on his orders, from stones stolen on construction sites in town; it was a bit of work to get this oven going, but once the fire was there, it heated up the room quite well. Still, Frank Seger felt the need to pull his blankets closer around his body as he was sitting on his bed, knees pulled up to his chest. For a few moments he fought the temptation to just lie back down, turn his face to the wall, and try to fall back asleep – so he could pretend that nothing had happened. It was no use, though. It had happened, and he knew it. Laura had been free of his power, and not only that, she had also defended herself against him when he wanted to get her back under control. She had succeeded for a few, horrible seconds. And for those few moments, Mr. Seger had not been sure he would win. For a few moments, he had thought it was all over. Through a dirty window he could see the bleak gray of the sky outside turning into a lighter, albeit not any less bleak, color. Mr. Seger still sat on his bed. No, he rather would not go back to sleep today – who knew what would happen if he wasn't spending attention. He decided that he should get up, take a walk through the forest maybe – perhaps it had snowed some more during the night, and he liked the winter forest. A walk in the fresh air might clear his mind. Mr. Seger stood up. While he dressed – his favorite sweater, that he had worn almost every day at school, when he still used to work there, and some warm trousers and a jacket that Martin had stolen for him last winter in the local outdoor store – he decided that he should have Laura come into the forest in a few hours. Just thinking of her naked body on his bed, of her pale, soft skin, chased away all fear. Yes, this was a good idea: First a walk in the snow, and then use her body to warm up again. Seeing her as often as possible, seemed the most sensible thing for him to do, anyway. Being close to her would strengthen his power over her. Controlling someone from afar was always a bit more difficult. When Frank Seger opened the door and stepped outside into a snowy winter morning, he suddenly realized that it was already mid-December – which meant that the school would soon have Christmas break. He knew that Laura always traveled to Southern Germany with her parents, when she was younger he had often asked her how the skiing trip had been, inwardly sneering at people who went skiing for their Christmas break, you were supposed to have a quiet time with your family after all – or, like Frank Seger, who did not have much family left anymore, a quiet time with yourself and a bottle of wine. Laura's journey would be a problem though, he realized. Not seeing her for two weeks could be dangerous, and he was not sure over how long a distance he would be able to keep control of her. Well, he would think of something, Frank Seger decided. For now he should enjoy his walk. And look forward to the afternoon. *** The brakes squealed loudly. Laura was flying forward, for a moment she felt like she was weightless, before the safety belt cut painfully into her shoulder. Then there was a loud bang. And then a scream. It took a few moments for Laura to realize, that she was the one screaming. She wanted to stop, but she couldn't. She screamed and screamed. Only slowly she became aware of the pain that was causing her to scream: the stinging sensation in her head, the dull throb in her arm. There were other noises too: Someone was groaning in the front of the car, and the radio was still playing, and people were shouting outside the car. A siren was approaching. The noise made her head hurt more. Then, finally, she sank back into unconsciousness – a new, unknown type of oblivion that was not announced by a different quality to the air; a type of unconsciousness that wasn't an abyss swallowing her mind and rendering her to the control of a strange power. This time, her thoughts and actions were not taken over by anyone; her mind just seemed to disappear into nothingness. *** Quiet voices near her created an almost pleasant hum with their whispered conversation. She was lying on a soft and clean bed, the room was nicely warm. Her head, however, still throbbed painfully. Laura kept her eyes closed for a few more moments, afraid that the bright light – and she could tell through her closed eyelids that it was bright – would increase the pain. She knew where she was, mainly by the way the air smelled, by the hum of sounds surrounding her, the exhaustion of her body that did not fit with waking up in a soft bed: But she did not allow herself to ponder on the question of what she was doing in a hospital. Finally, she decided to open her eyes, slowly, only far enough to make out the outlines of two people that were leaning over her bed. Concentrating on what she was seeing, her vision grew somewhat more focused, and Laura believed to recognize her father's face. Then everything became blurry again. *** Doctor Paul Smith just could not stop thinking of the girl. She was on his mind when he started his morning shift, and when he went home from work, and at night he dreamt of her. How could he think like that of a patient? He had always been very proper about his work, had kept private life and work contacts apart, had made sure to never get himself into any situation that might endanger his career. Until this girl appeared, and made all his professionalism seem to have been in vain. The doctor tried to convince himself that it was sympathy; after all, the young woman seemed to be a magnet for misfortune. Someone had told him that the young man, who was lying in a coma in the same hospital since last spring already, had been her boyfriend; that they had lived together until his accident. And now she did end up here herself, fortunately without any live threatening or lasting injuries. Her mother, however, did not survive the accident that brought the girl here, while her father only suffered a few contusions, a concussion, and a broken arm. Doctor Smith had informed the girl of her mother's death just yesterday. The father had asked him to do that – he did not feel able to tell her himself, he had said. Doctor Smith could clearly remember the look in her eyes, as she received the message. She nodded, without saying a word, and looked at him like someone who did not expect anything but bad news and sadness in their life. She did not cry, did not scream, did not show anger or confusion, but there was a pain in her eyes that doctor Smith, who had been working in the hospital for over 30 years and had seen his fair share of sadness, felt he would never forget. That was not all, though. There was something else about her. Something that made him unable to forget this girl. Doctor Smith knew that it was not just sympathy that made him think of her constantly. *** How? How could he have done something like that? How could he not have seen what would happen? How was it possible, that in one moment of carelessness he destroyed everything that mattered in this world? Frank Seger walked up and down, up and down near the shore of Lake Leskow, only every now and then he stopped his restless pacing to stare out over the frozen lake. Under the night sky, the ice was dark, as dark as his thoughts, and it would still be long before the sun would rise again. It was cold, Mr. Seger's breath formed a small cloud, but he barely felt any chill. He was too upset to spend attention to such detail. How could he have done something like that, how could he have let this happen? All he had in mind was a small accident, causing a few scratches on the car, a broken arm or a concussion for Marion's husband at most – something that was just enough to prevent Laura's family from traveling out of his reach for their vacation. Not something like this! At first Frank Seger did not even realized what had happened. At the time he expected the family to be on their way out of Leskow, he searched for the mind of Laura's father, to gain control over him, to make him stop spending attention to traffic for just a moment, so he would leave the road and crash against the guarding rail. That would have been enough. He had it all planned out, nothing should have gone wrong. However, there was something there, blocking the connection: some obstacle between him and the man's mind. The more Mr. Seger thought about it, the more he believed that there had been another power, similar to his own, with which he had struggled for control over Laura's father. And due to that struggle, due to his lack of control, the car with Laura's family crashed into a truck. Frank Seger did not realize it, he only felt the connection to Laura's father disappear, indicating that he had passed out, and assumed that things had gone according to plan after all – no, it wasn't until much later that he learned what happened: The passenger's side of the small family car was crushed completely by the impact; and Laura's mother, Marion, died shortly after being brought to the hospital. Tears welled up in Frank's eyes – he felt a bit silly for crying. This woman had made him suffer since he was a boy, for so many years, and without even realizing that she did so. He hated her so much; he had decided to turn her daughter into a whore. And yet... He had thought of Laura more than of Marion in the last years, yet now the memories of the students' pretty face faded behind the older recollections of the Marion of his youth, and of Marion, the married woman, the few times he saw her in town. He could not imagine a world without her, and yet, that was the world he would have to live in from now on. Frank Seger fought the urge to fall down to the ground, hurl like a baby; beat the forest ground with his fists. All the hatred inside him, the hatred he had felt against Marion and Laura, against all students and the whole town, all that hatred suddenly turned against one thing: The locket, dangling innocently from his neck, snuggling warmly against his chest. The locket had given him the power to do all this – wasn't it the real culprit? Without realizing what he was doing, Frank's fingers moved to the little piece of metal, holding it tentatively, hesitatingly. He stopped himself. Was he really going to pull it off his neck and throw it into the waters of the lake, far away, so no human being could ever find it again? He let go of the thing again, felt it bump back against his chest. It felt warmer now, almost hot, and seemed to be pulsating slightly. Evil, he thought. It was evil. Yet, he did not attempt to throw it away again; instead Frank Seger resumed his restless pacing along the shore of the lake. No, he decided after some thought, the locket couldn't be evil. How could he blame something as small and pretty as this locket? It gave him power, it helped him. It was innocent; it could not have caused something so painful to him. There had been something else, another power that had caused everything to go wrong. There was another evil in Leskow, an evil of whose existence he had not known. A power very much like the one he knew, and yet different – a power of destruction. Was there someone else in Leskow who could do the things he, Frank Seger, did? Or had he been the one who did not have his own emotions under control? Maybe he should not throw the locket into the lake, but rather drown himself. Well, jumping into water was not that easy just now, he thought with a bitter smile. He would have to hack a hole into the ice first. The idea of slipping into such a hole, of floating underneath the frozen surface and disappearing into the dark waters forever was tempting. No one would mourn for someone who had officially been dead for a year and a half already. The knot in Frank Seger's throat grew, when he imagined his own pale, bloated body, floating undiscovered and alone underneath the ice. By the time it was spring, no one would recognize it anymore. He knew, however, that neither of this was possible. He wouldn't go into the lake himself, and he couldn't throw the locket away. It had been thrown into the lake before, though not by him, and it had returned. It had called him. The realization caused him to tremble: The locket [i]wanted[/i] to be with him. It wanted him to do all those things he had done within the last year and a half. For the first time, the teacher asked himself not how much power he had through the locket, but how much power the locket held over him. He felt the warmth of the little piece of jewelry heavy on his chest, the thing seemed to be pulsating, like a little heart, and somehow that calmed him down. Mr. Seger closed his fingers around the locket once again, though this time he was not planning to tear it off; he wanted to feel its smooth surface. Then he looked up. While his eyes searched the opposite shore of the lake, his expression grew harder, more decisive. "No!" Mr. Seger said loudly, a notably defiant tone to his voice. "No." He, Frank Seger, was the one in control. He decided what he did, and he decided what everyone else did. He was in control of his life and of the lives of all those others; of the whole world, if he wanted to. And he had to continue, despite his mistake, and as sad as he was about Marion's death. He could not give up now. Somehow he would be able to turn everything to his favor, but for that he had to get back on track. Under no circumstances could he let Laura stay free for much longer, out of control, there in the hospital. She was still in a bad shape after the accident, but she was getting better, and who knew what she would do, who she would confide in, what proof she would be able to gather, once she was well again. He could not let it get that far. While Mr. Seger kept pacing up and down the same little stretch of shore, the sun had risen. It did not bring much warmth, but the snowy trees and the icy surface of the lake glittered in its light. Mr. Seger turned away from the lake and slowly walked back towards the forest, to his hiding place between high trees and thick shrubs. Smoke was rising from the chimney of his little hut. It looked comforting. Mr. Seger was looking forward to the warmth inside, to sitting near the oven, but before relaxing, he had an important task: The math teacher let his mind stretch out over the forest, towards town, searching for Laura. *** Laura blinked a few times as she opened her eyes. The sun was shining through the window right onto her bed, and into her face. As her eyes got used to its brightness, she could make out the clear blue sky through the window. She was looking right into a beautiful but cold winter day. For a few moments she just enjoyed the view from her bed, without thinking, just enjoying the blue sky, the snow-covered trees in the hospital's garden, and the fact, that she was able to see and enjoy these things. She was awake, she was conscious, and her health improved with every new day. So far, Mr. Seger had not tried a single time to get her back under his control. As long as she could stop the memories, everything was perfect. She shared the room with two more women, but could not remember having exchanged more than a few words with either of them. Currently it was still very early in the morning, they were both asleep, and Laura was glad to have the sun light and the quiet of the morning for herself – at least for as long as she could keep the thoughts out of her mind. Between the sunrays, which were drawing spots and lines of light onto the slightly dusty window and the wall of the hospital rooms, Laura suddenly believed to make out a face. A face taking a distinct shape, eyes looking at her – a face she knew. And now she couldn't keep up the facade any longer: The memories flooded back into her mind. For a moment Laura struggled against them, tried to keep her mind blank, but she knew it was useless. She closed her eyes, and now she saw the face more clearly: Her mother's face. The memory invaded her body like a wave of pain; Laura suddenly felt the urge to throw up. And now she wished to forget everything. What use was the blue sky, the sun, the snow? What use was it to finally be free? She wanted to be unconscious again, in a coma. Why could it not have been her who died in the accident? And why – a small corner of her mind realized how strange it seemed, that she was wishing for something like this – why did Mr. Seger not just overrule all her thoughts again, rid her of any memory or sense of self, turning her back into his slave, without any will of her own? Next time she would not try to resist, Laura decided. She hated Mr. Seger and what he did to her, but anything was better than this pain cutting into her chest, whenever she stayed awake long enough for the memories to return. And wasn't the truth that she didn't deserve better? It should have been her who died. She did not remember the moments before the accident, but she was sure of that – it should have been her, not her mother. Somewhere on the small table next to her bed there were pills, Laura remembered, something to help her sleep, to make the pain go away. Quickly she turned to look for them. However, just when she found them and took them into one hand, a glass of water that was standing there for her into the other, the air somehow changed its quality. There was a familiar sensation of being pulled down into an abyss, of her thoughts slowing down. She felt Mr. Seger reaching out for her, taking hold of her mind. Instinctively she wanted to resist, but then she remembered the decision she had taken just minutes earlier. A Battle of Minds Ch. 02 Laura gave in to forgetting, to darkness, to the nothingness as her mind sank into a deep, dark abyss. *** The dark hallways of the hospital were silent; the only sound to be heard was the quiet hum of the lamps behind the emergency exit signs, that gave the inside of the building a little bit of greenish light, and the buzz of a few medical devices. Dr. Smith was so used to the silence that surrounded him during night shift, that he adapted his own footsteps automatically: He was barely audible either. This night was indeed particularly quiet, so far there had not been a single emergency, nor had new patients been delivered to the hospital. Dr. Smith was definitely not complaining about this. He was already well past fifty years old and he liked peace and quiet. When as a young man he had decided to study medicine, he had still been equipped with the necessary energy for this straining job. Now, however, he felt more worn out with every day and started looking forward to retirement. Until then, however, he still had to work quite a few years. At least this was a small-town hospital; the amount of accidents and other emergencies was by far not as big as it might have been in a big city. Thus, Doctor Smith did not mind night shifts, and he particularly liked nights like this one, where he could quietly walk around the hallways, enjoy an atmosphere of peace that only a large amount of sleeping people could generate, and let his own thoughts wander freely. Suddenly, however, these thoughts were interrupted by a sound. The sound of naked feet on the linoleum hospital floor, not loud at all – had it not been so quiet in the hospital, and had Dr. Smith not been so used to the silence, he might not even have heard it. Dr. Smith froze for a moment, then he turned and looked around suspiciously – but the hallway was empty. If one of his patients had left their room and was wandering around the nightly hospital, then why had they not turned on the light? He could not make out the sound anymore, however. Thus, after listening into the night for a few more moments, Dr. Smith turned around again and continued his slow walk up the hallway. Another sound cut through the silence, the creak of a door, not louder than the patter of naked feet had been earlier. Then the door closed, and instinctively Dr. Smith knew, which door it had been. Slowly, hesitatingly he moved towards it. It was the door of a small cabinet where the hospital's cleaners left their appliances. Definitely not the right place for a patient to spend the night. Dr. Smith believed he could feel the presence of someone behind the closed door of the cabinet. For a few moments he just stood there, and then he took a deep breath and pushed the door open. It was dark inside; he could not see anything but a few indistinguishable shapes and blindly started to search for the light switch. Just when he found it, something touched his hand – thin, soft fingers, pulling his hand away from the light switch. Before Dr. Smith could utter a sound of surprise and fear, another hand covered his mouth. The touch was soft, however, not menacing, more like a caress, and he felt a body pressing against his back. A female body, he could make out breasts, soft and round, not particularly big yet clearly distinguishable as they pushed against him. The woman behind him could not be wearing many clothes, probably just a thin nightgown. After a moment of this strange, blind hug, she let go, and Dr. Smith turned around. Now that he had been inside the cabinet for a few moments, his eyes had gotten somewhat used to the darkness, and the woman was standing right in the dim light shining in from the hallway through the open door; Doctor Smith recognized Laura, his patient with the sad eyes, who by now had recovered well from her car accident. She was smiling, as she reached out to the door. After pulling it closed, they were engulfed in complete darkness, but Dr. Smith was not scared anymore, nor did he feel the wish to find the light switch. He stretched out his arms to the girl, and pulled her into a tight embrace, relishing the feeling of her soft skin, of her feminine body under the tiny night gown. He did not wonder what she was doing here, why she seemed to have been expecting him – her presence, her fragrance and the warmth of her body were too enticing. Somehow, to Doctor Smith, meeting her here seemed just right, just the thing he had been waiting for this night. Any possible thought of morals, of the law, even of his wife were wiped from his mind when Laura's lips touched his. The doctor gave himself to her kiss, returned it, let his tongue explore the young woman's mouth, and as his courage grew, he started exploring her young body with his hands. He felt her move, heard a rustle of fabric, and then found that the girl had pushed up her night gown, so that now he could feel her smooth skin directly under his fingers. Slowly he let his hands wander down and then back up along her thighs, before he grabbed with each hand one side of her beautiful behind, firmly, feeling her flesh under his fingers, and pushed her body yet closer to his own. Then he allowed his hands to wander again, to explore her body with a thoroughness that put even any of his medical exams to shame. Laura stepped back just enough to allow the space between them he needed to reach her breasts. He relished in the feeling of those firm globes under his hands. When he cupped them, he could feel her nipples poking into the insides of his hands. The little buttons were small, but they were swollen and hard like diamonds. Laura's moans heightened his arousal; he felt his manhood straining against his trousers. As if she had guessed his thoughts, Laura's hand suddenly touched him right there, pressing against his sex and rubbing along it, through his trousers and his medical coat. Finally her hand slipped underneath the coat and he could feel her fingers searching for his fly of his trousers, pulling it slowly open. Doctor Smith let his hands wander back down as well. Laura had not been able to shave since she got to the hospital, but the doctor did not mind the fine hair she had grown; the girl did not have a tendency to strong hair growth. He was much too engrossed in the feeling of her naked skin under his fingers to care about such details anyway. His hands reached the girl's sex, and with his fingers he parted her labia, tentatively moving one finger right along the entrance to her hidden treasure. She was wet, and the doctor transported some moisture upwards with his finger, towards her most sensitive spot. When his finger touched her there – carefully at first, but soon applying more pressure to the rotating movements around the little nub – she moaned again. Once more, the doctor moved his finger downwards, this time pushing a bit more against her sex, entering her. Laura's moans grew louder and somewhere in the back of Doctor Smith's mind he remembered again that anyone walking along the hallway would be able to hear her – but he didn't care. He had long forgotten that getting caught would probably cost him both his job and his marriage. Guiding her with his hands, he turned Laura around, so came to stand with her back to the cabinet's wall, and then put his hands around her hips, lifting her up against the wall. Instinctively the girl wrapped her legs around his body and put her arms around his neck. Her mouth searched his again, she drew him closer, seemed to give all of herself to him already in this kiss. Near his own manhood Dr. Smith felt the presence of her moist, warm sex, a cave awaiting him. He pushed his trousers further down, and took his painfully hard and expectant cock into one hand to guide it into her treasury. With his other arm he held on to Laura, keeping her in the right position, while he slowly entered her. As he slid into her moist cavern with ease – she was too wet and willing to offer any resistance – vague memories of all the secret encounters with his girlfriends when he was a young man flooded Doctor Smith's mind. He felt like that again, like the 18 year old he had once been, who had made an art form out of seducing young women in places where neither his nor their parents would ever find out. Of course, this young woman, Laura, had been the one to seduce him this time. And as he paused inside her, wanting to give her a moment to grow accustomed to the intrusion, she wrapped her legs yet tighter around him, trying to pull him in deeper, and started rotating her hips as if to urge him on. She did not have to ask the Doctor for long, he was happy to oblige and started moving inside the girl with long, even thrusts. He relished in the sensation of her warm canal, wrapped tightly around his manhood – and in the sound of her enthusiastic moans as he picked up his pace a bit. If it continued like that, he would not last long, but Doctor Smith was not able anymore to form any coherent thought. The hospital full of sleeping people, the sad story of this young woman, even the small cabinet he was in, it all blurred into an unimportant background. All that existed in his world now was her warm, soft body, her wonderfully soaked pussy, and his own pleasure. *** Mr. Seger was quite pleased with himself. He congratulated himself with his little scheme: It had gone just as planned. First he let the doctor play with Laura for a while, allowing him the feeling of happiness for one last time in his life by letting him enjoy that young and beautiful body of Laura's. The thought of that fat old man having his way with Laura in a cabinet, between plastic buckets and dust mops, his greedy hands leaving fingerprints on her smooth skin – all this aroused Mr. Seger more than he cared to admit. Afterwards, in the morning, he made sure that Mrs. Smith suddenly had the idea of surprising her husband by picking him up from work. Of course, she could not find him, and together with a nurse she started searching the hospital. Doctor Smith had fallen asleep, cuddled up with Laura, just when his shift ended; however, the girl woke him up in his favorite way: by sucking his dick. After a while, he started fucking her again, and Mr. Seger first let Laura show all signs of enjoying herself immensely – until, attracted by her moans, Mrs. Smith and the nurse opened the cabinet door. Then, suddenly, Laura started struggling and screaming. Her desperate cries of "No!" and "Help!" echoed through the hospital's hallways, attracting more doctors and nurses and the patients that were just starting another beautiful and sunny day. The quack didn't deserve anything else. The day of the accident was still burned deeply into Mr. Seger's memory. Doctor Smith had been in the emergency room when they brought in Marion. She was his responsibility, and she died under his care – had the doctor been a little bit faster, a little bit better at his job, she might still be alive. The thought of Laura's mother still awoke a dull pain in Frank Seger. Each day, as he walked through the forest, he had to fight the urge to run back to his hut, hide in his bed, pull the blanket over his head, and never again look at any other human being and even less at the locket. But he knew that this was not an option. Life had to go on, and he had to continue what he was doing. After all, what else could he do? His little schemes, however, like taking his revenge on that loser of a doctor, helped him go on. And what helped him most, more than his revenge even, was the thought of being in full control of Marion's daughter again. It had been easier than expected – he had feared that the long weeks of freedom might have strengthened Laura's willpower, but the opposite was the case. He had her; he had taken her back into his service effortlessly. And the girl, after all, was as beautiful as her mother once had been. And she was all his again. *** The air smelled of spring – that wonderful smell of moist earth, from which the snow has thawed away, of young grass and of fresh leafs and sun. The birds were announcing their return with loud song. The March sun was shining down on Laura, its warmth tickling her skin. She was sitting on the meadow in front of school, together with a few classmates. In fact, the ground was still much too cold to sit on it comfortably, but none of the students really cared about that: It was spring, and it was finally getting warm again. The long and dark winter had passed. Laura looked around curiously. She was sitting with a group of boys, all from the 12th and 13th grade. Hardly any of them, however, belonged to the people she would hang out with in the old days. They weren't from Martin's group of friends either. Most of them were quiet, shy guys, nice enough but somehow just not the type of people she used to be interested in. However, she did not really care whom she was hanging out with these days – there was nothing to be said against these guys. It was just nice to sit outside, in the fresh air, enjoying the sun – and being free, even if it was just for a few moments. It wasn't the first time since her stay in the hospital, that she freed herself from Mr. Seger's power. At first, all she wanted was to forget, but that didn't last long. After a few weeks, started waking up again: During a stormy February night, Laura cried for her mother, another night she once again tried to figure out what had happened in the last weeks, with the help of old newspapers and her email inbox. The truth was that the pain was still there. Each time she awoke, her mother was the first thing on her mind. However, the quality of that pain changed. It was not quite as all-consuming. It allowed space for her wish for freedom once again. She assumed that it was that wish that allowed her to sometimes free her mind from Mr. Seger's control, at night, when he was sleeping. Today, however, was the first time she had woken up at daytime. His control over her seemed to be weakening, there was no other explanation. She had managed, after a lot of practice, to resist Martin, to not allow him back into her mind – and she planned to manage the same thing with Mr. Seger too, even if he was stronger than Martin had ever been: After all, Martin had not really been free; he had controlled her while being under Mr. Seger's control. Her life would never be the same again, she knew that – after all, how could she still be able to lead the normal life of a regular 19 year old girl? Too much had happened, too much that she could not make undone. Maybe, however, if she was free, free to go away, she would be able to forget, Laura hoped. Her own fate, however, was only part of Laura's concerns. There was a bigger meaning behind all this: Laura suspected that her former teacher was up to something. That Mr. Seger had a plan, however vague, behind all his doing. And a plan by a man with that much power and that little scruple would not be good for Leskow, so she had to prevent him from carrying it out. One of the boys sitting on the meadow with Laura took a card game out of his school bag, and the group started playing skat. Laura didn't join in the game, but for a few moments she watched with feigned interest. Then she stood up, taking care to seem as normal as possible, or whatever was perceived as normal for her these days. She walked towards the shore of the lake, right next to the meadow. The water was sparkling in the sunlight. On its waves, between the reflections of the sun, ducks and swans were swimming, hoping for some bread crumbs. They were successful – shortly after Laura's arrival a mother approached the lake with her small child on her hand. She handed the boy an old bread roll, helping him to tear off little parts to throw to the ducks. The child, however, did not fully understand the idea; he seemed to think that it was a much better idea to eat the bread himself. With a smile Laura watched the toddler and his mother, and the fight of the ducks and swans for whatever crumbs ended up in the water after all. The sun burned warm onto her neck, the air was filled with the scent of growing leafs and of water. Then, however, the atmosphere changed: Laura felt an all too familiar sensation. Mr. Seger was back. Her angry cry echoed over the lake and caused the boys to look up from their card game. But the girl paid them no attention. She concentrated all her strength on staying conscious, on staying here, at the lake's shore, watching the little boy feeding the ducks, and on staying conscious of the fact that she was doing just that. Finally, however, the lake became first blurry and then dark in front of her eyes. *** Once again, Frank Seger was staring into the distance, across Lake Leskow. It seemed to him that he had been doing so a lot lately. Now that it was spring, ducks and swans were populating the lake, the parents guarding their fluffy yellow and grey offspring. The presence of new life gave the lake a fresh and happy air, but Mr. Seger barely spent attention to that. He was thinking of Marion, another thing he was doing a lot lately, thinking of what could have been if she had just noticed him back then. And also of what could have happened if he had used his powers in a different way. He had walked up and down the shore all morning. And he had done so the previous evening. And in between walking, he sometimes stood still for a few moments, staring out over the water, towards the little town that still did not guess at his presence. It was quite a way from this side of the lake to Leskow, but Mr. Seger could make out the school. On the meadow in front of the school, several students were sitting, as they always did during their breaks, as soon as the weather would allow it. Someone had walked away from the other students and was standing at the shore, staring out over the waters, just like he did. And even though there were over one hundred meters of water between them, and he was well hidden underneath the trees of the forest, Mr. Seger suddenly got the impression that the girl was staring right into his eyes. At that very moment he knew, who was standing there. Laura. Only now, he realized that there was no connection between her and him. And he knew that there hadn't been one for a while, at least half an hour. Somehow, she had freed herself from his power again, without him noticing. Somehow... And something told him that this might not be the first time that she managed this. A strange fear came over Mr. Seger. Again, he had to think of Martin. Could Laura be dangerous to him too? *** Thomas was in a visibly good mood – how could he not be? The rains of April seemed to finally have passed, the weather was amazing, he had passed his last written exam and still had another month's time before he would have oral exams – and he was on his way to a new meeting with Laura. They met up at least once per week – almost every week since their first meeting last fall, with the exception of those week Laura had spent in hospital. At first, Thomas' sexual gratification was the sole purpose of those secret moments, after all that was what he paid her for. By now, however he considered his time with Laura also a kind of lesson – he was studying something more important than math or literature, and he was learning in the most pleasant way possible. After all, he did not plan on only sleeping with women who received money for it for the rest of his life. As pretty as Laura was, as much as he liked her, Thomas dreamt of having a girlfriend, being with a woman he could love and respect. With a girl, who had not slept with half the guys at school. He was aware that all those rumors about Laura were probably true. After all, if it had been that easy for him to get her to do what he wanted, it couldn't have been any harder for the others. And, as he had heard, she was planning to improve her grades for her final exams in a not quite legitimate way, should it be necessary. A Battle of Minds Ch. 02 Despite all this, Thomas' self confidence had grown immensely thanks to his regular contact with Laura (and of course during the meetings, something else had grown regularly too), and now he saw a good chance for himself to meet a respectable girl. Of course, he still wasn't the type of guy who would have women coming unto him all the time, but he was sure he had at least some things to offer a potential girlfriend. And for that happy day, he had Laura teach him all he needed to know about how to keep his future girlfriend happy in bed. And he had learned things that would hopefully, once he had the chance to show his abilities, give him quite a reputation among his female fellow students. Well, despite all practice and learning, his own gratification was not overlooked, obviously. Thomas could feel his dick springing to life, still hidden in his jeans, when he just thought of Laura and all the things he would do to her in the next hour. He started walking faster – he could barely wait to finally be with her again. There was the clearing already – since it had gotten warmer, Thomas and Laura met in the forest, rather than in the school's restrooms. It was a lot nicer, Thomas had to admit, even though they always had to be on the lookout for ants. Of course, he would have preferred his own room and bed, but that might have gotten him into trouble with his parents – by now, Laura's reputation was known not only to Leskow's youth. Laura was lying on a blanket that she had thrown over the grass of the clearing. She was facing away from the direction Thomas was coming from. Even though the air was still somewhat cool, she was not wearing much more than a tiny top and a short skirt, but that did not surprise him. When Thomas stepped closer, he realized to his excitement that she was not wearing anything underneath her skirt. Finally Thomas stood right next to Laura, looking down at the girl. The shadow he was casting fell right over her body, but she still did not move. Thomas started wondering if she had fallen asleep while she was waiting for him. She was breathing evenly, but he could not tell if her eyes were open or closed. Thomas sat down on the blanket, behind her. Carefully he touched the smooth skin of her legs with one finger, then, growing more daring, he started stroking her with his whole hand. And really, Laura stirred, pushed her behind out towards him, as if she wanted to encourage him to let his hand move up a bit further. When he complied – parting her legs a bit, so he could move his hands between them and touch her sex, that to his surprise was already moist – Laura uttered a quiet but very happy sigh. He felt the inviting wetness of her folds – Thomas started wondering if she might have been playing with herself before he arrived, and he liked that thought. After stroking up and down her labia, he pushed them apart, and then let his finger slip inside her. She was wet enough for his finger to enter her easily. Again, Laura uttered a low moan, as Thomas started moving his finger inside her, slowly at first, then faster and faster. With his free hand, Thomas reached for the fly of his trousers. With trembling fingers he tried to pull it open. He was clumsier in this than usual: Due to his arousal, his fingers were shaking slightly, and he wanted to hurry more than he should. This happened occasionally, and it had never been a problem, but now, suddenly, Laura moved away from his touch. She rolled to the side, for a moment she seemed disoriented, and then she jumped up, her eyes wild. Her scream echoed through the forest: "No!" After that she stood still for a few moments, staring down at Thomas, with the expression of a hunted animal on her face. Then she said "I am sorry, this is not your fault!" in a strangely constrained voice, before turning around and disappearing quickly between the trees. Thomas kept kneeling on the blanket alone, staring into the direction she had run, his dick almost painfully swollen, and his whole body trembling from unfulfilled expectations. *** Night. Laura felt the man's arm around her body, holding her tight, she heard his snore, felt his breath in her neck, and his crotch with his limp dick pressed against the small of her back. A wave of disgust and hatred shook her body. This was worse than her time with Martin. This man was her teacher, he was old enough to be her father, and he was one of the people she had once trusted. And he was her mother's murderer. Laura moved carefully, she did not want to wake him, and sat up to look around the room. It was dark, she had no idea where she was, but there was a small window. Just enough light entered the small room to make out the silhouettes of a few big pieces of furniture. The room was crowded, there were more shelves and chairs than should be in a place of this size. However, most of the shelves seemed empty, and nothing she could use was on the tables either. Some kind of weapon – that was what she needed. If she could just... A sudden pain made her shriek and instinctively reach up to her head to protect her skull: He was jerking her back into the bed by her hair. The pain just lasted a second, however, then her thoughts became slow and blurry again... *** "Come here! Right now!" Shouting was no use, Mr. Seger knew that, but it was the only way he could express his rage. It just didn't work anymore. What was going on, what had happened? Maybe it was the locket? Could it be broken? Mr. Seger wracked his brain for a memory of dropping it, bumping it into something, damaging it in any way. No. He knew that the locket was fine, that nothing had happened to it. He had tried it on other people many times, made them do the strangest things, just to make sure. It always worked, on everyone but her. Laura stood opposite her former teacher, and seemed to be fighting a battle of epic proportions inside her mind. Her face showed certain signs of being in a trance; Mr. Seger was