The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It first started on the 7th of May This year. That’s when the spark first set alight a fire that spread all around the school. I was in my last and final year of high school and was busy studying for the final exams that would decide my future. The exams that were going to make me or break me. I have finished school now, but looking back, I can’t help but wonder if the strange events really happened or if they were just a fabrication of my stress-induced mind. I hoped the latter, but the fact that I cannot even talk about the events which apparently transpired leads me to wonder if I am going insane, or if indeed I have been “controlled”. It seems like I cannot even bring myself to utter a word about them, but that does not stop me from writing it down, in the hope that one day, this story will be uncovered by someone and spread around on the biggest communication network in the world, the internet. If you are reading this story, I assume my plan was successful.

It was a hot and sweaty day on the 7th of May, too hot to do any work so me, Peter and Linda were sitting in the library, playing around, making jokes, laughing and basically having a good time. Things were going good for me because I was ahead in my studies and felt optimistic about my future. Not only with my school work, but also with a certain girl, Wendy. She was the love of my life. We had just recently started going out. As for Peter, he liked Linda a lot, but was too afraid to tell her. I had a feeling she knew though. She was a pretty girl, long blonde hair, nice smile, very petite and a great personality. She didn’t have a great body, but that didn’t stop Peter from being head over heels in love with her. Peter wasn’t a great looker, just an average teenager, like me.

The librarian had asked us to “shooosh” a few times, threatening to throw us out after the 30th “shooosh”. We tried to control ourselves but it was too hot to even bother doing any reading. Luckily the librarian was a very nice person. Her name was Fran and she was young and attractive. It was always either her or Mrs. Bucker who were on a shift. We hated Mrs. Bucker, so much so that we stayed away from the library when she was there, but that’s not important.

We decided that instead of controlling ourselves, we would move to the back of the library to chat. We had outsmarted the librarian, but our fate had been sealed the moment we sat down. You see, at the back were sitting three girls, all of whom the school were scared of. Mandy, Ellen and Julie. Everyone stayed away from them. They had a gothic look about them and were very rude and abusive, rebelling against the world and all that, but something was different that day. The girls, who would usually give you the “deadly look”, had smirks on their faces. Indeed, it was the first time, I think, I had ever seen the girls smiling. It didn’t feel right. The smiles looked like they didn’t belong there. Another strange thing was that they were not dressed in their usual attire, which consisted of black, leathery clothes, appropriate for a bikey funeral. That day, they were dressed in normal clothes, I’d even go as far as to say, they looked quite attractive when they weren’t dressed to terrorize.

Me, Peter and Linda continued having a good time, trying our hardest to pretend we didn’t care that they were there, continually staring at us through their vulture-like eyes, and those annoying smirks. My opinion was that they should have stuck to frowning, but I didn’t air that opinion out of the fear they would follow me home and threaten me at gunpoint. At that point I realized I really felt uncomfortable with all that staring, and I knew my friends felt the same, as much as they tried to hide that fact, so I let my feelings known.

“Is there something I can help you with??” I asked. They weren’t shocked that I had the audacity to let loose that remark. They didn’t even flinch. They just continued staring. “What is your problem??” I was now becoming annoyed.

“We don’t have a problem.” Mandy said, “We were just sitting here admiring your butts, you’re getting us all horny...” She stated. Linda laughed, as did I. Peter wasn’t too happy though but I tried to retort with a clever remark.

“Well you know, I’m only interested in people who have a personality”, that didn’t go down to well with the girls.

“Right” Ellen, one of the other two said, “but we’re not interested in you, we just want to watch you perform sexually for our own personal amusement”. This was certainly getting weird. I didn’t know why they were saying this. I was expecting us to get into a verbal fight, insulting each other, but all the girls seemed interested in was flirting with us, if you call that flirting.

“Look!! If you’re that horny, there is a great place in the city where you can get videos, usually only $20 each. They can satisfy your sexual frustrations, leave us out of it”. I was proud of that retort. It hit them right below the belt, where I aimed.

“Ok, that’s it” Ellen was now clearly angry, in fact, she was fuming, “stand up dickhead”. I was shocked. Who was she to give me orders? They were making me worried, but only about them, I think it should have been long ago someone recommended them a good therapist. Then I experienced a bigger shock. My heart skipped 3 beats. I was actually standing up. I had obeyed her, and I had no idea why. For heaven’s sake, I don’t even remember standing up. Peter and Linda were also surprised.

