A few weeks ago I had a terrible experience in self-bondage, and am perhaps lucky to be alive. I was a novice at bondage, but had found some bondage stories and discovered that they excited me. Lacking a boy friend, I decided to try some serious self-bondage. I suppose I was part curious, part turned on. Actually I think I am a bit of a masochist and the thought of punishing myself also excited me.

Before I describe the bondage session and what went wrong, I should explain that I lived alone in a town house, so had plenty of opportunities for self-bondage. There were, and are, two bedrooms on the top floor, and I slept in a four-poster bed in the back room. The sound insulation was pretty good and I didn't hear the neighbors on either side. I had tried a little self-bondage with rope, but it was a fantasy, I could always release myself at any time, either by undoing the knots or using a knife.

Reading about delayed key releases on the Internet opened up a whole new world; I learned I could safely chain myself up and be unable to escape until the timer gave by access to the keys. I didn't possess any chains, and had only a rotary combination lock, so I went shopping. From my local hardware store, I bought some chain. The chain was heavy and looked like it would restrain a bull. I wasn't sure what I would need so I had the assistant cut several pieces of various lengths. I didn't buy the padlocks from there, I didn't want anyone to suspect what I was doing, so I went to another store to buy two sets of padlocks, one large and one small, each set keyed alike.

After I brought the chains and padlocks home, I still didn't have a clear plan. I suppose planning is not my big thing, I tend to live for the moment. I'm happier that way. Where was I? Oh yes, the plan.

Not being sure what to do, I went on the Internet again (what a wonderful thing it is to be sure) and read some self-bondage stories on Gromets Plaza and on Utopiastories. One that really turned me on had a woman chained to her bed and tormented by a dildo that kept her on the edge of orgasm. She couldn't escape and was found by her roommate who came back early. The roommate then made her a slave. I didn't like the last part, but it wasn't going to happen to me because I don't have a roommate; I live alone as I think I've said. I decided to copy what the woman in the story had done.

Knots and ropes were familiar to me, but chains and padlocks were not. I couldn't figure out how to chain myself in a spread eagle position with hands apart, (No, don't tell me, it's obvious now but wasn't then) so I decided to get some handcuffs. I figured I could lock a cuff round my wrist and then with the same hand lock it around one of the wooden posts at the top of my bed. So I went online and ordered two pairs of Smith and Wesson handcuffs. These were more expensive than others but I remembered reading some advice about not buying cheap handcuffs.

I owned a dildo, but not a butt plug which was in the scenario so I ordered one of those in a medium size. The woman in the story was gagged, so I ordered a leather head harness with a ball gag. She was wearing a chastity belt to keep the plugs in her. I googled chastity belts. Metal ones were expensive and a hassle to order, but leather ones were cheap and adjustable so I ordered one of those.

When I unpacked the boxes I had ordered a week later, the smell of the leather and the feel of the things I had bought made me excited, but I decided not to try them on, I wanted to reserve them for the bondage session to maximize the thrill. I did however try on the handcuffs, and figured out how to unlock them.

The last box arrived on Wednesday. I was turned on and was tempted to do the bondage session that night, but since I had to go to work the next day decided to do the main session Friday night. But I thought I would do a short practice session, just to make sure everything worked the way it was supposed to.

I had read about timed key releases and had decided to use ice timers which were reported to be the most reliable, sometimes even more reliable than people. I had experimented using one ice timer attached to the ceiling. When the ice melted keys would swing down and dangle just above my right hand. For the backup ice timer a string would be attached to another set of keys which would be frozen in a block of ice. The end of the string would be attached to my left hand and I could pull the keys to me after the ice melted. I hadn't tested using this second ice timer, it seemed too simple for anything to go wrong. The timers gave me two independent methods of escape, so I thought I would be really safe.

