In The Ring

  The circus operated out of a brown-field site close to the centre of a big city, that is to say-an old industrial warehouse and disused goods yard. The Sunny Views Entertainment Corporation had purchased the almost dead carnival then relocated it to a spot between two big tourist draws. 
  They had bought disused land very cheap and fixed it up with free labour, people on community service. The tourists had come in and the circus had slowly grown.
  There was a little friction in the circus. They had set up a big top inside the warehouse using an old circus tent. Smaller acts worked out of the side show tents. The pay that performers got in the circus tent was much better for the headline acts. People in the main tent that let their act get a bit old ended up in the side shows. Performers in the sideshows that improved got their place in the main tent-a healthy competitive rivalry was fostered. One such professional rivalry existed between Haley the hypnotist and Echo the escapologist. Echo’s real name was Ethel.
  Echo was from the centre stage-a headline act. A Twenty two year old blond bimbo, tall long and limber. She had blond hair out of a bottle, waist length. She could throw it around as she seductively struggled and wiggled out of restraints. She was tall, a little short of six foot. The blonde had perfect teeth thanks to three years with a brace. She had two large pert assets that had been inflated to distracting proportions. She walked in three inch knee length white boots strutting over the stage with black stockings and tight silver short shorts moulded to her hips and round bottom. 
  Her stomach was washboard-flat and she wore little more than a silver wonder bra as the rest of her costume . She had blue-green eyes and high cheek bones.
  Echo spent her time being tied up by clowns. Some were in makeup, some from the audience... 
  She would be bound in straitjackets, stuffed in mail bags, wrapped in tape, rope and chains then wiggle out of the lot. She was a non-stop talker always going on about how much effort physical and mental was involved in being an escapologist how much better and more entertaining she was. She seemed to spend a lot of time targeting Haley she didn’t consider hypnotism a proper act.
  Haley was twenty five years old-a brunette. She wore a top hat with a red ribbon, a black leotard with elbow length red gloves and had a black Venus corset, fishnets and four inch heels. 
  She was attractive but nothing compared to her blonde, show-stopping rival. She longed for an opportunity to upstage her rival and move from the side shows into the main arena.
  One night in a side-show with an adult audience Haley got the chance. She was in the middle of an act, having a bachelor party on the stage clucking like chickens. 
  The tent flap opened and the blond amazon strutted onto the stage. She held a bundle of white canvas and a set of shackles looking down her nose at Haley;
    “Let’s give this audience a real act!”
  Haley shooed the chickens off the stage with a snap of her fingers. The drunken bachelors looked at them. She stared daggers at Echo;
    “How dare you interrupt my act!”
  Echo sneered;
    “You call that an act, I’m going to show you up in front of the crowd. I challenge you. You won’t be able to escape from the simplest of my straitjackets. You can’t do a real act!”
  Haley smiled sweetly;
    “Lets make it interesting. I bet you wont be able to come out of any trance I put you under.” She linked her fingers and clicked her knuckles.
  There was something odd flash across Echo’s face. Her eyes were dull for a second, she shook her head there was no such thing as hypnosis, she didn’t believe in it;
    “You will never get a chance because you will still be stuck in my tight little straitjacket, maybe if you kiss my feet I’ll let you out after a couple of days to teach you your place!”
  A look of annoyance flashed across Haley’s face;
    “Let’s flip a coin to find out who goes first.” 
  Echo smiled confidently. She could win this even if she had to put up with a little mumbo jumbo first.
  Haley snapped her fingers. It was like a thunder crack across the stage. Suddenly Echo stood there like a doll, a vacant expression across her face. Haley commanded her;
    “Drop the stuff. I say heads I go first tails you go last okay” She smiled as Echo dropped her set of toys onto the stage with a thud.
  Echo seemed vacant for a second her voice cleared;
    “That seems fair.” She shook her head for a second.