“You wimp, what are you doing?” Peter asked. I was asking myself the exact same question, but for some reason, I could not sit down, it was as if my back was as rigid as a wooden board. It didn’t feel rigid, until I tried to sit down. The girls were laughing and my face was bright red from embarrassment. I tried to explain myself to Peter and Linda.

“I don’t know why I’m doing what they ask me. I can’t help myself!!” The look of disgust on Peter’s face turned into one of puzzlement.

“You are now Elvis Presley, go for it baby, the concert has started.” and I immediately started moving and bopping to imaginary music, Elvis style, singing the only Elvis song I knew, ‘Are you lonesome, tonight”. I didn’t think I was Elvis, it was more as if Elvis had possessed me, and I was only a conduit through which his spirit could again express its desire to perform. I could do nothing but be Elvis and sing the song. I tried to talk but I could only mouth the words to the imaginary music. Linda and Pete were now really getting worried.

“Is this a setup??” Linda asked, “How much did they pay you to do this??” I wished I could have told her that this was no joke. I wish I could have begged them to help me, even though I don’t think it would have done any good.

“Dance Linda, you are Elvis’ backup, dance with him” Ellen managed through her laughing and giggling. Linda stood up in a flash, looked shocked for a second, and then immediately turned into a dancer. She got into the spirit very quickly and almost looked like she was enjoying herself. Peter was beginning to feel terrified. He tried to stand up and sneak out while the girls were concentrating on us but Mandy had caught him in time.

“Stay right there!!!” Mandy shouted, and Peter was frozen in his tracks. He turned around, trying to figure the situation out. How were these girls able to do this? This was like a nightmare. “Take off all your clothes Petey boy, and do it seductively.” Peter complied, and began to tease them with his strip act. Me and Linda were to busy dancing to try and stop this. The girls were having a ball.

“How are you doing this??” Peter was at least able to talk; so far he had taken his shoes and socks off.

“Well...” Mandy faltered, “I don’t know whether we should tell you, although..., I don’t think it will do any harm if we do...,”

“NO” Ellen interrupted, “the time is not right yet, you will soon find out, although, you won’t tell anybody”. Peter had only his underpants left on and was just about to take them off when the girls stopped us.

“All right” Julie spoke, “Enough, sit back down, all of you” and we did, I was at least glad I still had my clothes on. Peter was trying to cover his almost nude body.

“Let us go” Linda begged. Ellen, who sounded like the group leader, thought a second about that.

“No” She said, “we said we were going to have our way with you and we always live up to our promises”. The other girls agreed. I tried my hardest to stand up but my body... no, my mind... wouldn’t let me. It was like there was a voice in my head saying “keep sitting” in a continuous loop, and the moment I tried to stand up, that voice became louder and more demanding.

“Linda” Ellen spoke as she continued to think, think of things she could do to us “take off your clothes”. Linda gulped, loud enough for the whole room to hear. She was straining with all her might to go against the girls’ wishes, but to no avail. She was a slave of her own mind, which was somehow controlled by Ellen and her troupe. She began by untying her shoelaces and slipping off her shoes, letting them fall to the floor, followed by her school socks. She was begging the girls to stop her from exposing herself, but they showed no mercy. The girls were smirking, obviously enjoying the show, as Linda’s skirt fell to the floor next, followed by her school shirt.

“What if someone sees me??” Linda begged.

“You’re right, we can’t let that happen. Put your clothes back on”. Me and Pete enjoyed the view until Linda was made to put her clothes back on, as much as we hated to admit it to ourselves, especially under these circumstances. Her body looked better than I imagined, but now her school clothes were constricting the magnificent view again. Half of my brain was trying to make sense of this situation, the other half... well... the other half was kind of enjoying this. I pulled myself together and again I tried to make sense of this unreal situation.

“What did you do to us? Tell us!!!” I demanded.

“I don’t think you should be making demands on us pretty boy, seeing how much power we have over you, now go. You will remember everything but you won’t be able to talk about it to anyone, not even to yourselves”. We found ourselves wondering off after collecting our stuff. The rest of the library did not seem to have taken any notice of the whole circus in the back of the library, at least that was settling. I was still troubled by the fact that we had no explanation about what had happened to us; we couldn’t even talk about it.