For my practice session that Wednesday evening, I set the ceiling ice timer and put one ice cube in the sock. I hadn't frozen keys in a block of ice, so for the second ice timer I simply put the keys on the far side of the room, and tied the string to the headboard. I took my two handcuffs, locked a cuff around each wrist, double locked them with a pin, and then lay back on my bed. I stretched my legs apart as if they were chained to the bottom of the bed, reached up and clicked each cuff closed around a bedpost.

Wow!! The thrill of being helplessly chained was amazing. But it was also scary. I had intended to lie for half an hour before escaping, but I became so worried that I wanted to get out immediately. What happens if I can't get the keys? Or if I can't unlock the handcuffs? I got scared and felt a little panicky. I grabbed the backup key string with my left hand and began reeling in the keys. After a few minutes I got the key and unlocked the cuff which held my hand to the bed post. With one had free I felt enormously relieved, but a little ashamed. Why hadn't I trusted myself? Why hadn't I had the courage to wait for the ceiling ice timer to release? I decided not to release my right hand until the ceiling ice timer released, so locked my left hand back onto the bed post. Having released myself once I felt calmer and more relaxed. I was now confident I could release myself again, even if the ceiling ice timer didn't work.

About forty minutes later the ice melted and the key fell down. It fell just as I had planned and I grabbed the wet key with my right hand and after a little fiddling with the lock, (I couldn't remember which way to turn the key), released myself.

Friday night came. It was time. Work that day was difficult. I couldn't stop thinking about the bondage session I had planned for that evening. Someone had asked me to give them a ride home after work but I refused saying I had a hot date; I didn't want to delay my bondage session.

When I got home I cooked supper, leftovers from the day before, and treated myself to two bottles of beer. I was feeling both excited and nervous and thought the alcohol would calm me down.

At 8 o'clock I started. Not being great at planning things, I didn't want to forget anything so had written down all the things I should do in order. The first thing was to undress. The second thing was to insert the butt plug. It was quite painful to get in, and I almost gave up, but once the widest part was inside me it felt strange but comfortable. I pushed my dildo in, it didn't need lubricating, and then put on my new the leather chastity belt and buckled it tight. It felt sexy and I walked around savoring the novelty of it and the butt plug. I couldn't resist pressing the front of my chastity belt and quickly realized I could reach orgasm. I was sorely tempted to go all the way but told myself not to, I wanted to save myself for bondage.

Next I set the ceiling ice timer. I hadn't really decided how long the session was to last, but my handwritten instructions said to use two ice cubes which would give me about an hour and a half in bondage. I hadn't been sure whether to spend only a short time in bondage, since this was my first time, or the entire night, as in the story, or something in between. I put two ice cubes into the sock and hesitated. Two seemed such a small number. I looked at them and, in my turned on state, decided that I should be punished for being rude to the coworker who had asked for a ride, and put in a whole handful. I didn't count them so didn't know how long they would take to melt, but I guessed I was in for a whole night session. The thought was exciting.

I took the backup keys, frozen in a block of ice in a large stainless steel bowl, and placed them on the floor on the far side of my bedroom. I didn't want to be able to chicken out early, as I had done in my practice session, so I threaded the string through a metal ring, an old bracelet, attached to the foot of the bed before tying it to the bedpost. This meant that the ice would have to melt almost completely before I could pull the keys to my hand, anything bigger than about 2 inches across would not go though the ring. I should mention that before freezing the key in the ice I had checked I could pull the keys and key ring through the metal ring.

Reading my list I saw that I had to put all my bondage stuff on the bed. Then I sat on the bed and chained my ankles out to the bottom corners of the bed using two of the chains I had purchased from Home Depot. Sitting up I put on the head harness and pushed the ball gag into my mouth. I had washed it but it still had a funny taste. I was a little nervous about using it, but I found I could breathe around it. In the stories I had read, nearly all the women were gagged, and those in self-bondage had seemed to like it, except perhaps for the drooling, so I buckled it tightly and put a small padlock through the back buckle

Almost done. I put a cuff on each wrist, doubled locked them with a pin, and lay back. I pulled my cotton floral bedspread over me and up to my chin, I didn't want to get cold in the night, reached up and tried to lock the left cuff to the bedpost. It wouldn't quite reach! I felt disappointed that I would not be able to go through with my session. I had measured the ankle chains and was sure they were the right length. I struggled up the bed a little, and then realized I wasn't lying in the middle. I moved, stretched and was able to lock both cuffs to the bedposts.

