CHAPTER 1: DESPERATION
"WHAT THE FUCK!!" After many long, deep breaths, the female research director had her palms pressed into the top of her desk as she tried to calm herself. She finally turned and righted her rolling desk chair she had sent flying after reading the latest report summary from the test site near the university. "IDIOTS!" Breathe, she said to herself silently. "Damn. This is in a report? Don't they know what they might have done?"
* * * *
Just another sunny morning in Gainesville, Florida. I was rushing across campus from the dormitory for my appointment just about four blocks off campus. I sometimes wondered why I signed up for this. No, I know why. They were paying $100 per visit to participate in a blind study. The office I was rushing toward was on the second floor of a partially empty office building. I guessed an office that close to a major university wasn't as attractive an idea as someone had originally thought it was when it was built. The building wasn't that old and what it did seem good for was a use like this: conducting trial studies using university students who needed the cash. That would be me, I thought. I needed the cash.
I was a senior in the Business Administration College. Actually, I was a just beginning senior as the school year had just begun when I noticed the flyer posted on a bulletin board: "Young women needed for blind testing of developing treatments for sexual issues." Intriguing, right? Sexual issues. And the $100 per participating visit including the initial screening meeting.
This was my sixth visit and I had a brain full of questions. They were running two studies. One was a new drug to aid women suffering from Female Sexual Dysfunction in general with groups separated into minor cases and severe cases. That was not me. I was sexually active though I would NOT put myself in the slut category like my roommate. The other study was aimed at women who had the reverse issue. Yes, my roommate might have been a better candidate but I wanted the cash. That study was a drug that would suppress the sexual drive. They felt they could manage the dosage for slightly or greatly suppressing the drive. That was my study group. I rationalized that I could live with a lower sex drive for the length of the study because they did promise the dosage required regular treatments for long-term suppression.
It all sounded a bit iffy to me but I guessed there really must be women out there who were more of a slut than even my roommate. Even though I had rationalized my participation, I was really hoping I would be in the placebo side of the study. I went through a lot of physical examinations and questions. I wasn't a prude or ashamed of my sexual life but the depth of questions became invasion and, frankly, embarrassing. I mean, really, was it necessary to know seemingly every detail of each act since the last visit and did I orgasm and how many times. Apparently, anal orgasms are achieved by many women. I at least learned that.
As I entered the office building and took the stairs to the second floor, I was again rehearsing how I was going to confront the researcher assigned to me. I knew for a fact I had to be in the placebo group because my sex drive was not lessening. Just the opposite. I could hardly think about anything but sex. I wanted to fuck every guy I knew. I didn't, of course, but the need, the desire, the wanting was increasing steadily. I was still able to manage it by masturbating and the occasional hook-up for a good fuck that seemed to leave the poor guy exhausted. I was sure there was something wrong with their drug.
As I walked down the hallway, I spotted a notice taped to the door I needed to enter: "The study you have been assisting in has been discontinued. Thank you for participation."
I stood in disbelief staring at those words. Discontinued? Thank you for your participation? Nothing else? No phone number? No address?
I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and searched my calendar for any information about the research company. Nothing. I searched my contacts. Nothing. I searched my phone calls for anything. Nothing.
This can't be happening. What about me? What about the answers I need?
* * * *
"Is she the only one?"
The woman who is research director for the studies, the doctor assigned as medical oversight, and the corporation attorney are huddled in a conference room after everyone else in the headquarters building had left for the day. The doctor had just explained what the likely result of the error would be. The woman responsible for the study teams sat stunned. Her career was likely finished. That wasn't what the attorney was concerned with, however.
"How does someone who is supposed to be in a study to lessen sexual drive end up receiving the drug intended to solve Female Sexual Dysfunction? How does this happen?" the attorney asked while his mind continued to work out the exposure for the corporation.
The doctor chuckled. The lawyer didn't think anything about the situation was funny. "It isn't even that she merely got injected with the drug to increase sex drive, though. The notes are quite clear. How nobody there caught it is beyond me. She was injected with the wrong drug at the dosage intended for what it would be for the correct drug, the drug intended to suppress. That dosage is nearly 50% greater than recommended for FSD. It is supposed to be a double treatment and she received three treatments at the increased dosage level."
The woman added, "The notes even indicate she had been complaining that she was masturbating more than ever to find relief. Nobody seemed to bother to question that." She looked at the two men with her. "We have to do something for her. It was our fuck up."
"What we have to do," the attorney countered, "is reassign everyone on that study program and destroy any and all references to her and her treatments."
* * * *
"Hello," I numbly answered my cell phone. It was late. I wanted to go to sleep. I wanted to finish studying for the next days lectures. I couldn't seem to do either. Once again I was in the midst of yet another masturbation session with the seven inch black dildo I had secretly ordered online. Any other concentration was becoming increasingly difficult.
"Is this Beth Harms?" came a voice that sounded middle-aged and female. "I want to be sure I have the right person." There was a pause, then, "Your birth date is March 11, 2003?" Yes. "You are Caucasian, 5' 1" tall, fit/athletic build, 110 pounds?" Yes. "Currently a senior in the University of Florida's Business Administration program?" Yes. "Long brunette hair, hazel eyes, C-cup breasts, and bald vaginal area?"
"Who are you and how do you know all that? What's this about?" I demanded, the demanding sexual itch temporarily overshadowed.
"I am not about to tell you who I am or where this information came from," she responded. "I am using a burner phone and before you can contact the police or anyone else, there will be no phone number to trace. I am calling because you have been harmed. I know that. You were a part of a study for treatment of female sexual disorder?"