  Haley held a silver coin up to the audience. She flipped it up into the air and caught it and covered it up. With a great theatrical gesture she uncovered it;
    “It looks like its heads, I go first.” She paused for dramatic effect. Echo did not look good, she was nervous. Haley continued in a confident voice;
    “Now what shall I hypnotize you into doing?”
  Echo had an idea forming in the back of her head, a nagging doubt;
    “This hypnotism doesn’t work on me.” She said but her tone was not convincing. 
  Haley smiled;
    “If you’re sure about that, why don’t I give you a little escapology challenge instead?” 
  Echo looked very relieved, her arrogance was back;
    “That’s easy you’re going to lose, you second-rate charlatan!”
  Haley laughed;
    “We’ll see about that! It’s an unfair advantage that you’re wearing clothes-you could have all sorts of equipment in them.” 
  Echo looked blankly at Haley for a second. Her lips moved then she blinked again;
    “That seems fair. Okay.” With that Echo pulled off her boots and threw them to the side of the stage, the audience cheered at the show. She pulled off her push up silver sports bra, letting her assets hang free. She pulled off her silver hot pants panty hose and thong she stood in front of the audience naked, her neatly trimmed bush there for all to see. There were hoots and wolf whistles but she seemed oblivious to the fact she was naked.
  Haley smiled a wicked smile;
    “Sleep. When you wake up you will be trapped in a straitjacket…” She walked over and touched the doll-like Echo, moving her arms into a hugging position around her waist. “It will be tighter and more secure than anything you have ever worn before.” Haley ran a finger over the statuesque blonde’s large right breast. “The more you struggle against it, the stronger and tighter it will become!” She ran a hand over Echo’s taunt, round bottom as she walked around her. “The image of the most cruel and sadistic restraint you can imagine will be strapped over your body when you awake.” Haley slapped Echo on the bottom. “When I say tighten and only when I say tighten, the jacket will become more secure and more suffocating and over powering in its embrace of your body…” Echo clamped her arms around her torso as hypnotically instructed. Haley continued squeezing her butt. “You will get more desperate to escape the tighter it gets, wake!”
  Echo’s eyes sprang open. She was back in the room, back in control. She looked down at her body seeing a phantom strait jacket. She tried to move her arms left then right, they were tightly held in place!
  She twisted right, pushing her shoulder forwards, trying to create slack in a jacket that didn’t exist! She pulled, twisting around to her left trying to get slack where none existed. The girl pulled backwards and let out a gasp as if a phantom crotch strap was making itself felt. She squeezed her legs together trying to gain some relief from a tight crotch strap only to find that the sensation did not get any easier. She bent forwards trying to create slack.
  The audience started to laugh at the puzzled look on her face. Echo went hell for leather struggling against the invisible oppressor only to stop after two minutes she had a sweaty glow over her body and a nervous look in her eyes-the arrogance was there but it was muted.
  Echo looked at Haley;
    “This is a bit tight don’t you think? I can hardly move!” Her arrogant attitude reasserted itself, “Oh well, I am here to prove I am better than you!” 
  Haley shook her head she grinned;
    “That’s not quite good enough Echo. Tighter!”
  Echo’s eyes bulged and her head went back as if some sort of collar was forcing it. Her arms grew tighter in their embrace of her own body. There were maybe six inches between her finger tips behind her back. Her chest shook and she moved as if something was cutting into her between her legs.
  She looked down at her body, questioning what she was seeing. Her boobs were pushed out, framed by her arms. The blonde twisted her torso slowly left, slowly right then zigzagging in desperation trying to get some sort of slack in her own arms. She slid her legs open, braced herself and did some more energetic struggling until she found herself falling backwards, her bottom hitting the stage. 
  She stood up and let out a gasp of frustration, pulling-up with her arms and was rewarded with a twinge of pain from a strap that was only in her mind. She started struggling violently trying to pull her arms up or down but all she did was bounce up and down in a pleasing way. She sat on the floor convulsing, bent backwards into an impossible arch her nimble toes trying to find and undo buckles that were not there. She went berserk again, struggling for all she was worth on the floor. 