sure that she was not fully awake and aware of her surroundings – but she did not obey him either, that much was obvious. Her consciousness, it seemed, was struggling to resurface. It was fighting against the influence of the locket with all its might. It had worked smoothly for months, throughout the fall and most of winter Mr. Seger had controlled the girl without any effort. He didn't have to consciously think of what he wanted her to do, he didn't have to search out her mind and entangle it with his own thoughts. She had just done his bidding automatically. She had been entirely his, but obviously this did not work anymore. It was like at the very beginning, when he first found the locket and was just starting to learn how to use it. When he was trying out its powers at innocent passer's by, making them do an odd thing here or there – like the jogger he met one day in the forest, a beautiful young woman whom he made interrupt her morning run for a moment to flash her tits at him – she had worn an expression similar to Laura's, this expression of a strong will that does not give in to someone's orders without a fight – though in the end he had won. Mr. Seger had to remind himself that the memory of how delicious her tits looked would only distract him now. He had to concentrate on Laura, on what he had ordered her to do, else he stood no chance. The teacher focused his entire mind on his former student, staring at her intently while he did so. Finally the girl's features relaxed. She displayed the vague smile Mr. Seger was so used to, and took a step towards him, before she did as he had asked, and kneeled down. He had won. But for how long had he won? How long would Laura obey him this time? And what would happen when he became unable to control her any longer? Frank Seger knew that there was only one solution to his problem, and that he could not deny it any longer: He had to get rid of Laura, once and for all. *** Pain. Her whole world consisted only of pain. The throbbing pain in Laura's head blocked out everything else at first, but then, she heard something from the world around her. A ticking sound. The ticking of a clock. One of those big, old fashioned clocks hanging on the walls of many people's homes in Leskow. Slowly, Laura opened her eyes, careful not to let too much light through to them at once. Still, despite being in an only dimly lit room, her headache increased. It took a while before her eyes focused and she could see where she was. She was lying on the floor, on a thick carpet. Something was lying on top of her, something painfully heavy. She did not think that any bones in her body were broken, despite the pain she did not feel like she had any serious injuries, but the weight made it impossible for her to move. Even turning her head to look around the room she was in was an incredible effort. Laura realized that she was in a living room, and in a corner of that room she saw indeed the big clock, ticking loudly. Everything looked strangely familiar. One of her hands was free, and Laura tried to push away the heavy thing that was crushing her – she felt its surface, seemingly of smooth wood, and suddenly realized that it was a bookshelf that had fallen over, right on top of her. Her hand slipped off. It was wet, her hand, slippery. Laura looked at it, and realized that it was drenched in a sticky, dark liquid. Blood. With great effort, Laura turned her head again, looking around the room. Near the sofa, there was a big puddle of blood on the floor, and further away she believed to make out a hand – a pale, unmoving hand. The body that hand belonged to was hidden from her view by the sofa, but what she could see was enough to tell that the owner of the hand was very unlikely to be alive. It took Laura several minutes to realize that she was screaming, at the top of her lungs. Screaming, before that what she was seeing even fully registered in her brain. Her scream seemed just a natural reaction to that lifeless hand on the floor. What had happened? What had he done? What had she done? Panicking, Laura tried once again to push the heavy set of shelves off her body, to wriggle away from underneath it, so she could get up, so she could flee. However, it was no use. She was trapped. Finally, Laura stopped screaming, and ceased struggling to free herself. It was completely silent in the house again. Just the clock kept ticking, while Laura closed her eyes, waiting for what would happen next. Finally, in the distance, she could make out the sound of a police siren. ~~~~~ The next chapter of this story will be published in the category "Non-consent/Reluctance". A Battle of Minds Ch. 03 This is the third chapter in a longer story which mainly is situated in the mind control category. This chapter, however, is posted in the non-consent category and contains also elements of incest -- please be aware of this before reading. I recommend reading the whole story, but since this chapter is an interlude to the general story line, it can also be read by itself -- to know who the characters are, however, I will give a short summary of what has happened so far: The story takes place in the small town of Leskow, in Eastern Germany, sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s. During the last two years, Laura's life has been turned upside down. With the help of a mysterious locket, first her classmate Martin and later her former math teacher Mr. Seger -- believed dead by everyone -- have succeeded to control the young woman's mind and actions. While Martin was mainly concerned with his own sexual pleasures, Mr. Seger forced her to sell her body to other students. Since Laura is developing the necessary mental strength to break free of that control, Mr. Seger fears she might become a danger to him -- after all she put Martin into a coma a year earlier. Thus he arranges for Laura to be arrested. ~~~ Dark and quiet are the waters of Lake Leskow under the night sky. Reed is swaying gently in the soft breeze; little waves are cutting the moon's reflection into a million dancing pieces. Somewhere at the Western shore, the small town of Leskow is asleep, the windows of its houses dark, the streets empty. In the Grünenberger forest, reaching the lake's Southern and Eastern shores, it is quiet as well, almost every living being is asleep, hiding in trees, under shrubs, or in small caves; just an owl disturbs the silence of the summer night a few times with its cries. Then, however, the sound of footsteps is tearing into the quiet of the night, a strange sound that doesn't seem to belong here. The sound of heavy feet, a menacing sound in a night like this, announces the approach of a dark figure making its way through the thickest part of the forest before reaching a clearing. The figure walks across it to a small bay in the South Eastern corner of the lake. Finally the figure reaches the water, and pauses for a few moments. Now, that it is unmoving, it can hardly be seen underneath the trees; a shapeless dark shadow, looking out over the water into the night. Then, this shadow turns away again, returns into the forest, and disappears between trees and shrubs. Twigs break under the heavy feet, right by the edge of the clearing. Finally, however, the sound of the footsteps stops suddenly, and for just a few moments, the silence of the night returns. For a few moments, all that is heard is the rustle of leafs in the wind. Then, the sound of a loud, demanding knock against a wooden door wakes up the birds all animals sleeping near the clearing. *** "Murder, Laura?" The sound of complete and utter disbelief still remained in police chief Stefan Rombach's voice, even though he had asked this very question an uncounted number of times throughout the past week. "You have gone through a lot, of course... I can understand your behavior during the last months, after what has happened. Of course I don't condone it, but it is understandable, it's a phase. But... killing someone?" On the floor there was a little stone, maybe it had stuck to someone's shoe, and had thus journeyed into the interrogation room along with the wearer of said shoe, before falling off and staying here, on the floor. Laura gave the stone a little kick with the tip of her left foot and watched it roll over the floor towards her right foot. Then she kicked it with her right foot, so it rolled back to her left one. Just very light kicks, so the movement of her legs would barely be noticeable to anyone but her. "At least look at me, damn it!" The words came out louder than he had intended, and two of the other police officers present in the interrogation room looked at each other, pulling up their eyebrows, concern in their eyes. The police chief stopped yelling and just stared at the girl in front of him, as if he had gotten scared by the sound of his own voice. His shoulders were hanging down, and he looked like he had aged about ten years during the last week. A small drop of saliva landed on Laura's forehead; she felt the liquid on her skin like a small, burning spot, like acid, eating its way into her. Of course, she knew it was just a bit of spit, but it seemed to itch, grow into huge proportions, making her unable to concentrate on anything else. She was tempted to lift her hand and wipe over her forehead. However, any reaction at all to the fact that her uncle was standing in front of her and had just yelled at her seemed senseless, even dangerous. She just stared back into his face, into those eyes that had always looked at her lovingly. Now, there were deep shadows under Uncle Stefan's blue eyes, showing the exhaustion those last few days had meant for police chief Rombach. None of the police officers in the room dared as much as breathe, while uncle and niece stared silently into each other's eyes. The whole world seemed to have stopped turning. Only the ticking of a clock disturbed the silence. The ticking of a clock. Laura's mind searched for a link -- she knew that kind of ticking. Her head started aching, and the ticking seemed to increase in volume. She kept staring into her uncle's face, did not dare close her eyes even for a second. She felt them burn, her eyes, but she could not stop staring at him. His eyes were tired, red. Red like blood. Blood. The ticking of the clock. The pale hand behind the sofa. The ticking grew louder and louder, it seemed to make the walls of the room shake. It surrounded her; there was no way to escape that ticking sound. Finally, the girl broke the silence. "Please, can someone stop that clock?" she whispered. For a few moments, the echo of her words seemed to linger in the air, mingling with the silence of the police officers and the ticking clock. Police chief Rombach's face looked down on her in disbelief. Then, slowly, his features distorted in anger. "Are you completely out of your mind?!" he screamed. This time, the sound of his own voice did not seem to scare him, and the long-dried drop of spit on Laura's face got the company of several more. Police chief Rombach was still shouting, and Laura could not understand what he was saying -- and she was not trying, either. She was just glad that his voice was loud enough for her not to hear that horrible ticking sound anymore. *** Mrs. Meyer opened the door to the small shop with such force, that the quaint little bronze bell, hanging inside the bakery at Leskow's main street to announce customers, started swinging wildly enough to almost do a full turn. Behind Mrs. Meyer, mercilessly pulled onwards with a red leather leash, followed Fifi, her tiny but rather round black poodle. The overweight animal was panting, apparently it had been forced to run, and on its owner's pudgy cheeks, overgrown with a fine layer of black hair, there were bright red spots. People that knew Mrs. Meyer, and in fact almost everyone in Leskow did know her, were aware that this was a clear sign of her being highly agitated. You could always tell easily what state Mrs. Meyer was in, and agitation was one of her more common states. Mrs. Meyer had spent her whole life in Leskow, not only did almost everyone know her, but more importantly, she knew all people of the little town -- even those few that were not aware of her existence. And not only did she know everyone, but she also knew the darkest secrets about them, those that they would not even tell their closest friends. Mrs. Meyer's great talent was finding out news, and passing them on. And she had news right now -- that was something you could tell by just one look into her shining eyes. As soon as Mrs. Meyer crossed the threshold into the bakery, she already blurted out that one sentence, with which she started any conversation: "Have you already heard...?" Mrs. Meyer did not wait for the young woman behind the bakery's counter to react to this question. "He has woken up!" she continued, with a triumphant expression. The young shop clerk gaped at the older lady, her open mouth giving her expression a less than intelligent appearance. 'Her jacket does not at all go well with the color she died her hair in', she thought. Being a fashionable young woman, the shop clerk herself always made sure her clothes fit with the bright but artificial blond of her hair. Of course, the old lady in front of her had dyed her hair in such a vile purple, it was almost impossible to find appropriate clothing. As the young woman pondered this, she slowly realized that Mrs. Meyer was silent now and staring at her expectantly. Apparently she had to show some kind of reaction. "Who?" "That boy... the one who won the diving contest last year. Don't you know? The one that had been lying in a coma for all those months!" Mrs. Meyer said quickly. After that, she hesitated for a moment, as if to catch breath, before she added: "One whole meal bread, please. And ten bread rolls." *** "Murder, Laura?" The echo of that word would be etched into Laura's brain forever. The essence of all those questions that she had been asked in the last week, and the questions she was asking herself, constantly, when she was lying awake in her cell every night. "Why did you do it? Why did you kill the Kopnickys?" The Kopnickys. The name still made Laura's heart give a jump. Daniel's family. His face, a face she had not thought about much during her few waking moments in the last months, appeared inside her head painfully clearly. She had lost him forever. Until yesterday, she had asked herself again and again, whether she had killed him as well. The idea had been too much to bear -- but not knowing was even worse. How could she find out, though? How could she ask something like that? Yesterday, eventually, after many hours of tiresome interrogations, all of which she had met with silence, she overcame her fear. "What about Daniel?" The policeman she had asked pulled his eyebrows together and looked at her darkly. He had known Laura since she was a little girl, had seen her many times when she came to the police station to visit her uncle. And the whole town knew she had been going out with Daniel Kopnicky, until their sudden break-up two years ago. "We have informed Daniel Kopnicky about what has happened. Currently he is on his way back to Germany. You will have to face him whenever your case is brought to court." Despite everything, Laura had felt a certain relief when she heard those news, even something like happiness, if that type of feeling was still possible for her. Daniel was alive! He had not been home, not even in town. She had not killed him. Her happiness, of course, did not last long. Now that her mind was free again, she found herself thinking of him constantly. Again and again she imagined the pain he would be feeling now, the hatred against her, and again and again the vision of the Kopnickys' living room appeared in her mind, this familiar room that was suddenly filled with the sickening smell of blood and a horrible silence that was disturbed only by the ticking of a clock. And slowly, the realization sank in: She had killed Mr. and Mrs. Kopnicky. *** "Hey, are you even listening?" The police chief's questions tore Laura from her thoughts. She was still sitting on the same chair, her uncle was still towering in front of her, the other three policemen were still watching her with worried expressions, and even the clock was still ticking as annoyingly as ever. Laura could not see any changes in the little interrogation cell, and yet, something had changed. Something was not alright; something was not as it should be. Nothing was as it should be, Laura thought grimly. For the past two years, nothing had been as it should be. Her whole life was not alright anymore. Just now, however, something was even less alright than usual. There was something in the air, it felt as if the soft breeze that had entered the interrogation cell through the tiny window just moments earlier, did not carry in fresh air, but rather made the air thicker, impenetrable somehow, giving it a different taste and quality that Laura could not quite describe, but that she knew just too well. The locket! That mysterious locket, used to control her, first by Martin, her classmate that the whole town believed to be her boyfriend, and then by her former math teacher Mr. Seger that the whole town believed to be dead -- the locket was close by. Laura could feel its presence. Her heart started beating faster, the dread and hopelessness she had felt until now changed into panic. Had Mr. Seger come to the police station? Did he want to get her back, or force her to admit her crime, so that she would end up behind bars, and be safely out of his way? Laura had to tread cautiously now. She could not be sure what new dangers were awaiting her. Instead of answering her uncle, the police chief, she used all power of concentration that she had to secure her mind against the influence of the locket. She had learned to fight against it, she knew she was strong, but the locket was a force to be reckoned with. One moment of carelessness would rob her of her own free will. Nothing happened, however. The strange feeling disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. The air felt normal again, like the locket was far away. "Can I have something to drink?" Laura asked finally. Police chief Romback nodded, looking tired. He left the room in person to get a glass of water for Laura. After just a few moments, he returned carrying a plastic cup. Laura lifted her hand to take her drink -- but before she could close her fingers around it, her uncle suddenly jerked forwards, and she felt something cold and wet on her chest: police chief Rombach had emptied the cup, suddenly and without warning, but quite obviously on purpose, onto her shirt. "Hey!" Laura glared at her uncle reproachfully. He, however, did not react or even look her into the eyes -- instead, he stared at the result of his own clumsiness: Laura's thin T-shirt, appropriate for the hot august weather outside and the stuffy air inside, was now hugging her small round breasts tightly. She was wearing a very light-colored shirt, the type that became transparent when wet. In reaction to the cold water, her nipples had stiffened and were clearly visible under the wet textile. Uncle Stefan wore an expression like he was somewhere in a different world. His eyes were fixed onto Laura's breasts, and slowly, as if in a trance, he lifted a hand. When his fingers made contact with the wet cloth of Laura's shirt, her tongue, locked in an astonished speechlessness thus far, suddenly loosened. "Have you gone mad?" she shrieked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. From his lack of reaction, however, Laura suspected that her words never reached her uncle's brain. There was something dangerously familiar in his expression. The way his eyes were clouded and his features were relaxed made him seem remote, like he was not even consciously present in the room. He looked almost dreamy, as he smiled down at the wet fabric clinging to her breasts, and at his own hand, tenderly fondling one of the small orbs. The very moment Laura realized this, though, the police chief's expression changed into one of confusion. He pulled back his hand with a sudden movement, as if it had been burned. The other police officers, who thus far had been standing by motionless, started stirring again. They looked disoriented, as if they were just waking up from a long and deep sleep. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to do that," police chief Rombach said. "Wait, I will get you something dry to wear." He walked towards the door. The other three police officers seemed undecided whether they should follow him or stay here, with Laura. Before the police chief had reached the door of the small room, however, he abruptly turned around and looked at his niece once more. "Better take off that shirt, it is soaked, you will catch a cold if you sit there in wet clothing." His voice sounded somewhat strange, different from the voice Laura was used to. She could not say, of what this difference consisted, whether it was the sound of the voice itself, or the way he pronounced the words. She just knew that this was not quite her uncle's voice. Quickly, Laura shook her head, but police chief Rombach did not even seem to notice. He abandoned his plan of looking for a dry shirt, and instead returned to his niece. In shock, Laura realized what her uncle was about to do. She opened her mouth, searching for the right words to express her protest -- but she found she was rendered speechless, frozen to her chair in the middle of the room. Her own lack of reaction was not the locket's doing, she knew. After all, she was fully conscious of everything around her. It was fear that made her unable to defend herself. "Help her!" the police chief ordered the other three officers. One of them, a big-boned, elderly man with a gray moustache, reacted instantly, hurrying over to Laura. Before the girl could as much as squirm away, he had grabbed the hem of her shirt and started jerking it upwards. On his face, Laura could see the same expression as on her uncle's features -- a somewhat distant, unfocused expression, as if he was not fully there. Then, the shirt obscured her view, as he pulled it over her head. *** For about the twentieth time, the young shop clerk looked at her watch. The first few looks had been sneaky, barely noticeable, or at least meant as such. After all, she was supposed to treat her customers well, and talkative old ladies were customers too. By now she stared at her watch in such an obvious way, though, that anyone near her was bound to notice she was losing her patience. The only person nearby, however, was Mrs. Meyer herself, and Mrs. Meyer was much too immersed in what she was saying to pay much attention to the young woman's bored yawns. She had things to say, important things, and such a young thing could learn a lot if she just listened to her. Just now, she had started on the general deterioration of moral in today's youth -- back in her own time, young people had dressed properly, had organized friendship evenings and done activities in the local youth organization, or had helped the elderly with their shopping instead of going to parties or playing computer games, and anyway, back in the old times not everything had been bad, people had done their jobs instead of arguing about politics, and if she had any say... The little bell on top of the bakery's door interrupted her speech, and Mrs. Meyer turned around to see a burly young man with very short hair entering the little shop. Staring at him, she fell silent, while the shop clerk obviously forgot to close her mouth again after the hearty yawn she had given just moments earlier. They both knew this young man -- they had talked about his strange awakening from a coma just minutes earlier. Martin was somewhat paler than he had been a year ago, but rather than looking happy about his mysterious cure, his expression was just as bored as usual -- and a little distant, as if nothing truly concerned him. He did not seem to notice the shock his appearance had caused, but greeted the shop clerk in a slow, drawling voice. The words came out slightly garbled, however, as if he was tripping over his own tongue, and his voice sounded hoarse from lack of use. He sounded like someone that had not said anything in a long time. Like the order for an éclair and two doughnuts were the first words crossing his lips since he woke up from the coma. A Battle of Minds Ch. 03 The young shop clerk needed a few moments to even understand that he was speaking to her, and she needed yet longer to close her mouth and start putting the cake Martin had ordered onto paper plates. Once she was done with that, she wrapped it in colorful paper with the bakery's name and the words "fresh and tasty -- only the best at our bakery" printed onto it. After handing Martin the cake, she then fumbled with the cash register for quite a while. Her voice slightly shaky, she finally named the amount that was shown in brightly green numbers on the cash register's display: "Two fifty." Martin did not react. For a very short moment, it was completely and utterly silent in the small bakery, as the shop clerk waited for her money, and Martin stared down onto his feet, as if concentrating on some thought that had wandered into his mind. Then, Mrs. Meyer opened her mouth. "Put it on my bill," she said. "The boy definitely deserves some cake after what he has gone through." The shop clerk shrugged -- she did not care who she got the money from, as long as someone paid the cake. Miraculous awakening or not, she was most certainly not paying for it out of her own wages. If that old hag Mrs. Meyer found it worth a few Marks to have another story to tell, however, good for her. Martin took the wrapped packages of cake and turned around without a single word of thanks. He did not even seem surprised at Mrs. Meyer's kindness. His expression was as bored as ever. The little bell above the bakery's door rang as he opened the door and then shut it behind him. Then it was quiet again in the little shop. *** Laura struggled against the handcuffs a few times, even though she knew it was in vain. She couldn't get them off her hands; of course not. Those were real handcuffs; after all she was at a police station here. Wriggling and trying to pull her arms away from her back was little use. Just as her attempt at defending herself had been little use when the policemen bound her hands. She had scratched and bitten them, but they were much stronger than her, and never seemed to even notice her attempts to injure them. Effortlessly they pulled her arms behind her back, and cuffed her to the chair on which she was sitting. The whole time, none of the four policemen uttered a word. Their unfocussed eyes confirmed Laura's suspicions: They were not themselves, not in their right mind. Nothing they did was out of their own free will. And for her, this meant that any resistance, as well as any attempt to reason with them, was useless. They would just go on doing whatever they had been ordered to do. But why? Mr. Seger wanted to get rid of her, he was scared of her; that much Laura could deduct from the events of the last week. And he had succeeded, the way things seemed, she would spend more than a few years in prison. Wasn't that enough? Why did he have to go on torturing her? She was yanked out of her musings, as she felt hands grip tightly around her breasts. Her uncle, the police chief, was standing in front of Laura, leaning towards her, cupping each of the soft globes with one of his hands, kneading them roughly. When she looked up, Laura could see right into his face. Even though he was looking back at her, his eyes seemed not to be focusing on the girl. Rather, they were staring into some unknown distance, not seeing what was right in front of him. Police chief Rombach's mouth stood open, a tiny bit of drool had appeared in one of its corners. Still, though he was not aware of what was going on, it seemed to affect him physically. Laura could hear her uncle's breath getting heavier. Then one of his hands let go of her breast, instead cupping Laura's chin and turning her face closer towards his own with a slow but irresistible movement. Laura saw his lips approach her mouth. Underneath the thick moustache they seemed swollen and bulgy. Uncle Stefan's moustache -- Laura suddenly remembered teasing him about it a few years ago, when he first grew it. A moustache is only for old men, she used to say. The uncle's mouth by now was so close that she could not see it clearly anymore. Instead, she felt his breath on her face, smelled him. A wave of disgust welled up inside Laura, and panicking she tried to turn away, to remove her face from his aim, to avoid the unavoidable. The firm grip on her chin tightened. Laura closed her eyes in resignation, as the pain forced her to open her mouth. Then, Uncle Stefan's lips touched hers. They were surprisingly soft and moist, and his tongue, a slimy muscle, like a slug, snaked its way past her lips. Unrelenting it searched out every corner of her mouth, ran along her teeth, swirled around and pushed aside her own tongue, forced its way towards her throat. Then Uncle Stefan's tongue retreated, and instead he sucked her tongue into his own mouth, the iron grip of his hand continuously around her chin, the other hand still on her breast, he forced her to obey. Laura believed to taste something familiar, like fried potatoes, eggs and beer maybe, when her uncle's saliva filled her mouth and ran down her throat. She felt sick. One of the other policemen approached Laura from the back, and suddenly she felt her handcuffs being opened. Before she could enjoy that newly won freedom, however, and maybe push her uncle away, Uncle Stefan let go of her other breast and grabbed one of her hands instead, yanking it forwards. Laura's hand was pressed against the coarse material of his trousers and the cold metal of the buckle of his belt. Underneath the textile, she could feel something warm reacting to her touch -- twitching slightly, and growing. She wanted to pull away her hand, but her uncle had his hand on top of hers, pressing it mercilessly against his manhood, forcing her to rub it through the fabric of his trousers in slow circling movements. Then, finally, he let go of her hand, and the grip around her chin loosened as well. The slug-like tongue withdrew from her mouth. Police chief Rombach straightened up, stood tall in front of his niece, looking down at her. Laura opened her eyes, tears were stinging in them, and the skin around her mouth felt sticky and irritated. Laura's voice was hoarse as she spat out the words that she seemed to have been shouting inside her head throughout the whole ordeal -- she was not speaking to her uncle or the other policemen, but to someone who had to be somewhere out there, maybe even far away, but she was sure he would be able to hear her, somehow, even if she whispered. So she shouted not so much for the sake of being heard, but for the benefit of relieving her own frustration: "Why? What have I done to you, Mr. Seger?" She did not receive an answer, she had not expected one either. Instead of Mr. Seger, her uncle spoke to her again. His features were distorted as he looked down on her. In fact, the scornful look he wore made it seem more like it was her former teacher speaking to her, than her uncle. Even his voice sounded different: hard and unfriendly. "Come on Laura, don't make such a fuss. After all you have fucked half your school, so what speaks against us having a little fun with you too?" *** Mrs. Meyer couldn't take the silence in the shop for long; it was not in her nature just to stand around with an open mouth. For a few minutes, she had joined the shop clerk in staring through the window onto the empty road, after Martin had disappeared around a corner. In the end, though, she broke the silence. "I wonder why they allowed him to leave the hospital right away, after just waking up. I mean, looking at him you could barely tell that he had been in a coma for such a long time, he looked fine to me. But isn't it dangerous? Doesn't he have to be monitored or something? But that's what it's like these days. It costs money to keep people in hospitals, so they get kicked out as soon as they can stand on their own legs..." The young shop clerk kept staring out at the street that Martin had crossed a few minutes earlier. For a while, she let Mrs. Meyer just talk, barely listening to her words. When she finally replied, her voice sounded almost dreamy. "Maybe he asked them to let him leave the hospital against the doctor's advice? I think you can do that. I think to do that you just have to sign something that it is on your own responsibility. That's what I've seen on TV anyway, in all those hospital shows..." "Either way, it is a miracle. He looked completely cured." Now it was Mrs. Meyer who checked her watch. "Oh no, did you see the time? It's quite late already. Time just passes too quickly when you have so many interesting things to discuss, doesn't it? But now I really have to go." Mrs. Meyer packed her shopping into a colorful shopping bag that she always carried with her, commanded Fifi to follow her, and left the bakery. The young shop clerk remained on her spot, unmoving. Two customers at the same time, at this time of day, was more than the little bakery usually saw, she was sure that now it would take more than a bit before she would have to do anything again. Dreamily the young women kept staring out the window; her eyes followed Mrs. Meyer as she crossed the street. The old woman was walking surprisingly fast. Soon she turned into the same little side street that Martin had disappeared into earlier. *** Laura knelt on the ground; her hands cuffed behind her back again. Her uncle was standing next to her; just a few moments earlier he had pushed her off her chair, so she had fallen onto the ground, and then forced her into this position. His hand was lying on top of her head, heavy and unmoving, by its mere presence preventing her from standing up. Laura's face was turned downwards; in front of her eyes the patterns on the linoleum floor became blurry. Her lower lip was trembling a little bit; otherwise she was completely motionless as she waited for what was now to follow. Police chief Rombach gave the other police officers a sign. He did not say a word, however, and the others were silent too. In reaction to Rombach's sign, one of the police men stepped closer to the chair Laura was sitting on. It was the same short, moustached man who had taken off her shirt. He was maybe fifty years of age, and quite visibly exceeded his ideal body weight. Laura had always known him as a friendly, relaxed person. When she was a little girl, he had some sweets for her, whenever she visited her uncle at work. Of course, this was because his desk drawer was full of chocolates at any time, not just before her visits -- but he had always shared with his boss' little niece. Laura kept staring at the ground, pretending the policeman wasn't standing right in front of her, blocking her vision to anywhere else. He was much too close to her for comfort, and Laura believed to make out a slight smell of sweat. Then, while she was still looking down, she heard the sound of fingers on fabric, and then of a zipper being pulled down. She did not want to see it, she did not want to know, but his feet were right there, at the dirty little patch of linoleum floor she was staring at, and a moment later that floor was covered with his trousers, as he had pushed them down. She still refused to look up, until a sharp pain tore through her scalp. Her uncle had grabbed a fistful of her hair, to force her to turn up her face. His grip was so tight; she would not be surprised if he pulled out half her hair. Through eyelashes that hung heavy with her tears, she could make out the police man's half-erect cock. Police chief Rombach's hand remained on her head, heavy, his fingers entangled into her hair, like a threat: Should she dare to turn her face away, the pain in her scalp would return. She tried anyway, when the overweight police officer took his dick into his hand, drawing back the foreskin and approaching its shiny head, on which there sat a few sparkling drops of precum, to Laura's mouth. Just before he could touch her lips, rub the sticky liquid onto her skin, she jerked her head to the side and tried to stand up quickly, hoping against hope that she might be able to flee. There had to be people somewhere out there that weren't under Mr. Seger's control. "Help me! Please! Help me", Laura cried as loud as her voice allowed -- until her uncle mercilessly pulled at her hair with such strength, that she feared he might now indeed pull it out. The searing pain in her skull disturbed the coherence of her words, and all she could utter was a loud moan. A loud clicking sound caught Laura's attention immediately, cutting off her screams. One hand still in her hair, Uncle Stefan was holding his gun in the other, pointing it directly at Laura's temple. He still remained silent. Now that Laura had ceased her screams there was no sound to be heard. Silently, the police chief tugged at her hair, making his niece turn her head back to the other police man's crotch. He followed the movement with his gun, Laura felt the cold metal touch her skin lightly, while her uncle's fingers seemed to cut into her skull. The police officer in front of Laura had one of his hands wrapped around his dick, with the other hand he now cupped Laura's chin to guide her face exactly to where he wanted it. Slowly, he rubbed the swollen tip of his cock over her lips. Laura could taste the salty bitterness of the sticky drops of his precum on her mouth. Her eyes fell onto the dark, curly pubic hair of the police man, and onto the hairy curve of his belly. The big bulb was only halfway covered by his police shirt and seemed to linger threateningly over her face. She had to close her eyes, Laura realized, if she wanted to keep from panicking again. It was better not to see him. Then the police officer spoke. Laura had chatted with him more than once, and though she was not as familiar with his voice as with Uncle Stefan's, she could tell that this was not his normal manner of speaking either. Not only the words themselves, which did not befit this usually soft-spoken man, but his manner of pronouncing them. There was a harsh sound to his voice that made her wince before she could even take in what he said. "Open your fucking mouth, slut. You have shown your whole school what a little whore you are, so you can show us now, too." Again, cold metal touched Laura's temple, reminding her of the presence of the gun. Mr. Seger was not here, he would not have to see her die, would not have to pull the trigger himself. Laura knew he would not hesitate to give the order. And despite everything, she did not want to die. Slowly, fighting against her inner resistance, against all her instincts, Laura opened her mouth. She moved her tongue once over her lips and could distinguish more clearly the salty taste of the policeman's precum. It tasted strangely familiar, even though she did not remember ever tasting anything like that before. Suppressing another wave of disgust, Laura forced herself not to move away, to move her tongue further out of her mouth, until it came into contact with the smooth skin of the man's cock, and to slowly lick another drop of precum from its head. Somewhere above Laura a low moan seemed to fill the room, amplified by the silence of the other men. The police officer put his hands on Laura's head. As her uncle let go of her hair, he entangled his own fingers into the long red curls, so she was unable to avoid his cock that he pushed in between her lips. However, due to the looming threat of the gun pointed at her, Laura did not even consider resistance any more. Instead, she opened her mouth willingly. With slow but determined movements, the police officer relentlessly pushed his cock into Laura's mouth again and again, pushing in deeper every time, until he reached the girl's throat. A few times she thought she would suffocate as she struggled against the gag reflex. At those moments, Laura forgot about the gun. The instincts that told her to fight back, to turn away from this man, got the better of her -- but then the hand tightened its grip on her hair, twisting it a little. The tearing pain reminded her of her place. She could not get away. "Your tongue! I can't feel your tongue, bitch!" As she felt the his hand once again twisting her hair painfully, Laura started running her tongue up and down the police officer's cock quickly. To her relief, the grip loosened slightly. For a few moments he even stopped pulling at her hair altogether. Instead, he just enjoyed the feeling of Laura's tongue, working eagerly up and down the shaft. Though she still felt sick to her stomach, the girl was now more concerned with keeping him from hurting her, and she knew this was the only way. If she would give him all she got, she thought, maybe he would finish quickly, and then, maybe, the police men... or rather, Mr. Seger... would let her go. She heard the police man moan again, while she let her tongue dance along his cock. Then she took his manhood as deeply into her mouth as was possible for her. His pubic hair tickled her nose. Laura could sense the smell of his sex, and to her surprise she did not find it as repulsive as she had a few moments ago -- in fact, while she had never done anything like this while being conscious, it all seemed familiar to her. Instinctively she knew what to do, how to best get this man off. Her body remembered what it had done so many other times, under Mr. Seger's control. Then Laura felt a movement behind her. Someone touched her legs: A third police officer had stepped to her, apparently following a sign made by her uncle, who was still pointing the gun at her head. The hands of that third policeman were now pushing their way in between her legs, prying them apart. At first he was stroking up and down her inner thighs, carefully, almost tenderly, but bit by bit the fingers approached Laura's sex. When she felt the first contact of the man's fingertips with her labia, Laura tried to move away, but the fingers unrelentingly followed her movement. She forgot to concentrate on the job in front of her, and within seconds the grip on her hair tightened again, and her head was pushed down deeper onto the second police man's cock. At the same time, Uncle Stefan was leaning forward, Laura felt his breath touch her ear, and heard his voice, very quietly, but with a tone that sent chills up her spine: "If you want to get out of this alive you better let him do what he wants." Laura was trembling, but she obeyed. The fat police officer in front of her started moving his hips, thrusting his cock again and again into Laura's throat, deep enough to make her gag. At the same time, the other man forced a finger into her sex -- she was dry enough to make this not an easy task, but he did not seem to care. As he slowly moved his finger in and out of her womanhood, he started kneading her behind with his other hand. The motion of the finger got easier, as her body automatically started producing some of the liquids needed to make this less