It was nighttime, and I was in the university, walking towards the train. A black van approaches and from there two faceless figures jump out and start chasing after me.
I run as fast as I can, but I’m not going anywhere, I’m running in place.
The two figures caught up to me and tackled me to the ground. I try to fight my way out of their grip but feel all my limbs being held down by various hands.
Somebody is choking me.
I feel a sharp pain cutting into me.
There’s a hand holding a bloody knife.
Suddenly, I am tied to a pole, standing naked in the middle of a crowd. I can hear laughter and mocking.
Someone is tightening their grip on my throat as I try to call for help.
From the crowd emerges four figures holding up knives. From where they were standing, their visages get bigger as the disembodied faces quickly float towards mine. They had holes where their eyes were meant to be, but I could recognize them. They were Kristia, Nivia, Nurse Cleary, and Dr. Garnett.
As each of their faces come up to mine, they stab me in the stomach.
I’m screaming, trying to yell louder after each stab, but my voice does not come out.
Lastly, Dr. Garnett’s face comes up to mine and hovers dangerously close. I’m shaking violently against the pole, pulling hard at the unforgiving restraints. She opens her mouth, and it gets bigger and bigger until it devours me while I feel a sharp, stabbing pain in my heart.
My eyes shoot open as my body sits up on the bed only to be jerked back down. Tears stream down my face.
I am shaking and breathing heavily.
Something is pressing on my face, and it is making it hard to breathe properly. I tried to reach for my mouth, but realized my hands and ankles were tied.
My sweaty clothes cling to my skin.
I looked around and didn’t recognize where I was. It is dark, and my vision is out of focus. I tried to look for my glasses, but I couldn’t reach anywhere.
I feel someone beside me put a hand on my rapidly beating heart, and I jumped back in fear.
“Shh, shh, it’s just a nightmare.” The hand does not leave my chest, and instead it presses me back down on the bed. “Shh, calm down.” The voice is gentle.
I try to talk, but my words come out muffled. My cheeks are unusually sore, and my mouth is dry.
I thrashed around some more, until the person takes their hand off me and goes to turn on the light, then approaches me once again.
Her hand is cupping my face and wiping away at the tears.
She gets closer to me and is trying to calm me down. Her blurry face comes into view and that’s when I realize where I am.
Last night’s events were real.
I closed my eyes as a stream of silent tears fell, weeping in frustration.
Dr. Garnett gets closer to me, and my entire body tenses.
I don’t want to be here. I don’t want her next to me.
She pulls my head into her chest as she strokes my hair and rocks me back and forth.
The disdain I feel for her cannot be undone by a few seemingly sympathetic acts, but right now I don’t care. I was hurting too much, and I wanted someone to hold me, even if it meant the object of my scorn.
I pressed my head further into her chest and just cried until there were no more tears.
“There, there. You’re all better now. Would you like a glass of water?” She purrs.
I looked into her eyes and nodded.
She got up off the bed and went to fill up a glass, then set it down on the nightstand.
She unclipped my ankles from the chain so that I could sit up to drink.
My hands go up to the gag and I try to wedge my fingers underneath it. She slaps my hands away and proceeds to shorten the chain to where my arms are pulled back over my head so that my hands were behind it.
“I told you that that gag would only come off when you were fed.” She says matter-of-factly.
I looked at her confusedly, wondering how I am supposed to drink water with the gag on.
“Until you learn not to run your mouth, you will stay like this. Now, try not to choke, I’ll make sure to go slowly.” She smirked.
I whimpered apprehensively as she grabbed the glass with one hand and my hair with the other, pulling my head back. She tilts the glass into my mouth, and I immediately pull forward, coughing through the gag.
“Sorry, that was too fast,” she says, laughing. I scowl at her.
Once again, she pulls my hair back and puts the glass to my bottom lip, slowly tilting this time. With difficulty, I manage to swallow the bit of water she pours into my mouth. Little by little, she does the same thing until I finish the entire glass.