From that day on, me, Pete and Linda found it hard to be near each other. We made little social contact and were too embarrassed to even say hello in the school hallways. My girlfriend Wendy even noticed a change in me. She asked me what was wrong, but as much as I wished I could tell her, I kept my mouth shut. I occasionally saw Ellen, Mandy and Julie around the school. They just smirked at me. I was to embarrassed to look at them and I was sure Linda and Pete were going through the same emotions I was. Confusion, bewilderment, anger, fear... I was damn scared. Who were these girls? I don’t remember ever talking to them before the event in the library. How come suddenly they had so much power over us? I had to have answers to these questions, and soon.

I was having trouble studying after that event. I was having trouble doing anything. My family were noticing my mood swings but I could not explain what happened. I tried though, oh how I tried. It was like trying to open a 20-year-old jar of mustard. I just could not do it.

It was 10:30pm one night, and I was getting ready for bed. I put on my PJ’s and was about to hop under the blankets, until suddenly, I found myself stepping out of my bedroom window and jumping onto my front lawn. I can’t explain my actions at that point, even now, but I recall that I only noticed what was happening after I was outside. I continued walking down the street. A couple of people taking their dogs for a walk were staring at me questionably. I just kept walking with no clear direction in my mind. My body seemed to know where it was going though. I was terrified.

I arrived at a rather small, well-lit house. I stepped in without even knocking, my heart pounding like a jackhammer. I stepped into the living room, and there were the three girls, sitting in a circle facing each other. Mandy, Ellen and Julie. They were wearing their gothic clothes again and sitting in a triangle on the floor, cross-legged looking very much like they were meditating. Their eyes were closed and they were obviously deep in trance. I felt like I had no power over my body or destiny, but at least some of the fear had disappeared. I don’t know why, don’t ask me, but for some reason, I did not feel as scared as before. In fact, I felt a kind of serenity overtake my body and mind. I was still a little bit scared mind you, I had no idea what they were planning. For all I knew, they could have been dangerous and insane. But at least my heart had calmed down and I was not so overwhelmed with fear.

I proceeded to sit in the middle of the three of them on the floor, against my will, and crossed my legs. As soon as I did so, they opened their eyes and left their meditative state.

“It worked!!” Ellen cheered and the two other girls joined her in rejoicing their success. I was very puzzled about this, but I could not even batter an eyelid. I just sat there like a well-behaved schoolboy in my pajamas. The three girls were fully dressed in leather and black make up. Mandy and Julie were very sexy, Ellen... less so, but she was not unattractive. Mandy had long blonde hair down to her back, with a pretty face and smile. She certainly did not look like she fit into the gothic scene. Julie had short but full red hair, and a rather robust body, which seemed to suit her. Ellen was slightly chubby, but not fat. She had a look of power about her, but not in an overbearing kind of way. Julie and Mandy were rather short, Ellen was taller. This was really the first time I took such a close look at all the girls; I never really took much interest in them before that night.

They all stood up and looked down on me. I was powerless to give any input on what I thought about this situation. It felt like I had no... strength, or will to do anything. I began feeling more uncomfortable now as I was in a very vulnerable position. For all I knew, they were planning to kill me. One of the girls spoke out finally, elating my fears, at least for now.

“Don’t worry sweetie, you’ll be safe, you’re just our experiment!” Ellen said. Experiment? I did not much like the sound of that. But I was sure they wouldn’t cause me any harm, I mean, they couldn’t, right? My heart started pounding again.

“I think we at least owe him an explanation” Mandy pleaded and I noticed the other girls nod in agreement.

“We will tell you, but you will never be able to tell anybody else” Julie reminded me. I already knew that would be the case. I just sat and waited for them to give me an explanation. I could not do much else.

Ellen began “we have been playing around with magic and hypnosis for some time now. We have studied ancient texts of enchanters and sorcerers of the old ages who have practiced mind control and hypnosis, learned to use their techniques, and, well... we need someone to practice on. Theory is all well and good, but until we practice our skills, we will never become experts. You may talk by the way.” Thank god, I had a lot to say about this.

“First of all, what gives you the right to abuse your power this way?” I stated strongly. What they were doing wasn’t right.