I marveled at what I had done, I had put myself in inescapable bondage for the first time. I was a little nervous but really turned on and breathing rapidly and shallowly. What I wanted next was an orgasm. That thought made me realize I had forgotten to turn my dildo on; it was a vibrator. Was that on my list? I couldn't remember, as I said I'm not too good at planning.

I tried tensing my muscles to squeeze the dildo and bring myself off. It almost worked but with my legs held apart I couldn't quite reach orgasm. Very frustrating. Was I enjoying this? I wasn't sure.

After a few minutes my jaw began to ache. I hadn't really expected this, or at least not so soon. Mostly I had read good thing about gags; they increase the feeling of bondage, and they allow you to scream with abandon during orgasm without fear of being heard. I tried to scream and was surprised at the loudness of the sound; the gag didn't seem to muffle it much. Perhaps I should have used a larger gag? But this one seemed plenty large enough; it was keeping my mouth wide open and was already hurting my jaw.

I decided I didn't want the gag in my mouth any more. I tried to force it out with my tongue, but I had buckled the strap too tightly. I tried twisting my head this way and that to somehow move the head harness and allow me to push the gag out, but nothing worked. I gave up; I realized the gag was going to stay in until I could free my hands. I lay back in resignation staring up at the ice timer.

Soon a third problem surfaced. I had forgotten to go to the toilet and the two bottles of beer I had drunk, were making their presence felt. Had peeing been on my list? I didn't think so. I could hold it in but I knew it would become increasingly uncomfortable. Could I last all night? I thought so, but it would not be easy.

Since the ache in my jaw was becoming more and more painful with each passing minute, I decided to try to escape. I pulled on my ankles and wrists, trying to slip out of the chains and handcuffs. Deep down I knew that was impossible, but I thought I had to try. All I did was hurt my wrists and ankles. I managed to slide the cuffs to where they were hurting my thumbs, and it was difficult to move them back down onto my wrists where they were more comfortable. I think I began to cry at this point, I can't remember exactly, but I was feeling sorry for myself.

I decided to use my backup release. As I mentioned the string went through a ring to make sure I had to wait till nearly all the ice melted, but I thought that if I kept trying to pull it through the ring, the ice would chip or break off allowing the keys to pass through. It might not work, but it gave me something to do which was better than lying there suffering.

I grabbed the string with my left hand and inch-by-inch began pulling the keys towards me. The block of ice popped out of the bowl. It would melt on the carpet instead on in the bowl, but at that point I didn't care, I just wanted to get free. As it approached the bed I could no longer see its progress but I felt it stop moving when it reached the metal ring. Winding the string around my hand to get a firm grip, I gave the string a series of tugs to try to force the ice through the ring and break pieces off it.

After about ten minutes my hand was too tired to continue so I rested. By now my jaw was really hurting, so after resting for only a short while I resumed tugging on the string. It didn't seem to be working so I tried resting for a few seconds and then giving a really sharp pull. This went on for a while, then suddenly the string pulled free. I had succeeded!

I pulled in the string as quickly as my tired hand would allow. Imagine my disappointment when I came to the end of the string and here were no keys. Either the string had broken or my knot had come undone, I couldn't tell which.

Now I was helplessly trapped with no way out for goodness knows how long. I became aware of a feeling spreading through my body; it was growing orgasm! I kind of watched as it grew, I was powerless to do anything and then it took me. It was fantastic. I began to buck as much as my bonds would allow, then letting myself of, screamed into my gag. The pains were forgotten so powerful was the feeling.