painful. As her body reacted, a new sensation rose somewhere deep inside of Laura, despite all her fear and shame and disgust. A feeling that Laura barely knew but recognized immediately. And immediately she tried to push this emotion back down; she did not want to feel like this, she did not want to be aroused by what Mr. Seger made these men do. She just wanted it to be over soon, so she could leave -- even if she did not know what would follow, what else Mr. Seger had planned for her. After all, it could not get much worse than this. Again and again the policeman forced his finger into Laura, soon adding a second one. Laura was unable to resist the effect this assault had on her body: A strange mixture of pain and -- she could not deny it -- arousal, surged into her, and it was all she could do not to moan loudly, whether of pleasure, or of pain. She remained silent, however. Even though she knew that the policemen did not consciously realize any of what they were doing, she did not want to give them the satisfaction of hearing her voice. A Battle of Minds Ch. 03 Finally the police man withdrew his fingers from Laura's sex; Laura suspected that they were now dripping from the liquids her body had produced. A strange mixture of relief and disappointment washed over her -- she felt strangely empty. Only moments later, however, she felt something else pushing against the entrance of her sex, and it did not take her long to guess what it was. Her heart beating faster, she prepared herself for the inevitable. The policeman seemed to hold his cock in his hand and rub its head up and down her labia, before slowly, bit by bit, pushing it into her. When his cock had entered her deep enough to not need the guidance of his hand anymore, the man grabbed Laura's hips with both of his hands, making it impossible for her to move away. Slowly, but without ever pausing, the man had entered her, and pushed deeper and deeper into her sex without hesitation. Despite the liquids her body had produced in defense from the onslaught of his fingers, the man's cock met with resistance from her flesh, but he did not seem to care -- while every inch inside of Laura's sex seemed to burn. Finally he had buried the whole length of his cock inside of her, and for a few moments he remained still, before he pulled back out and then started thrusting into her again and again, with strong, rhythmical movements. The fat police man, standing before Laura, now started picking up speed as well. He rammed his dick into her mouth faster and faster. Soon enough, being able to breathe was Laura's main worry. Still, as she heard the groans of both men, again that strange mixture of arousal and disgust rose in her, mingling with panic. She was not sure what would happen once those two were done, and she was unable to move or defend herself at all. Finally, without warning, the police man in front of her let go of her head and automatically Laura pulled away from him; his cock slid out of her mouth, which again caused an unexpected feeling of emptiness. Then, the very next moment, something warm splashed onto her face. The policeman renewed his grip into her hair while spurt after spurt of cum landed on Laura's eyes and cheeks and nose. *** As they approached the forest, Fifi grew excited; Mrs. Meyer did not have to drag him along on his leash anymore. Usually the little dog had to struggle to keep the little legs under its round body moving, but now it jumped forward happily. The poodle did not get to go to the forest very often, and trees and grass were a never ending source of interest to the animal. Happily it started jumping here and there, sniffing anything that came under its nose. Mrs. Meyer tried to calm him, however -- even though Martin was quite far ahead, he might notice them if the dog started barking. And she did not want to be noticed. What was the boy doing here, in the forest? This really was not the place a person should go to shortly after waking up from a coma, Mrs. Meyer was quite convinced of that. Shouldn't he be with his friends and family, celebrating his miraculous recovery? But maybe, she pondered, he was looking for some peace and quiet, to be alone, readjust to being back in this world. That might have been an explanation, but Martin's fast pace did not seem to fit with this theory. Mrs. Meyer could barely keep up with him. The old lady swore under her breath, as she tripped over one of those annoying little roots for the umpteenth time. These trees seemed to enjoy nothing better than stretching their roots across the forest path. The forest really was not the right place for an old lady like her either. Angrily she jerked at Fifi's leash, and the little poodle squealed accusingly. Within minutes, however, it had forgotten the affront and started jumping happily around her. The forest seemed to turn him crazy, Mrs. Meyer watched the fat little dog in disbelief; she hardly recognized her pet. No, no, this was not what she had in mind. This was no proper behavior for an animal living with her. With surprising agility she scooped it up, ignoring its disappointed whining -- she needed to think, and for that she could not use its shenanigans. When she looked up again, however, the bulky shape of Martin in front of her on the forest path had disappeared. For a few moments Mrs. Meyer stood frozen in her place, her struggling poodle clasped tightly to her chest. What should she do now? "Where can he have gone to?" she asked Fifi, but the little dog did not answer; rather, it just stared longingly into the forest. Mrs. Meyer decided to just keep walking. He had to be somewhere, and she was resolved to find the boy -- she was sure that she would learn something or other, which was worth telling the whole town about. And really, after stumbling along the sandy forest path, just as she was approaching the shores of Lake Leskow, she could hear voices. At the edge of a small, lonesome bay Martin was standing, his shoulders slumped as usual, and talking to someone. The person he was talking to was obscured by a tree and Mrs. Meyer could only faintly make out his voice -- she was still too far away to hear what this stranger and Martin were speaking about. As silently as it was possible for heavy-set Mrs. Meyer, she tip toed yet a few steps closer, hiding in the shade of the trees, until she was in hearing range of the two men's quiet conversation. Just then, the stranger turned around, looking directly into Mrs. Meyer's eyes. He seemed to have no trouble seeing her in the darkness under the trees, like someone who is used to being in the forest. His own face was suddenly hit by the light of a sunray passing through the trees, so Mrs. Meyer could also see it clearly -- and she recognized it right away. Her scream echoed through the forest, for a short moment only; then the old woman fell to the ground with a thump, where she stayed unconscious. *** The fat policeman now was holding the gun in his hand, pointing it at Laura's head, while he used his other hand to stuff away his limp and sticky cock. Then he pulled up the fly of his trousers. The other policeman had let go of her as well, and for a few moments Laura remained untouched, trembling as she knelt on the cold floor. The other policeman slowly walked around her, stopping in front of her and sitting down on the ground. He spread his legs slightly, his manhood stood in front of her like a tower. Laura tried to look away, but an inner force prevented her from doing just that. Some uncontrollable curiosity made her stare at his erection, which was still glistening from her own fluids. Strong hands closed around Laura's hips -- she assumed it was her uncle -- and pushed her forward, towards the other police man. Laura wanted to struggle, fight back; not because she thought she had any chance of escape, but just because she had to. The struggle did not take long. Her uncle's strength far exceeded hers. His unrelenting grip soon forced Laura to come to squat over the policeman, her own legs spread widely. She felt her sex brush against the tip of his cock. Laura's sex was still somewhat moist, and the policeman managed to enter her without causing her too much pain. His strong grip now replaced her uncle's hands around her waist. He held on to her as he thrust upwards, entering her deeply several times -- and now it started hurting. She was not sure what was worse: His unrelenting thrusts, or his grip, with his fingers digging deep into her skin. Laura had given up her attempts of getting away, she could not do anything. As the police man forced his large cock deeper and deeper into her, bruising her inside, she doubled up with pain. Her uncle still stood behind her, and suddenly she felt his hands on her body again. They were lying heavily on her back, keeping her from straightening up. Then Laura felt him leaning over her. She felt the heat of his body, heard his breath. His hands ceased pressing her down; instead they moved along her back softly, caressing her almost tenderly, until they reached the small of her back. Then, brusquely, his touch became rough again, as his grip around the round cheeks of her ass tightened and his fingernails dug into her tender flesh, pulling it apart. She could almost sense his stare on her rosette. The other police officer was still sitting underneath Laura, his cock buried deep inside her. He had stopped thrusting, however, and remained almost motionless, waiting eagerly for what would happen next. He was looking into her face, imbibing every change in her expression, as her uncle tried to push past the barrier of her sphincter muscle with his finger. Of course, Laura knew that the police officer did not really see her, but she wondered whether Mr. Seger was somehow watching her reactions through his eyes. She tried not to show her pain and disgust -- she did not want to give him that satisfaction. Instead, she felt anger rise up in her. Despite the gun still being pointed at her head, and despite the inevitability of the whole situation, Laura found the only outlet of that anger in resistance. She started struggling again, tried to stand up, to push away her uncle. She wanted to kick him, make him stop in some way. His grip, however, was relentless. The weight of his body supported on his hands, he was much too heavy for Laura to resist. She did not have the strength to fight him off. The fingernails of his right hand started digging deeper into her skin. Momentarily they took her attention away from that one index finger, that was slowly but mercilessly entering her tight hole. "If you don't stop this and lie still, it is going to hurt a lot more." Uncle Stefan's voice sounded strange and somehow like none of this really concerned him. Not like his real voice, not like this was really him -- and in a way, Laura knew, it wasn't. She was not sure, however, if she should see that as some kind of comfort, or if that only made everything worse. She tried to wriggle away one more time, but her resources for resistance were used up. Resigned, she gave herself over to her fate. The pressure on her rosette increased, and Laura could feel her uncle's finger slowly progressing its forced entry into the small hole. It hurt less now, much less than she had feared it would, as the man under Laura remained motionless and she had stopped her struggle; Uncle Stefan indeed was almost careful in his undertaking. She started hoping that she might get through all this alright, somehow, as much as anything could be alright for her since that fateful day almost two years ago. She remained compliant; let him do what he wanted. She could not suppress the little sobs that escaped her mouth occasionally, but they did not seem to bother anyone. After a little while, the pressure increased. Laura had the impression that it was more than one finger which the police chief was thrusting into her asshole in faster and faster movements. They moved inside her with ease, the instinctive resistance of her body had ceased. And suddenly she realized that her own sobs had started sounding rather like moans. The invasion of her uncle's fingers into her asshole hurt only slightly now. In fact, in a strange way, it even felt good. Then, for a moment, Uncle Stefan withdrew his fingers, and a strange mixture of relief and emptiness swept through her. She knew it was not over, but was somehow unable to think clearly about what was to follow. For a moment she forgot what they had told her, tried to turn her head, to see what was going on. Before she could finish the motion, however, the policeman under her grabbed her head. His cock still motionless but hard like a big piece of wood inside her, he pulled down her face to his own, pressing her mouth against his lips. His tongue forced its way between her lips and violently swirled around inside her mouth. At the same time, she felt her uncle's fingers at her asshole again -- no, not his fingers. There was pressure, but what tried to enter there was considerably bigger than a finger. Instinctively, Laura's whole body tensed up again, but it was to no avail. Police chief Rombach uttered a low groan as he, bit by bit, pushed past Laura's defenses. Then, suddenly, he stopped. Laura could hear his breath, somewhere above her. She was sure that the head of his cock must be entirely inside her smallest hole now, and though it felt far from comfortable, she tried to grow accustomed to this new sensation. The fingers had not hurt anymore after a while, and maybe she could get used to this too. Just when she thought she could cope with it, however, a new and violent pain made her scream uncontrollably, as without warning her uncle forced the full length of his cock into her with one fast thrust. She felt his balls slap once against her pussy. Again, he remained still for a moment, his crotch now pressed closely to Laura's behind; then he pulled out a bit again and started thrusting into her in fast, rhythmical movements. Laura stopped screaming soon, and her sobs could not cover up the smacking sounds of Uncle Stefan's lap colliding with her ass again and again. The other police man now let go of Laura's head again. He pushed her a bit further up, and his hands grabbed her breasts and started handling them roughly, kneading the tender flesh and pinching her nipples occasionally. He also started moving again, pushing his cock up inside her, fucking her in a rhythm adapted perfectly to that of the police chief. Laura was barely able to take in anything of the room around her anymore. She knew there was somewhere a third police man holding a gun to her head and rubbing his own dick at the same time. And there was a fourth man sitting on a chair in a corner of the room, watching them with interest. She did not care. She did not think that the two men fucking her were her uncle and a man she would have called a friend for many years. All she felt, all she could think about was the two cocks. They were filling her so completely she thought she might split open. They were gliding in and out of her relentlessly, slick with juices her body was producing against her own will. The room seemed to grow blurry in front of her eyes. She felt dizzy and her eyes were strangely hot and dry, for some reason Laura was unable to produce any more tears. Her own screams seemed to her like coming from a different person. She heard her own voice like from a distance; it sounded hoarse. Then it seemed to grow darker around her. Her mind was pulled down, toward a dark abyss. She wanted to fall into it, wanted to give up any knowledge of what was going on -- but again and again the sensation of pain pulled her back into reality. Her whole body hurt, but the only pain she could fully appreciate was the one the relentless thrusts into her pussy caused, and the one of her uncle's cock almost tearing apart her asshole... as if the rest of her body did not exist anymore. Laura yearned for that abyss of unconsciousness, on the brink of which she seemed to be lingering for hours. She wanted to fall back into darkness, in which there was no thought, no Being. She wanted to forget, but the two men -- or Mr. Seger, or whoever was behind all this -- did not allow her that relief. Again and again they changed their rhythm, paused or started thrusting harder and faster, dug their fingers into her skin or squeezed her breasts and the cheeks of her behind, threw her body around between them like she was a rag doll... Again and again new types of pain pulled her back into reality. Then, finally, they started hammering into Laura's bruised body with a speed that made her believe she would now, finally be torn into pieces -- however, before that could happen, she felt a shiver go through both men at the same time. Her uncle groaned loudly, the police man under Laura on the other hand was almost completely silent, as both came into her at the same time. Something warm and sticky landed in Laura's face -- the third policeman reached his release at the same time as his two colleagues. And while her uncle above her sagged down, onto Laura's sweaty body, she finally drifted away into the darkness of unconsciousness that she had been longing for. *** Fifi's excited barks rang through the darkness of her mind. Slowly, painfully, Mrs. Meyer opened her eyes. It took her a moment to focus on the blurred shapes of tall trees standing against the bright blue sky above her. She was in the forest, she realized, and it was a beautiful summer's day. Fifi had stopped barking now, and instead was licking her face with devotion. Mrs. Meyer wanted to chase her little dog away, tell it off for this most unacceptable behavior, but somehow that just wouldn't work. She was lying on her back on the slightly moist forest floor, and to her horror she found that she could not move at all. She could not even open her mouth and scream for help. Somewhere nearby there was the sound of heavy footsteps, stepping uncaringly over leaves and little dry twigs, but she could not see who was walking there. All she could do was stare up at the tree tops and the sky. Every now and then her vision was obscured by Fifi's furry little head, as he had now started exploring the area around her nose with his rough little dog tongue. "Awake at last?" a voice said. Then a shadow approached her, fell over her face, blocking out the light of the sun. Fifi stopped showing its affection to Mrs. Meyer; instead the little dog uttered a whimpering sound in a surprisingly small and scared voice, and withdrew from the scene. Someone leaned over the old lady, and a moment later her eyes focused on Martin's face. "Well, that was not nice of you at all," he said, his face blank as always, his voice mocking her with fake seriousness. "You know, you aren't supposed to snoop around and follow people so you can gossip about them. You really shouldn't have done that -- then you wouldn't have seen my friend here, and things might have been much easier for you." With these words, a second shadow approached her, and a moment later a second face appeared in Mrs. Meyer's field of vision. The face of the mathematics teacher Frank Seger. Mrs. Meyer knew him, as she knew everyone in town -- there could be no doubt, it was him. Suddenly the paralysis of her face vanished, though Mrs. Meyer remained unable to move any other part of her heavy body. She could at least open her eyes further, to see the people above her more clearly, and she could move her lips and speak, though she stuttered in a voice that was unusually quiet, betraying the horror she felt: "But isn't he... aren't you... aren't you..." "Dead?" It was Martin who addressed her. Mr. Seger remained silent and after looking down at her for another few moments with a strangely unconcerned expression on his face, he withdrew from her field of vision. "Well", Martin went on, "I would not quite call him dead, but I suppose he doesn't really have the chance to enjoy being alive anymore. You know, he kind of got himself involved in things that weren't any of his business. And if you do that, you got to live with the consequences, if you know what I mean. Anyway, we should hurry; I still have other things to do today." "What..." Mrs. Meyer did not get any further in her question. Martin was staring down, directly into her eyes, and her vision, her thoughts, her whole consciousness turned strangely blurry. She felt like the air around her was growing thicker, enveloping her, muffling all her thoughts. Then everything turned dark. *** Her whole body was sticky. Laura was not quite sure if this was due to her own sweat, or the sweat of the policemen. She had trouble breathing, as the heavy weight of her uncle was pressing her down to the floor. She could feel his slow breaths by the movements of his belly against the small of her back. Her hands were still tied, so it seemed impossible to her to find any position in which she could push the unconscious man off her. A Battle of Minds Ch. 03 It was completely silent in the small police post, not a voice had been heard in several minutes. Laura wondered what to expect next -- was she to lie here like this forever? Mr. Seger had to turn up at some point; he had to have a plan. He always seemed to have a plan. She was unable to flee, lying here imprisoned between the sweaty bodies of two unconscious police officers. And even if she could get away, Laura knew it was no use. The last few hours had taught her to give up hope. She was Mr. Seger's prisoner, to do with as he wanted, as long as he wanted -- even after she had learned to free her mind. Finally she could hear footsteps, approaching the door. While Laura felt how a small thread of saliva ran out of the corner of her uncle's mouth, onto her shoulder, the door slowly opened. Then it was silent again. She could only lift her head a little bit, so in the dull light in the room, Laura could only make out a vague shape in the door, against the light of the bright neon lamps outside in the hallway. She could not see the face. Still, she gathered all her remaining strength to utter a few, angry words. "Why? Why did you do that to me Mr. Seger? What have I done to you?" The voice that answered her, however, was not the one of the teacher. "You know quite well what you did to me," Martin said as he entered the room. ~~~~~ The next chapter of this story will be posted in the horror-category. A Battle of Minds Ch. 04 This is the fourth chapter of a story mainly placed in the "Mind Control" category. Though I put this chapter into the category of "Erotic Horror", there are elements of Mind Control and Non Consent. I recommend reading all chapters of the story. However, for those who want to start by reading this chapter, here is a short summary of what happened so far: A mysterious locket has appeared in the small German town of Leskow. This locket supplies its bearer with the power to control other people's minds. Laura is one of the first victims of this power: She finds herself under complete control of her class mate Martin, and later of her teacher Mr. Seger. However, she learns to free herself from the influence of the locket -- but since he can still control all the people around her, Martin, after recovering the locket from the teacher, has captured Laura. ~~~ The waters of Lake Leskow are calm, not one wave curls up on its dark surface. Nor does any leaf stir on the tall trees of the Grünenberger forest. And Leskow itself, a small town at the banks of the lake, is strangely quiet. The sun is still up, yet the town's inhabitants have withdrawn into their houses. They seem to be waiting for something they can barely comprehend. The whole town is holding its breath. If there was a stranger walking down the lonely streets, he might feel the urge to leave those empty roads. He might want to enter one of the tidy little houses, just to confirm that other living beings still exist on this planet. If there was such a stranger, and if he should indeed do so, however, he would enter silent, ghostly rooms. The good people of Leskow are indeed all inside their houses: The evening is still early, and the inhabitants of the houses are sitting around their tables for their daily family dinners, as it is customary at this time of day in a town like Leskow. Here, the day still has a specific order and there is a right time for everything -- and everything is done at the allotted time. However, if that hypothetical intruder approached the people, looked at them, tried to talk to them -- he would find himself looking at strangely empty, expressionless faces of silent people. He would see men and women and even children sitting at the table almost motionless, eating their dinner without enjoyment. He would hear none of the usual happy conversations about the past day, nor would he hear the arguments that occasionally take place on such occasions. He would hear no parent asking their children whether they have remembered to do their homework, no adult complaining about problems at work, and no comments on the quality of today's meal. The people of Leskow eat in silence, without appetite or joy; and yet, even the children finish their vegetables without protest. The whole town is waiting in silence. It is as calm and quiet as the lake and the forest. The whole world seems to be holding its breath, waiting. *** The light of the setting sun was shining through the trees. Its deep red color reminded of flames. For a moment, the whole forest seemed ablaze. Soon, however, this last light of day would be replaced by a soothing darkness. It was the beginning of September. As long as the sun was up, the evening air was still mild, but Laura could clearly remember the cold of the past night. With a shiver she realized that this was just the beginning -- it would get worse, colder and colder, with every night that passed. And soon the daily rains and autumn storms would start. Was she to freeze to death out here? The girl stood up and grabbed the lattice of her cage with both hands, shaking it with all her remaining strength. "Martin! Martin! I need a blanket, and I need it now!" No reaction came from the little house, standing about twenty meters from Laura's cage. Nothing indicated that she had been heard. Whoever was inside the house, decided to remain silent. Other than the girl in the cage and a few lost mosquitoes clinging on to the last remains of summer, the whole clearing seemed lifeless. Just the smoke, rising up in a straight line from the chimney of the hut, proved that the little house was indeed inhabited. "Martin!" This time the young woman's voice was louder, angrier, almost shrill. And apparently volume had been the key, as this time she managed to provoke a reaction: Inside the house, a dog started barking like mad. "Martin!" Finally the door opened, and an elderly, roundly shaped woman stepped onto the clearing. Her hair was in a mess, gray strands hanging into her face or standing up straight into the air, their tips still purple. But it was obvious that she had not renewed her hair dye in months. The woman's clothing, which must have been expensive at one time, was now dirty and torn. Her face reflected exhaustion, other than that, however, it was completely void of any expression. The woman was accompanied by a small, black poodle that was jumping around her and barking loudly and desperately. The old lady, however, did not react to the animal's obvious plea for attention. When the woman reached the cage, the dog squeezed through the lattice. This worked much easier than it had a few weeks ago, when it was still summer and the poodle and its mama had first started living in the forest: As time went by, the little dog was losing a lot of its excess weight and learning to move with an agility no one would have believed possible. Inside the cage, the small animal greeted the girl, Laura, by wagging its tiny tail eagerly. Then it took to licking the girl's hands with devotion. Automatically, Laura started petting the animal, but she was not looking at it. Her eyes were not focused on the woman either; rather, she was looking past her, towards the door of the wooden hut. "Master Martin has sent me to tell Miss Laura that he is going to shoot her, should she not shut up this very instant", the woman said in a monotonous voice. "Master Martin!" Laura laughed despite herself; it was not a joyful laugh though. „That's how he has you call him these days? Well then, go and tell Master Martin that I am cold and that I will freeze to death one of these days, if he goes on making me sit around naked like this." The old woman turned back to the hut, dragging her feet behind her as she walked, and the poodle stayed with Laura, looking at her with trustful eyes. The animal knew that something was not quite right with its mama, and the other people around here seemed to behave strangely as well. Fifi sensed that they were not really there; even though he could smell them and see them walking around and even hear them speak. The only two that even seemed to have any kind of awareness of what they were doing, where this young woman, sitting naked in a big metal cage, and the strange man. The poodle did not like the strange man at all. Nor did the man seem to like Fifi a whole lot. At first he had always shouted at the animal, even tried to kick it. At some point he stopped doing that, instead taking up a peculiar interest in the little dog that was even worse. Again and again the strange man had stared at it, and then Fifi could feel a strange prickling sensation in its head that drove it crazy. It was as if the air and everything around it was growing thicker. Usually it fled as soon as it felt this happening again; hiding in the forest or in the woman's cage. Sometimes, however, before it could flee, a strange darkness rose around the dog, and then it suddenly found itself to be at a completely different place than before. Once, it was even sitting on the lower branches of a tall tree, two meters above ground. The woman in the cage was much, much nicer than the strange man; Fifi learned that quickly. Whenever the poodle squeezed inside her prison, she would pet it and talk to it in a soft voice, like it was the only being that understood her or cared what she had to say. Her voice, however, always sounded sad. And she disliked the strange man just as much as Fifi did, or even more. But while the man had no fear of the little poodle, he never dared to approach the cage more than five meters, and Fifi could clearly taste the aroma of the man's fear in the air when he had to speak to the woman in the cage directly. The hut's door opened again, and Fifi's mama slowly crossed the clearing, dragging her feet towards the cage. The little dog got up with a sigh, pushed its body through the lattice, and trotted towards the old lady. She had not called it, she never called it anymore, and she never as much as looked at her pet. Despite everything, however, she was still its mama, and Fifi was not the type of dog that would turn away from its human just like that. The old lady was carrying a brown bundle in her arms, pressed tightly to her chest. After reaching the cage, she squeezed it through the lattice without a word. Then she turned around and walked back to the hut, followed by her poodle. It was time for her to prepare dinner, the little dog knew that. His mama's main job was to cook for the mean man. She did this with precision and apparent dedication, conjuring up complex meals she had never succeeded in preparing back in the old times, when they still lived in their little apartment in Leskow. At the same time, however, her lack of attention towards her pet came in useful at those occasions: She never noticed it stealing a few lumps of meat -- and as Fifi was not being fed by anyone intentionally, the dog depended on those stolen bites for its survival. *** With a sigh, Laura wrapped the blanket around her naked body. Though it was getting later in the evening, some of the day's warmth still remained. However, this was the first time for many weeks that she had a chance to hide her body, and it was a comfort she had barely hoped for anymore. Of course, except for Martin, there was no one around to consciously see her; but being naked all the time made her feel even more vulnerable than the fact that she was imprisoned in this cage. Now, with the blanket, she had won back a little bit of her privacy. Almost two months had passed by now, since Martin, with the help of her uncle's gun, forced her to walk through the whole city He spent great attention to that she was always at least a Meter in front of him. Laura realized quite quickly that he would not dare to use the locket's powers against her anymore. His memories of how he had fared with this a year earlier were still too fresh. The gun, on the other hand, he would not hesitate to use if it became necessary, and Laura still had enough of a survival instinct to do what he told her. She was still naked as they walked through town, adorned with the juices and the sweat of the policemen that had tormented her on Martin's orders. Their dried semen between her legs made her skin itch. Her insides felt raw enough, her body exhausted enough to make every step hurt. The perfectly blue sky and the sun burning down on her were little comfort. Laura was shivering; there was a coldness inside her that would not leave anymore. The town had not been empty at all that summer afternoon; they met many people along the way. However, no one seemed to even notice Laura and Martin's presence. The faces of Leskow's inhabitants were expressionless; they passed them without as much as a glance towards the naked girl and the miraculously awoken boy. Laura could not help admiring Martin's newfound mastery with the locket -- Mr. Seger had, as far as she knew, usually influenced only her mind or that of another victim with the help of the thing, and sometimes that of two or three people at the same time. Martin, on the other hand, seemed to be in control of the entire town at once. Or at least, of all the people who approached them. Laura had seen more than one of her friends during that fateful walk toward the forest. Once she even called out the name of one of her former school mates in desperation. The girl stopped, but in her dull eyes there was no sign of recognition, no understanding of the situation. She seemed to gaze past Laura. Martin, however, suddenly stopped pointing his gun at Laura's head. Instead, he turned to the blond girl, who was standing there motionless. The girl did not stir, as her former school mate pointed the gun at her head now, her vague smile never left her lips. Martin's voice was calm, but it cut into Laura's heart like a knife: "If you try anything -- anything at all -- I kill her first. And then some of the others. I know which people you care about most. I've known you since you were a child, Laura. And in fact, I don't even have to waste my ammunition on them. I can make the whole town kill each other, and doesn't cost me more than a thought." After that, Laura didn't dare resist anymore. She followed Martin without another word. Her eyes glued to the ground, she did not look up at all the familiar faces, and the familiar sight of her home town. In the forest, Martin had taken up his camp in Mr. Seger's hut. Mr. Seger was still there, however, but without free will. The teacher was as much a slave to Martin now, as Laura had once been to him. He tied Laura to a tree on Martin's orders -- Martin himself still did not dare to even touch the girl. Soon after, other people from Leskow came into the forest, Martin surrounded himself with the most thuggish of his former school mates, with the strongest guys -- he seemed to like having a personal guard, even if there was no one who could harm him in any way. Some of his guards took turns in watching Laura, making sure she could not shake off her ties. For the time being, they left her alone at least, they did not even notice that the girl was naked. Finally, some men brought a big metal cage into the forest, and Laura could move into a slightly more comfortable prison: Rather than standing all the time, the coarse rope cutting into her hands, she could sit down or even lie down now. The cage had been a relief at first, but she had soon grown tired of it. Still, it remained her prison to this day. Laura eventually gave up on wracking her brain, trying to figure out what exactly Martin was up to. She was sure he had some kind of plan. Else, why would he hide here in the forest rather than enjoy the comforts of the town? His power was strong enough to remain unnoticed in plain view of everyone; he had no reason to hide, as Mr. Seger might have had. And why would he keep her alive despite his obvious fear of her? There had to be an explanation for all this, and Laura was sure she would not like it one bit; but it was moot to think about all this. As long as she sat locked up here, there wasn't much she could do about it. The sun had gone down over all those thoughts and musings. 