“It is necessary for us to abuse our power so we can learn to use it well... maybe even for the benefit of mankind.” I still wasn’t sure about this. “It also does not mean we can’t have a bit of fun with it”. They certainly weren’t mature enough to handle this kind of power. But I knew none of my arguments would be useful against them, they obviously thought about this for a long time.

“What kind of fun?” I asked, nervously.

“You’ll see” Mandy whispered in my left ear “you might even enjoy it.”

“Stand up and take your pajamas off” Julie whispered. I stood up immediately without even hesitating and took them off. I had only my underpants on.

“What are you doing?” I shouted. There was fear in my voice and they sensed it.

“Well, he’s not hard, yet” Julie noticed. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was being controlled, against my will, by three girls who weren’t mature enough, or wise enough, to handle this overwhelming amount of power. I had no idea how they expected me to be excited about this.

“Please, leave me alone, let me go...” I pleaded. I felt almost like crying. This was the most embarrassing situation I had ever experienced and I felt so helpless. I hated feeling that helpless.

“Don’t worry pretty boy, we won’t hurt you...” Mandy said, almost compassionately. “OOOOOH... you are becoming so aroused aren’t you” and the other girls giggled and joined in the chanting “So aroused, so horny”. My cock began standing to attention and poking through my underpants. It was clearly visible through the material now, trying with all its might to rip its way through the fabric. The girls were giggling. I was guessing this was the very first time they had seen a dick. It was clearly amusing and exciting to them.

“I can see you are uncomfortable in those underpants. Take them off, expose your big manhood to us...” Ellen said, very seductively, almost whispering. My hands moved to take my underpants off and proceeded to throw them on the ground. I felt a slight breeze pass gently across my now exposed penis, due to the window being slightly ajar. Julie was the first to move forward. She was clearly the most aroused out of the three girls. Gently, she clutched my member and examined it. My body felt as stiff as a board, and even stiffer when I tried to move. A slight groan escaped my lips, but I could not make a move of any kind. Boy was I becoming aroused.

I felt the heat of arousal build up within me. What’s more, I felt it in Julie too, and I was sure the other girls were becoming quite hot as well. Julie was breathing quite heavily and the other two were fidgeting behind her. She held onto my member and started stroking it, while gently tickling my balls. I felt like shooting my load, and I was sure I would have done it right there and then, had Julie not stopped me just in time.

“You will not come until we allow you to” Julie said, and immediately the tension subsided. I felt a sense of relief, even though I did enjoy that moment of bliss. I was surprised my knees didn’t buckle beneath me, even though they felt as rigid as two wooden boards.

“Don’t worry Stud,” Ellen, who now moved to stand next to Julie, spoke “You won’t be the only one who will be at the receiving end tonight. We will bring Linda here shortly”.

“WHAT???” I shouted, but I knew they had made up their minds. I almost felt like crying at that moment. I felt fear building up beside me. “Please don’t bring her into this” I pleaded.

“Don’t worry, she will enjoy it too, we will make sure of this”. Ellen said. She gave my manhood a short stroke as well and walked off and sat on the floor. The girls had lust in their eyes, it was quite scary, but in a strange way... exciting. The three girls sat on the floor again, in their meditating positions and closed their eyes. Immediately, I sat down on the floor in the middle of them again, cross legged, unable to do anything but blink. I was as hard as a rock even though most of the sexual excitement had subsided. Finally I had a bit of time to take the surroundings in. They were inside a very clean and well kept house, though I was not sure who’s it was. They had candles burning around the room just outside the circle they were sitting in and I was sure I could smell incense. I was not cold because the candles and a fire at the end of the room were heating the house up fine, plus the night was quite warm. We were definitely sitting in the middle of the living room. All the chairs, tables and sofas were dragged aside to corners of the room to make way for the rituals in the center. Ellen was sitting behind me. She seemed to be the scariest one, but did not act that role. As opposed to her rough and dark facade, she seemed the friendly and positive type. Julie, who was sitting in front of me on the left, in contrast, seemed and looked friendly, warm and generous, but appeared to be darker by nature. Though she was really attractive, I did not see myself ever falling for her. Mandy, who was in front of me on my right, seemed neutral by nature though very attractive. I did not feel I was in any danger this, or any other night, I just felt uncomfortable for not having any control, and I never pictured myself being raped by women. Though, I have to admit, there was a side to this loss of control and power that was a real turn on.