As the waves slowly died away I lay in wonder at what had just happened. The feeling was so incredible, and so unexpected.

As reality slowly returned, so did the pains. The worst was in my jaw, but my wrists hurt where I had been fighting the handcuffs, and I needed to go to the toilet. I thought about my predicament. How could I have been so stupid as to put the extra ice in and make my first real bondage session such a long one? It should have been for half an hour, an hour at the most. At least I should have tried the gag to see how long I could stand it.

I became angry with myself and grabbing the bedposts with my hands began to shake the bed in frustration. I don't know what I was trying to achieve but it did nothing for my bondage. But it did something else. I suddenly realized that I was peeing in my chastity belt. I froze in horror.

If I did nothing more I was doomed to spend the night with increasing agony in my jaw and in my bladder. The latter I could relieve, but at the expense of dirtying my bedclothes and perhaps ruining the mattress. I reasoned that I had already peed, so the damage was done, so I decided to let the rest out.

I was a strange feeling forcing it out past the dildo and chastity belt. I could feel the warm wetness on my inner thighs as it leaked out around the chastity belt. I felt deeply ashamed at what I was doing, but reasoned that it was better than lying in pain for several hours and then letting it out anyway.

I didn't move for a long time after that. But my jaw was hurting so much I really really wanted out.

I remembered that as I was shaking the bed the headboard seemed a bit loose and wobbled back and forth. I thought that if I managed to bend it so it leaned over the bed, I might be able to slide my handcuffs up the posts and free my hands. I could then move down the bed and reach the keys which were presumably lying next to the metal ring.

Accordingly I reached up the bed posts as high as I could and began to shake them back and forth. At first it didn't seem to do anything; the amount of movement stayed the same. But suddenly I heard a kind of scraping sound and I could move the headboard more. Encouraged, I rested for a while, then resumed the struggle. The whole bed was rocking back and forth. I was glad I was in a town house and not in an apartment; if anyone had been living below me they would surely come up to investigate the noise. But would that be such a bad thing? Although I didn't want to be found in my embarrassing state, the pain in my jaw was unbearable and I desperately wanted to get free.

I alternated resting and rocking the headboard, I couldn't think if anything else to do. Suddenly something broke; the top of the bed plunged down to the floor and the headboard came down and hit me on the forehead. It was quite blow. It didn't knock me unconscious but it forced my head down into the pillow and mattress. I don't think I was stunned, but I lay still for quite while trying to regain my senses and figure out what had just happened.

I tried pushing the headboard up but couldn't; I couldn't get any leverage. But I could slide my hands along the bed posts, but not nearly to the top. I tried to relax and calm myself, it was no good exhausting myself trying to push the headboard up. But I knew I had to get my head out from under the headboard somehow.

At first I couldn't move, but by twisting my head I found I could work it down (or up since the head of the bed was tilted down to the floor) the bed slowly, a little bit at a time. I tried to use the leather straps of the head harness to protect my skin from the hard wooden surface of the headboard. I bent my legs to pull on the ankle chains so help me move. As I slowly wiggled down my head moved under the bedspread, which seemed to be trapped under the headboard, I could still breathe so I didn't panic. But when I finally pulled my head free of the headboard I was still trapped under the bedspread and couldn't sit up, not that I would have been able to fully sit up with my arms spread wide. I slid my arms up the bedposts, but couldn't get them free. This action seemed to move the bedspread a little, but didn't free it nor uncover my head. I became angry and attacked the bedspread with my head, cursing incomprehensibly through my gag. After a long and sweaty struggle I succeeded in forcing the bedspread out from under the headboard. After that it was easy to free my head completely.

As I emerged into the cool night air I felt triumphant and worried; triumphant that I had succeeded in freeing my head and could now free myself completely, and worried about what I had done to my face and head in my battle with the headboard.