  Echo sat up and her iron resolve snapped back she stared blind murder at Haley. Slowly, she got up and gingerly walked over to a chair and sat down wiggling to get a comfortable position. She was slick with a sheen of sweat and her hair looked a lot less than blond perfection;
    “What is this thing made out of?” She demanded, “The material won’t breath-I’m sweating my ass off!” She wiggled to emphasize her point. “Where did you get this straitjacket from? There’s no room to manoeuvre!” She stared accusingly at Haley. “It’s so tight around my arms I don’t seem to be able to get any slack just at the moment. I can hardly even wiggle my fingers!” Echo tugged ineffectively at her arms to emphasize, squirming on the chair, “-and this crotch strap-you didn’t have to do it up so tightly!” 
  A look of fear was starting to creep into Echo’s exhausted eyes. Haley smiled;
    “You aren’t putting on a very good act Echo-tighter!”
  Echo’s eyes went wide as saucers! Her arms spasmed and seemed to grow tighter. Her head tilted further back. She breathed in but couldn’t seem to breathe out fully. She tilted her head to one side to get a look at the jacket she was not happy. She bent over and fell off the chair, landing on the floor and started twitching. 
  The girl stopped, took a few deep breaths-as deep as she could. She grunted as she struggled ineffectively on the floor. She pushed and pulled herself along the floor trying to get some slack trying to catch a buckle or a belt or something. Her legs went into hyper drive working this way and that trying to get a bit of slack from the ghost of a strap working its way between them. 
  Echo stood up and looked at Haley. She was quite disheveled and covered in a sticky layer of sweat, panting a little. Her voice held a slight tremor;
    “Okay. Ouch! I admit that this is more of a challenge than I thought it would be, but you don’t have to keep tightening this dam thing!” She pulled again uselessly at the phantom jacket. “I can hardly breathe as it is already. The dam collar is too high and too rigid. Are you trying to choke me?” Echo tried to move her head to demonstrate straining against her own muscles. “How is it doing it? The fabric seems to be shrinking, getting tighter. My arms are numb as it is already-I call it cheating!” Echo pouted but it got her nowhere. “I cant get any slack and you keep pulling the strap tighter are you trying to dislocate my arms or get my fingers to meet behind my back?” She turned around to emphasize her point “And the crotch strap its cutting me in half please don’t tighten it any more I beg you.” 
  A smile spread across Haley’s lips a wicked, wicked smile. Echo saw it and took a step back; 
    “You will learn to beg far better than that Echo.” The smaller brunette paused of effect, “I say again, TIGHTER!”
  Echo dropped to the ground, a muted, mewing whimper escaped her lips. Slowly, she got up very slowly as if her entire torso was locked into something immobile. She tried to twist her arms or flex her torso but there was no movement!
  She tried to struggle but she did not have the energy. Echo let a single tear roll down her cheek she looked around the stage. 
  Glancing to the side, a spark shone in her eyes. She slowly walked over to one side. She walked like she had something cutting into her making each step a living hell. There was a hook on the edge of the stage at about the right height. Echo spent nearly a minute rubbing her back up against it trying to snag a buckle that didn’t exist.
  The tall blonde walked over to Haley. Her eye’s looked unsure-she was having trouble breathing;
    “Haley please, I can’t breathe!” She paused for another breath, her chest bouncing up and down from a series of shallow breaths. “Please! It’s too tight. Let’s just call it quits, call it even-call it a draw! It’s far too tight!” Echo was learning compromise far too late. Her arms spasmed again. “What the hell is this thing made out of? It looks like leather, it’s as tight as rubber but solid as steel! What the hell am I wearing, why is it still getting tighter?” She pleaded with Haley and saw no mercy in her eyes. “My fingers are so numb I can’t feel them. My shoulders are cramping. Please a little slack please it’s hard to breathe! Just a little slack on my arms…” She stopped, short of breath. Haley reached out and wiped her cheek. “The collar-I can barely move my head please, please! My chest, it’s so tight-it hurts! Please,” she was begging now, all pride gone, “...and the crotch strap-it’s too tight! I can hardly think, hardly stand up!” 