“There. Feeling better now?” She grinned.
I nod skeptically.
“Good. How about we go back to sleep?”
She returns the headboard chain to its original length and clips the ankle cuffs back to the chain at the foot of the bed. She then tucks me in and goes back to her side, turning off the lights once again.
I turn again on my left side but am now half laying on my stomach so that my left bicep serves as a pillow, while the other sits across my face on my cheek.
She gets closer to me and wraps her arm around my torso. At least this time, my arms are protecting my face and serving as a barrier to keep her from getting too close to me.
I still wasn’t comfortable sleeping next to someone, especially if they were touching me. I don’t like excessive physical contact, but soon my breathing slowed, and I managed to fall asleep.
Pain woke me up, but I didn’t open my eyes immediately.
I listened to see if I was alone in the room, and that’s when I noticed two voices I hadn’t heard before. They are talking about some type of search training they had given the trainees and how some of them had failed miserably.
I groaned in pain as I shifted positions to get some feeling back in my arms. Also, I tried to adjust my jaw to relieve some pressure from the gag, but nothing worked.
The two women stopped their conversation, and I heard the chairs creak as they stood up. They are walking towards me.
“Look who finally decided to wake up.”
“Mistress sure does have a soft spot for you. She told us to let you sleep in.”
I turned around to face them but couldn’t make out their features. From the blurry shapes in front of me, I know one has red hair and the other has black hair, other than that nothing else.
The black haired one undid my ankles, while the red haired one uncuffed me from the headboard.
My hands go up to take off the gag but are snatched midway and cuffed behind my back.
I groaned, annoyed that I was going through this again.
“Ah, ah, ah. Mistress debriefed us on your situation and told us to keep the gag on and not take any chances with you,” says the red haired.
“Yep, she gave us free rein of what to do with you. She did say we can’t physically hurt you, that’s reserved for her, but to start teaching you obedience while she’s working. Unfortunately, she also said we must feed you three times a day. If it were up to me, you’d have to earn your meals, not get them for free,” remarked the other one. “By the way, the name’s Mia and this here is Dahlia.”
Great, these are the two new devils I must deal with now.
“Let’s get a move on. Mistress did say to meet at her office. She said she had something special for you,” added Dahlia.
I sighed and got up from the bed, signaling for my glasses. They both laughed aloud.
“Yeah, you’re not getting those. That’s a privilege you’ll just have to earn. You were very disobedient yesterday, so we will start your punishment with that.” Dahlia chuckled.
My 24 hours of immunity, the time I was going to use to piece my way out of this place, gone. If I can’t see my way out, what good is it going to do to me?
They each grabbed an arm and led me out of the bedroom and into the elevator. From the elevator we went up to Dr. Garnett’s office where I was forced to kneel. Again.
Dr. Garnett’s heels clicked as she entered the office behind us and walked in front of me. She ran her hand through the top of my head and exclaimed, “looks like you’ve begun your obedience training. Dahlia and Mia will take part in your training when I am working; afterwards, your sessions will be with me. If you behave today, maybe tomorrow you’ll get your glasses back.” She stopped for a second and lowered herself to be eye level with me. “I’ve got you a gift.” Her smile turned wicked.
She got up, walked towards her desk, and picked up a black box, then turned back and walked towards me. She got back down to eye level and opened the box to where I could see what was inside. I fell backwards on my hands and tried to push myself out of her reach, but Dahlia and Mia stood me back up on my knees. They both held me down by the shoulders while one of them grabbed my hair in a ponytail and lifted it to expose my neck.
I shook my head and tried to scream ‘No!’ through the gag and squirm out of their grasp, but they held me in place.
Dr. Garnett took the collar from the box and locked it around my neck. She then stood back to admire her work.