'I should sleep', Laura thought. She was pretty sure she would not receive any food today anymore, and to be honest, she was not surprised. This was not the first time Martin forgot to send her something to eat, and after her demand of a blanket he might even let her be hungry out of spite. Laura closed her eyes, snuggling up into the comfort of the blanket. It was an old and rough piece of textile, but it was better than anything in her life during the last weeks. Within minutes she drifted away into sleep. *** There it was again, a strange buzzing feeling in the air, everything growing more solid in a way, and the impression of standing at the edge of a dark precipice. Fifi got up and growled, the hair on its neck standing up. Opposite the little dog, Martin was sitting on his bed and staring at the animal. Until a moment ago, Fifi had been sleeping, hiding in the darkest corner of the hut, as always. However, the dog always woke up when Martin tried to control it. "Come on, stupid mutt. You are supposed to dance on your hind legs," Martin murmured, without turning his gaze from the growling poodle. The locket was hanging down from its chain around his neck; Martin could feel the strength that was emanating from it. This strength, this power helped him to control many people at once. Why was it so much harder to control one little dog? Martin suspected that it might be even more difficult with beings that were yet smaller, simpler, less like human beings -- like a fly, or an ant for example. Still, it should be possible to control even those, if he could just learn to think like them, feel like them. He was going to learn it, he was sure. One day, he would be in control of everything around him. The strange feeling in Fifi had diminished, and with a sigh the poodle lay back down on its usual spot. It did not trust the strange man. As long as Martin was here, the dog knew it had to stay alert. If his mama were not here and would not insist on staying in this horrible house, it would have long ago disappeared into the forest. For a moment, all was calm, and the poodle decided to have a little nap. However, before it had time to drift off to sleep, the strange feeling was back. Fifi gave an angry bark, but this time the precipice was stronger than ever, pulling the animal down into its darkness. The dog jerked and growled, trying to resist its force, but it was a lost fight. Within seconds, everything turned black inside Fifi; the dog only vaguely felt its body lifting up onto its hind legs. *** Raindrops were drumming down onto the big plastic plane, set up on Martin's orders Martin a few days ago to cover Laura's cage. The plastic sheet helped against most of the rain, but constant moisture crept into everything anyway. Everything was moldy, and even Laura's skin felt swollen, though that was probably just her imagination. With a shiver the girl wrapped her clam sleeping bag more tightly around her body. This was another novelty, given to her by Martin, along with the plane and a comment on his own graciousness. It had been more than time for her to receive better protection against the autumn weather; otherwise, she might have frozen to death during the last nights. It was much too cold for just a thin blanket by now; after all it was October already. Time passed slowly in the cage. Martin still did not dare to approach her more than a few meters. Every now and then the old woman brought her some food, but she was completely under Martin's control. Her eyes were empty and her face expressionless, no matter what Laura did to catch her attention. It was no different with Mr. Seger, who had affixed the plane over her cage. At times, some boys from Laura's and Martin's school class turned up as well, but they never spent any attention to Laura. Laura had no idea what Martin was up to with them or with Leskow in general. Sometimes she wondered if he really had a plan after all. He could control big groups of people at once now, without any problems, giving them different tasks each -- and he did not even have to be anywhere near them. Laura did not understand why he kept living in this hut in the forest; there was no reason for him to hide. Then, sometimes, girls turned up on the clearing; Laura knew most of them from school as well. However, the knowledge that they were no different off than she had been a few years ago, did not touch her; she had long given up on emotions like sympathy, or sadness. She was not sure why she did not just give up in general, why she was still trying to talk sense into Martin, why she still wanted to figure him out. It was no use, after all, but somewhere inside her there was still some instinct that told her to survive, to get out of this alive. Her life in the cage did not make much sense; she had nothing to live for really. And it would be easy to end it all; just one night without her sleeping bag and her blanket, and it might all be over soon. Something kept her from giving up. Somehow, she still clung to the idea that there was some hope, however small it was. She kept thinking that there was a chance for her to get out of here one day. After all, Martin was afraid of her, he could not control her. And Laura was probably the only person in the whole town of Leskow who knew what was happening. Bit by bit, Martin seemed to be getting the whole town under his control. He seemed to think of this place, the town he grew up and spent his whole life in, as his personal playground. To him, Leskow was nothing but the stage for his strange schemes. And once he was in complete control of Leskow, how would he go on? No, this could not be allowed to happen. No matter what it meant for her, if there was any remote chance of her preventing whatever Martin was planning on, Laura had to stay alive to use it. She was the only one who could, maybe, stop him. A Battle of Minds Ch. 04 A slight tickling in her face pulled Laura out of her thoughts. She rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand. Now something small, dark, was sitting right on her hand. Laura's eyes opened widely in disgust: A spider! She hated those little things. She had been scared of them since her earliest childhood, the thought of touching one of them made her shiver. Now, for a moment, she sat motionless, unable to react as the spider hurriedly ran towards her arm, its eight hairy little legs causing a tingling sensation on her skin. Then she pulled herself together, held her hand out of the lattice of her cage and shook it quickly. The small animal fell down into the brownish dry grass. Laura felt better again; her heart was still beating wildly in her chest from the scare, but it was calming down already. Why did that silly spider have to come into her cage? Didn't they hide at these temperatures; flee into houses or dark corners? Laura wondered if the warmth of her own body might have attracted the thing. She decided to shake her sleeping bag out very thoroughly, turn it inside out even, as soon as the sun was up. For now, she had to sleep -- and for that, she had to keep her inner eye from displaying the image of hundreds of those small, eight legged creatures crawling through her cage. The longer she tried to sleep, the better Laura knew that she would not close an eye the entire night. *** "Have a wonderful good morning!" There was an unaccustomed joyfulness in Martin's voice that for a short moment made Laura smile, as she opened her eyes and looked into a surprisingly warm and sunny October day. Martin was standing outside her cage, very close by. He pressed his pudgy face against the lattice, as if he would not be able to see her well enough otherwise. The grin he wore seemed somewhat foreign on his face; he was not used to expressing any kind of emotion. Martin was not alone, there were two young men standing next to him. They stayed back a step and gazed into the forest, as if the cage and the girl were not there. Laura had seen both of them before. She was sure they went to her school a few years earlier, though she did not know their names and doubted she had ever spoken to either of them. They were probably a few years older than her, so she just never had anything to do with them. The smile disappeared from Laura's face as quickly as it had appeared. As her mind cleared of the drowsiness of sleep, her awareness of where she was and why she was here returned -- and the memory of who was talking to her there. Martin's happiness could surely not mean anything good for her. Still, some kind of morbid curiosity enticed her to crawl at least a little bit out of her sleeping bag, so she could have a better look at what was going on outside her cage. While she was sitting up, she quickly swiped another spider off the sleeping bag with her left hand -- by now she found a few of the ugly little creatures every morning. Their presence still made her shudder, though she had gotten used to them at least to a degree, by pure necessity. There was just no way of getting rid of them. "And, how did you sleep?" Martin spoke to her in a friendly, normal tone, as one might speak to a house guest who just appeared in the kitchen for breakfast. And he still did not move, but stood as close to her as he had not dared to in months. Laura did not reply. "Look, I have brought two old friends along", Martin continued, unfazed by her silence. "Do you remember those two?" Laura took another, closer look at the two men flanking Martin. They had been at their school, she was sure of that now. One of them had graduated two or three years ago already, but had stayed in town and worked in some small shop on the main road. The other looked younger after all. He must have been in her grade, but not in any of her classes -- or maybe he was a year younger than her -- and Laura suspected that during the past year he might have been one of her "costumers". That was pure speculation of course; she did not remember anything of that time. Still, the more she thought about it, the more certain she grew that this might be the case. Now the two of them displayed the same, absent expression that Laura already knew from the old woman, from Mr. Seger, and from any other person near Martin. Suddenly the memory of those horrible hours she had spent in the small interrogation room at the police station flashed through her mind. The very same expression had been present on her uncle's, police chief Stefan Rombach's, face. Laura felt panic surge up in her. Martin had not brought these two guys to do some random job for him. They weren't here to repair something in the house or fix a new plastic plane over her cage. There was a reason for his good mood... "Open the cage." He spoke before Laura could even finish her thought, and the two men obeyed as soon as he uttered the words. She was still sitting on the ground, most of her body wrapped into the sleeping back, but she crawled backwards in a speed she would not have thought her body capable of -- until the iron bars of the opposite end of the cage stopped her. Moments later, two pairs of strong hands took hold of Laura and she was dragged out into the sunny forest clearing. Even as she struggled helplessly against the iron grip of the two men, for a short moment her mind was able to appreciate the surroundings: It was indeed a beautiful day, the trees around the clearing had not yet lost their leaves and were blazing in red and yellow, while the sky above contrasted them with the brightest blue. This was surely not a day to... With all her might, Laura tried to kick one of the men between his legs, but she lost balance and for a moment was only supported by their hold to her arms. Martin stood by the whole scene, grinning as the two men let go of Laura so she hit the ground with a groan. He looked as if all of this was just about the funniest thing he had seen in his whole life. "I thought you might enjoy some diversion", he said with a smile. Then he leaned forward, his face suddenly directly above Laura's, and watched as she was turned onto her back and pinned to the ground by the two guys. Their combined weight made it impossible for her to as much as move. Laura knew that he only dared to come close to her because she was, for now, completely helpless. She knew that as long as he had control over people who were stronger than her, she was in his hands, yet she only felt disgust at Martin's cowardice. Though the knowledge of what was to follow caused her a certain panic, her fear was not directed at Martin. All she felt for him was contempt. Instead of answering him, she thus lifted her head as good as she could, and spit into his face. The punishment was instantaneous and took the form of a hand colliding painfully with her cheek. The force of the blow made her head fall back hard onto the cold forest ground. It had not been Martin's hand that struck her; it had been one of the two men. Through the drumming in her head, Laura felt a certain grim satisfaction: Martin still did not dare to touch her. For a few moments Laura felt numb. Then, slowly, the burning ache on her face registered in her brain. She opened her eyes again, and Martin's face was still hovering above hers, though now at a greater distance -- and he was still wearing the same, smug grin. "Laura, Laura, Laura," he said calmly, as he wiped her saliva off his face. "Don't you think that was a little bit childish?" He turned to the two men. "Well then," he said. "let's get started." With this, Martin stopped talking, but cocked his head sideways in amused curiosity. He watched with interest, as one of his helpers took hold of Laura's legs and forcefully pulled them apart, while the other kept pressing her upper body to the ground. He then stepped around her to enjoy the free view of her sex. The grin to dominate his face became full of lust. He slowly moved in more closely, this time his face was hovering over Laura's pussy, close enough for him to take in every detail, though never so close that he might be able to touch her. He uttered a content sigh. "Hmm, this view certainly gives me some nice memories..." He clicked his tongue, as if remembering a particularly nice meal. "But I guess I got my share of that often enough. Today we should allow our two friends here some fun. Or what do you think, Laura?" "I think you are a complete asshole," Laura pressed out between clenched teeth. Pronouncing the insult caused her a brief moment of satisfaction: It was something the [i]old[/i] Laura would never have said. The innocent girl she once used to be would never have uttered such profanities -- then again, she never had the need to say them, either. The next blow into her face followed without hesitation. For a moment, the world around Laura became dark, but all too soon her mind focused again. Martin was still grinning. "Tsss, tsss, what kind of words are those, Laura? I thought you were a young lady..." What made Laura most angry wasn't the humiliation of Martin once more doing with her as he pleased, as if she was his toy. It wasn't the hands of the two men rendering her defenseless. It wasn't the fact that they now started to greedily handle and knead all parts of her body they could reach, digging their fingers into her breasts and her ass. It was the smugness in Martin's voice that was worst. The memory of the police station still fresh in her mind, she knew that it was no use to fight back, and she knew she ought to be scared rather than angry. Still, this was too familiar for her to feel real fear. And though she knew she would be punished, Laura started struggling again, trying to wriggle out of the two guys' hold. Finally she could free one of her arms and started slapping it around wildly, trying to beat her torturers away. One of the two men now took hold of both Laura's arms and with a brusque movement pulled them upwards, over her head, where he pressed her wrists onto the ground. Holding onto to her wrists, he now sat down on Laura's chest; his weight causing her to gasp for air. He had big hands, and easily managed to hold on to both Laura's arms with just one of them. He wrapped his other hand around Laura's head, pushing it up and against the fly of his jeans, smothering her face against the fabric. The trousers were still closed, but his cock was straining against the material. Laura could tell how hard he was. Finally he let go of her again. When she found that both her head and her arms were free, Laura tried again to fight him off her. She attempted to push him away, but the weight of the man's body on her chest remained, she stood no chance. Martin stood by and grinned at her useless struggles, as the guy on top of Laura slowly reached down to the fly of his trousers and pulled it open. Then he got up onto his knees again, which he had placed each on one side of Laura's body. This gave Laura's lungs a short moment of relief, and she breathed in deeply, before the man settled back down onto her chest and made breathing difficult once more. He had pulled down his jeans and underwear now, though just far enough for his quite large manhood to be enjoying its newly won freedom. It stood proud, pointing up into the air just in front of Laura's face. After having helped his cock out of the prison of his jeans, he now had his hands free again for other uses. He entangled one of them into the girl's hair, pulling at it so violently that she had no choice but to lift her head. Laura had to move face into the desired direction if she did not want him to tear her scalp right off her head. The man's other hand was now cupping her chin. The pressure of his fingers on her jaw forced her to open her mouth, and he pushed his cock in between her lips before Laura could even think of resisting him. She felt the slightly salty taste of his pre-cum stinging on her tongue. Once again, she wanted to refuse, fight against him; she even considered just closing her teeth around him, biting him -- but his relentless grip in her hair and on her chin made it impossible to think of anything but minimizing this pain as much as she could. Thus, Laura allowed him to enter her mouth, thrust into her throat as deeply as he wanted. When he started pulling at her hair to move her head towards his crotch again and again, she followed those movements as best as she could. It took them a while to find a rhythm to follow, but finally each movement of Laura's head met one of his thrusts. The depth of those thrusts caused Laura to gag more than once, and sometimes she was sure she would suffocate if this was not over soon. At those times, the reflex of getting away from him fought against her reflex to comply, just so he wouldn't hurt her more. For quite a while all she could concentrate on was the constant pain on her scalp, on trying to catch a little bit of breath every now and then, and on hoping that she would not end up vomiting. The knowledge that there was yet another man present, and that Martin was nearby, almost escaped her mind. Then Laura suddenly felt two hands grabbing her thighs and pressing them apart violently: Of course it was not enough for Martin what she was going through already. He let the other man walk up behind her. Laura could not see him there, but she was quite sure he also had gotten rid of his trousers by now. She felt his hand roughly groping at her sex, his fingers searching entrance. Soon, one of his fingers slipped into her pussy. Despite the pain this rough entrance caused her, she felt her body reacting almost immediately. The guy was moving the finger in and out with some difficulty at first, but soon the movement grew more fluid as its entrance was eased the lubrication her body produced -- whether in self-defense or in some twisted memory of the many sexual encounters it had endured when Laura's mind had been gone from her body, she did not know. Finally the assaulting finger withdrew, and now Laura felt the man's body shift. She felt his weight on her own body, and she felt the heat emanating from his body. As he was touching her sex again, she knew that he would now attempt to enter her with his cock instead. She started twisting her lower body to the side, wanting to escape him. The other man, however, was still holding her down with his weight, half-sitting on her chest. Escape seemed impossible. Resigned, Laura kept still, enduring the sensation of his manhood slowly entering her. She felt it slipping into her sex, bit by bit. The other man did not cease in his assault of her mouth in the meantime. Lying on her back on the forest floor, Laura had to allow them to fuck her mouth and her pussy for Martin's entertainment. They soon found a similar rhythm, the speed and depth of both their thrusts growing, while Laura tried to minimize the pain this caused her by letting her own body go as limp as possible. This, too, would be over at some point. Finally at least one of the guys, the one enjoying Laura's mouth, stopped his incessant assault for a moment. He pulled out of her and even let go of her hair, so Laura had a chance to turn her head a little bit and catch some breath. Her lips felt swollen and sore, her jaw tense. The other man, however, kept thumping into her sex. Now that she did not worry about suffocation anymore, Laura felt the bruising thrusts deep inside her more clearly and painfully. During the past minutes -- or had it been hours? -- she had almost forgotten about Martin, but now she saw him again: He was sitting in the grass, at a safe distance from the three of them, though close enough to observe everything in detail. He seemed mesmerized. His mouth stood wide open, his eyes did not turn from them for even the fraction of a second. His trousers were open too, and he held his dick in a firm grip, rubbing it furiously. Laura felt disgust that made her almost forget the painful intrusion her body was still experiencing; then the second of her torturers tightened his hold of her hair and chin again, forcing his cock back into the girl's mouth. Laura closed her eyes -- she had given up resistance, all she could do was hope that all of this would be over soon and she would be allowed back into her cage. Finally, as the thrusts of both men picked up speed and became slightly shallower, Laura knew that this ordeal was close to an end. Soon she felt the semen of one of them splashing into her throat, while the other spilled his cum into her pussy almost simultaneously -- and at the same time, there was a third load of sticky, warm liquid soiling her forehead and her hair, before slowly dropping down to her cheeks. She opened one of her eyes; the lids of the other stuck together from a few drops of cum from Martin, who she now saw standing over her again. He had forgotten his fear for a moment, stepped closer as his orgasm approached, and had come at the same time as the other two guys -- or rather, she supposed, they had come at the same time as him. *** Blurgh! The little dog retched and shook its body. There was a fish in front of it, half of its body chewed off. The animal had just spat other half back out. How in the world had that gotten into its mouth? It hated fish, of course, like any self-respecting dog. Still, the fishy taste remained, and the dead eyes of the maimed fish stared at Fifi in accusation. Fifi stood up, running quickly to the lake, it needed water now! When it leant down its head to drink, however, its nose bumped into something cold and hard: The lake was covered with ice. Had the little poodle known anything about the seasons and their natural order, it would have realized that something strange was going on here too -- after all, as far as the animal remembered, it had not been more than five minutes since it had been lying in front of the hut enjoying the last sun rays of a warm September evening. This, however, was not something the little dog thought much about. It wanted to drink and started turning wildly in circles, wondering where to get water from. Before it could get far in this quest, though, everything turned black in front of its eyes again. It did not know that a moment later it returned to the fish and continued chewing up the slimy cold thing, nor did it notice the strange man, Martin, the man it hated, squatting down next to it, petting its black curls and murmuring: "See, no problem at all. Who would have thought that it is that easy with dogs? All I have to do is think in simpler terms, then you are all mine..." *** Spiders, spiders everywhere. They were following Laura even into her dreams, their hairy legs scurrying over the ground, over the lattice of her cage, over her skin. She had no idea how the little beasts managed to run around outside in the cold, in the middle of January, nor why they had chosen her cage, of all places, as the place they wanted to be. She had long ago given up picking them off her sleeping bag, or out of her hair. Instead she just kept trying to comfort herself with the thought that there were no poisonous spiders in this part of the world -- at least she hoped so. Her fear of the small animals had decreased -- one gets used to everything, and Laura was getting used to the spiders; but that did not mean she started liking them. In her nightmares they sometimes grew though, until their round bodies were the size of her head and she could hear the clicking of their pincers and make out every individual hair on their legs. In such nights she woke up screaming. When she found herself in the forest, in her cage, she would shake out her sleeping bag until she was absolutely sure it was free of spiders. Then she would wrap herself tightly again, and stay awake until sunrise, sitting upright and staring at the floor of the cage to make sure none of the animals was there with her now. After those dreams it would take her a few days to grow used to their constant presence again. A Battle of Minds Ch. 04 Other than that, Laura's life had become quiet once more. And cold. Every now and then Martin still brought along the two young men from their school. Laura dreaded those days, but somehow even that did not really get to her anymore. She knew exactly what would happen, and she knew when it would be over. Her body was adapting fast, she barely felt pain, and learned to just block out all emotions during such moment. It was, as if it wasn't her who was experiencing this, as if she was still sitting in the safety of her cage, watching the two guys abuse a lifeless body that just happened to look a lot like her own. Besides those occasions, Martin left her alone. Most days, Laura was sitting in her cage almost motionless for hours, wrapped in the sleeping bag and a blanket. Of course, she was still shivering from the icy cold, her breath forming little clouds in the winter air. At least, however, she was free to let her thoughts wander. She was herself, and that was more than she what she had during the past years. Martin spent most of his time in Leskow now, and Laura wondered what he was up to there. Another spider. It crawled along Laura's sleeping bag, distracting her from her musings. These creatures really seemed to have a preference for her cage. And sitting inside her sleeping bag seemed to be what they liked best. This little thing there was obviously searching for a way in. Laura shook her head in disgust. They made her almost wish for a harsher winter, some more snow -- of course the cold would probably kill her, too, but hopefully it would also chase away all those spiders. A deep growl of her stomach steered Laura's thoughts into yet another direction. Hunger was an all too familiar feeling lately. It had to have been a few days since she last got anything to bite. A dry bit of bread and a small bowl of soup, if she remembered right. Laura tried to think back: When had that been? When had she last seen the old woman? Two days had passed at the very least since then. So she hadn't received any food for at least two days -- that wasn't too bad, but it was definitely longer than to call this a good hotel service. Laura snorted at the idea of calling her cage a hotel room. Yes, why had she never seen that? Her sleeping bag was obviously a nice king sized bed with fluffy cushions. And the view: So many windows, right into the forest. With her own shower too: She only needed to move over into one corner of her cage where the plastic plane was kind of broken. And the air conditioning was highly efficient. Just the heating didn't seem to work. She needed food though. 'Room service', Laura mumbled to herself, and imagined Mr. Seger in a fancy waiter's uniform. He turned up once or twice a day. His expression always absent, his eyes empty and he never deemed Laura worthy of as much as a look. But each time he showed up, he put a new bottle of mineral water into her cage and removed the old one, which was usually empty or frozen. But no food. He never brought food. Laura's stomach grumbled again. A few times when Mr. Seger showed up, Laura tried to speak to him -- after all he had once worn the locket himself. He had to be stronger than the old woman, maybe he could learn to fight off its influence. If she could get through to him somehow, she could show him how. It was no use though. She never saw as much as the shadow of a reaction on the teacher's face. He was Martin's puppet. Laura sighed. The truth was that she was getting bored. She wasn't scared of Martin or of his two cronies anymore. Disgusted and angry, yes. She hated what he did to her, but even that was part of the routine now. Nor did she truly fear the spiders, despite the nightmares. Laura wondered if she even was still capable of feeling fear. Fear was an emotion. It wasn't boring. Something truly scary might be entertaining in a way. Or if nothing scary could happen, then something else. If only something would just finally happen. Or if there finally was a chance to get out of this cage, instead of always sitting here. Every day, just sitting motionless staring over the clearing to the little hut. Staring and waiting for food or new humiliations and wondering what Martin was up to... *** Warm rays of sun fell through the window into her room. There were voices around her. "Happy birthday! You are a big girl now." That was mom's voice. She blinked. Daddy was there too. And grandma and grandpa. They were all standing around a huge pink cake, adorned with five burning candles. She looked down at herself: That was her body, those were her legs, but she was wearing a pink princess dress. "I want presents!" That was her own voice, though she was speaking in a strangely high tone -- and a demanding tone, at the same time. Suddenly a huge pile of colorfully wrapped packages appeared, while parents and grandparents were still standing around the cake. They were smiling expectantly, pointing at the presents. „Go on, unwrap them. They are for you." In three big steps she was by the pile and grabbed the package on top of it. Without hesitation, she started tearing sparkly red paper off it. The package was big and heavy. 'Maybe it is a new doll!' she thought hopefully. Then, something moved in the package. The sound of paper breaking, and then something made its way out of a hole in the wrapping. It was a leg. A long, thin, hairy leg. With a small scream she dropped the package. A big spider crawled out of the broken paper. She jumped to the side to get out of the animal's way. Then she took the next package from the pile. She opened the paper a bit more carefully now: and dropped it again, as another huge, eight legged beast tried to crawl up her arm. In shock, she turned to her parents. They were still smiling, unaware of the accusation in her eyes. They pointed at the pile and spoke together in one cheerful voice. "Open them all. They are your birthday presents." "I don't want any more presents," she whispered. Her parents' faces changed. They suddenly became more round, formless, ugly, but still smiling. "Come on, open them. They're all yours." A sound emanated from the mountain of parcels and presents: The sound of paper being shredded to pieces. The presents started opening themselves. Everywhere from under the red and green and pink paper appeared long, hairy legs and small, round bodies; spiders of all sizes started crawling over the floor, towards her. In panic, she turned to her parents and grandparents again, but suddenly she realized that all four of them looked exactly the same. They looked... like Martin! And suddenly Laura realized that she was not five years old anymore; she was twenty, and she was not wearing a little pink princess dress but was naked inside her musty old sleeping bag. And this sleeping bag was covered entirely by spiders, some of them tiny, others quite big, and all of them were crawling towards her unprotected face. Laura wanted to scream, but some of the spiders had gotten dangerously close to her face. She pressed her lips together as tightly as she could and dared no more than to utter a terrified whine. Holding her arms protectively in front of her face, she did not know where to turn. Everywhere, on the tender skin of her neck, in her hair, on her arms and hands, and soon also inside the sleeping bag she felt the tickling sensation of hundreds of small spider legs crawling over her. Then, through her panic, she heard the sound of laughter. Martin! Laura tried to open her eyes, tried to peek past the protective shield of her arms -- but her whole field of vision was covered up by the small, dark bodies of the spiders. They tried to push past her arms, past her closed lips, crawl through any small gap they could find. She felt them creeping along her tummy, her breasts, her legs. They were everywhere. They were going to kill her, suffocate her, Laura was sure of that. And then, finally, as if following a silent command, all spiders vacated her body, scurrying off into various directions. Only seconds passed until not one of them was inside her cage anymore. Laura sat up. Her whole body was trembling, she believed to still feel a creeping eight legged creature here or there, on her back, in her hair, at her neck -- but when she raised her hand to check, nothing was there anymore. Martin was standing not too far from her cage, staring at her; his hair was wild, his expression that of a mad man. For a moment he did not move. Then he threw up his arms into the air. "There are no limits to my power anymore!" he screamed triumphantly. "Soon I will control everything! Everything!" He turned around and hurried back to the house. Once more, Laura was alone. She pulled her legs up close to her body, wrapping her arms around her shins, and put her head on her knees. She had not cried in what seemed an eternity, but now there was no stopping the tears that were running down her face. *** Drip. Drip. The sun was shining down onto her cage, and onto the heavy load of snow lying on the plastic plane. Its weight was pushing the plastic down. However, the snow was slowly but steadily melting in the warmth of a new spring, causing water drops to drip down into Laura's cage. One drop after the other, again and again. Drip. Drip. Laura was lying on the floor, awake -- it seemed like days had passed since she had last been able to sleep. She was staring into the direction of Martin's hut. It had been four days since she had last seen him, and just as long since she had last received anything to eat or a bottle of water -- though her thirst, at least, could be stilled by eating the half-molten snow. It was the hunger that was slowly but surely driving her crazy. Of course, this was not the first time Martin forgot about her for a while, but it was so far the longest time that she had not seen any sign of him. Somewhere near the house there was some movement. Laura jumped up. The next moment, she had to hold on to the bars of her cage, to steady herself against an onslaught of dizziness; she was, in fact, too weak for such sudden movements. As soon as her head stopped spinning, she pressed her face against the bars, as though that would help her to see better through them. After a little while she could make out Mr. Seger, who was carrying a strange collection of items in his arms. He was hurrying towards the entrance of the little house. "Hey! Come here! Please!" She knew that shouting and shaking the bars would not have any effect on the man, but somehow it seemed a good way to let out some of her frustration. At least it felt like she was doing something. To Laura's surprise, however, Mr. Seger suddenly stopped and looked up. For a few moments he stared across the clearing towards Laura -- then he turned away again and continued with his work. *** 'It's a trap. It's got to be a trap', Laura thought for what seemed the thousandth time. Still, she kept staring to the door of her cage, never taking her eyes off the little key. There was an iron chain holding the door of the cage closed, and keeping this chain together was a lock. Only Martin had the key to this lock. Sometimes he gave it to Mr. Seger or whoever else he needed to get to Laura, but he always took back the key afterwards and hid it in his pocket. Now, that very key was inside the lock, and there was no one around but her. Laura was sure she could reach the key, if she just put her hands through the lattice. Someone had brought her something to eat during the night, without waking her up. As the first rays of sun crept over the clearing, Laura had awoken and found the small bowl of soup and the big lump of bread. She hungrily devoured it all, before even looking up and discovering the key. Since then she was sitting here and pondering whether this was a trap, some kind of trick, and what Martin would do to her if he found that she had attempted to escape. Maybe all he was waiting for was a reason to kill her. But... why would he need a reason? Wasn't it also possible that the key was there indeed just out of coincidence? If Mr. Seger or the old woman, or someone else brought her food, was it possible for them to make mistakes? Martin might not have been nearby; maybe his control was weaker, when he was further away... Was he still able to keep track of such details like a forgotten key, if he was busy with something else? Could it slip their mind to retrieve something because it wasn't present in his mind anymore? And if this really was a trap -- how much worse could her life get? What did she really have to fear? It was spring, the morning sun shone warmly into her cage. It had to be April at the very least, more likely it was already May. So she had been sitting in this cage for eight or nine months by now, Laura calculated. Eight or nine months with no one she could talk to, no diversion. Every day like the other, other than the fact that every now and then Martin amused himself with watching her being taken by some of his drones. There was nothing in her life she enjoyed, except maybe the feeling of the sun on her skin, or the smell of melting snow and growing grass... But even that was somehow not the same anymore. If Martin killed her, or rather, had someone kill her -- was that really so much worse than this? With a deep breath, Laura peeled out of her sleeping bag. She stood up and slowly put her hand through the bars. A slight spring breeze brushed past her. Laura shivered a little bit. Without her sleeping bag she was naked -- but she did not care. Her fingers soon caught hold of the small, metal key. For a moment she held her breath, just enjoying the sensation of the artifact under her fingers and of all the possibilities its possession entailed. The wind grew stronger. Without letting go of the key, and without retrieving it, Laura looked up to the sky: Dark clouds were pushing in front of the sun, hiding it from view. A storm seemed to be approaching from the direction of the lake. 'Now or never', Laura decided, and after another deep breath she turned the key in the lock. All her muscles were tense, her whole body ready to run, or jump back into the safety of her sleeping bag. She was almost sure Martin would be standing somewhere, hidden from view, just waiting for her to try to escape. But nothing happened. Only the cage's door opened. The creaking of the rusty metal hinges made Laura stop for a moment -- however, no one but her was there to hear it. Carefully, slowly, Laura set one foot outside. Soft grass tickled the soles of her feet. Only recently, the spring sun had called these young stalks out of their sleep under ground. Dew was covering them, moistening Laura's feet. A raindrop fell onto her face, but nothing else happened. Another step. Somewhere in the distance a bird was chirping, else it was quiet. Another step. And another. Step by step, Laura got faster. She felt the blood starting to run through her legs, felt her muscles at work. Like a thousand little needles, as if her body had been numb before and was now waking up. Laura knew that she would not be able to walk very far or run very fast: Her body was not used to such exertions anymore. Her only option was to disappear into the forest and find a good hiding place, where she could think. She might have time; after all, Martin seemed constantly busy lately. Who knew when he would notice she was gone. The wind increased, and somewhere far away Laura heard the grumbling sound of thunder. She looked around. Why did there have to be a thunderstorm coming up now of all times? A new breeze of wind swept over the clearing, stronger than before. The trees started swaying threateningly. They almost looked as if they were reaching for Laura. The sky was dark now, covered by black clouds. Hadn't it been sunny just a few minutes ago? 'I have to hurry and find a place to hide', Laura thought. The edge of the clearing was near. Laura could see the thick undergrowth of the forest, promising shelter. Another step and another. She could almost touch the first shrubs and bushes. Just a few more steps... A scream cut through the air somewhere behind her. A dark, thundering scream. A loud roar, like she had never heard one before. Unwillingly, Laura's head turned, and she stopped short in her flight, petrified by fear: Martin was standing in the door frame of his hut. "Stop!" He looked different than usual. His hair was longer, hanging wildly into his face, obstructing his view. Still, Laura could recognize that his eyebrows were pulled together, giving his expression a more dangerous appearance. In fact, his whole face somehow seemed darker, angrier -- only Martin's eyes were light. Even from the distance, standing on the other side of the clearing, Laura had the impression that his eyes were burning into her, like two flames. Martin stretched his arms up into the air, as if reaching for the sky. At that very moment the dark clouds burst into flood of rain, splashing down onto the forest with such force that the ground under Laura's feet turned into mud within just a few moments. Within seconds the whole scenery changed: Laura could barely see further than a few meters now -- but Martin's shape, though much further away from her, still was recognizable. He was standing unmoving by his house, like a dark threat. Laura knew that he could still see her, too. "Stop!" His voice sounded like the grumbling of thunder. It carried across the clearing, easily audible over the roar of the rain. For another moment Martin stood still, staring at her, and then he started walking across the clearing towards Laura. With each of his steps, a flash of lightning burst across the sky, so bright that Laura feared she might go blind. 