Donna smiled and waved to the last of the other employees as they left. She locked the door behind them and watched until they got into their cars and pulled out of the parking lot. Then she turned and hurried towards the back, her calm demeanor abandoning her. She switched off the front lights and then went into the loading dock area.

She didn't expect anyone to return, but in case they did, she firmly locked the metal door leading back into the store proper. She grinned. It wouldn't do to have anyone come in when she was busy, and during the most crucial time she couldn't hear if anyone did.

Donna surveyed the room. A huge metal roll-up door led to the outside. It was only opened when delivery shipments arrived. A regular door was beside it. She shook her head in irritation. What she came here for wasn't the doors, it wasn't somethig on the walls. It was over her head.

She crossed to the electrical box and opened it, then flipped two circuit breakers to the "on" position. Carefully she closed the cover to the box and walked to one wall. There she grasped a rectangular control box that hung from a cable. She pulled it and it slid along a ceiling track until she was standing in the middle of the room. Pressing a green painted button rewarded her with a rumbling sound. She looked up.

Sometimes in an idle moment Donna wondered what the building's original purpose had been. There had to be some reason for there to be heavy-duty electrical lift installed on runners along the steel beams of the ceiling. But that wasn't important. What was inportant was that she had recognized it as being perfect for playing her favorite fantasy.

Donna was an autoerotic asphyxiation junkie. She had experimented with different methods of cutting off her air supply while she masturbated. One method that had always fired her imagination was hanging.

Not that there had been an opportunity to really try hanging herself. She had pretended, tieing a rope around her neck and leaning against it as she stood on the floor. Greatly daring once, she had fastened the rope to a ceiling beam and stood on a chair with a noose around her neck. That had led to an incredible orgasm as she stood there with her eyes closed and the rough fibers of the rope careessing her neck. But that had been a one time deal. She couldn't go any farther, not safely anyway. From her reading she knew that stepping off the chair and dropping even a few inches could crush her windpipe or make her pass out from the shock and then she really would be dead. And the excitement of that one time had nearly been irresistable. She had come so close to stepping off that chair regardless of the consequences.

Although she still practiced breath games, she longed to find some safe, well, relatively safe, way of indulging her desire to hang. It wasn't until the office supply company that she worked for opened a new store in the revitalized part of the old town that she found herself face to face with the opportunity.

In the first day of moving in she had gone back to check on a delivery and found a couple of the young male employees playing with a ceailing mounted lift. They were using the control box to lower and raise a heavy metal cable with a hook on the end.

"Hey Donna," one of them greated her. "Look at this. I wonder if this was a machine shop or something once. I bet this can lift hundreds of pounds."

Donna had idly glanced at the guys and their toy. Telling them if they were QUITE done they could get back to unloading the truck, she had started back towards the main area. Then her feet had slowed and she looked back. If it could lift hundreds of pounds, then it could lift a person. And that person could be lifted by a rope around her neck. Donna had shivered in excitement.

As one of the assistant managers she closed the store three nights a week. She also had access on Sunday when the store was closed, allowing her to come in during the evrning hours under the pretence of checking inventory. She taught herself how to use the lift controls and then began to experiment with different ropes and fastenings.

Too thin a rope tried to cut into her neck and left marks. She didn't like the feel of coarse fibers on her skin so hemp was out. Finally she worked it all out. She adopted a thick smooth nylon rope that tightened on her neck like a lover's hands. And then she came up with what she thought was her best idea. Rather then having to take the time to securely tie the rope each time, she braided the end to a snap-link. Then all she had to do was clip the noose onto the lifting hook, which she did now.

Now that the rope was firmly attached to the hook it was time to dress properly. Or rather time to undress properly. She unbuttoned her blouse and draped it on a hanger which went on a handy metal rack. Her bra followed. Her nipples were already getting hard, both from the cool air in the room and from her growing excitement. Balancing carefully, she removed one high heel and then the other, placing them together at the foot of the rack. She unzipped her skirt and used the second hanger. Now she was wearing only her sheer-to-waist nude pantyhose. As she always did when she closed and there was a chance to use the lift she had foregone panties.