“You know, Keira, that is a specially made collar that I designed myself. It locks so that you can’t take it off, it’s able to produce increasing intensities of electric shocks, it tracks your location as well as monitors your vitals and stress levels. Also, it can tighten when a leash is attached, and as you’ve noticed, just like a dog’s, it has prongs that dig into your neck if you pull too much,” Dr. Garnett exclaimed proudly. She clipped a leash on the loop.
I whimpered. My breaths grew heavy and ragged. This is it. My last shred of humanity, gone. They are officially treating me like an animal. I slumped back on my feet; my shoulders as low they could get, as tears fell onto my thighs. My head was dangling forward.
“Aw, don’t cry. You should be grateful for such a wonderful gift! It’s official now, you are mine,” Dr. Garnett exclaimed as she pulled on the leash so that I would look up at her. The collar tightened, and I winced as it dug into the gauze-covered scratches I had made yesterday. “Now go on, get something to eat.”
I carefully stood up as Dr. Garnett handed the leash over to Dahlia, and I was led out of the office and into the elevator. I just followed Dahlia in defeat and resignation. Mia walked behind me.
As the elevator doors opened, the smell of food was evident, and I began salivating. My stomach grumbled angrily.
Before entering the cafeteria, I was led into the bathroom.
God, I was barefoot all this time, suppressing my disgust.
We entered the largest stall, and Dahlia unlocked my right wrist and locked my left to the bathroom’s support wall rail. She gave me five minutes to relieve myself before we would go into the cafeteria, then walked out of the stall and stood in front of the door. With only one free hand, I managed to drop my shorts and relieve myself. When I finished using the toilet, Dahlia came back in to unlock me from the rail and take me to the sink to wash my hands. After washing my hands, she proceeded to cuff them behind my back once more.
We exited the bathroom and entered the cafeteria, where the cacophony died down as soon as we walked through the doors. I couldn’t see people clearly, but I could hear the wave of murmurs and evil chuckles that accompanied as we walked past them. I stopped for one moment but was soon jerked forward by a pull of the leash and the tightening around my neck.
We stopped in the middle of the room, where Dahlia commanded me to kneel. As I did, a couple of cheers and whoops were directed our way, commending Dahlia on the display of obedience.
The only reason I was complying with their commands was because I was hungry, and the last time there were more people around, they had ganged up on me to hold me down. I couldn’t imagine what this crowd would do to me if I didn’t obey. Granted, they couldn’t lay a finger on me, but that wouldn’t stop them from making me suffer in other ways.
Dahlia ordered me to stay put, while they went to get my food.
As they were leaving, I just looked at the ground, shaking in place. I feared this crowd. Some people started to approach me, their boots stopping right in front of me. One woman grabbed my chin and pushed my head back to look up at the crowd gathered around me.
“You must’ve said some things to anger Mistress to be like this.” It was Kristia. She snorted derisively.
The crowd erupted in laughter.
I tried to move my head back to get out from the Kristia’s grip, but she dug her fingers into my jaw as she squatted in front of me and whispered, “wait until I get you all alone. I’ll be sure to thoroughly enjoy my time with you for what you caused me.” A wicked grin lined her face, sending a shiver down my spine.
“All right, Kristia, you know you can’t touch her for now. If you want a piece of her, we can make a deal later,” Mia answered smugly. “You’d better have something good to offer.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Kristia replied. She got up and walked away. The crowd scattered with her as Dahlia and Mia sat at the table.
Dahlia and Mia came back with three trays of food. They ate their lunch, while they forced me to stay kneeling on the ground beside them. They were sure taking their sweet time, and my stomach was protesting at the smell. After about 15 minutes of kneeling, my legs were getting tired, and I just sat back on my feet.
“Get up!” Mia spat. “Nobody gave you permission to sit. On your knees!”
Her outburst startled me, and I quickly came back up. A round of chuckles came from different corners of the cafeteria.
When both finally finished their meals, they turned to me. Mia stood up and walked behind me to take off the gag. A wave of relief rushed through me as I was able to adjust my jaw, my sore cheeks had some respite.