'It's him! He is making the lightning and the thunder!' The realization flashed through her mind. How could she not have realized it before? And now, for the first time in months, she felt true fear again. Slowly Laura stumbled backwards, no other thought on her mind than that she had to get away from here. Martin kept walking, slowly, each of his steps apparently shaking the ground as another flash of lightning lit up the forest, accompanied by deafening thunder. Still, Laura was sure he would not dare to use the locket against her. She just had to run, he wasn't getting any faster. Once she was in the forest he would not be able to find her, and if he let the storm continue for days. All she had to do was run. Laura turned around. Her knees shook slightly, but her legs automatically began moving faster, her feet splashing into the ankle deep water that covered the forest ground. The wind increased; thick raindrops and wet leaves hit against her face. Despite her effort, she could barely move against the storm at all. The wind stood like an invincible wall, pushing her back onto the clearing again and again. The cold air was cutting into her lungs; Laura was out of breath within seconds. Still, finally she reached the safe haven of the forest's edge. She was underneath the trees already. Not much of the rain could reach her now, the heavy rain drops were blocked by the trees. Laura could see the forest ground again, and she could go faster now. She had made it. She would be out of Martin's sight soon. "Stop!" Martin's voice rang over the storm for the third time, but Laura ran on. Then, suddenly, her foot was stopped by something. It got caught in a root, or a dead branch on the ground, and she fell, face down, onto the ground. She was sure that the path in front of her had been free of obstacles. Behind her, she could feel Martin approaching. She could feel the ground tremble under his heavy footsteps. Quickly Laura started getting up again. She had to keep going, she had to get away. A blow against the back of her head made her fall forward again. For a moment, Laura's vision blurred, it took up all her strength to keep herself from passing out. What had made her fall? Martin was still a few meters away -- she could feel his approach, she knew he wasn't there yet. A Battle of Minds Ch. 04 Again, Laura tried to get up, onto her legs, or at least onto all fours, trying to scramble away while she straightened up. Before she managed to come up, however, she felt a searing pain in her leg; as if a rough rope was tied around it tightly, pulling her back. And then, that very same rope was dragging her upwards by her leg. Another strong blow of wind let wet leaves and branches fly into her face, and made the cold cut like knifes into her rain-soaked skin. In shock, she looked up: There was a very thin branch wrapped around her leg, tightening its grip in a snakelike manner, and pulling her up. The other branches of the tree stretched towards here, like skeletal arms, the twigs at their ends like long fingers taking hold of her. After just a few moments Laura was suspended up in the air, every one of her arms and legs pulled into a different direction by the branches of the surrounding trees. In panic, she realized that those same branches were growing thicker now, turning into strong logs. They were growing all around her wrists and ankles, so she was barely able to move at all anymore. Then the branches sank down again, the trees bowing unnaturally, until Laura's body was hovering just a little bit above the forest ground. The trees forced her to stretch her arms and legs far from her body, so that every bit of her naked form was completely exposed. The wood was hard and strong now, it was impossible for Laura to move, unless the trees wanted her to. Martin stepped closer now, and Laura realized that the trees were turned towards him. They were leaning in his direction, as if they were bowing to him. In doing so, they were presenting him with her body, like an offering. He was standing right in front of her now -- normally, he was somewhat taller than Laura, but as the trees held her lifted slightly above ground, their faces were at exactly the same height. She could feel his breath. Laura wanted to move away, she did not like being close to him, but the grip of the trees was unrelenting. "I can control more than you can even imagine", Martin said. Despite his attempt to look at her threateningly, all he could manage was a smug grin. "Everything is obeying me. And if you don't want to join and obey, you have to stay here in the forest until you die and rot." And then, for the first time in almost two years, he stretched out his hands and touched her; going straight for her sex with his stubby fingers. Laura could feel Martin's breath accelerate; she could hear a moan of joy rising in him as he finally dared to touch her again. She saw in his face that he was drunk on his power -- not the power over the trees, or the people of Leskow, but the power he believed he had regained over her. "I am not afraid of you, not anymore," she whispered. Martin did not seem to listen. He started kissing her neck; while his hands went down to pull open the fly of his trousers. His fingers were shaking slightly with impatience. When he pressed his body against Laura's, she felt something burning hot against her chest: The locket was still dangling around his neck. The metal was hot, and it seemed to be alive -- throbbing and beating like a little heart. In panic, she tried to find the power emanating from it. If only she could find some kind of connection to the wretched thing, so she could take control and break Martin's influence on their surroundings, on nature, on everything around her. The locket's power, however, remained closed to her this time, as if the thing refused to be found by her mind. Maybe it knew the hatred she felt towards it. Maybe the locket realized that the only reason Laura was trying to use it was, because it was her only chance to get away. A memory of that morning by the lake, the morning after she defeated Martin for the first time, flashed through Laura's mind. The locket did not want to be destroyed. It would do anything to stay in use, Laura suddenly realized. There was nothing she could do. Laura closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the locket, wanting to block out everything around her. She tried to ignore Martin's hands. It did not take long, however, before he pressed his stiff cock against her sex. No use. She could not find the locket's power. She could not fight back. As he slowly entered her, she knew that any attempt of defense was in vain. She kept her eyes closed; she did not want to see him, though she could not ignore the intrusion into her sex. He was not particularly big, it was not painful as he started fucking her in a slow, even rhythm. But even though he proceeded much less brutally than any of the men he had used to take her before, Laura felt a kind of disgust she had not experienced before -- comparable only to that moment, an eternity ago, when she had woken up and found herself under Martin, and thus learnt what he had been doing with her. The trees moved gently, as if they were swaying in the wind, making her body meet Martin's in a mockery of a gentle game of love. Laura turned her face away from him, the only part of her body that she could move at her own will. Martin, however, did not try to kiss her anyway. His arms wrapped around her, one hand on her ass and another on her back, he thrust into her a little bit more forcefully now. Soon his breath got faster, he groaned and huffed, and did not even seem to notice the tears that were running down Laura's face. Laura was crying silently. The time something like this might have made her scream had long passed. Each time his body collided with hers, there was a slight smacking sound, its echo seemingly increasing in Laura's head as she could do nothing but hope that this new ordeal might be over soon. This hope, at least, was not in vain: After only a few minutes Martin's body started shaking uncontrollably, his groans grew louder, blocking out all other sound, and he scrunched up his face in what seemed almost an expression of pain, as Laura felt the hot spurts of his load spilling into her. *** Laura's entire body ached. The position, in which the trees were holding her now, was a much more comfortable one than during the first days; that was true. Also, Martin had started letting her walk around freely for a few minutes every day, so she could stretch her arms and legs. Still, Laura couldn't help but miss the cage in which she had been imprisoned for so many weeks. This here was something much worse. She was completely exposed to wind and rain now (if the night was particularly cold, Martin brought some blankets or lit a fire near her; however, despite this, it seemed to Laura that she always either shivered from the cold or suffered under the burning heat of the summer sun). Worse than the weather was that she was now fully accessible to Martin, he did not seem to feel threatened by her anymore, and he took advantage of her helplessness regularly, often several times in a day. Laura trembled in disgust when she thought of his broad hands, kneading the tender flesh of her behind or her breasts. She had to fight back the urge to retch when she remembered the taste of his tongue in her mouth or the sounds of his pig-like groans when he came inside her. Sometimes she could see Mr. Seger, as he was doing different jobs for Martin, maybe repairing the hut or carrying firewood; she could not always tell. And sometimes, for a moment, he seemed to look up, look towards her, and Laura believed to recognize a confused expression on his lined face -- but who could be sure at such a distance? Still, she started to call out his name every time she saw him, but to no avail. After a moment, the old teacher looked down again, continuing his work as if she was not there. *** "It's me: Laura!" Laura's voice easily betrayed the frustration she felt. Why would he not recognize her, why would he not wake up? The truth was that besides Martin, her former math teacher was about the last person in the world she wanted anything to do with. The thought of being close to him, of talking to him made her shudder in disgust -- but as it was, he was currently her only hope. "You have to resist Martin! You have to take the locket away from him. The necklace he is wearing, you have to steal it!" Mr. Seger looked up. His eyes seemed glazed over, distant. Laura was sure he was not fully under Martin's control anymore; there were small reactions when she called him, in some way she was getting through to him. But he was not fully free either. Looking up for a moment was not enough, he had to understand what was going on, and Laura did not know how to help him do that. Suddenly the teacher took a step towards her. He hesitated, but he kept looking at Laura, his eyes clearer than they had been in almost a year. After what seemed like an eternity, he took another step, and another. The man's expression changed: The way he looked at her suddenly seemed hungry, greedy. "Laura", he whispered. It was not a question. He knew, he remembered. His eyes swept over her naked, helpless body, taking in what he saw. He looked at her like someone who just regained a long lost possession, assessing if everything was still in order. Slowly, the teacher moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. Relief and fear welled up at the same time inside Laura, neither emotion winning over the other for more than a few moments. Mr. Seger was awake, he was conscious! He remembered her. But revenge against Martin seemed to be the last thing on his mind just now. Maybe his mind was still stuck somewhere in the last year, maybe he did not even realize what had happened since. Mr. Seger lifted one hand. He reached towards Laura slowly, carefully, until the tips of his fingers touched one of her breasts, then the other. He began drawing circles around her nipples, which automatically hardened under his touch. The teacher seemed completely engrossed in what he was doing; once again unable to take in anything else of his surroundings, though this time it was not the locket that left him enchanted. After a while his fingers started drawing a trail downwards, stroking along the soft skin of Laura's stomach, until they reached her sex. Laura had the impression he was checking whether she was still complete, or whether she was real. Then, suddenly, Mr. Seger withdrew his hand, as if he had been burned, and he looked up. For a moment he stared right into Laura's face. Then his eyes wandered along her arms until his gaze reached the trees that were keeping her prisoner. His expression grew confused. "What... What happened? Where are we? Why...?" „Martin has the locket." Laura spoke quickly, stumbling over the words. She wanted to get it all out, before Mr. Seger became distracted again, or before Martin discovered that he had broken free. "We have to take it away from him. We have to destroy it." Mr. Seger was still looking confused. His gaze wandered back to Laura's hand and feet. The trees grasp was as unrelenting as ever -- it was obvious that she was in no state to take anything away from anyone. The teacher remained quiet for a few moments, apparently pondering his options. "Why should I?" he finally said, his voice surprisingly calm. Laura could not suppress an exasperated sigh. This was driving her mad. Was she really the only being left with any hint of logic and moral? "Do you want to stay under his control?" "That's not what I meant," the teacher explained slowly, apparently searching for words carefully. He hadn't spoken in months, his voice sounded hoarse from disuse. "Why should I destroy the locket? Why should I help you? Why shouldn't I take back what is rightfully mine, take Martin's place? The locket obviously is even more powerful than I imagined -- and if someone like Martin can learn to control it, imagine what I can do with it! This world would never be the same again." For a moment, Laura was speechless. This was worse than she had expected. What was there left to say? Should she try to argue? Try to appeal to whatever reason or sympathy might be left in Mr. Seger? Hadn't he just proven there was nothing human left in him to appeal to? "I..." she hesitated. Then, taking a deep breath, she took a decision -- this was not about her own freedom or happiness. This was about the fate of the whole world. And whatever sacrifices she had to bring for this, it was worth it. "If you help me to destroy the locket then you can do with me whatever you want. I mean, not by force... not like before... I will give myself to you by my own choice." Mr. Seger seemed to think this offer over for a moment, and Laura could tell she had struck a nerve. The teacher gazed at her, as if searching her eyes for a sign of honesty or lie. Laura returned his look as openly as she could. She did not like the offer she had made, of course not. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that Martin had to be stopped. Everything else she could address later. Finally Mr. Seger took another step toward Laura. He was standing so close to her now, that she could feel his breath on her face. "Prove it," he whispered hoarsely, before his lips touched hers. Instinctively, Laura wanted to move back, wanted to express her disgust and protest -- but she knew that this was her only chance. She opened her lips, trying to make them feel sensual and soft, let the teacher's tongue enter her mouth, and returned his kiss. She searched out his tongue with her own, and then withdrew it playfully, just to search it again the next moment. For a few moments, she allowed herself to be lost in the sensation of his lips pressed onto her own. She gave herself over to the warmth of his mouth, in the intimacy that only a kiss can create. During this short time, she was able to forget whom she was kissing -- and to her surprise another long forgotten face appeared in her memory: Daniel. Laura could not know that Frank Seger also was thinking of someone else while he was kissing her. She did not know that his hands, while they seemingly tried to cover every inch of her body, imagined someone else's curves, the soft skin of another woman. Would it make any difference to her if she knew? Frank Seger was not planning on telling her. Laura was not her mother, but as things were, she was as close as he could ever get to the love of his life. Laura felt the teacher's fingers reaching her sex, searching entrance. Without resistance, they slipped into her -- the thought of her ex-boyfriend, though she had not seen him in so many years, had aroused her. Though she felt like a traitor, she knew that this was the best way to convince Mr. Seger: As long as she kept thinking of Daniel, she could make the teacher think it was him she wanted. She just had to imagine that it was the tall, dark haired boy, who now withdrew his fingers and guided his manhood into her pussy instead. The girl pushed aside all feelings of guilt, along with the name Seger. Daniel, she thought, again and again. Daniel. The head of his cock slipped into her. Daniel. She pushed her hips forwards, as far as the trees allowed her, offering herself, wanting to feel him inside her. Daniel. Daniel. Her eyes closed, Laura felt the cock sliding in and out of her. It was bigger than Martin's. That was good -- she vaguely remembered Daniel being quite well equipped. She had been surprised at his size during their shy explorations, though she had nothing to compare him too then. That had been during a time when she had still been almost as innocent as her parents would hope her to be. It seemed strange to her now, that there ever had been a time like that. Thinking of those days, she felt the warmth inside her increase, felt a desire that she always wanted to reserve for Daniel. He -- don't think his name, Laura -- was taking his time, apparently relishing in the feeling of her pussy engulfing him, yet never entering her fully, never thrusting into her with the force she was waiting for. Without realizing it, she started rotating her hips, pushing towards him; trying to meet his movements. She needed more. He still did not start acting more forcefully, and Laura let out a low moan betraying both her frustration and her desire. The sound of her own voice surprised her. It was hoarse and somehow reminded her of the sound an animal might make. Everything in her screamed for release, and all Laura could think of now was how to encourage him to really take her, to give her what she needed. The tension building up inside her had grown to an unbearable height, when finally, he answered her wishes. He picked up pace and force with such a suddenness, it almost knocked the breath out of her. It did not take more than a few, deep thrusts for her to be pushed over the edge, and it took all the remaining bit of Laura's concentration not to scream out the explosion of joy she felt at her release. *** Laura saw Martin's approach already when he was still quite far off, and her heart started beating wildly. Mr. Seger had decided that he would hide near her, behind a few trees. There he would wait until Martin went to Laura, to enjoy her body while she was tied helplessly by the trees. This, they both hoped, would distract him enough not to realize something was amiss. As expected, Martin did indeed approach Laura this evening, as he did most other days. As always, the thin shorts he was wearing could only insufficiently conceal his arousal. He was clearly only focused on the girl suspended between the trees in front of him; his mind was devoid of any other thought. If Mr. Seger did not do any stupid mistakes, Martin would stand no chance, Laura hoped. When the man she despised so much approached her, without saying a word, Laura could make out a motion between the trees, in the periphery of her field of vision. Mr. Seger was leaving his hiding place. They had to hurry, now. Their plan was for Mr. Seger to pull the locket off Martin's neck before he would have a chance to defend himself in any way -- they were not sure if Mr. Seger would be able to resist the locket's power anymore if it was focused directly on him. The second part of the plan was not something Laura had discussed too thoroughly with the old teacher: She hoped the trees might let go of her on their own, as soon as Martin was not in control of the locket anymore, so that she could help the teacher -- and make sure he stuck to their agreement. She suspected that the temptation of the locket's power would grow, as soon as Mr. Seger held it between his fingers. Still, if everything went alright, they would force Martin into the abandoned cage that was still standing on the clearing. It had become a bit rusty by now, but it was still strong enough. And then, once he was out of the way, they would try to figure out a way to get rid of the locket once and for all. Only in the last fraction of a second, Laura recognized the big chunk of wood Mr. Seger was carrying. Then the heavy piece of wood blew down on Martin's head. Her wooden chains fell of at the very moment that her torturer sank down in front of her. As blood started spurting out of the back of his head, the trees dropped her down to the ground and then straightened up to their natural form. They stood tall into the sky, the trees. Their tops swayed innocently in the wind, as if nothing odd had ever happened to them. Martin, on the other hand, remained motionless on the ground. It took Laura a moment to regain control of her arms and legs. She dropped down onto all four and crawled over to Martin's motionless body. When she was next to him, she got up onto her knees and took up one pudgy arm into her hands to feel his pulse. "He is dead!" Her voice betrayed a mixture of relief and horror. "Why did you do that? We wouldn't have needed to kill him..." She looked at Mr. Seger in accusation. Killing someone felt wrong, no matter, who it was. And she felt guilty, even if it hadn't been her who dealt the deadly blow -- shouldn't she have expected it, and prevented it somehow? A Battle of Minds Ch. 04 The old teacher was still slightly out of breath, as he towered above Laura, looking down on her. A few drops of blood were dripping down from the bat in his hand. They fell onto the ground and mingled with the dark dirt and a few rotten leafs. Laura believed to recognize a familiar sparkle in the teacher's eyes, an expression that scared her. It was not over yet. She turned away from Mr. Seger and took hold of the chain around the neck of Martin's lifeless body. It felt strange to remove the locket. She half expected Martin to suddenly come back to life, to defend his prized possession somehow. However, she could take the little piece of jewelry without any resistance. She clasped the locket tightly in her hand. Again, it pulsated like a little heart. Warmth radiated from it and spread all throughout her body. Laura tried to ignore how comfortable, how familiar it felt in her hand. She knew what she had to do. When she stood up, Mr. Seger lifted his bloody bat again. "Give it to me," he said hoarsely, his voice barely concealing his excitement. Laura shook her head. "We had an agreement," she protested. "Fuck that agreement. Did you really think I couldn't tell that you were just play-acting? I imagine you would have even kept that up for a while after you got what you wanted. You are one of these honest types, who like to be a martyr for the greater good... But I know that you will never truly want me, Laura. I am not stupid. And without the locket I will end up with nothing. But with the locket, the whole world is mine." There was no hesitation between those last words and the forceful blow Mr. Seger aimed at Laura's head. To her own surprise, her body reacted before her brain registered the danger. She managed to duck away in the last second -- she was surprised at her own agility, after all she had been imprisoned for a long time, unable to move. It was almost as if someone -- or something -- had warned her. Something that didn't want her to get hurt. Something that had a different plan for the future than being in Mr. Seger's hands. There was no time to ponder this, however, as Mr. Seger now jumped and threw the whole weight of his body onto her. He pulled her to the ground; his hand closed painfully around her own, pressing her fingers down onto the metal of the locket. The little piece of jewelry seemed to grow even warmer, as if excited about the fight. Laura kept her hand closed, putting the other hand into Mr. Seger's face to push him away. Her legs kicking at any part of him she could reach. He was stronger than her: He could pin her to the ground with his weight. Again, however, a strange instinct in Laura awoke. An instinct she had not known she possessed. It seemed to tell her exactly what to do, when to twitch away, how to gain momentum -- and soon she had wriggled herself out of the teacher's hold. Laura scrambled up to her legs and ran into the forest, without looking where she was going, but with the locket still hidden safely inside her hand. Mr. Seger did not need long to get back up onto his legs himself and followed Laura in close pursuit. Being smaller and more agile, she had a clear advantage as she broke her way through the undergrowth of the forest. Yet soon she felt the long months without barely any exercise take their toll as her strength started leaving her and a painful sting in her side made breathing difficult. She heard Mr. Seger's heavy breath right behind her. The very next moment he bumped right into her, knocking her over. And in the need to protect herself from the fall, her hand unwillingly opened and the locket fell out of it, onto the ground. The next moment, the teacher picked up the thing. With a triumphant cry he ran on until he came to a halt at the nearby shore of Lake Leskow. He looked around in apparent confusion -- probably he had not noticed the proximity of the lake while following Laura; in fact, she had not realized what direction she was running in either. Now, however, that she saw the lake, it occurred to her that his was the logical place to be. Mr. Seger's hesitation as to where to turn gave her the time to catch up with him again. A few moments later she jumped at him, knocking him over just as he had done with her a short time earlier. Soon, the two of them were rolling around in the muddy water of the lake's edge, each trying to conquer the locket once and for all. They remained silent, while they did so, they did not scream -- only their breaths grew heavy. For a while, it seemed like Mr. Seger might emerge as victor from this silent struggle. The hard physical work Martin had forced him to do -- carrying wood, repairing the house -- had given him strength and stamina he had not possessed ever before. It occurred to Laura, that she was fighting in vain. She stood no chance. And that meant that the whole world stood no chance. After all it wasn't only her own freedom she was fighting for. And that thought: That without her, the whole world was lost, gave her a new burst of strength and courage. She had no idea where inside her exhausted mind and body this new energy was coming from. She did not think about defeating her enemy anymore, but followed a choreography that she had not known she mastered. She fought blindly, instinctively, and somehow, suddenly, she had won, though she never knew how. She was holding the chain in her hand, the fingers tightly clasped around it, the locket dangling down from it, touching the water. She could not see Mr. Seger anymore, and she could not quite remember how she had managed to fight him off. She noticed that the struggle had apparently carried them much further out into the lake: She was swimming, her feet where not touching the ground. Had Mr. Seger drowned? Had she pushed him down underneath the water? She vaguely remembered him trying to push her head down, and it seemed not unlikely she had returned the favor. And strangely enough, the idea of having murdered Mr. Seger barely touched her now. Had she not been upset by Martin's death, less than an hour ago? Even that seemed remote and unreal to Laura now. Why should she care? Hadn't Martin more than deserved to die? Laura looked around. The surface of the lake was calm, stretched out like a dark mirror in front of her. Only her own swimming motions sent out a few small ripples. She decided to swim back to the shore to start and find out how to destroy the locket. It seemed that the thing knew what she was thinking. Or was she just imagining that it starting to pulsate more strongly? She lifted her hand with the chain up higher from the water, so the pendant was dangling in front of her eyes. It did look pretty, innocent; almost impossible to believe that such a small thing could have brought so much danger and grief. Maybe if she wore it... Laura quickly pushed the thought back out of her mind. She would hold it in her hand, swim back, find the biggest stone she could and crush the wretched thing. With a deep breath, she turned towards the shore. Suddenly a strong tug on her left leg impaired Laura's movement. She felt that she was being pulled downward, into the deep darkness of the lake. Kicking her feet and desperately waving her arms, Laura tried to struggle free, but to no avail. Soon enough her head was under water, and now real panic set in. She had her eyes wide open, and the muddy water stung a little bit in them, as she turned down trying to see what was holding on to her. The lake was too dark, she could not see. As her kicking and struggling grew less and less coordinated, she half believed she saw the pale hand of a dead Mr. Seger holding on to her. Of course it could just as well be some strange slimy water plant that wrapped itself around her leg. The light above her, indicating the surface, and the blurry round shape of the sun in the sky, grew more distant as her breath started running out. Laura felt that her body was about to give up, to stop fighting. Soon, there would be darkness in her again, and this time, for good. Then, the instinct to survive surged through Laura, giving her new strength and clearing her mind. It felt as if it wasn't her who was drowning there. As if she was just watching and had all the time in the world to assess the situation, weigh her options. She knew what to do, it was the only possibility -- and it certainly was better than dying. And once she was certain of that, she knew she had to act fast -- she could already feel her mouth and nose open against her will, she tasted the muddy water of the lake. "Now or never!" she thought, before with slightly shaking hands she lifted the chain carrying the pendant and managed to push it over her head, onto her neck. *** The reeds growing in the shallower regions of the lake bowed in respect. The blades of grass near the shore lay down; even the tallest and firmest trees nodded their heads in adoration, as the Empress left the water. They leaned forward as she stepped onto dry land. The wind ceased to blow, lest the Empress might feel cold. She was, after all, entirely naked and her skin and her hair were wet. In the light of the setting sun, the water drops covering her royal body shone like a thousand diamonds. The evening turned her into a vision of beauty that her surroundings -- a little forest clearing by the lake, bathed into the last rays of the day's sun light -- could only dimly reflect. The Empress' chest was heaving fast, as if she had just run or been through a physically demanding struggle. On her chest, however, rocked by the rhythm of her breath, a locket snuggled tightly in between her breasts. It was a golden locket, brighter and warmer than the sun. The Empress looked around. The world seemed changed, somehow -- everything was different from before. She was free. After so many years of struggling and fighting and wishing for her freedom, she had finally succeeded. But it was more than she could ever have hoped for. She was freer than she would ever have dreamt possible. She was freer than she had ever been in her life. Finally, she understood. She was not just poor little Laura anymore, a girl hoping to save the world by destroying a magic piece of jewelry. She realized now where her true destiny lay. The locket had shown her what she was destined for. There was a power emanating from it, surging through her body that made her feel anything was possible. And it was true, anything was possible. She did not have to learn how to use the locket, like those others who had used it so crudely, so without talent. They had to practice, improve, and yet had never come close to exhausting the potential of the locket. They had seen it as a thing, as a means to their ends. The queen knew different. This locket was a part of her. It always had been. All the suffering she had gone through, all the hardships had just been because she had been separated from the locket. And because the locket had searched for a way back to her. Now, that she was wearing it, it became part of her, its powers were part of her mind, a new sense that had lain dormant so far. An ability that had a purpose in her, that only she could use for good. The world was unfair and sad, but she had the ability to help. Humankind had driven itself deeper and deeper into doom during the last centuries; it was almost too late. But now she, the empress, was here to save it, just in the nick of time. Freedom was not good for most people, she understood that now. The freedom she had so much wanted for herself was a power that could destroy everything, if it was granted to everyone around her. Now, however, she could change it all. She, Laura, the Empress, could make it all better. Now, with her, a new era was about to begin. A Battle of Minds Ch. 05 This is the fifth chapter of a six part story. I recommend reading all chapters, but if you want to read only this one, here is what happened so far: For three years, Laura has suffered due to a mysterious pendant that suddenly appeared in the small town of Leskow. First her class mate Martin controlled her with the help of the pendant, and then her former math teacher Mr. Seger did the same. In the end, Martin returned. Eventually Laura always managed to free herself and now has the pendant in her possession. Though her plan was to destroy it, she now decides to use its power for herself. ~~~~~ The waves of Lake Leskow splash gently against the shore of the perfectly round, small island. The brightly green grass on the island and the long reeds growing around it sway in a gentle breeze. The island lies right in the middle of the lake. On it, its outlines set sharply against the evening sky, stands a castle. Its delicate towers stand tall, their roofs sparkling golden in the evening light. The castle gives an almost surreal quality to the idyllic picture of forest, water, and setting sun. Like a page torn from a book of fairy tales. Not far from the castle, at the shore of the lake, lies the small town of Leskow. On this warm summer evening, everyone in the town seems to be taking a small break: People are looking up from their daily work, to enjoy this scene of peace and beauty. Their faces rapt, their mouths open, everyone displays an expression of breathless admiration. All have turned towards the castle, which is bathed in a golden glow as the sun slowly sinks down behind the trees. Were a stranger to walk into Leskow this very evening, he would surely join the citizens in their admiration, all the while wondering how happy they must be to have a view like this one in front of their eyes, every day of their lives. The stranger would not be able to stop thinking about how wonderful life in a town like this must be. He would feel envy for all those people living in such a tidy and quiet place. He would be amazed at the peace of the little town. There are no arguments ever to be heard in Leskow, everyone is content. The people of Leskow love their little town, they love each other, and more than anything else, they love their queen. And the queen loves her subject. She loves the little town that she rules over. Every evening she steps out of her castle, stands at the shore of her little island, and looks over the dark waters towards Leskow, to the simple houses standing opposite her majestic home, bathed in the same golden evening light. Her most trusted servants surround her; they never step away from her side. The lake lies calmly in front of her, the muddy waters tamed. To the queen, Lake Leskow is the beginning and the end of all: She was born from this lake. *** From the moment that Laura stepped out of the waters of Lake Leskow, the locket's chain hanging around her neck, she knew what she had to do. She did not have to learn how to use the little piece of jewelry; it was, as if all the skills Martin and Mr. Seger had acquired through practice and hard work throughout the last three years, were transferred to her automatically. The young woman and the locket seemingly became one; they belonged together. There were no questions for Laura anymore. Her own future, the future of the world, and her own role in it: All of it was a path she could see clearly laid out in front of her. All she had to do was step onto that path. And now, that she knew, she was more than willing to do so. Now, the power of the locket was hers alone, and anyone who had taken part in making her suffer during the last years would feel the consequences. Of course, her true enemies had been Martin and Mr. Seger, and they were both dead, and thus beyond even Laura's reach. Everyone else, however, was still there: All those people the two of them had used to torture and humiliate her again and again were still living their safe and happy lives in Leskow. They would have to suffer now. She would take revenge on them, on all those young men from school, who had been coming to the forest on Martin's orders. For the rest of the town's inhabitants, however, Laura was planning to be a gentle queen, strict when necessary, but fair and loving. Though she was still naked, Laura held her head majestically high as she strode through the forest, towards Leskow. The closer she got to the small town, the more people she met. Some of them were taking afternoon walks in the forest; others lived in the outskirts of Leskow and were working in their gardens. The people stopped their walks and their work as they saw her coming. They bowed their heads respectfully. Not one of them remarked on her lack of clothes -- in fact, not one of them seemed to notice. Once Laura had passed them, they followed her at a certain distance, awaiting their queen's orders. Finally, Laura stepped once again toward the shore of Lake Leskow, but not in the forest this time. As she stood on the meadow next to the school, the whole population of Leskow gathered in a half circle around her. Vaguely she remembered standing at this very place two years previously, gazing out over the water: She had awoken for a few moments back then, but now it seemed to her like a long forgotten dream. This had not been her; this had been a different Laura. Now she was queen. With a benevolent smile on her face, the queen turned around to face her subjects. The crowd stirred and moments later a young woman stepped forward, falling onto her knees in front of Laura. She lifted up a long, cream colored dress, presenting it to her queen. Despite its simplicity, the dress was exquisite and clearly expensive. There was only one shop in Leskow that sold such dresses, and Laura had always wondered who in town could even afford to buy anything there. After all, throughout most of her life she would not even have been able to buy a T-shirt in that shop, and she was by no means from a poor family. Now, however, as queen, she clearly needed dresses befitting her status. A queen can't be naked in front of her subordinates. As soon as she had thought that, the people of Leskow turned away respectfully, allowing their queen privacy, as she with some difficulty slipped into the dress. The dress was really quite different from the jeans and t-shirt Laura was used to wearing. As she allowed her the people to face her again, the crowd gasped and then broke out in cheers of pride: They had a beautiful queen. Laura let her gaze wander from face to face. She had an appropriate dress now. She would need servants, too. And a castle. The queen turned to the lake. She lifted both hands, pointing their palms towards the dark waters, from which immediately bubbles started to rise; at first a few, then more and more, as if the whole lake was boiling. After a few moments, the outline of something big appeared under the water's surface. Something was slowly rising up from the lake's bottom, like a huge animal or a submarine. The crowd, however, did not seem surprised or scared. Instead they started cheering happily, as the playful little rooftop towers, the jutties and arched windows of a fairy tale castle slowly rose out of the water. After a few minutes, the whole building stood on an island in the middle of the lake. The castle and the perfectly round island appeared to be illustrations in a fairy tale, but there they were, they were real. The waves of the lake splashed soothingly against the islands shoreline, as if they had been doing so since the beginning of time. Now, all the queen had to do was find a way to get to her castle. The waters of the lake were one of the few things that did not obey Laura's will yet, she had to cross them somehow. It only took her a few moments to find a solution: Along with the whole population of the small town, the members of Leskow's Rowing and Sailing Club were also present at the lake. The queen called them forward and sent them to get their boats. She would choose the best boat. For now that would suffice as an appropriate means of transport. Two young men, former classmates of Laura, were to be her rowing staff. Laura vaguely remembered that those two had enjoyed more than one intimate encounter with her the year before last, due to Mr. Seger's twisted plans. Thus it was just appropriate they would now have to serve her, she deduced. As all the most urgent matters had been attended to, the queen ordered the two of them to transport her across the water, to her castle. Her other subjects could continue with their daily lives for now. After all, the town had to be kept running. The queen wanted her people to be happy; she wanted them to live good and normal lives. Of course, there were exceptions: All those young men and women who had visited the upper grades of Leskow's school along with Laura, and graduated sometime in the last few years, could not join their fellow citizens anymore. They had to follow their queen to the island. Gathered in a luxuriously decorated entry hall, they waited motionless and in silence, while their queen rested. Eventually, when she had gathered new strength, the returned to them to decide who of the young people would be her servant from now on. The ones upon which this honor befell clapped their hands in joy, before they quickly hurried out of sight to start with their various tasks right away. Mysteriously they knew at once what had to be done to make their queen happy, without that Laura herself was required to spend more than a fleeting thought on those tasks. Others were not so lucky: They were sent down to the castle's prison cells. There was no trouble caused, they went there quietly and without protest -- after thanking their queen for giving them a proper and just punishment. *** "Ready... Steady... Go!" On their queen's command, nine young men jumped into the cool water of Lake Leskow. Their fluid motion was synchronized so perfectly, they appeared to be one body and one mind. Looking at their masculine, muscular bodies, Laura unwillingly let her tongue wander over her lips. For a moment, she was surprised at herself. Should she not feel disgust at the sight of any man, after all that had been done to her? Her body seemed to think otherwise -- Laura felt a certain tingling sensation, a certain warmth in her groin, at the thought of the strong arms of one of them holding her. Maybe she should order one of the contestants to her room this night? Which one? This wasn't an easy choice... The queen decided to let luck decide. After all, this was a new era, she explained in the speech she gave to her people at the festival site. Any explanation was superfluous, of course. The people of Leskow knew that the queen was right in everything she did. Still, it felt good to put her thoughts into words: This was a new era, it was thus appropriate to alter the rules of the diving competition a little bit. The winner of the big event of Leskow's "Castle Festival" should from now on receive a little more than just a victory kiss. Just the thought of it made her heart beat faster in anticipation. Every now and then, the head of one of the young men appeared above the water's surface, so he could catch breath. However, all nine of them gave their best. They stayed under water as long as they possibly could; searching the ground of Lake Leskow for the small box Laura had dropped into the water from a boat, hours earlier. It was an honor to win this contest, and an honor to give your best for Leskow, and for Leskow's queen. The people at the lake shore cheered, the constant buzz of their voices rising and falling, but never breaking off completely. They had forgotten the accident, which three years ago had brought an abrupt end to the most important tradition of this festival. Laura did not think about it either. What was one dead man, who had perished years ago, against the joy of a celebration for her town? And at last the title "Castle Festival" had become one of true meaning -- the queens palace was towering proudly on its little island, its towers pointing into the bright blue September sky. Laura did not waste her time wondering why she had been able to suddenly make a castle appear out of the lake. She did not care whether it had been there before, or whether she had created it -- she just knew that this castle was hers. She was sure that it belonged to Leskow, and that she belonged into the castle, as Leskow's queen. Maybe, somehow, all of this was connected to the castle festival -- in a way, it seemed to Laura, this castle was in fact what the divers had been looking for throughout the centuries. Year after year, during hundreds of diving contests, they had been searching the lake's ground for this castle, and for their queen. *** "Oh! Yes!" Never in her life had Laura come as strong as this day. For a few moments all darkness seemed to disappear, she saw bright lights even though her eyes were shut, and the castle's vast bedroom was echoing with her lustful cries. As her orgasm -- the third of the night -- slowly ebbed away, Laura remained motionless for a few moments, her body limp, her skin shining with sweat, and her chest heaving. For those few moments, the world ceased to exist. Or, at least, to matter. It took Laura a little while to find back into reality, to catch breath again and orientate. Finally, the queen opened her eyes. There was a face above her, the face of the surprisingly handsome young man, who had won this afternoon's contest. He smiled down at her, though his eyes seemed somewhat unfocused. He was still hard inside her, but the queen had gotten what she wanted now. There was no reason for him to come; he would not know how to appreciate it anyway. As soon as Laura thought that, the man withdrew from her, rolling to the side -- for a moment, she believed to see something like disappointment in his eyes. She knew, however, that in fact he could not even know what was happening, what he had been doing. The queen, on the other hand, knew. Her heartbeat was still not quite back to normal, while a wonderful heaviness was surging through her body, a calmness she had not known in years. This was surely one of the best ideas she had in a while, Laura mused. For the first time, she was not someone's toy. All she had ever known about sex was Martin's and Mr. Seger's perverted fantasies. All she had ever experienced were the things they forced her to do. Now, for the first time, her body was not an object used by others to satisfy their own needs. No, this time, she used the power of the locket for her own enjoyment. She had sex, exactly when and how and with whom she wanted. And it was better than she could ever have imagined. Or maybe, Laura thought on, this was more akin to masturbation. After all, the man had not been truly conscious of his actions. Rather, he was just obeying her orders. Laura pushed away those thoughts. She had gotten good at this: There were many thoughts she was pushing away these days. Thoughts that did not befit a queen. Thoughts that brought complications to something that should be clear and obvious. This was no time for this type of concern. What she was doing was nothing more than her natural privilege as queen. She would go on like this, every night from now on, the queen decided. There were many good looking young men in Leskow, and she would play with each and every one of them. That much, at least, the people of Leskow owed her. After all, she was their queen, and she had saved all of them from Martin's macabre plans -- whatever they had been. Happily, Laura rolled to the side, and right away the young man beside her, who had remained quiet and motionless until now, put his arm around