Sitting partially up I slid my handcuffs up the bedposts only to discover they would not fit over the wooden knobs at the top. Somehow I had assumed they would just slide off the end, but the knobs were just a little too big.

My position was now distinctly uncomfortable, I could not sit up fully, my arms were still spread wide, and in my present position my legs were bent putting a strain on my tendons. If I straightened my legs to relieve the tension, I found myself lying on the headboard, the top edge of which dug painfully into my neck or back.

I was well and truly stuck. Moreover I was wet, smelly and in pain.

I looked up at the ice timer, but it was now dark and I couldn't see how much ice was left. A new thought intruded into my brain. The keys were designed to hang above the position of my handcuffed right hand where I could reach up to grab them. I didn't make the suspending string any longer; it might have allowed the keys to fall where I couldn't reach them. But now that the bed had collapsed if I slid my hand down the post under to where the keys would hang, my hand would be too low to reach them.

With this realization I felt another orgasm approaching. Was this what bondage was all about? Did one have to feel really trapped to have an orgasm? Anyway, I let it grow and engulf me. It was only a partial orgasm, a pale shadow of the previous one, but nevertheless a quite satisfying and very welcome given the circumstances.

When it had passed I realized my upper back was hurting from lying on the sharp top edge of the headboard.

I cannot describe the hours of agony I endured that night. It seemed like a year in hell. I thought I was certainly going to die, no one would rescue me and I would starve to death, or rather die of thirst. Although I was waiting for the keys to drop, and hoping all the time they would drop soon, I really thought I had no chance of reaching them. The only glimmer of hope was that when they fell the string would break, or the thumbtacks would be pulled out of the ceiling allowing them to fall where I could reach them, but these possibilities seemed unlikely.

It gradually grew light and I could see there was still a lot of ice left in the sock. My mood became even more despairing, how could I stand the pain for another few hours? But I had no choice.

Finally at 8:37 am the ceiling ice timer released its keys. They jumped and swung tantalizingly just out of reach of my right hand. When they had stopped swinging, I forced my hand through the cuff, scraping the skin even more viciously than before in an effort to reach them. With the greatest and most painful stretch I could touch the keys, but not hold them. I was so close and could think of nothing else to do that I kept trying till my wrist was bloody. I couldn't lift the headboard; it was firmly stuck in its position tilted up slightly from the bed. It sagged a little when I leaned on it, but that was all.

Exhausted, I rested uncomfortably on the headboard. I no longer cared about the pain where it dug into my back; I was going to die anyway.

Suddenly I had an idea. The post tilted upwards and at a distance of about two feet away was close to the level of the keys. If I slid the cuff up the post and set the keys swinging then I might be able to grab them. I slid the handcuff up and tried to blow on the keys to make them swing. Without a gag it would have been easy, but it was really awkward trying to blow around the gag. The keys barely moved. I strained my body to get as close to them as I could and by blowing as hard as I eventually got them to swing. There were two problems: the keys didn't swing towards my trapped hand, and the act of blowing made me light headed so that I had to frequently stop and rest which allowed the swinging to slow down. It was like a game of skill, patience and endurance. But it was a game for my life. I had to endure, there was no other way. I managed to get the keys to swing in a kind of circular motion, and then finally, after several attempts, I managed to grab them with my fingers. I tried to get a better grip and then pulled them down. The string, which was attached to the ceiling with thumbtacks came loose, and I finally had the keys in my hand. This gave such an enormous feeling of relief. It took a few minutes to unlock the cuff, I was very tired, but then the rest was easy. After my hands were free I unlocked my head harness and removed the gag. I tried to close my mouth but couldn't, I could only close it a little way, but even that small movement was such a relief.

My ankles were bruised, my wrists both bruised and bloody, my back was bruised, my face was a mess, and my bed was destroyed. But what did these things matter? I was finally free!!!