Dahlia stood in front of me with a piece of bread in her hand. I looked up at her with a confused expression, wondering when they were going to untie my wrists. A devious smirk formed on Dahlia’s lips. I gulped at her expression.
“Beg,” Dahlia commanded.
“What?” I replied, unsure of what she had just said.
“I said beg. Beg for your food!”
I bit the inside of my cheek, unsure if I should give in and follow her commands, but my stomach’s anger grew worse.
“Pl-please, can I have some food?” My eyes did not meet hers.
"Excuse me?”
I sighed. They always must make things difficult.
“Please, can I have some food, ma’am?” I said aloud. “I’m hungry.” I whispered the last words to myself.
She extended the hand with the bread towards me and held it an inch from my mouth. I looked up at her, incredulous that I couldn’t eat by myself. Just another way of humiliating me further.
“Eat.” She commanded once again.
Hesitantly, I went up to the piece of bread, her eyes widening in satisfaction. I turned my gaze away as I bit down on the bread, chewed, and swallowed.
“Good girl.” She said smugly.
I pushed back any urges to tell her off because I wanted my food.
As I went to reach for another bite of the bread, she let it drop on the floor. By now, a crowd had gathered once again to take in the spectacle.
“Oops, my mistake. Guess you’re going to have to eat it from the floor. Clumsy me.” She chuckled at the last sentence. The crowd burst into laughter.
What an idiot. I don’t know who I hate more, Kristia and Nivia or these two.
I looked at the piece of bread and debated if it was worth it. It wasn’t. I sat back on my feet and glared up at Dahlia. The crowd became silent.
Dahlia didn’t even hesitate; she stepped towards me and grabbed the back of my neck. She pushed my head to the floor, next to the bread, making sure that she didn’t injure me any further. I squirmed under her and whimpered.
“Eat it!” She shoved the piece of bread into my mouth. The crowd was shouting in approval.
When I finished swallowing the bread, Dahlia jerked me back up onto my knees. She let out a satisfied hum and tapped my cheek. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
Mia went behind me and unlocked the handcuffs. I rubbed my chafed wrists.
Dahlia set the tray of food on the floor in front of me. “Go ahead, finish the rest.” She said in a smug tone.
There had to be a catch.
Everybody was looking intently at our interaction. Silence and anticipation filled the crowd. Both Dahlia and Mia were now standing in front, waiting for me. I looked at them both, then back at the tray.
There was mashed potatoes, chicken stew, and orange wedges. Honestly, it looked quite delicious with my raging hunger.
I saw no cutlery, so I reached for the orange wedges first.
“What are you doing?” Mia questioned.
“Um... I’m going to eat my food, ma’am.” I answered cautiously.
“I can see that. I mean, what are you doing with your hands? Nobody gave you permission to eat with your hands.”
I looked at her incredulously. “How am I supposed to eat then?” I spat angrily.
Mia approached me and pushed my head down as her finger looped where the leash attaches, and she pulled down, tightening it across my neck. I had to use my hands to prevent myself from falling face-first into the food.
“On your hands and knees like the bitch that you are!” The crowd laughed once again.
My hands trembled in fury and disgust. I dragged my fingers in to form fists. I scrunched up my nose and closed my eyes breathing heavily once again trying to suppress the anger that threatened to explode.
It’s not worth it. This is not my fight. Calm down. Just eat and leave. You’re severely outnumbered.
I opened my eyes and decided to give in to their ridicule. I lowered my head and just started eating the food. Mocks from the crowd were directed my way. Mia squatted beside me and patted my back. “That’s an obedient dog.”
I gritted my teeth but kept eating.
Once I finished the food, I wiped my face with the back of my hand and got back up on my knees.
“Now for the water. Gotta keep you properly hydrated.” Dahlia got close to me again. She grabbed the hair on the back of my neck and pushed it back so that I was facing upwards. My eyes locked with hers. A dominating glint illuminated her eyes. She brought the bottle of water to my lips and tilted it.