her, allowing her to snuggle up to his warm body. Within minutes, Laura was asleep. *** It was the middle of November, already, but it was still as warm as an August day might be. The sun was shining down onto Leskow from a cloudless, bright blue sky. This glorious sky and this bright sun appeared above the little town every day, without fail. They seemed to illustrate the fortune and happiness of all people living here. The queen loved wandering through the streets of her small kingdom, followed by her most trusted servants. She loved seeing the smiling faces of her subjects, as they bowed their heads to their queen. No matter what they were doing before -- the daily tasks that had become the fulfillment of their lives -- they would stop, as soon as their queen approached, and kneel down at the side of the road. "Thank you!" The queen's eyes fell on a little girl. The child fell to her knees in Laura's path, her face lifted up in admiration. Laura's heart seemed to melt, as the child looked right at her from round blue eyes, not yet displaying the polite shyness all adults showed in front of their queen. The girl was beside herself with joy: She had dreamt of meeting the queen, of thanking her for all the kind things she did for Leskow. "You may stand up", the queen said, her voice softer than usual, and the child stood up, but curtsied before her a few times. "What are you thanking me for, my dear child?" Laura asked. She knew the answer -- still, she never grew tired of hearing those words. "I thank you for being our queen. I thank you for allowing us to see you every day. I thank you for taking care of our needs, and helping us to be better people. I thank you for being allowed to be one of your subjects." The queen smiled and patted the girl on her head, as the people gathered there on the street sighed in one voice. Then the queen continued on her way through town, without another word, while the child hurried back to her mother's arms. *** His lips and tongue were soft, his mouth tasted wonderful, and he was a great kisser. She had made the right choice, the queen decided happily. She would spend this night with him, and she was sure she could expect an exciting night. The young man was only a few years older than her, with dark hair and beautiful brown eyes, his body well toned, but not exaggeratedly so. He was exactly her type. She did not know his name, but that didn't matter -- there was no need to address him. For just a moment, it occurred to Laura that she could let go of her control over the man's mind. It was not unlikely that he would enjoy their encounter just as much as she did, if he was given the chance. Laura knew how to please a man; she enjoyed it, just as much as she enjoyed being pleased. Free will, however, was not good for the people of Leskow, or people in general -- that was one of the things the queen had finally understood that day, months ago, when she had put the chain with the pendant around her neck. And apart from that -- could she really be sure this man knew how to satisfy her, if left to his own means? If she stayed in control of his mind, she could at least be sure she got everything out of this night that she was hoping for. The queen stopped the kiss, and the man looked down at her expectantly, while Laura lay down on the bed. She shifted a little bit to one side, and then to the other, until she found a comfortable position, and opened her silk robe. Her figure was not as slim and girlish anymore as it had been back at the time, many years ago, when the pendant had first started turning her life upside down. She had grown up, matured, had become more feminine -- though these curves were newly acquired, showing the improvement in living conditions she had experienced in the last few months. However, though her figure was more rounded than it used to be, she was still far from having any weight problems. In fact, she could admit to herself without hesitation, she looked just about perfect now. The man would surely have agreed, had he been conscious of her nude presence right in front of him. He would definitely have enjoyed the feeling of her soft, smooth skin under his hands and the view of her perfectly shaped breasts, the queen was sure of that. However, she did not need his approval, not anymore. She knew she was beautiful. A Battle of Minds Ch. 05 The queen took a little cushion and placed it underneath her behind, making her hip tilt upwards a little bit -- that way, her sex was in easy reach for the young man, and that could only be to her own advantage as well. He got down onto his knees and arms in front of her quickly, stroking up the insides of her legs gently until his fingers reached her labia. He pulled them a little bit apart and then pressed his tongue at first right into the moist cave of her sex, seemingly savoring her taste, before the tip of his tongue wandered upward in between her lips, slowly, until it reached the little pearl that formed the centre of her lust. A tremor went through Laura's body as he let his tongue dance and flick there, and she uttered a low moan when his lips closed around her clit and he started sucking gently. The queen closed her eyes to be able to just enjoy, concentrate only on the sensation. The man's tongue was now moving up and down the little pearl slowly but with more pressure, and she could give herself fully to the feelings this caused. She forgot that all he did was just due to her unspoken orders. Soon enough, Laura's breath got faster, she pressed her feet onto the bed sheet to push up her hips even a little further, pressing her sex against his mouth, and little groans and moans escaped between her half-opened lips. Finally, when the pressure building up in her body seemed too much to bear, just before Laura was sure she couldn't take it any longer, everything erupted into an explosion of lust that filled her out completely, made her body thrash on the bed uncontrollably. She heard her own cries as if from far away, pushed up her hips even higher and wrapped her legs around her lover's shoulders once she regained control of them -- she did not want him to stop yet. Of course she knew he wouldn't stop before she ordered him to, but just now she did not think about such details, she acted purely on instinct. And those instincts told her she needed to make sure that he kept licking and sucking until the last wave of her release had undulated through her body. Only then the queen let go of him, allowed him to catch his own breath, while she opened her eyes. For a while, both of their chests were heaving in the same, fast rhythm, the room was filled with the sound of both sucking in air and the heavy smell of the queen's sex. When the queen's breath calmed down, her head sank back into the cushions. She felt heavy now, tired, satisfyingly exhausted -- yet this was by far not the end of the night. She had more in mind. She just needed a few minutes to relax, to enjoy the afterglow before starting anew. Finally, she let the man lean over her, and he started kissing her again. Laura could taste her own juices on his lips. The taste awoke a secret curiosity in her -- did other women taste the same? She vaguely suspected that she had been wondering about this before, but only now the thought managed to surface. Maybe she should call a woman to her bed one of these days. She was the queen after all, no one would think anything of it, what she did was always the best for her people. And, the queen continued the thought, there weren't many men left in Leskow, whom she hadn't spent a night with yet -- if she discounted those that were too old, too young, or just not her type, she would soon be forced to look in other directions, unless she wanted to risk boredom. Enough of that for now! The queen pushed those thoughts out of her mind again -- there would be time to ponder those things later on. For now, she should just enjoy being with this man, not think about others. As soon as she thought this, she felt his manhood against her sex, demanding entrance. The queen opened her own legs further; this was an audience she would surely grant. She felt him pushing her labia apart, felt his cock bit by bit sliding into her. Almost exasperatingly slowly and careful at first, but as soon as the queen considered urging him on, he picked up momentum and thrust into her with force. A low moan escaped Laura's mouth. How she had missed this feeling of being filled out completely. He had indeed been a good choice, he was a perfect fit. For a moment Laura allowed herself to get used to the sensation, then she let him start fucking her, first gently again, then increasing in force and speed, until the room was filled with the sound of Laura's moans and of flesh slapping against flesh. Everything was perfect -- his thrusts grew faster and slower, or deeper and shallower, just as Laura wanted it, and always in the right angle. After a while she wanted to change position, and he obliged immediately. Their connection never broke, as they turned at first to the side, and then Laura got onto all fours, facing away from him. He followed all her movements swiftly, his cock buried deep in her pussy. Now, kneeling behind her, he continued to drive his cock into her, each impact pushing her closer to the edge. One of his hands rested on her behind, while the other one reached around, fondling her breasts, and then stroking downwards along her belly until he reached her sex. His fingers found the little pearl at its top, and he started playing with it, the same way his tongue had played with it before. It didn't take long before Laura felt she once more was rising up on a wave of ecstasy that was close to breaking point. As she felt her release emanating into every corner of her body, she let him come as well, enjoying the sensation of his cock growing yet harder inside her for a second, before his hot seed spilled into her. He remained silent, while the sound of her voice echoed through the castle. Laura needed a few moments to regain control of her body; then she rolled up in a fetal position on the bed and made him wrap his arms protectively around her, pulling her body to his, so her behind was pressed against his stomach. She fell asleep quickly, as every evening, and before she sank into a dreamless darkness, a vague memory appeared in her mind. The memory of other arms, which had held her once, and of a time when she had been happier, despite everything she had now... However, when the first rays of the sun fell onto her bed the next morning, and she opened her eyes to see another brilliantly blue sky through her bedroom windows, she did not remember that memory anymore. *** The weather changed exactly on December 1st. It had been warm and sunny up to that day, even in November there had been barely any rain: In fact, it had rained just enough to keep the forest from drying out completely, and those few soft rains had only taken place at night time. Now, however, it was December, and December was the month of Christmas, after all. And what is Christmas without snow? Laura at least was always in favor of a white Christmas, and thus it cooled down considerably starting at the beginning of December. There were more clouds in the sky now, even if there were always a few spots of blue between them, and the leafs, which had turned colorful many weeks earlier, but miraculously remained on the trees, started falling down at last. On the morning of the First Advent Sunday, the grass in the parks, in the forest and on Laura's little island was covered with a thin coating of ice -- the queen decided to wear a beautiful ice blue dress, studded with diamonds, whose sparkle competed with nature's white frosting. On the Second Advent Sunday, the first snowflakes danced lazily down from the sky. The lake froze, and soon the ice would be thick enough to carry a person. The boats, currently pushing their way from the island to the town and back through a narrow channel in the ice, would not be necessary anymore. All over the town there were cutely decorated Christmas trees, the queen had them be put up during the first week of December -- this year's festive season was going to be the most beautiful one Leskow had ever experienced. There was a little bitterness in Laura's heart, even though she looked forward to Christmas: All the people around her would not be able to appreciate the beauty she created for them. The bright eyes and excited faces of the children, the secretive whispers of their parents, all of this would be her own creation. Whenever she had time to think, it felt like a movie, like one of these surreal Christmas-Shows on TV. Laura threw herself deeper into the preparations, kept busy, so she would not have time to think. And if the queen was busy, so were the people of Leskow. Every now and then, Laura missed company, a conversation, a friend. Of course she could speak to the people of Leskow, they were all her faithful servants, and they were all able to say interesting things, they could even be funny and entertaining if need be, as soon as the queen demanded it. Somehow, however, Laura missed arguments; she missed someone disagreeing with her, talking back at her. Sometimes she almost wished for some resistance, and if it was just so she could prove that she could overcome such obstacles. Of course she could and would not give in to such impulses. Arguments, resistance, disagreement -- all those things were the root of unhappiness, and the queen wanted all people in the world to be happy. And at least for the people of Leskow, this wish had come through. The queen's reign gave their little world stability; thanks to her, their town had become the perfect place to be. What else could any of them wish for? And once she was done here, once everything was running smoothly, she planned to help the rest of the world. That should be challenge enough, the queen told herself. Her work would only be done when no person in the whole world had to struggle anymore, hurt their head by having to think, to take decisions, to ponder problems. No one should ever again be unhappy, due to having taken a wrong decision or because of unforeseen events. In a way, Laura realized, she envied the people of the world. She had fought to free herself of the pendant, yet now, that she was using the pendant for the good of mankind, she was the only one that could not reap the benefits. Back then, it had all been different. Mr. Seger and Martin used the pendant's power for their own benefit, they suppressed others. Laura, the queen, wanted only what was best for everyone... All of a sudden, the queen stopped, torn out of her thoughts, and looked up. Something was not right. She had been walking down Leskow's main street, enjoying the fresh winter air. She looked around. Everything seemed exactly as it should. A thick layer of snow was covering the ground; the lights on the little Christmas trees in front of the shops were shining. The sky was bright and blue; now that enough snow had fallen, clouds were not needed anymore. What could it have been, that she had caught in the corner of her eye? Her brain had barely registered the disturbing sight, she did not remember what it had been, but something had to be amiss. Whatever it was, she could not find it anymore. Finally, the queen decided to walk on. If it was so invisible, it could not have been important. Shrugging her shoulders, she took a first step, when finally, her eyes found what they had been looking for: Next to the big festival meadow, there were a few old-fashioned houses. Newly restored a few years earlier, their walls painted in soft pastel colors. One of the most beautiful sights in town, the queen thought, and she had taken care that these house were kept exceptionally clean. On one wall, however, half hidden behind another Christmas tree, there was some graffiti now. Of course, graffiti a used to be a common sight in Leskow, and these houses had been no exception there. Their walls were tempting in their bright cleanliness and at their backsides, facing the festival grounds, one ran little risk of being seen at night. Throughout the last few months, however, the queen had all those colorful smears removed. She did not want her town desecrated by vandalism, and she doubted she could have overseen even one. The queen stepped closer, walking around the tall Christmas tree. There it was. The writing on the wall looked fresh. It wasn't a colorful artistic name, written in a way that you could barely distinguish the individual letters, as there used to be so many in Leskow up until the summer. No, though this was also only one word, it was clearly a message, its contents more important than the look of the slightly disproportionate black letters. "Freedom!" The word touched her in a strange way, like a distant memory, a longing that she could not put into words anymore. Freedom... Then the moment passed, and the longing was replaced by rage. The queen was angry. Who had dared to do something like that without her permission? Who was threatening her? She knew that this one word was a threat against her, personally. Someone was resisting. And that was what scared Laura most: Who was able to resist her? Who would ask for freedom; and freedom for whom? The people of Leskow were happy; she had ordered them to be happy. This one word on the wall was threatening everything she had built up. She had to find the culprit, right away. The queen held her breath, as she let her connection with the pendant grow stronger, more conscious than it had been for months. As the little jewel was pulsating warmly against her chest, she could feel her mind reaching out to every single inhabitant of Leskow. She could feel the people's immediate response, could feel them expecting her commands. Was there any shady corner she had overseen? Any blind spot, any absence? Any resistance? No. The queen could feel every one of them. Leskow was hers entirely. But then, who had written that word on the wall? *** The girl was 18, maybe 19 years old. Laura had only noticed her for the first time a few days ago: She wasn't sure what had made her chose this girl. Maybe it was her beautiful long, dark hair, maybe it were the soft, youthful features of her face, or maybe it was the fact that something about that girl reminded her of herself -- of herself a time long ago, when she had no idea yet of the future. A time in which she couldn't have guessed the trials that awaited her, or the greatness she was destined for. Suddenly, the memory of her own 18th birthday emerged in her mind. She had forgotten all about that day, but now, seeing this girl, she remembered all the excitement she had felt back then, walking through the summer forest to meet Daniel at the little clearing near the lake... Daniel... Strange, that he was on her mind all of a sudden. She hadn't thought of him in a long time. Maybe the girl was to be blamed for that, too: Somehow, she reminded the queen not only of herself, but also of Daniel. She had the same dark eyes, a similar smile. In fact, her resemblance to the love of her youth was quite striking. Laura started going through the names of his many cousins -- Daniel was from a large family -- in her mind, to see if any of them fit the girl. As much as she tried, however, she could not come up with more than half of them. And did it really matter? This was not Daniel, sitting opposite her, but a beautiful young woman, the one she had picked to be her companion for the night. The girl looked back at Laura, her eyes slightly glazed over, but her expression somehow expectant, and suddenly Laura felt compelled to cast her eyes down shyly. This was new for her as well. She had wanted to call a woman to her quarters in the evening for a long time -- she started growing bored of the men of Leskow -- but only today she was finally going through with it. The young woman was dressed in a thick sweater; it was winter after all. Underneath, however, Laura believed to make out the curves of a very feminine body. A deep curiosity arose in her. What would she look like naked? What would it feel like to touch her? Of course, Laura had seen more than one naked woman in her life, in the changing room before gym class, for example, or even at the nude section of Lake Leskow's beach-- but this was different. Back then, it had never occurred to her to grant any of her classmates or friends a second look. Now, however, she wanted this young woman to be naked just for her. As soon as she had thought this, the young woman stood up and started undressing, her movements much more elegant and seductive than Laura ever had managed. Laura grew more excited with every piece of clothing that dark haired beauty in front of her shed. Soon, she could not contain herself any longer: Slowly, she lifted a hand, reaching towards the girl's breasts. They were shaped quite differently than hers, a bit more pointed, and the nipples were bigger and surrounded by very dark areola. Would they feel different too? A slight shiver went through Laura, as her fingertips made contact with the smooth skin. Fascinated, she stroked the girl's breasts gently, cupped the firm flesh. The young woman willingly stepped closer and leaned down to give the queen full access to the soft orbs. For a while, all that could be heard in the royal quarters was Laura's slightly elevated breaths as she explored the other woman's breasts first with her hand, and after a while, also with her mouth. The girl's nipples rose, her body reacting to the queen's attentions, her breath, however, remained steady. Laura was sure she would react differently to a similar treatment; and she was longing now to try that out. She wanted to be touched in the same way. Thus, the girl helped her out of her royal dress, before she, in turn, started gently stroking and cupping Laura's breasts. The queen closed her eyes and sank back onto her bed, while the young woman started sucking her nipples, swirling her tongue around them. Sure enough, Laura did not remain silent. Her breath became ragged and interrupted by low moans, as the girl, her mouth continuously at Laura's breasts, let her fingers slowly trail down along Laura's stomach, until they reached her royal sex. Soon enough the young woman's fingers found Laura's little pearl of lust, went lower, to dip into Laura's sex in search of moisture, before returning to the small button and moving over it in tiny circles. As Laura's moans grew more urgent, her hips moving involuntarily, the girl's fingers returned to the entrance of her moist cave, gently pushing apart her labia to enter her... *** The queen greeted the New Year with the most amazing fireworks the small town of Leskow had ever seen. The dark skies were lit up in the brightest colours, reflected a thousand times on the surface of the lake. To watch them, the queen stood alone on top of the highest tower in her castle. The cheerful explosions lifted her spirits: Had there ever been anything that beautiful? The inhabitants of Leskow, on the other hand, went on with their daily business as if nothing was going on. Why should they get to watch the fireworks? Yes, they would cheer, if they were here. They would applaud and cry hooray in the most perfect manner. However, Laura had noticed that their cheers never reached their eyes. Those empty eyes made her sad. The queen knew that she was the only one in town who could appreciate the beauty of these fireworks, so she should be the only one who got to admire them. A last explosion echoed over the lake, bathing the island and the closest houses at the shore in red and green light. And in this short moment that the darkness on the ground was lit, the queen discovered a lonely figure standing near the water. The shadow of a person at the public bath, standing on a jetty and looking out over the lake, seemingly completely transfixed by the fireworks. The queen felt her heart beating wildly, and she was sure she was trembling in fury. Who was that? Who dared to disobey her orders? She tried to forge a direct link to the person down there at the shore, reaching out for their mind with her own. The pulsating locket on her chest seemed to match the rhythm of her heartbeat. The queen could feel all of Leskow's inhabitants, asleep or awake, linked to her mind. She searched, tried to filter out that one person she was aiming for. She could not find him. Not one person under her control was anywhere near the public bath. The person standing there was a blank spot in her mind. He was completely out of her reach. A Battle of Minds Ch. 05 "He has to get arrested!" she thought, knowing, that at the very same moment all of Leskow's policemen jumped into their cars to drive to the lake's shore as quickly as they could. The queen furrowed her brow. For another second, a remnant of the firework's explosions still echoed over the lake, then it was silent -- but the strange person still stood motionless on their place, looking out over the water. Looking, the queen suddenly realized with a chill, right at her castle; looking at her. Then, suddenly, Leskow's main street was bathed in blue and red light again, as the sound of a police siren drew closer. For just a moment, Laura was distracted by the sound, looked away from the jetty as the police car stopped and the police men jumped out, ready to run towards the offender. When the queen's eyes returned to the lake, the stranger was gone. *** "This is so much better than any porn could ever be", Laura thought. Of course, she had never actually seen any porn, nor even felt the wish to watch it. Still, this was better, she was sure. One of Leskow's men -- she did not bother remembering their names anymore -- was lying in front of her, on his back. On top of him, straddling him and impaling herself on his manhood, was the beautiful black haired girl, who had become one of her favorites after that first night. And then, on top of her, another young man... The queen watched in fascination, her eyes glued to the girl's sex, as she saw the one man's cock thrusting into it again and again, while the other's manhood slowly, carefully, forced its way into her other hole. It was nice to lie here, watch them, while leaning back on a wide, soft sofa. In front of the queen another young woman was kneeling, this one a blonde. Laura was almost sure she had been beauty queen at the castle festival once, a few years ago. Well, that meant she deserved the honor of pleasuring her queen with her tongue. Laura did not dwell on the fact that all this was not too different to what Martin and Mr. Seger had done to her throughout the last years. In fact, the memory of these events was buried so deeply in her mind, she barely connected them to her own life anymore. No, that had been a different reality. This was different, she lived in a different world now, and so did the people of Leskow. These people in front of her might not be aware of what was going on, on first view they were being forced to do things they might not have dared to engage in if fully conscious -- but the queen was sure they would enjoy every minute of it, if they could. Their lustful moans and cries sounded almost real, as real as the queen's own arousal that wiped any hesitation or feeling of remorse from her mind. The rhythm, with which the two men pounded into the young woman, grew faster, their thrusts more forceful. While she watched the three of them, Laura imagined the feel of their well-sized cocks inside her own narrow caves, imagined to be in the girl's place. Yet, in some small corner of her mind, she was glad that she wasn't. The air was thick with the smell of the woman's pussy and the two men's sweat. The queen could feel the arousal of the people in front of her. Or rather, the arousal they would have felt had they been conscious, was instead focused in her mind, on her body. In a way she was them, she received all the sensations they should be feeling, while she could remain on her throne and oversee everything. The combined sensations of those three sent delicious trembles up her spine, chasing any clear thought out of her head. Somehow, just for a moment, an idea appeared; inspired by the image in front of her and the groans filling the room, the queen suddenly saw a similar scene. This time, however, not only three or four people were involved -- but instead thirty or forty. Or maybe even hundreds of them? Then the queen allowed the three people in front of her to switch their position: The girl now came to be on all fours, taking one cock -- the one that had been in her pussy before -- into her mouth, while the other man continued with his relentless assault of her asshole. As she took in the view of those three, the queen forgot her ideas and thoughts. She only concentrated on the show in front of her, enjoying the sight of the one cock sliding in and out the tight hole, of the breasts of the girl swinging freely in the air in the same rhythm, and of the other cock being buried so deeply in her throat that the young woman's nose was surrounded by the man's dark pubic hair. All of this combined with the intermingling sounds of their groans and the slapping of flesh on flesh. The queen stopped thinking about future plans, she let herself be carried away by the scent of sex in the air, while the eager tongue of the other girl swirled faster and faster on her little nub -- it soon all became too much for Laura, she couldn't drag it out any longer. Her own orgasm almost surprised her, overwhelmed her in its strength. She only marginally registered that the others came with her, even the girl that had been licking her, though she had not received any stimulation herself. *** As February started, the queen decided that she had seen enough snow and winter for the year. As soon as she thought this, the weather turned better. By mid February it was so warm and sunny that the first leaves started to appear on the trees. Had one of Leskow's inhabitants suddenly woken up, they would certainly have believed that May was not far anymore. The queen enjoyed the beautiful weather by taking long walks along the shores of Lake Leskow. She rarely went into town anymore, however: The people there, her subjects, and their never changing routines bored her. She preferred to be in the middle of nature, breathe in the fresh air, let flowers spring to life on the meadows and whither again within minutes, just to blossom another time afterwards. On her orders, nature prepared a red carpet of flowers for her, no matter where the queen turned her steps. In the meantime, the inhabitants of Leskow had a lot of work to do: The queen had decided to let them restore and modernize some of the old mansions of the town, and build a few new houses of similar size, that her favorite ... she almost called them "toys" in her mind ... subjects could live in. This, of course, was just the beginning. She was planning on giving the little town a whole new face. Leskow was going to be the most impressive of all towns in the area. The queen looked up. Without realizing it, her feet had carried her to the familiar little clearing on which Martin's hut was still standing. She was overcome by a strange mixture of emotions. This was the location of some of the worst moments of her life, the climax of three years of torture. She was free now, but the memories still made her tremble. And yet, there was something comfortably familiar to this place, some other, long-forgotten memories connected to it. Laura felt as if she was looking for something that she could only find here, though she had no idea what that could be. The clearing lay peacefully in the bright sunlight, surrounded by tall trees swaying softly in a light breeze. The view of the small wooden house added to the idyllic atmosphere, grass growing tall next to its walls, smoke rising up from the chimney... Smoke? The queen's eyes, taking in the scenery in front of her, jumped back to the hut. Indeed, there was smoke coming out of the chimney. Nobody was living in the hut anymore, since Martin's and Mr. Seger's deaths. All inhabitants of Leskow were occupied on the construction sites for the new palaces, and she, the queen, lived in her castle of course. A small hut in the forest might look like a nice retreat, but it was by no means befitting for a queen. There was no one in Leskow who could be living in the hut. No one had a reason to. Who then had lit a fire in its fireplace, though? Who was there, hiding from the tasks she had set all her subjects, from the work she had demanded all of them to do? The queen tested the area with her mind, tried to feel some human presence in the surroundings with which she could build up a connection. There was nothing there, at least no one that she could put under her control. A suspicion rose in her: In some way, this had to be connected to the stranger she saw at the public bath a few months ago. The stranger who could suddenly disappear without her noticing, who was completely out of her control. For the first time in many months, the queen felt fear. For a while, she stood undecidedly on the clearing. She considered calling some of her subjects: She wanted to enter the hut, and doing so alone could be quite dangerous. Without the locket's power she was just a normal person, she suddenly realized. And not even a strong person. Without the locket, she was nothing but a girl who had never even done a self-defense course or learned anything else that might be useful in the face of danger, nor did she carry any weapons to defend herself. Laura's curiosity, however, was stronger than her fear. The queen did not want to wait until her servants were able to reach her -- they couldn't drive through the forest, and on foot even the closest of them might need another half hour. No, she would find out what was going on now and here. After taking a deep breath, Laura started walking toward the little house. It was quite dark inside, and after she entered the hut, it took her eyes a few moments to grow used to that darkness: At first, she could not see anything. And then, before her eyes adjusted, a sudden blow against her chest made Laura stumble back out of the hut and fall onto her behind on the grass of the clearing. A shriek of intermingled panic and anger echoed through the forest: There was indeed someone inside the little house, someone who was on his way out, and pushed the queen rudely out of his way, with no respect for decorum. He ran past her before Laura had fully regained her senses, and thus all she could see was a tall figure disappearing beneath the trees. She did not see the face of the slender, dark haired man, and the air around the clearing and in the forest were as void of any human mind for her to control as it had before. It was, as if he did not exist. *** He did not return. The queen posted guards near the hut: Day and night they were hiding in the bushes nearby, but they did not see anyone. The fire in the oven had gone out long ago; no more smoke was rising up from the chimney. The queen herself searched the hut for any traces of the stranger's identity, but all she could find were a few blankets, a coat, and a few tins with food, obviously stolen from one of Leskow's supermarkets. Nothing, that indicated in any way, who this stranger was. Standing by the window in her castle's greatest hall, the queen anxiously looked out over the lake. She stood here a lot, yet she barely saw the beauty she had created around her. She seemed unable to enjoy the warm spring air, the blossoming trees. All she could think about was this strange man. Who was he? Why had he come here of all places, and why was she not able to control him, not even to trace him in any way? The queen withdrew more and more, rarely interacting with the people of Leskow at all. They still did all she ordered them to do, of course, even if those orders were unspoken. However, the connection she had with them did not feel comfortable and close anymore. It felt like a distance as growing between her and them, like they were of a different species. She barely noticed her subjects when she saw them, as if they were just part of the town's architecture, decoration, not really people. Who really cared if they were happy, or at least appeared to be? They certainly weren't in any state to care. They were under her control. That was all that mattered. The town was quiet, for now. The old saying of the calm before the storm went through the queen's mind. Was there a storm coming? Was the stranger that storm? Again, the stranger... He just would not go out of her mind. He was a danger she had never been able to take into account. Was he able to destroy everything she had built up with so much hard work? Who was he? And where was he? The forest had been searched on the queen's orders, several times in fact; no stone was left unturned, no blade of grass uncombed, and her guards were not only keeping watch over the hut, but also near all empty houses in Leskow. She even had got dogs set on the stranger's scent, with the help of the blanket she had found in the hut. To no avail, he seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Yet, the queen was sure that he had not left Leskow. *** The queen decided to start the summer with a big celebration for the town. She did not really feel like celebrating, her mind was preoccupied with the stranger. This celebration, however, had been on her mind before he turned up. It was for the people of Leskow... and for their queen. Some mysterious stranger, no matter how uncontrollable his mind, would not spoil all of this for her. She, the queen of Leskow, and soon of so much more, would not allow him to destroy this new world she had created for her subjects, simply by his existence. No, the people of Leskow should be allowed to have some fun -- more fun than during those boring festivities that had taken place throughout all the previous years, the years they had lived without a queen. And she had her very own ideas when it came to defining "fun". As all festivities in Leskow, this one too was to take place on the great meadow by the lake. Of course, the location had to be adequately prepared. The queen wanted the place to be more beautiful than it had been on any other occasion, she wanted this to be a festival whose memory the centuries would not delete. It was not necessary to put up tents, of course -- thanks to her locket, the queen could guarantee perfect weather for the occasion. She wanted, however, enough light in the later hours of the evening. The lamp posts her subjects put up looked beautiful. They were made of old fashioned-looking wrought iron; they had been produced in Leskow, just for the festival. At first, the queen had considered trying to stop the sun from going down, slowing down the earth's turns -- but she realized that this might be too big a task even for her. She did not want to risk the disappointment a failure might cause her, nor did she want the uproar this kind of action would inevitably cause everywhere outside of Leskow. In the end, the lamps were the more elegant solution, lending the festival grounds a timelessly festive air. * Finally the day had arrived. Laura felt giddy. She hadn't been this excited in too many years to remember. On the festival site, there were hundreds of tables, laden with all types of food she could imagine, the best Leskow had to offer. Big barrels of beer and wine were waiting to be drunk. The people of Leskow stood on the meadow in light summer clothes, expectantly looking up to the stage, waiting for their queen to welcome them. And they did not have to wait long. Dressed into a gown made of white silk and light as a summer cloud, she stepped onto the stage, towards the microphone. Thousands of upturned faces looked at her, gasped at the beauty of her appearance. The queen knew that none of those people gathered in front of her would really hear her welcome speech. It did not really matter what she would say. All she was doing here was to keep up appearances. After all, this day was supposed to be perfect. There was no reason to be nervous -- but strangely, she realized, that her hands were shaking a little bit. The queen took a deep breath, before she started speaking. "My subjects, I welcome you", her voice thundered through the small town -- she startled herself a bit with the volume of her speech. "You have come together here today to celebrate me, to celebrate yourself, to celebrate this new era for Leskow, an era that you have had the fortune of enjoying for almost a year by now." She let the people cheer for a while, taking a sip from a glass of water someone hurried to hand her in the meantime. Looking out over the applauding crowd, the queen sighed in relief. Her speech was going well; there was no reason to worry. She should do this every day. When eventually she grew bored of their "hoorays" and the applause, the queen continued her address. "Leskow is now the happiest town in this world. It has been thusly for a year now. For a year, not one of you is lonesome anymore; no one is sad, no one gets sick or hurt in any way. You all know that this is my doing; you know that you are happy because I, your queen, am taking care of you every minute of the day. And today, finally, I will give you the opportunity to show me how thankful you are." Then the queen graciously took a step towards her subjects. All faces turned up towards her expectantly, as she lifted her royal robes, revealing her naked body underneath. She vaguely remembered having read once, in her old life, of a queen or empress, who had all visitors kiss her sex as a sign of respect -- and that was exactly what she had in mind now for the good people of Leskow. At least for those she liked well enough. All inhabitants of Leskow had to stand up in a row -- everyone over eighteen had come to the meadow, only the children and teenagers remained absent from the festival, for them Laura had set up a different festival site in a park at the other end of town. They could enjoy ice cream and cotton candy to their heart's content there; ride on merry-go-rounds or roller coasters. Her festival was not meant for them, today she only wanted Leskow's grown-up population to be with her. Now, one after the other of the festival guests walked up onto the stage, to their queen: She had placed a small wooden staircase right next to it; it was just a few steps for them to reach her. Those men and women that had not found the queen's favor, because of their looks or because of the memories of old and less happy times that they evoked, were sent to the side. The others, however, all bowed before they pressed a kiss onto her sex, and then went to the side again, to make space for the next person awaiting their turn. Every now and then, someone appeared whom the queen particularly liked: Those people were allowed to linger a bit longer, their lips and tongues performing more than just a simple kiss. It was especially at those locations, that the queen's arousal rose: Each new touch of her subject's soft lips, each tongue that she allowed to flick over her little pearl of lust, let her moan and crave for yet more. However, this was an official occasion; a certain protocol had to be kept. And since most of those attentions to her royal sex only lasted a few seconds, at most a few minutes, the queen could keep