The door opened, my heart jumped, I just remembered, JULIE!! I looked up at the front door and saw Julie, standing there with her pajamas on as well, looking down at us. I sensed fear in her being, the same fear I experienced coming here, the same fear I felt then, sitting up and looking at her. She had no more control than I had and I imagined she felt worse than me at that very moment. The three girls did not budge, they continued meditating. Julie closed the door behind her, walked forward and sat right in front of me, in the same position I was sitting in, and stared directly at me. She was wearing a pink nightshirt, night pants and white socks with pictures of moons and stars on them. I was sure she was surprised by my nudity, and probably scared she would have to do the same as me.

I really did not want to see Julie go through this. She was innocent, she didn’t deserve this but I could not voice my opinion. Suddenly, the three girls opened their eyes and stood up. They looked down on the two helpless bodies below them and smirked. I was glad at least that they did not include Wendy, my dream girl, in this awful scene. I would do everything in my power not to allow them access to Wendy.

Me and Linda, against our wills, stood up and faced each other. My member poked out like an upright banana and I was sure Linda had noticed my excitement. I was ashamed. I did not want to feel excited but had no choice. No human being would not find this exciting, that is, standing nude in front of a beautiful girl, knowing anything could happen next. Suddenly, my hands moved to her nightshirt and pulled it up and over her head. Linda helped me by raising her arms, obviously against her will, in the air. The nightshirt was off, revealing Linda’s perfect little boppers. She had cute, little, bright red nipples that were sticking out now. As much as I despised this situation, I felt an incredible urge to drop on my knees and suck on those perfect areolas, on those perfect little breasts, but I continued doing the task I was appointed by my three little mistresses, undressing Linda.

I knelt down and grasped the waist of her pants with my teeth and pulled them down, very slowly. As I did so, my nose brushed against her fluffy bush while exposing its blonde thickness to the room. She must have just taken a shower as I smelled a mixture of the shampoo, still permeating from her pubic hair, and the smell of her arousal as my nose brushed her vagina on the way down. The three girls, who were sitting behind us and watching this theatre, clapped. Apparently, this scene appealed to their tastes.

My head was now on the ground and Linda helped me, or the girls helped me, by putting her legs in the air so I could slip the pants off with my hands. Now that I had a good, long look at her, I realized Linda was gorgeous beyond belief. She didn’t have a model’s body; rather, she had the body of a young, innocent, ripe schoolgirl. Her breasts were small but well shaped; one could even say “perfect handfuls”. Her legs were also perfectly shaped and smooth and though she was quite skinny, it seemed to suit her. The first thing I noticed about her was her petite frame, which I like in girls. She had a lot of hair down there, obviously never shaved, and that turned me on even more.

Linda moved towards a couch at the corner of the room and sat down on it. I followed her and knelt at her feet and proceeded to take her socks off with my teeth, which were dirty on the bottoms due to the fact she had hiked across the neighborhood only with them on. They were now off as well. She was now totally naked, in all her glory, sitting in front of me, staring up at me, her eyes pleading for help. She knew I could give none, but she hoped somehow one of us would break free of the control of these domineering witches and take the other one and flee that place. But, that hope did not last long. Linda slowly spread her legs and gave me a view of her magnificent snatch; witch glowed and seemed to reflect the candle light from its wetness. I knelt down between her legs and took a long, deep smell of her vagina, which made me more excited then ever. I was not excited against my will, I was pretty sure that this excitement was purely the situation, not the three witches’ doing. Linda smelt great, and I felt my tongue push its way towards the wet smoothness of her clit and lick along its sides. I looked up to see Linda close her eyes, not to escape reality, but because she was aroused, excited, in heaven. My tongue, masterfully and gently, darted around the sides and depth of her love hole, lapping up her womanly juices and tasting her excitement. It tasted great.

I was surprised at the masterful movements of my tongue. I never went down on a girl before and was sure the girls helped me along in some way. Linda began breathing slowly and deeply, taking in the pleasure. She rested her feet on my shoulders while I continued my ritual, my fingers gently spreading and tickling her pussy lips. My nose buried deep in her thick blonde bush. I almost sneezed, until I was made to stand up again. Linda was still lying on the couch, eyes closed and breathing heavily. She certainly enjoyed the experience, even more than me it seemed.