  Haley shook her head. No way was she going to be merciful now;
    “You will call me mistress. One word-TIGHTER”
  Echo dropped to the ground. She was on her knees, a pained expression on her face. Her hands reached so far behind her neat waist that her finger tips touched and gripped each other!  More tears began to roll down her cheeks. She tried to stand up. Struggled then gave up. The jacket was just too tight. Every movement was almost impossible-it was far, far too tight! It was so real, so solid in Echo’s mind that it held her far more tightly than any corporeal device ever could!
  The bedraggled blonde was a wreck of her former confident self;
    “Ppp-please,” she gasped, “...let me out. The jacket it’s too, too tight I give up!” 
  Haley smiled at that but it was not enough. Echo continued to pant;
    “This collar, I can’t move my neck. The fabric, please its still shrinking it won’t stop!” Echo was so short of breath-she panted again. “My arms are in too much pain-please!” She struggled again, a useless twitch. “Give me a break. Please, my fingers are touching now what more can you do?” She looked at Haley, “Please anything, anything-please!” 
  Haley kissed her on the lips. Echo panted again;
    “Release the crotch strap, its driving me insane! Please loosen the jacket a little mistress?” She squirmed to emphasize her predicament. Haley remembered all of Echo’s taunts, however;
    “Not good enough. TIGHTER.”
  Echo dropped to the floor sobbing. Her arms were wrapped tighter around her body each hand had a death grip on the opposing wrist behind her back she had no chance of escaping her own embrace. She struggled pathetically, humiliated. Unable to even get into a kneeling position! Tears streaked her eyes and they had a look of desperation.
  The tortured blonde could just about speak. She gasped;
    “Mistress-mercy! Please, mercy I give up-please!” She gasped a short snatch of air and sobbed. “Please its too tight (sob, gasp)-my arms, I can’t feel my arms! I will do anything (sob) please take my spot in the ring.” She struggled there was more sobbing. “It’s so tight over my chest, I cant breath!” More tears more gasping for breath, “Anything, take my caravan-my stuff!” She looked at the floor and sobbed. “This strap between my legs-please loosen it a millimeter its driving me crazy! Please, anything. I will (sob) get down on my knees and lick your boots! (Sob) Please let me out.”
  Haley looked triumphant;
    “What I think you need is a matching hood and leg binder! Sleep.” Echo’s eyes closed. “When you wake up your legs will be pinned together in a tight leg binder every bit as horrible as the straitjacket. Your head will be enclosed in a hood that is so tight and punishing your greatest nightmares are nothing in comparison. You will find a tickling sensation along the soles of your feet it will grow and grow as time goes by, awake!”
  There was a look of horror on Echo’s face;
    “No don’t, please! Mmmmphh mmmpphh mmph mmph!” 
  She pinned her own legs together, clamped her jaw shut and tightly closed her eyes. She started to squirm at the tickling sensation she was trapped hopelessly by her own body tormented endlessly by phantoms from her own mind, completely broken and defeated.
  Haley looked at the audience;
    “Echo will be spending a little time to work on other things-licking my boots and anything else I want her to!” Haley bent down and squeezed one of Echo’s boobs, patted her helpless bottom, "Now, for my next trick I would like a volunteer from the audience..."
They all took a step back Haley giggled “Good night ladies and gentlemen!” 
  Haley took a bow and the curtains closed. Echo would spend several weeks as a guest of Haley’s caravan on her knees using her tongue to earn her way out of her tight phantom straight jacket…