her reaction to the sensations in check. She did not want to reach her climax yet. This day was going to be a long one; the festival should be thoroughly enjoyed. This day, after all, was for the people of Leskow. Leskow was not a big town. Still, there were quite a few inhabitants who met Laura's requirements; the ceremony took its time. Finally, however, every one of them had greeted their queen in the appropriate way. Now Laura allowed her subjects to enjoy a great buffet lunch. She needed this break, and a few choice pieces of meat that one of her servants brought her. The people of Leskow needed to eat as well: They would still need their strength this day, after all. For a while, nothing was heard at the festival meadow, other than the sound of chewing and a few content remarks about the quality of the food. The queen did not like mindless chatter, and thus her subjects ate mainly in silence. Once everyone had eaten and drunk to their heart's content -- or rather, the amount that the queen thought appropriate for each of them -- the people of Leskow put away their empty plates and without any hesitation started to take off the scant summer clothes they were wearing. They all commenced undressing at the same instant, following a secret command. Soon the whole town stood naked in front of their queen, their faces once more turned up to her stage in expectation. The queen smiled down at the naked townspeople. She had a special dessert in store for them. A Battle of Minds Ch. 05 The queen let her gaze sweep over the naked masses in front of her: Men and women, young and old, slender and sturdy -- well-built and less well-built bodies with tanned or pale skin, some with freckles; some entirely shaved and others hairy. A mild smile crossed the queen's face. They were all her subjects, and she loved them all, no matter what they looked like. Well, almost all of them. Still, she had to chose, and of course it would be unbefitting for a queen, if she was seen with anyone less than perfect. Thus, the queen selected the man and the woman most pleasing to her eyes. Two tall young people, with smooth, soft skin and shiny hair. The woman's breasts were perfect orbs, more than what was needed to fill one hand and yet just small enough to not look unnatural on her slender body. The man was muscular, but not exaggeratedly so, and he was -- this had been the queen's main motivation for choosing him -- very well endowed. Yes, she nodded to herself, as the two of them once more climbed the little staircase to join their queen on the stage. Yes, they are the best ones. Their first task was to take off her royal robes for her. Then Laura stood naked in front of her subjects. Her pale skin was almost gleaming in the bright sun light, her soft curves showing the improvement her life had experienced during this last year -- though she was still slender. Instantly, the people gathered in front of the stage started cheering and applauding loudly. The man and woman she had selected out of the crowd were still standing on the stage, flanking their queen each to one side. The queen now allowed them to turn towards her, look at her royal body. Then she first pulled the man closer, kissing him tenderly to the cheers of her audience. After that she turned to the woman, who she kissed more deeply. This was the command the people of Leskow had waited for: They all turned to the people standing next to them, no matter whether they were close friends or even relatives, or complete strangers, and started exchanging fervent kisses. The queen let go of the woman and went to settle down on the majestic throne that was standing on the stage. This seat had been built just for that day; it was decorated with gold and gem stones, and made more comfortable by silk cushions. The man and the woman both stood silently where the queen left them, looking down to the masses below the stage. They watched the people kissing each other, and watched how a small sign of the queen let their kisses grow wilder, hungrier. Soon each of the people started to touch anyone they could reach, stroking their skin, searching for their sex. The people moved closer together, rubbing their skin against that of their neighbor; soon their bodies were glistening with sweat. No one seemed to care whether the recipient of their affections was a man or a woman, a friend or a relative. The queen spread her legs, and the young woman on the stage turned away from the people. Instead, she knelt down in front of her queen and touched her lips to her sex. Laura could feel the warmth of her breath before the soft lips of the woman touched her and then parted. The girl's tongue found her queen's pearl of lust, circled it carefully, and then started flicking against it more resolutely. A wave of pleasure seemed to crash over Laura. Yet it was only partly caused by the girl's skillful attentions -- rather, it was the view in front of the stage that made her breath increase: Everywhere on the meadow, the inhabitants of Leskow eagerly started to copy their queen. Hundreds of men were hiding their heads between the legs of whichever woman they found nearest to them, and just as many women were willingly accepting into their mouths whichever cock they had the best access to; and in just as many cases women were eagerly licking other women, or men receiving other men into their mouths. Even though they were outdoors and a fresh breeze was blowing over the meadow, the air was heavy with the smell of sex and sweat. The heat rising up from the heaving mass of bodies was palpable, and the queen had difficulties telling where one body ended and the next one started. In fact, not even the people on the meadow themselves seemed to know or care whose body, whose arms or hands or breasts or pussies or cocks they were touching. Randomly they reached out for whatever parts of any other human they could reach, only driven by the desire to touch, to knead, to suck, to lick, to rub their own skin against human flesh. While the girl up on the stage continued kneeling in front of the queen, licking and sucking eagerly, the young man stepped closer to her. Standing behind the kneeling girl, he reached for her behind with his large hands, starting to knead the cheeks thoroughly and giving them a well measured slap every now and then. Laura could tell that his hands were strong, and she saw tremors going through the girl's body every now and then. After a while, the man's fingers began searching for the young woman's sex, and soon started pushing into the warm, moist cave. Laura watched all of this, her eyes bright with fascination. The young woman moaned against the queen's sex, but she did not allow the man to distract her from her task. She concentrated on the royal treasure, spending all her attentions to the little diamond on top, which she licked and sucked with dedication. She did not let go, even as the man's cock entered her in one heavy thrust, letting yet another tremor shake her body. The queen was sure to not only see this tremor, not only feel the girl's head vibrating against her womanhood -- but feel everything inside herself, as if the body of the girl was just an extension of her own. For a while, Laura allowed the girl to stop the busy work with her tongue. She closed her legs and leaned back, letting the girl and the man concentrate on each other. She wanted to just sit there for a while, on her throne, watching the couple in front of her and the people around her, combining them anew, choosing people to do the things she wanted to see. Here, she let a woman lick her husband's cum out of another woman's pussy; there she created a sandwich with two recent graduates of Leskow's school and one of their former teachers. For a while she just gave herself into the enjoyment of watching the heaving mass of sweaty bodies, and breathing in the heavy smell of cum and female secretions in the air. Then the queen opened her legs again and the girl, still on all fours, crawled back to her place. The man followed her, his heavy thrusts unceasing. The queen sighed in content, as once more she felt the touch of the young woman's warm and eager tongue. From her slightly elevated position on the throne, she also got a good view of the young man's cock, each time it appeared for a second, glistening with juices, just to disappear again between the girl's legs. Along with their queen's lust, the arousal of everyone in the area seemed to rise. Everyone on the meadow was busy fucking, licking, sucking; faster and faster, wilder, less controlled, driven by an urge most people of Leskow might never have given into so completely had they been conscious. Body slammed against sweaty body, groans and moans filled the air with a strange music, rising up to a scream of thousands of voices. Laura felt her whole body and mind filled to the brim with a lust that was not only her own, but that of the whole town. When she finally came, the whole town came with her. The force of thousands of simultaneous orgasms seemed to crash over her like a wave, carrying her along with a force she feared might tear her apart -- though at the same time, she did not care if it broke her. *** While Laura was still struggling to catch breath again, she felt the cool touch of a small breeze on her skin, helping her to cool down. The people of Leskow around her did not need to calm down, they had started turning towards each other again, fornicating with whoever was located most conveniently. However, the heaving mass of flesh in front of her, the groans and the sound of flesh slapping against sweaty flesh, had suddenly lost its appeal for Laura. She felt distant, like none of this concerned her anymore. The girl kept away from the queen now, knowing without words that she was not needed nor wanted anymore. The queen did not want to feel her eager tongue anymore, nor did she want any of Leskow's people touch her now. Instead, she let three more men climb up onto the stage, to take the girl at the same time, pounding relentlessly into her pussy, her ass, her mouth -- the queen knew exactly what they were doing, but she did not want to watch. Laura wasn't sure exactly why she suddenly only felt disgust, instead of arousal. Maybe her own confusion had turned her off; the fact, that she had no idea about how to continue now. The problem wasn't the orgy that was still unfolding in front of her eyes -- it was obvious how that would go on. But after that? What would happen the next morning and the mornings after that? The queen had anticipated this festival for months; she had lived for this day. It was the symbol of her work for Leskow, it was the crown jewel in all the beautiful things she had wanted to give the town. And now the big day had arrived, she had proved that she could get the town's people to really do anything she wanted. She had shown that she had ultimate power. Shown whom? The people who continued to fornicate on the festival meadow, without thought or reason? They did not care. She had shown herself, proved to herself that she could do whatever she wanted to. And for some reason the result bored her. As the queen sat on her throne, pondering those somber thoughts, dark clouds hurriedly made their way over the sky. What had been a beautiful day promised to turn into a stormy afternoon: Soon the clouds were turning the bright day intended for Leskow's festival into a gray one, hiding the blue of the sky and the warmth of the sun. Clouds? The queen looked up in surprise. Her forehead wrinkled, as she stared at the dark gray front of storm building up there in the sky. She had not called any clouds. She did not want clouds. Nor did she want this strange wind that dried up the sweat on her skin and made her shiver from the cold. The people on the meadow did not mind, of course, nor did they seem to notice the first heavy drops of rain falling down on them. They went on, as the rain increased, falling onto their naked skin, onto the meadow, and onto their queen's nose, shoulders and hair. Something was very wrong. The queen stared up at the clouds. They had to go. With all her might, she demanded them to withdraw, to let the warm sun rays through to Leskow again. The locket on her chest started pulsating, it grew warmer. She could feel the power emanating from it, and for a moment, the thick layer of clouds seemed to grow thinner. The dark gray of the sky changed into a slightly lighter shade. However, the clouds fought back, they resisted. The moment the queen relaxed the slightest bit, they returned to their place on the sky, determined to let rain fall onto the small town for as long as they wanted. No. The queen shook her head. Those clouds could not have a will. They were inanimate objects and she had learned to control them so long ago, that it had become second nature. If they suddenly refused her orders, there had to be something else behind it. Another power, just as strong as her own, and giving its own orders to the clouds. Yes, there was someone else. Someone else who was using a power like the one of the locket. The queen could feel it -- the moment she realized it, she felt a power that was present everywhere, fighting against her, fighting against the queen of Leskow. It had been there for a while, she just had not realized. And there was something else she felt, other than this ominous power. Suddenly the queen realized that all those weeks and months, since the beginning of the New Year, she was feeling a true human presence in her town: The presence of someone who had not lost his will and mind. There was someone there, who was out of her control. Now that she realized this, the queen could feel him more clearly than ever before: The stranger, fighting against her. And he was just as powerful as she, the queen, was herself. The clouds above Leskow grew thicker again, their gray turning into a dark metallic blue, and a low grumble announced the approaching thunder storm: This wasn't an ordinary storm, the queen knew. This was more than the collision of weather fronts. What was colliding there, above Leskow, was her and the power of the locket, and that other power, the stranger, the one who wanted to take everything away from her and from the town for which she had worked so hard. Little pearls of sweat formed on the queen's forehead once again, this time due to exhaustion. She still stood on the stage without moving, yet she did not notice anymore that the people of Leskow continued fucking and licking and sucking each other as if nothing was going on. Anyone looking at her might have thought she was lost in thought, staring into emptiness. In fact, at this very moment, the queen conjured more strength than she had ever in her life. Her brow furrowed, her face a masque, she tried to push the clouds away, to defeat whoever was defying her. The sudden bright light of a flash of lightning and the deafening grumble of thunder following the very next moment could not break her concentration. Yet, it was to no avail: The rain increased, and soon the festive meadow and all the naked people on it were covered in mud. And then, suddenly, he stood there, on the jetty at the nearby public bath, exactly where he had stood the first time the queen saw him. From her elevated position on the stage she could just make him out. He stood motionless, just as he had that day when the queen had discovered him from the castle's window. This time, however, he wasn't looking out over the water but was turned inland. Despite the distance, he seemed to be looking right at her and with a chill the queen realized that his eyes were set right on her. Laura's heart started beating wildly. For a moment she considered just running away or at least ordering some of her guard to come with her and protect her. However, she knew it would be of no use. If he could send this rain, rain she had not asked for nor wanted, then he would be able to use her own people against her. She had to face him alone. If she wanted to stay in power, once and for all, she would have to fight for it by herself. No one could help her with this. After a year as Leskow's queen, she had to prove herself worthy of her reign. Laura felt a strange excitement tingling through her body, an excitement that had nothing to do with the continuing orgy in front of her. The queen took one more deep breath and then quickly walked towards the shore, to the jetty. Her arms pressed to the sides of her body, her chin pushed forward defiantly, the queen went to face her enemy. The dark figure belonged to a young man. He was not much older than Laura herself. As he looked toward her, the wind pushed his black hair in and out of his face. Approaching him, the queen could make out his features more clearly. He was beautiful, more so than any of the young men and women in town, and for a second she felt a pang of regret that he was not one of those she could just call into her royal chambers at night. He was tall and lean yet muscular. His dark eyes were still half hidden under his hair, yet they seemed to sparkle. He looked tired, and angry, but there was also a strange joy in his expression as he stared at the queen, motionless. Only when Laura stood a meter from him, now as still as him and holding her breath, he opened his mouth. He spoke into the silence that was only disturbed by the distant groans of Leskow's inhabitants and the gentle splashes of waves against the jetty, his voice quiet yet clear. "Laura." He did not speak her name as a question or as a call for attention. His voice sounded gentle, like he was pronouncing a word that hadn't crossed his lips in a long time, and he was now trying it out, to see if he could still pronounce it, to hear whether its sound had changed or whether it was as comforting and familiar as it used to be. For a few long moments, Laura did not speak, waiting whether he had anything else to say, but he remained quiet. Finally, more to break the silence than to truly say anything, she did the same thing he had done. She greeted him without any niceties, just by speaking his name: "Daniel." A Battle of Minds Ch. 06 This is the sixth and final chapter of a story, which mainly took place in the "Mind Control" category. I recommend reading the other chapters -- but for those who do not want to do so, here is a short summary of what has happened so far: A strange locket has been influencing the fate of the small town of Leskow and especially of Laura, a young woman from this town, for several years now. At first, Laura was enslaved due to the influence of that locket, whose bearer can force anyone or anything to do his bidding, but eventually she managed to take possession of the locket. She crowned herself queen of Leskow and reached ever higher power, until an unexpected visitor appears in Leskow... ~~~~~ Everything is calm on the small clearing in the forest, near the shores of Lake Leskow. The town of Leskow, situated on the opposite shore of the lake, is quiet as well. The cobble stone streets empty, the windows dark. All people of Leskow have fallen asleep, most of them lying cuddled closely together on the big festival site right next to the lake. They are tired, but it is a relaxed and happy tiredness. The summer festival, organized for them by their queen, has worn them out. In their deep sleep, they do not know what is happening around them. They do not know, that this night their future will be decided. The lake, on the other hand, is unmoved, unchanged. Its waters splash against the shore in little waves, uncaring of what the future might bring. The light of the moon is reflected by the water, as it has been throughout the ages. The lake continues its quiet existence; there might be people diving into its depths or islands rising out of them, those are minor changes. The lake has been here since ancient times, before this era and the one before. Its dark waters will continue to lie next to the forest, no matter what era comes next. The going-ons of this night don't concern the forest either. It doesn't care what is happening in the human world -- even if those same humans cut down its trees, the forest remains uncaring. It does not know of future or past. The wind is rushing through the tops of the trees, rustling their leaves. The trees stand tall and unmoved, why should it be their concern that this very clearing is going to be the site of a battle? Not just any battle, but the battle of the century: A battle that is going to decide not just the future of Leskow and its people, but the fate of the whole world. No, the forest and the lake and the wind do not know of such things, nor do the people of Leskow. They are asleep on the meadow, or in their houses, if they still made it home, and do not know of this battle, though it is most of all their own fate that is going to be decided here, this very night. *** "It's nice to see you again." Daniel was smiling. „And it is good to be back. I can see that a lot of things have changed around here." Laura stared at him in disbelief. How could he talk like... like everything was normal? "Aren't you happy to see me?" he asked, apparently drawing his own conclusions about her silence. "What do you want?" Her voice sounded more nervous than she had planned, betraying the fast beat of her heart, rather than exuding the self-confidence that would befit a queen. "What kind of welcome is that? Don't I deserve a hello, at least? But good," Daniel took a deep breath. "I am here to tell you that you have spent enough time playing queen now. It's time you let the town and its people be free again. And it's time you remembered who you are, Laura." The queen felt anger rise up inside her. How dared he address her like that? Gritting her teeth, she tried to concentrate on remaining calm, on giving her face a lofty expression. Daniel's looked at her, his face open, friendly. His eyes gazed at her with the same fondness as so many years ago... How could he, after everything that had happened? For a moment, the memory of blood on the floor and a pale arm sticking out from behind a sofa flashed through Laura's mind -- and as if he could see the same picture, Daniel's expression grew darker. However, he continued looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. If she'd just ... No! She would have none of this. He had disappeared out of her life, just like that. He had been gone for all those years, leaving her to suffer alone, and now he came back to tell her what she could or could not do? Was he trying to give her orders? Her! The queen! „Laura does not exist anymore". Again, her voice did not fully obey her; it echoed shrilly through the forest. "Laura was weak, and stupid. They did whatever they wanted with Laura." She almost spit out her own name, and only now realized how much she hated it. This name, this word, did not seem to have any connection to her anymore. It did not belong to her, it wasn't her. "Laura is gone, she won't return, and you of all people can definitely not bring her back." Daniel's eyes grew sad, though other than that, his face remained unmoved. "Well," he said after a long pause. "If that's the way you want it... I wish you would find reason. I really wish we could do this in a sensible way. But if that's the way you want it..." Without another word and without giving the queen a chance to ask what he wanted to say, Daniel turned around and left. For a brief moment, the queen considered sending some of her guards after him. Then she wondered if that would be of any use at all, or if it would just give him a chance to prove his own powers. She was almost sure that this was not the way to defeat him. No, before she decided on anything, she would have to think. *** Leskow had changed. All the cheerfulness had been drawn from the little town. The sky was dark and cloudy; in the mornings, mist lay over the lake, the forest and the surrounding meadows. There was a tension in the air, no matter where you went, you could feel that something was about to happen. Nothing was as it used to be. Of course, the people of Leskow went on about their daily business as always. They did it without a smile, however. Without as much as a word to each other, they did their work simply because they had to. The area around the festival site had been cleaned up within a few hours. The meadow itself, however, had been turned into a field of mud by the heavy rain: And it stayed so for several days, as a reminder of the great celebration. Other than that, no mud or dirt was seen on the streets, despite the constant drizzle of rain. Leskow continued being the pretty town it had become since the coronation of its queen -- and yet, everything was different now. A few more times, the queen tried to push the heavy clouds away from the sky. She intended to let the sun shine through again, onto Leskow, and onto her island, hoping the bright warmth might give her the courage and happiness she was longing for -- but to no avail. She wasn't sure if Daniel's resistance was to be blamed -- after all she did not even know what kind of power he had -- or whether it was her own gloomy mood that was reflected in the weather. The queen spent hours of each day, standing at the window in her room on top of one of the castle's towers, staring out into the rain. Under the heavy clouds, the forest seemed as dark as her thoughts. The queen thought about the future, she tried to think of strategies, of her own strengths and powers. Most of all, however, she thought of her opponent. Daniel. Before seeing him by the lake, she hadn't thought of him in so long that she almost forgot he ever existed. And still, somehow, he had always been on her mind. Like a hidden thought, buried deep in her subconscious. A vague memory of times, when she was nothing but plain old Laura from twelfth grade, a nice girl, but quiet and not particularly noticeable -- and yet, somehow, she had been happier. Happier? No, how could she have ever been happier than now, that she had brought a golden age to Leskow? It was only his presence that upset her, that made her have these strange thoughts. Daniel was a danger. He had to be stopped, if need be, he had to be destroyed -- with every minute she thought about him, the queen grew surer of that. However, this was not as easy as it sounded. Her power seemed not big enough to confront him. She had to grow stronger, had to learn to use the power of the locket even more precisely, so he would not be able to resist her. Somewhere, deep inside the queen's mind, a small voice protested. The voice of a girl -- of the girl she had once been. This voice told her that she still missed Daniel. The voice of the girl wondered if Daniel might not be right in what he said. The queen, however, pushed those thoughts deeper into her subconscious. She was not that girl anymore; she would not listen to her voice. Maybe Daniel's sudden appearance even had its advantages, she pondered. Once she defeated him, she might be free from all that remained of Laura inside her. Maybe she could vanquish the last bit of weakness inside her mind. When she won the fight against him, she could finally be only the queen of Leskow, nothing else. She could make her old self disappear forever. *** "Your majesty, one of your subjects has come to speak to you." The queen turned around, surprise on her face. Once again she was standing by the window, staring out towards the dark sky and the churning waters of Lake Leskow, trying to ban all the unpleasant thoughts of the last days from her mind. A few ducks had appeared. Ignoring the horrible weather, they swam their rounds on the lake, and the queen had been watching them from her tower. The interruption, the voice of the servant tearing her from her observations, angered her -- and it took her a moment to fully comprehend the strangeness of this request. Someone wanted to speak to her? One of her subjects? Her subjects were not able to want anything. They could not even think by themselves, unless she ordered them to want or think something. So why would any of them want to talk to her, when she, their queen, had no such plans for any of them? With a mixture of rage and curiosity, she nodded towards the servant girl, who stood in the door frame motionlessly, waiting for her queen's orders. The girl in question had been her favorite servant for more than a few weeks by now, during daytime as well as at night. She was half a head taller than the queen, with long blonde hair she always wore down, on the queen's orders, and eyes, that most likely once sparkled each time the girl smiled. These days, of course, no one's smile reached their eyes anymore -- still, this young woman was surprisingly beautiful. When the queen found her, on the main street of Leskow, where she worked in a little shop, she had been surprised to not have noticed this girl before. Now, however, as the weeks with this girl serving her were turning into months, she realized she was starting to grow bored with her. Well, replacing her servant was no big issue; she could attend to that later; first she had to see what it was about the person who apparently wanted to speak to her. "Tell him to come in", she ordered. Shortly after, the girl led a young man through the door into the small tower room. The queen, still standing at the window, once again turned around to look at her visitor. To her surprise, he looked vaguely familiar. Hadn't there been one night, many months ago, a particularly satisfying night...? However, there had been many nights and many men, so the queen could not be sure. She rarely bothered to remember the faces of the men and women she shared her royal bed with. For a moment, the man just stood in front of the queen, silent, looking at her with what Laura believed to be scrutinizing eyes. Indeed, his whole expression was changed; he did not look as impassive as all the other people in Leskow did -- though the queen could still tell that he was not fully awake: He did not seem to find his surroundings strange, and he did not look scared. He just looked like he was being controlled by a different, somewhat more lenient power. „What do you want?" the queen asked harshly. "My master has sent me..." "Your master?" Laura interrupted him -- though she already knew, who the man was referring to. "My master has sent me", the man repeated, his voice steady, "to tell your majesty that she is requested today at midnight on the clearing in front of the hut. My master wants to speak to you. Alone." After uttering these words, the man turned around, and before the queen could hold him back, he had left the castle, walking swiftly and full of confidence, his head raised high. The queen tried to search for his mind, make contact with him and get him under her own control, so she could force him to return. It seemed, however, that he was not part of her world anymore. She had not the slightest influence on this man. *** Nervously, Laura glanced around. The trees stood motionless, the clearing was empty, and the little house at its edge looked dark and abandoned. It appeared that no human being, other than herself, had entered the forest of Leskow this night. A sigh of relief escaped the queen. Her subjects had hidden well, the police men as well as her personal guards. Daniel would not be able to see them until it was too late. Still, even knowing that they were there, invisible in their hiding places, the nightly forest was somewhat creepy. It was quieter than it had ever been, reminiscent of an ancient time before the arrival of humans in this area. No, it was quieter than that: Even the animals seemed to have hidden away; no stir betrayed the presence of anything alive. It occurred to the queen that even the wind had calmed down. As if the whole world was holding its breath. As the queen was standing on the clearing, waiting, a small cloud wandered slowly in front of the moon, and the night grew yet darker. Forest and clearing were barely visible anymore. Only when the cloud had moved on, and silvery light was reaching down towards her again, Laura could see him: Daniel was standing next to a tree, at the far end of the clearing. He seemed to be one with the darkness behind him. The queen could not remember any sound that might have hinted at his approach. "You are here." His voice was quiet, and yet it carried clearly across the clearing, reaching the queen like a whisper that was uttered directly into her ear. She shook her head slightly, to rid herself of the strange emotions this nightly encounter awoke in her. Before speaking, she had to clear her throat. When she addressed her enemy, she managed to do so in the imperious tone she intended. "What is that important that I have to come to the forest in the middle of the night -- for you?" "The past", Daniel replied calmly. "Your past, Laura. Try to remember who you were. Who you are. Try and be yourself again." Again the queen felt rage rise up inside her, but the rage was mingled with a vague fear. She had to swallow hard a few times to push those feelings back down. Then she lifted up her chin defiantly and looked Daniel up and down. He was wearing old jeans and a torn shirt. As dark as it was, she could tell that his clothes were dirty and his hair unwashed. How could someone like him, scruffy and of no importance whatsoever -- how could he dare to give orders to the queen? "I am myself", she answered in a cold voice. "I am the person I have always wanted to be. I don't know what past you are speaking about. I have no past that would be worthwhile remembering." Daniel took another step towards her. The moon was still shining bright, no new cloud had come to cover it up again, and thus his face was now, that he left the shadows of the trees, bathed in its pale light. He had grown older, the queen realized, more mature, more serious. There was a deep sadness in his eyes that caused an unexpected sting in Laura's chest. She clenched the muscles in her chin, to shake off the sensation. "Laura", his voice was pleading. "Don't you remember me at all anymore? Don't you remember us?" The queen could no longer suppress her rage. She was shaking, as she turned around, facing the forest behind her and addressed her guard, whom she knew well hidden between the shrubs and bushes. "Arrest him!" She had meant to shout, but her voice came out strangely hoarse. It didn't matter, however. The moment she uttered the words, guards and policemen sprinted over the clearing, past their queen, towards Daniel. The silence of the nightly forest was torn by the sounds of their heavy boots, and a devilish smile crossed the queen's face. This was more like it. Then, unexpectedly, it was silent again. Her men had reached a spot on the clearing that lay just in the middle between her and her adversary -- and there, they stopped dead in their tracks, apparently unable to move one step further towards him. Like bizarre sculptures, they had frozen in whatever position their bodies had been in, when they reached that spot. More than one stood in a somewhat precarious position, as if they were about to fall over, but so far, they were not even swaying. "What's going on? Didn't you hear me? Arrest him!" The queen's voice was louder now, not hoarse anymore, but shrill. She shouted at her guards -- though she knew that it wasn't her voice they obeyed. At first, the men did not move at all. They remained frozen in place, many of them with just one leg on the ground, as if they had turned into stone in the middle of running. Then, however, very slowly, one took a step backwards, another followed, until all of them walked backwards, their motion growing fast. They were walking away from Daniel, back towards Laura, though they hadn't turned around as yet. The queen believed to feel her heart do a little jump of fear. What was happening? How could they manage to do something directly contrary to her orders? Looking over the meadow, she could see concentration painted onto her enemy's face. A very familiar expression of focus. He was controlling them! He was taking them away from her, robbing their minds from her circle of influence! It looked like he was planning to send her own subjects after her, their queen! The queen took another deep breath, controlling her anger and her fear. She had to concentrate as well -- if she wanted to stand a chance, she had stay focused on the issue at hand. And for the first time in months, she was fully conscious of her power, using it willingly to bring across her orders, rather than just relying on the fact that using the pendant had become second nature to her. Sure, every now and then there had been occasions during which she was more aware of the pendant's power, for example when she was searching for someone's mind. Establishing a mental connection to people she had already found, however, urging them to do her bidding at every moment, had become natural. She didn't have to think anymore to do this. As her power had grown, this process had moved more and more into the background. People usually followed her orders without her even realizing she had given them. To the queen, controlling every inhabitant of Leskow was not any more complicated than breathing or seeing. Now, however, she had to use all her inner strength to push against whatever made those men move back toward her. Little pearls of sweat appeared on her brow and she was shaking slightly, when finally they stopped walking backwards, and then, slowly, one by one, took a few steps forward again, toward Daniel. His expression grew darker. His brow furrowed in concentration. Apparently he, too, had to use more of his strength now. He had to concentrate. The men stopped again, some of them took a few tentative steps backwards. Most of them, however, stood motionless on their spot, right in the middle between Daniel and the queen. Only the slightest trembling of their arms and legs indicated that they were still flesh and blood, rather than stone, and that they were exposed to an unyielding power. The queen wondered if the men might not get crushed by the onslaught on their minds, by the strength exuding from both her and Daniel. How much of this could a human brain take, without suffering some kind of damage? A Battle of Minds Ch. 06 Daniel seemed to wonder about the same thing. The queen and her enemy looked at each other, and then, at the very same moment, they stopped sending the group of men against each other. For a short moment, the guards remained on their spots, as if hesitating, unsure what to do at the sudden loss of orders to follow. Then they started swaying until they sank to the ground, unconscious. In the meantime, the queen and Daniel turned around on their heels at the same time, and each left the clearing into a different direction. *** The streets of Leskow were empty, the town seemed abandoned. The queen was not quite sure how such a thing could be happening, but her subjects were disappearing one by one. Some remained, of course. Especially those men and women who were closest to the queen, her most trusted servants, did not attempt to abandon their hometown. Even they, however, sometimes stood near the shore of the lake, remaining motionless while looking out over the water towards the forest, as if they were listening to a voice calling them to the other side. As soon as their queen passed them, they trembled for a moment and then went on with their daily business, ignoring whatever was trying to draw them away from their hometown. Too many others, however, had followed the call. Standing at the window in her room in the highest tower of the castle, the queen could sometimes see them. She watched them bathing in the lake, or walking along the shore under the trees, or wasting their time with other endeavors whose sense she did not understand. A few times the queen tried to call out to them -- with her voice and with her mind -- but to no avail. Things couldn't go on like this. She could not allow her enemy to destroy everything she had built. She had to do something. Yet, the queen waited, she could not make up her mind. The truth was that she was afraid, though she kept telling herself that she, as queen, had no reason for fear. As she watched the number of people on her side dwindle, however, Laura finally took up all her courage and went to face her enemy. She left her castle one evening, alone, without her guard. Somehow, it felt appropriate to be leaving the town at this late hour, alone, without anyone taking notice. She was the queen. She would solve this problem without their help: When the people of Leskow woke up the next morning, everything would be back to normal, as if he had never been there. She didn't really know where to look for him, yet she was sure she would find him. Considering the large number of her subjects that had deserted their queen in his favor, she was sure her enemy would not even be hard to find him. He had to be hiding somewhere, after all, and the people he had called away from Leskow all were in the forest now, so the queen turned her steps there. He would not be far from those other people, she suspected. The queen's heartbeat increased, as she entered the forest. It felt different there; something had changed since her last visit. The trees towered tall above her, swaying in a wind she had not sent over the area. Their branches and leafs blocked out what little evening light there was, and a cold breeze let her shiver in her silken dress. The forest seemed hostile, and the queen realized it didn't want her to be inside it. Laura felt lost; in fact, she did not feel like a queen here. She was a stranger, was entering someone else's areal without permission. Silent and ancient as it was, the queen felt like the forest defied her with every bit of its being. Behind each bush she suspected eyes that were watching her. The smallest sound made her jump. Still, she was alone. Neither human being, nor even an animal crossed her path, as she made her way through the forest. Yet, the forest was not completely abandoned: Daniel was expecting her. The queen did not see him until she stood almost in front of him. Maybe it was the darkness, but the queen was sure she had not seen him even a moment before. As if he appeared suddenly, just in front of her eyes. He was sitting on a tree trunk next to the path she was walking on, smiling at her. His smile made anger rise up inside the queen again -- he dared to smile like that, as if they were friends, as if there was something between them and he was glad to finally see her again? He should bow to her, trembling in fear! "There you are, finally", he said. It sounded like her visit was an event they had been planning for a long time, not a sudden decision of her own. Like he was expecting her just there and then, and had been waiting for a little while, because she was a bit late. He looked at her and kept smiling. "I am here to suggest something to you. A treaty of sorts", the queen said. Her voice sounded steady and resolute, for once it did not betray the strange knots forming in her stomach, or the fact that her knees were suddenly trembling without obvious reason. Again, she pushed out her chin, to show her resolve even more clearly. Daniel's expression grew weary, and he looked disappointed, somehow. "What kind of treaty?" "Well", the queen started slowly. She regained control over her shaking knees and thus managed to take a