She then stood up and knelt next to my member, taking it in her warm hand and giving it a few strokes. I remembered the command from Julie not to cum so felt myself withhold the tension. I was sure that if I weren’t given that command, my load would have been released a long time ago. But unfortunately I was made to suffer the torment of withholding pure pleasure. I felt a warm mouth slide over my penis and I saw Linda giving me a tormenting blowjob. I felt her warm breath on my exposed length, teasing me, tickling me. Man, I was suffering, but I loved every second of it. Linda began speeding up her rhythm now and giving me the best head I could possibly imagine. She continued doing so for one minute, but it felt like an eternity. She finally stopped and sat back down on the couch, extending her leg for me. I picked up her soft foot and began rubbing it. I gave her a massage, which she also seemed to enjoy, rubbing her tired feet with my hands, pressing into her skin, releasing stress from her tootsies. I looked to see what the witches were doing. To my surprise, they seemed to be fingering themselves under their clothes. Ellen winked at me.

I continued rubbing Linda’s foot, while taking her toes into my mouth and sucking on them. I could never imagine playing with a girl’s foot could be so erotic. I did the same to the other foot, massaging her calves in the while, and using my other hand to rub and tickle the insides of her helpless thighs. I could tell Linda was on the edge of orgasm, as was I.

Suddenly, I was made to kneel down and place my cock right on top of her pussy. I rubbed it along the sides of it and against her warm bush. I felt the heat glow from within her depths. Whether she was enjoying the experience because she was “ordered” to, or whether this really turned her on, I wasn’t sure. I hoped the latter. I could not imagine forced pleasure to be a good experience to remember, and I did not want the memory of this experience to be worse than it already was. I begged the girls, in my own mind, not to make me enter poor Linda. Not only would that have broken her virginity, but we could also have fallen to the risk of some STD. Luckily, to my relief, I was made to stop just in time and stand up in a similar position as a soldier, getting ready for inspection by his superior officer. My hands were right at my sides and my body was standing stiff. I was made to look straight ahead of me. Linda was made to stand up next to me in the same military position.

Ellen, Julie and Mandy stood up and walked towards us and inspected us thoroughly, in every possible way. First, just by sight, they explored every inch of our bodies. Then, by smell, taking in the scents of our arousal, which were now strongly spread around the whole room. Then, they touched us, felt us, massaged us, tickled us, pinched us, rubbed us and moved against us. I felt the leather of their dresses rub against my naked frame, arousing my genitals even more. Julie took her leather jacket off, followed by the rest of the girls, and rubbed intimately against me. I felt her erect nipples through the fine fabric of her thin shirt, teasing my skin, making me shiver with delight. The other two girls were working on Linda. I could just see from the corner of my limited vision what the girls were doing to her. Ellen was sucking on Linda’s pretty nipples, while clutching her buttocks and moving them around in a fluid motion. Mandy was kissing every square inch of Linda’s body, occasionally rubbing against her as well.

Then all of a sudden.... Nothing.... Absolutely nothing...Darkness.... Unconsciousness.... Blackness. I woke up in my own bed, wearing my pajamas. It was a school night but I did not feel properly rested. I remembered everything up to the point where I was made to black out. I wondered if Linda was all right.

I jumped out of my bed and ran downstairs. I ran to the phone and dialed Linda’s number. Her folks picked the receiver up and told me she had not woken up yet but they were just about to wake her for school. I asked to speak to her. I felt relief. She was ok. She came to the phone and said a sleepy “hello”. She sounded more tired then me. I was just about to ask her about last night, before I realized... well... I couldn’t. My lips were sealed, literally. I was unable to discuss any of the events that happened last night. I don’t think she was able to either. I just continued making conversation.

“Uhhh.... You ready for school?” I asked. I could not think of anything else to say. There was a short silence on the other line. I was pretty sure Linda was also trying to find the words to describe last night, but just as me, could not get them out into the open.

“Uhhh... Yeah, I’ll see you there, in half an... hour” She stuttered. I closed with a goodbye and made myself breakfast.

I felt strangely satisfied after last night, but I don’t remember ever releasing... The girls were merciless. Something had to be done about them, and soon. If only I knew the secret to their power. I was sure to find out, somehow.