few more steps towards him, until she towered high over him, looking down on Daniel and the low tree trunk he was sitting on. Daniel did not flinch or stand up to show his true height, nor did he even look up at the queen. "I think we should work together", she continued, as he was still staring down the forest path, in the direction she had come from. "Together we could soon be ruling the whole world. It seems your power is quite similar to my own." Daniel sighed. "You don't get it, do you?" he asked her sadly. "What am I supposed to get?" Despite herself, Laura was curious now. What was it that he wanted? She had wondered about this before -- with powers like his and her own, what was there to want? He could get anything, if he just used them right. Yet, he did not seem content with that idea. "You have to get rid of the locket", Daniel's voice had grown beseeching. "You have to remember who you really are. It might help to remember me, remember us. Or, if that's not what you want, remember your parents, your friends. Just remember." For a few short moments pictures flashed in front of the queen's inner eye, memories, and longing. Faces that were strangely familiar, smiling at her. Her parents. A childhood friend. Her and Daniel, together, walking through the forest hand in hand. Her eighteenth birthday. Then the familiar rage returned. The queen felt her face grow red. Her fists clenched, her teeth gritted, she fought to gain control over herself. When she finally answered, her voice ran shrill through the forest. "Remember me? Remember the Nobody -- the Nothing -- that I used to be? Why would I want to go back to being someone everyone can take advantage of, someone who just does whatever she is told? I was born to be queen. I was born to change this town, once and for all. Why would I want to go back to being just plain old Laura?" "Because that Laura is the person I love more than I could love anyone else", Daniel said quietly. "More than I could love even the most powerful queen in the world." Laura felt a strange sting in her heart. For a moment, she was overwhelmed by the desire to sit down next to him, have him take her into his arms, hold her. But no! She was stronger than those desires. Those feelings were not worthy of a queen. She did not need someone else's arms; she did not need to be comforted. And what was supposed to be so special about this man? Why should she feel any preference for someone who did not want to serve the queen as he ought to, when she had so many loyal servants? The queen stood unmoved, her arms crossed, her chin tense, her whole posture defiant. When she spoke, only a slight tremble of her voice betrayed the struggle that was raging inside her. "If you really had loved me when I was still Laura, then you should be feeling the same for me now. You would have to love me as my people do, and you would not want to take away my locket. You would be happy for me, proud of me." „I do still love you, Laura, even as you are now. And that is exactly why I have to destroy that horrible locket: Because I love you. If the thing is not destroyed soon, it will end up destroying you." This time it was rage -- a much more familiar and comfortable feeling -- that made the queen's voice tremble. She stood as straight and tall as she could. "You dare to ... You ... You will never get the locket. Only over my dead body. I will fight for it." With another sigh, Daniel stood up. Unwillingly, Laura took a step back. He was about a head taller than her, and there was an unnerving confidence about the way he stood there, towering over her. Not defiant and angry, as she was. He was just... there. His voice, however, sounded even sadder than before. „I had really hoped it wouldn't have to come this far, Laura", he said. Then he lifted his right hand. The queen's eyes followed this movement, and she discovered a bracelet, sparkling on his wrist. With a start, she recognized the piece of jewelry: It was the same bracelet he had wanted to give to her -- no, to Laura, she corrected -- as a present. The bracelet he had offered her on her 18th birthday, on that fateful day so many years ago, in a different life. The bracelet that had caused their fight and subsequent break-up. She had seen it again on his wrist after that, during the diving contest Martin had won -- but she had never gotten a clear look at the thing. It was simple -- narrow and not adorned with any gemstones, just a plain bracelet, but giving a soft silver glow that drew the eye. And -- the queen could feel it clearly now -- a strange power emanated from the thing. Not a soothing and warm force like the one her locket gave forth. No, this power was cold. Not overwhelming and ensnaring, there was something rational to it -- it seemed calculating and even brutal to the queen. The proximity of this power caused her to shiver, to tremble in fear. Despite its simplicity, there was something breathtakingly beautiful about the bracelet; that much was true. Something, however, told the queen that this bracelet was the enemy of her locket, just as the man wearing it, Daniel, was her own enemy. She turned her gaze from the thing and looked up, right into her enemy's eyes. Daniel's face had now become dark and hard. "Give me the locket", he demanded. His voice rang clearly through the forest; he spoke slowly, like a father addressing a disobedient child. For a moment, the queen stared at him, her mouth open. Then she shook her head, pulled herself back to reality -- and realized that her hand had grasped for the chain on its own accord. For the chain that was hanging around her neck, the chain that carried the locket. She had already started to pull it over her head. The queen froze, stopped the motion, struggling to regain control over her own limbs. What was she doing? What kind of trickery was he using against her? "Never!" Before she could stop herself, the queen stomped her foot onto the ground like an angry five year old. "Give me your bracelet, rather", she added in a demanding tone, letting all the power she could find in her mind flow through the locket, towards him, willing him to obey her order. And to her surprise, she reached him: Daniel's hand trembled, and for the shortest fraction of a second, his expression mellowed. But apparently he had expected her attack. Within seconds, he managed to defy the queen's order and resist the power she was sending against him. What was more: He returned the attack, sending an amount of mental force through his bracelet that almost knocked the queen off her feet, and took her breath away. She, too, however, was better prepared this time. Had she not been, she would be in his hands now. The thought sent a strange shiver down her spine -- quite different to the ones, the same thought would have caused her with anyone else, Martin or Mr. Seger. She shook off the sensation. She had to be on her feet, brace herself: Else his next attempt to gain control over her would be too strong to resist. She managed to reflect his power, throw it back towards him. In her mind, the queen pictured him bowing in front of her, recognizing her superiority, and she put all her strength into making him do just that. Daniel did not comply. He sent his own orders towards her. For what seemed like an eternity, the two struggled soundlessly, without moving an inch, without that either was stronger than the other. Had someone seen them from afar, he would not have noticed anything other than two silent people, glaring at each other full of anger, but unwilling to attack. The effort, each of them was putting forth, was betrayed only by the pearls of sweat on their brow, only their wrinkled foreheads and thin-lipped mouths showed their deep concentration. Suddenly, the queen's eyes widened, and a second later she jumped backwards. She managed to escape at the last moment: Without warning, a wide gash opened in the earth just at the spot where she had been standing, threatening to swallow her into its depth. In a mixture of shock and accusation she looked back up at Daniel. His face was blank, hard, without even the trace of an apology. So he wanted to fight dirty. She could do that. The queen felt the all familiar rage well up inside her, and this time it was welcome -- it gave her the strength she needed. Her fury let heavy clouds gather on the night sky, obscuring the last bit of light that had reached the forest. Daniel was now nothing more than an outline in front of her. Not so much a person as a shadow, a vague and dark threat. And still he stood there motionless. A low grumble announced the approaching thunder storm, heavy wind made the tree tops bow down. As the first bolt of lightning flashed down from the clouds, followed by deafening thunder, the queen could see her enemy's face clearly once more. It was pale, and no trace of his smile was left on it, only determination. Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and another. Yet, as much as the queen willed them to race down from the dark clouds, towards her enemy, none of them got anywhere close to him. Somehow, Daniel managed to stop them all, divert them or change them into nothing but a flash of light. They just lit up the forest and with it his face, so that for the fraction of a second Laura could see him staring back at her, again and again. His face looked strange, and yet familiar in an unsettling way. Some of the lightning struck trees at the edges of the clearing, causing them to burst up in flames, or to be split in two, with each half falling noisily to the ground in a different direction. The wind picked up, turning into a storm. It blew up dirt and leafs, letting them tumble through the air. As it increased in strength, it pulled out grass and smaller bushes. Finally, a wall of dust and leafs and destroyed tree branches obscured the queen's view of her enemy. Yet she knew he struggled to remain on his feet just as much as she did. The wind also carried the flames and smoke of the burning trees towards them. It made Laura cough and let her eyes sting. Blinking through the tears, the queen looked around. Only a few trees remained near her. She could barely recognize the forest anymore, and she only remained on her feet with the greatest effort. The wind was pushing against her, trying to make her fall. The queen gritted her teeth, searching for yet another reserve of strength inside her. Her hair flew wildly in the wind, the golden clasps she had been wearing were long ripped out of it. Even her dress, her pale blue silken dress, began showing small tears as the wind relentlessly tried to rip it off her body. Clenching her fists, the queen fought back. Struggling, yet without moving an inch from her place. This was her kingdom, this was her specialty -- she would not let her enemy defeat her with her own weapons. Yet she had to draw forth every bit of concentration she could find in her mind, before she finally managed to calm down the wind. Finally, it turned into a softer breeze, and finally disappeared. With it, the fires died down. The forest was silent now, that the roaring of wind and fire had gone. As the smoke dissipated, the queen could see more clearly again. The night had passed, the first rays of the morning sun appeared at the horizon, shedding their red light on the image of destruction that surrounded the two enemies. The sun's color reminisced of coals glowing on the ground, the sole remains of what once had been proud tall trees surrounding the clearing. The fight had lasted many hours. The queen, however, felt as exhausted as if she had been fighting for centuries. She could barely remember the details of the battle, and she had trouble staying on her feet. Her head hurt, and in this short moment of rest, she felt thirst burn in her throat. She could not go on much longer, it was too much. Yet, giving up, giving in to her enemy was out of the question. He wanted to destroy her, destroy everything she stood for, and take from her the very essence of her power. No, the queen thought. She had to find a way to end all this on her terms. She knew she could not get Daniel under her control. Each time she wanted to get him under the locket's influence he just seemed to be getting stronger. There had to be a different way. The queen looked around at the remains of the forest. Some of the strongest trees of the area were still standing; they had resisted the onslaught of their battle. And a few of them towered right behind her enemy. Neither the storm nor the relentless flames had managed to harm those trees -- even though the flying ashes blackened their few remaining leafs. Their roots, however, held on to the ground, digging deep enough into the earth to resist the strongest wind. And their branches and twigs remained unbroken. This could work... Daniel stood a bit far from those trees, unfortunately, but if she could manage to distract him somehow... "And why in the world, do you think, should I give you my locket -- to you of all people? Do you even realize how much you hurt me back when you just dumped me? On my birthday no less?" The queen's voice rang through the silent forest. When Daniel heard her speak, his expression changed. He looked almost glad. Apparently this was a topic he wanted to discuss -- or maybe he was just as tired of fighting as she, the queen, was. He answered eagerly, and while he spoke, the queen took great care to keep her eyes locked with his, to make him think she was fully immersed in their conversation. Only her mind, unnoticeable for any outside observer, was concentrated on something else. She focused it on the trees at the far end of the clearing. Despite the queen's interested expression, Daniel's words barely registered in her brain. Only after several moments had passed did she understand what he said -- and then, it was already too late. "You are the one who broke up with me, don't you remember?" he asked her. "You were mad at me for no reason. But it wasn't really you, you weren't being yourself. Remember when I found the bracelet? And I wanted to give it to you? You didn't want it; you wanted me to throw it away, to destroy it. I think the locket made you do that. It was already here then, hidden somewhere. I believe it was because..." Bang! The sound of the large tree's branch colliding with the back of Daniel's head echoed through the forest. On the orders of the queen, the tree had bowed over the clearing and knocked the young man over with a sudden strong blow. For a short moment, Daniel's eyes met hers. They were wide open, surprised -- and hurt, not only by physical pain. Then he sank to the ground slowly and remained there motionless. A Battle of Minds Ch. 06 Silence returned to the forest. The battle was over. The animals that had fled the fire, however, did not return. Even the wind had calmed down completely. If there had been a breeze, however, most trees did not carry leafs it could have rustled. The highway, whose distant roar could usually be heard on quiet days, seemed devoid of cars. The queen stood quietly at her place, looking down on her enemy's body. There was no reason for her to speak, there was no reason for any sound to be heard, there was no one there, other than her and her enemy's lifeless body -- yet in the silence, it seemed, there was a lingering memory of Daniel's voice. The queen believed to still hear his words echoing between the fallen trees and the shredded grass and bushes. And this echo just made the silence stronger, more acute. The queen stepped closer to her enemy. Still, he did not move, did not react to her proximity. The position in which he lay on the ground seemed strangely twisted and uncomfortable. As she looked down onto his motionless body, a satisfied smile curled her royal lips. The sweet taste of victory let her momentarily forget the destruction around her, her own exhaustion, the violence of the battle. As the seconds turned into minutes, however, and the silence in the forest and Daniel's immobility prevailed, the smile froze on her face. The longer she stood there, the less Laura felt like the victor. Her heart started beating faster, as she took in the scene with different eyes: Like awakening from a bad dream, just to realize that the dream had become reality. As much as she stared down at Daniel, there was not the tiniest twitch of any of his muscles, or even a sign of a shallow breath. Did that mean he was ...? That was not what she had wanted! Laura fell down to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks -- the moisture felt strange in her face, the sting unfamiliar in her eyes. She could not remember when she had last cried. Still, the pain was familiar. It wasn't the pain a queen would feel, but the pain of 18 year old Laura. The pain of a young girl who, an eternity ago, was sitting on her usual chair at school at that first day of the school year, trying to come to terms with having lost the person who mattered most in her world... No -- this was not like that horrible day so many years ago, after she had broken up with Daniel. This was a thousand times worse. Back then, at least, he had continued existing. Back then, not all was yet lost. A loud wailing sound broke through Laura's lips, sharing her pain with anyone who might be near enough to hear. She knew, however, that there was no one there to hear. She was alone. Suddenly, without knowing why, Laura thought of her mother. Thought of her worried face when her own behavior started changing. Thought of waking up in the hospital and learning that ... This new pain let yet more tears stream down her face. Tears she had held back for too long. Soon, she was not sure anymore what exactly she was crying for -- too many memories, and all of them painful, flooded her mind. Shaking, and unable to hold herself upright any longer, Laura fell forward, covering Daniel's lifeless body. His face was only a blur to her eyes, as tears obscured her view. Still, she believed to make out that his lips looked as warm and inviting as they had looked so many years ago. Or was it just the memory of his kisses that made her see them so clearly? Her heart was gripped by a longing that seemed to tear her apart. There was only one hope at a remedy: Slowly, carefully, yet unable to resist the temptation, she approached her face to his, covering his mouth with her own. Then, however, a golden glow distracted her: The locket, hanging down from the chain around her neck, swung back and forth right above Daniel's face. For a few moments, Laura stared at it. Reflecting the light of the rising sun, the little piece of jewelry emitted a mesmerizing sparkle. It seemed to call out to her, taunting her, tempting her. This stupid thing was at fault for all her misery! It had destroyed her life! With one firm movement Laura grabbed the necklace and pulled it over her head. Then she hesitated. What to do with it? On Daniel's wrist, the shining bracelet seemed to reflect the locket's glow. That bracelet was part of it too, she realized. And again, just as on her 18th birthday, so many years ago, Laura felt rage at the sight of the thing. A different rage, however -- a rage against herself and against the locket as much as against the bracelet. Rage against the magic that had intruded into the completely ordinary life of her hometown. Evil magic that had destroyed her life and taken the people she loved most from her. There was only one option, only one path she could take now. Her hand shaking, Laura took the bracelet from Daniel's limp arm. For a moment she looked down at the two shining objects inside her hand -- one pulsating hot, the other very cold -- then she closed her fist around them and stood up. Standing next to Daniel's lifeless body, Laura looked around in surprise: Only now she discovered that she was standing quite close to the shore of Lake Leskow. She did not remember them moving during their fight, leaving the narrow forest trail they had met on. But then -- who could know with a battle as violent as theirs, with a storm as strong as the one surrounding them? And now that she thought about it, they had been at the forest clearing at some point too. There were so many parts of the past night that Laura barely remembered; that were nothing more than a blur of wind and blazing fire and blinding fury. The bracelet and the locket still clutched tightly in her hand, which was tingling slightly from the contrasting sensation of heat and cold, she walked slowly but unhesitatingly towards the water. Once she reached the shore, Laura pulled back her arm to gain leverage and throw the two wretched things as far into the lake as she could... With a quiet "plop", both pieces of jewelry submerged into the water at quite a distance from Laura and quickly sank down into the dark depths of Lake Leskow. Laura stared at the wide circles the lake formed at the place where they had hit the water. She never wanted to see either of those two things again. For a few moments, she stood still at the edge of the lake, looking out over the water that was sparkling in the light of the early morning. Then she turned around and went back to Daniel. She lay down on the forest floor, barely registering that the grass was moist from the morning dew, she cuddled closer to his lifeless body and closed her eyes. He was still warm; it was easy to imagine he was still alive. Laura almost believed to feel him breathe, to hear the slow beating of his heart. And then, causing her own heartbeat to increase, his leg twitched. And then his fingers, his arm. This was real! He was moving, stirring. Laura did not dare to open her eyes to look at him, as his arm slowly lifted and placed itself around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his chest. If this was just a dream after all, she did not want to risk waking up. His other arm moved now too: As he held her close, his hand stroked up her back tenderly, until it reached her head. There, he took a strand of her hair and twirled it around his finger. He started caressing her head gently, while she remained still, her head resting on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart. They remained lying on the forest floor for a long time; for hours, it seemed to Laura. But time was of no importance. Nothing mattered, as long as she was lying here, in Daniel's arms. She kept her eyes closed, concentrating on the rise and fall of his chest in the slow rhythm of his breath, and on his fingers playing with strands of her hair. Steadily, the sun rose higher into the sky, warming the little clearing in the forest. Small waves splashed against the lake's shore, their sounds forming a peaceful song together with the slight breeze stirring the tree tops. Life had returned to the forest, now that the battle was over and forgotten. Laura could hear birds singing nearby -- and suddenly she wondered whether she had heard their song at all during the last months. She could not remember, but she was almost sure that they had been silent for a long time. Daniel uttered a little sigh -- not a sigh of sadness or worry, but the kind of sigh a person might make when they are completely happy and do not want the moment to pass. His voice sounded as warm as the sunshine, as soft as the grass they were lying on. Then, finally, before she could stop herself, Laura opened her eyes and lifted her head, so she could look at Daniel. Holding her breath, half expecting to find herself awoken from a wonderful dream and back to the cruel reality of a half-destroyed forest and a motionless corpse. But there he was, his eyes open and meeting hers. His hand had followed her movement; his fingers were still stroking her hair. Slowly, his lips formed a smile. He looked younger, less tired and less weary. All the sadness had gone from his eyes. "Laura", he said. Just her name, nothing else. The sound of her name reminded Laura of something, of a different day, when he said her name in the same tone -- but her brain refused to draw the connection. His voice was slightly hoarse, probably from lying there silently for such a long time. He lifted his head too, and suddenly his face was right in front of hers. Laura felt his breath, his warmth, felt her own heartbeat increase. A thousand questions formed in her mind, but the touch of his soft lips on hers made her forget them all. She only wanted to be with him now, here, in this moment. She just wanted to be happy he was here with her, without questioning it. If this really was nothing more than a dream, she never wanted to wake up again. Their kiss grew more hungry, their tongues searching for each other, at first playing with each other teasingly, then more fervently, trying to hold on to each other. Laura could taste him, smell him, she felt his teeth occasionally scraping her lips as passion overtook him, she heard another one of his sighs -- and this time it was one of pleasure. At the same time, Daniel's hands started exploring the curves of Laura's body. His touch was tender, almost careful at first, but like his kiss it grew more and more demanding. Despite this, however, his hands remained above her clothes; his fingers did not touch her skin directly, though Laura could feel the hunger with which he pulled her body against his own. It was her then, who first dared to grab a little corner of his shirt and pull it out of where it was tucked into his jeans. Carefully, almost shyly, she then explored his soft skin with her fingertips. This innocent touch seemed enough to make Daniel's breath go faster. His own fingers now also searched entry under Laura's shirt, though he only dared to stroke softly up and down her back -- Laura had the impression that he did not want to overwhelm her; that he wanted to give her the time to progress as slowly as she wanted. After a little while, however, Daniel broke their kiss, so he could sit up and take off his shirt completely. She marveled at the sight of his strangely youthful body and his smooth, healthy skin -- he did not look like someone who had spent months hiding out in the forest. And he looked more like the 19 year old boy he had once been than like the man the past years had made of him. Daniel smiled at her expression of amazement, and she returned the smile. When Daniel gave Laura a questioning look, she understood and nodded: She would let him help her out of her T-shirt as well -- for a moment it occurred to Laura that at sunrise she had still been wearing the expensive garment of a queen; that, indeed, she had not dressed with jeans and a T-shirt in years -- but this was just a fleeting thought. This was not the time and place to wonder about such details. Instead, the girl turned to the side, to give him better access to the clasp of her bra. As the small piece of fabric fell to the ground, Laura turned back to him. He contemplated her bare upper body, an expression of rapt amazement on his face. To her surprise, Laura felt that this made her blush, and at the same time she enjoyed feeling his eyes on her and the marvel with which he contemplated her more than all admiration the queen's subjects had ever expressed. No one had ever looked at her quite like that. Like he could barely believe she was really there. Slowly, almost hesitatingly and yet unable to stop himself, Daniel raised his hand to run his fingertips over her tender flesh. Laura put her arms around his neck, pulled him closer, back into a tight embrace. As they started kissing again, they sank back down to the ground, Daniel on top of Laura. She felt the touch of his skin against her own. She wanted to be as close to him as she could, feel his warmth as best she could, the reassuring beat of his heart, the weight of his body. Her hands moved up and down his back; hugging him and pulling him against her. Automatically, her legs opened, inviting him to lie between them. Through the fabric of their jeans, she could feel his manhood against her sex. A strange feeling swept through her body: Joy, excitement, and also fear -- she was as anxious as eighteen year old Laura had once been, so many years ago, during a pick nick that had taken place on this very same spot in the forest. She felt as giddy as a young girl knowing that soon she would make love for the first time, with the boy who had been her first love, and with whom she planned to spend her life... She felt like that Laura again. Like the young girl, who had been naïve but also full of hope -- and not anymore like the other, the grown up Laura, the queen. That queen, who believed to have passed through all life could offer her, who had seen the deepest and darkest sides of humankind, had disappeared. Her enemy, full of sadness and willing to fight for the freedom of the world, was gone as well. They were nothing more than two young people in love, lying on a small clearing in the forest, near the lake: They were only Laura and Daniel. Daniel was lying on top of Laura, and she felt the weight of his body on hers. Not heavy and uncaring, like Martin. Daniel took great care not to hurt her, propping his body up on one of his arms. Feeling the warmth of his body was comforting, reassuring. After a while he turned to his side, loosening the tight connection between their bodies, to be able to run his hands along her smooth skin. Growing more daring, he took advantage of the better access his hand had now to her breasts. He let his fingers explore the firm flesh, though his touch remained tender and the expression of adoration remained on his face -- just to crush his lips against Laura's again the next moment, overtaken by desire, rolling back on top of her body and instinctively rotating his crotch against hers. Once or twice, his hands approached that same area. With shaking fingers he fumbled a bit on the fly of her jeans without much success. Then he let go again, running his hands back up her body, as if he was unsure of whether she would allow him to proceed. In a way, this surprised Laura: Hours ago, when she was still the queen, and he was still her enemy, she would never have thought of him as a shy person. Now, however, it was not only Laura who seemed to be a different person from the one she had become in the last years -- Daniel, as well, behaved more like an excited and somewhat shy nineteen year old. It was difficult to see the weary and disillusioned man in him that he had been when the two of them met at the clearing mere hours ago. In the end, it was Laura who made up her mind and reached for the fly of his jeans -- had he really been wearing those earlier? Those same old, worn out jeans that were so familiar to her, the ones he had liked best years ago, in their old life? She opened the top button with trembling fingers, before pulling down the zipper. Daniel helped her as she pushed the jeans down. Laura used her hands for this task as long as she could reach without getting up from the forest ground, then she went on using her feet to help him get rid of the superfluous piece of clothing. When that did not work anymore either, he sat up to take them off completely, and Laura got a good view of him, wearing only his underwear, which showed a very visible bulge. After a moment's hesitation, Daniel took off that last piece of clothing as well, and his manhood sprang proudly into freedom. Laura had seen many of those during the last years, yet to her surprise the sight of Daniel's manhood made her blush again, made heat rise in her body. Now, that she saw him naked, that she knew what they were going to do, she felt excited and giddy -- and also a little nervous. Daniel leaned back over her and kissed her. Then he helped Laura out of her own jeans. When she finally was lying completely naked in front of him, on the forest floor, shivering slightly despite the warmth of the morning sun, he remained sitting up: He could not help but stay like that for a little while, savoring that moment of looking down at her and admiring the perfect curves of her body, taking in the view he had been longing for, for so many years. Even though her expensive gowns, her jewelry and everything else was gone, the way he looked at her made Laura feel like she was the most beautiful woman on earth. After a little while, he lay down again next to her and their lips met once more. After a fervent kiss, his mouth left hers to find its way along her neck -- feeling the vibrations of her throat as she moaned under the touch of his tongue -- and further down to her breasts. There, he stayed for a while, letting the tip of his tongue circle her nipples, finally taking each between his lips in turn, sucking on them, letting his tongue flick against the hardening buds, while Laura's moans of pleasure filled the clearing. Then his tongue continued its journey downward, and Daniel moved around to settle between her legs. For another moment he sat up, and took his time to gaze at the object of all his desires, on his face an expression of adoration. Then Daniel settled down as comfortably as he could, and slowly approached her pussy with his face. Laura could feel his breath, before she felt his tongue, exploring the area, parting her labia until it reached her most sensitive spot, tracing around it in circles that grew smaller and smaller. Then, finally, he flicked his tongue right over the little nub and Laura drew in breath sharply, while pushing up her pelvis, to make herself more accessible to his attentions. And Daniel definitely appreciated this -- he delved into his task even more eagerly. This was different to anything Laura had felt in her entire life -- Daniel wasn't following her orders, he wasn't reacting to any little thought she had, but acting out of his own accord. Yet he was not turning her into his toy either -- he wanted to pleasure her, and not because he had to, but because this was truly his wish. This alone was more than Laura had dreamt to be ever possible in her life, and the knowledge that Daniel wanted to make her happy was more exhilarating than anything she had ever experienced. The men and women with whom Laura had spent the nights in her royal bed in the castle had always done exactly what she wanted. Any motion of their tongues had been perfectly tuned to what Laura thought she needed at that moment. Direct touch or indirect, little or much pressure, slow, savoring motions or a fast flicking of the tongue... In a way, it had not been much different from pleasuring herself. Daniel, on the other hand, had to experiment. He had to read Laura's reactions, the quickening of her breath, her moans, the involuntary movements of her hips, to figure out what she liked most -- and he was very eager to learn. A Battle of Minds Ch. 06 Sure, it had never taken Laura long to come when one of her subjects was giving her this kind of attention. Now it took her a lot longer to reach that highest point of her lust. In fact, every now and then, Daniel would pause at a moment when she just felt she was close; to shift his body a bit, to find a more comfortable position. Then again, Laura was not quite sure whether he might not be doing so on purpose, to keep her on the edge. More than once a certain frustration mixed into the lust of her moans -- and yet, she wanted this never to stop. And then, when she finally came, her orgasm swept through her body with a force she had not been able to even imagine before. The explosion that shook her, seemed to wipe out all memories, all awareness, and when it finally ebbed away, only small waves making her tremble every now and then, Laura still needed minutes to open her eyes and remember where or who she was. Daniel gave her the time she needed to catch her breath again, holding her tightly in his arms. Then he leaned over her to kiss her. Laura could taste her own juices on his lips, and as he crushed his body against hers, she felt the proof of his arousal hard and erect like an exclamation mark, pressing against the entrance of her sex. The desire to feel him inside of her, to take in his full length and become one with him, suddenly grew overwhelming, and again Laura lifted her hips involuntarily, as if to offer herself to him, to urge him to enter her already. But Daniel took his time. For quite a while he kissed her, his kiss growing more fervent at times, then again becoming tender and careful. The tip of his manhood was in constant touch with Laura's expectant sex, but never quite in reach, teasing her, but not entering her. Then, finally, when she thought she could not take this any longer, he started to carefully push. Her pussy took him in eagerly, letting him slide into the wet cave. As soon as the head of his penis was engulfed inside her, he paused again, as if he had met some invisible resistance. Laura rotated her hips, trying to get him to continue. But Daniel first kissed her one more time, before he entered her completely with one strong thrust -- and for a short moment a stinging pain cursed through Laura's body. She opened her eyes and looked at him in surprise. Daniel kissed her again. He held still now, waiting for the pain to retreat, and for her to get used to the feeling of having him inside her. Only when he was sure that she was ready, he started to move inside her, in slow, careful thrusts. Never in her life had Laura felt so close to someone, so vulnerable and yet so safe. And never had she been as much just in the moment, without worrying about the past or the future. The world around her, the forest, her memories of the past years, her fears and her pride -- all seemed to disappear. The whole world consisted only of Daniel and of herself, nothing else mattered anymore. *** When Laura awoke, she was still lying on the soft forest floor, Daniel's arms around her. He was asleep; his breath was steady and calming. Laura felt as if she had become years younger. She felt strong and happier than she had imagined possible. Everything was perfect. Well, not quite, she corrected after a moment: A few ants had found their way just to the place the two of them were resting. They were the reason she had woken up in the first place. Yet, this was such a small thing, and no reason to be any less happy. After all, there was no problem in waking up: No fear of the coming day, only the certitude that it would be another day spent with Daniel. The feeling of happiness seemed to fill out every last corner of Laura's mind as she lay there with him, and it did not subside when they finally got up and got dressed, or when they left the forest, walking hand in hand, back towards Leskow. The afternoon sun shone down on them from a bright blue summer sky. Some birds sang in the trees, and the smell of warm sand and slightly dry grass filled the air. So how could they not be happy, approaching an idyllic little town such as Leskow? Walking along a quiet road on the slightly crooked pavement, passing the neat little houses of the suburbs, wandering underneath trees that carried the green and cool shade of the forest into town. In the well-kept little gardens flowers were blossoming brightly, and people sat on their terraces with coffee and cake, enjoying the Sunday afternoon. The happy laughter of children climbing trees or sitting on swings competed with the chirping of birds. True, the closer they got the centre of the little town, the more these idyllic scenes were disturbed by the noise of some cars, the sound of broken glass creaking under their shoes, or the view of graffiti on a wall here or there. But these things did not truly destroy the atmosphere. Rather, they added to it, made it real, made it tangible, Laura thought. This was not the perfect fantasy of a queen who had quenched all life out of the small town. This was what Leskow was like. At some point, as they were walking along one of the busier streets in Leskow's suburbs, they passed a wall full of little posters. It was covered in several layers of bright pieces of paper that seemed to be sticking to all available spaces at this time of year. All the festivals and fairs and big shopping events had to be announced, after all. On this particular wall, one colorful poster dominated. Laura had seen similar posters before, during the years of her youth: It announced the Leskow Castle Festival in September, the diving contest and everything else that was part of the big spectacle. An elderly couple stood in front of that poster, in deep discussion about the upcoming celebrations. Walking by, Laura caught a few words that made her stop and listen. Daniel had caught on too, and they both stood there and listened, pretending to be interested in the text of a different poster that was announcing a big concert in the town's main church. "Yes, my grandma always told me that legend, when I was little", the old woman was just saying. "Today barely anyone knows about it anymore, they don't even have anything about it in the museum of local history. I asked and I kept telling them that this is part of our heritage, but of course they won't listen to me..." "So the legend says a wizard let the castle sink down into the lake?" the man interrupted her. "Well, not just any wizard. As the story goes, he was a powerful man in this area, but his people were the queen's enemies. Yet, the legend says they had fallen in love with each other. Except, he still didn't agree with her reign. She wasn't exactly cruel, but she gave the people too little freedom. And when he could not get her to see reason in any way, he finally saw no other solution than to let her and her whole court and castle sink down into the lake. The legend says he disappeared on the same day, maybe because he could not go on living without her. But," the woman's voice grew excited, this seemed to be her favorite part of the story, "my grandma was convinced that they returned once every one hundred years, and that during their time back in Leskow the queen would always try to regain her old power, while the wizard would try once again to make her see reason. And their struggle can only be resolved when they recognize their love for each other." The man laughed. "That is a great story! Though I wouldn't put it past your grandma to have invented it herself. As far as I remember her, she had quite an imagination, didn't she?" The woman nodded in agreement, as the man continued. "And as far as I know, they never found any indication whatsoever that there used to be a castle here. Neither archaeological finds, nor any mention in old documents. I would suppose the festival has just been named after the legend, if your grandma hasn't come up with all of that by herself. Or they just needed a nice title for the celebration. Sounds much more likely than there being a real castle." His wife nodded again. "You are right, I suppose. But I still like the legend. What's life without stories?" Laughing, the two old people turned away from the poster and walked on, down the street. Laura and Daniel remained alone in front of the little garage wall. Laura took Daniel's hand and smiled up at him. He returned her smile, as they started walking on in the opposite direction of that the old couple had taken. They continued their way towards town, where they knew that Laura's parents were waiting for them, probably preparing a nice meal for dinner -- it was their daughter's eighteenth birthday after all. And they still had a few days of summer vacation left before school started again. They were planning to enjoy those days as best as they could.