The crowd was whistling and shouting lewd phrases our way.
Again, Mia squatted beside me and ran her hand through the top of my head. Her face was extremely close to mine. “Drink,” she whispered. My ear tingled when her hot breath hit it.
I drank the water as fast as I could, some spilling down my chin to my neck.
When I finally finished the bottle of water, Mia grabbed the tray, took the bottle from Dahlia, and put them in the trashcan.
“Good,” was all Dahlia said as she clipped the leash back on the collar. “Get up.” She tugged upwards on the leash. I quickly got to my feet.
The crowd had dissipated by this point, satisfied with the show.
“Turn around,” Mia commanded when she joined us. “Hands behind your back.”
I placed my arms behind me, and she cuffed them back up.
“Open your mouth.”
“Please don’t,” I pleaded.
She let out an annoyed sigh. “Just do it. Mistress’s commands are final.”
Fine. I complied. The gag was shoved back in my mouth and locked behind me. I don’t know if it was because I pleaded or what, but Mia didn’t tie the gag as tight as Dr. Garnett had done. At least I was thankful for that.
“Let’s go.” Dahlia tugged on the leash.
We made our way back to the elevator.
When the elevator opened, I felt I had already walked this hallway, but I couldn’t confirm because of my lack of glasses.
After a few turns, we came up to an open space that was highly trafficked. In the middle of the open space stood a large glass box that reached the ceiling.
Dahlia opened the door of the glass box, and that’s when the realization hit me. It’s for me.
Mia shoved me in the box, and both stepped in. I backed away until my back hit the wall.
Dahlia walked closer to me. I trembled slightly. She unclipped the leash from the collar, then stood back with her hands on her hips.
“We have some things to do. We’ll come back for your next meal, in the meantime, try to enjoy yourself.” Dahlia said smugly as she turned to the exit.
“Oh! If Mistress comes by, make sure to show her what you’ve learned so far. If you don’t, then get ready to cry.” Mia added before slamming the door behind them both.
When they shut the door, Mia went to a box on the wall and fiddled with some controls. Once she closed the door to the box, cool air started to blow. They both smirked at me and left.
I just stood there looking around. People kept walking past me and snickering. The temperature quickly dropped, and my hands and feet were beginning to get cold.
I went to the corner furthest from the door and slumped down to the floor.
After some time, the temperature had dropped to the point that I was shaking. I just curled up into a ball and put my knees as high up to my chest as I could to try to keep warm.
My hands and feet were going numb. My lips were cracking since I still had the gag, and my mouth was dry. I had to shift positions to alleviate the tingling sensation that was running down my left arm.
After some time, my eyelids were growing heavy. I was bored out of my mind, and the cold was not helping. At some point, I started drifting in and out of consciousness.
I don’t know how many hours had passed. All I know is that I was exhausted from shaking so much. I could barely feel the tips of my fingers and toes.
The door to the glass cage slammed shut, and I heard clicking heels approaching me. Warm air was starting to blow inside the cage, and it felt so great. When I pieced together that it was Dr. Garnett walking towards me, I quickly shot up to my knees, still shaking violently.
Whatever goes down right now, I must please her. I need to get out of this cage, this cold.
She stopped right in front of me with her hands on her hips. She gave a satisfied hum. “Looks like Dahlia and Mia have been teaching you a few things.”
I didn’t make a sound. I just kept looking at the ground.
She crouched down beside me and started rubbing her hands up and down my arms to warm me up. Initially, I had flinched at the contact, but relaxed shortly thereafter. Her touch felt so good, it was warm.
Her hands moved to remove my gag, then my handcuffs. I brought my hands to my chest.
“Th-thank you, Mistress.” I wasn’t sure if I should speak.
Her eyes lit up at the words.
She reached out for my face, and this time I stayed in place. Her fingers trailed my cheeks.
She hummed in disapproval this time. I looked at her with worry. What did I do wrong?
“I think we’re going to leave the gag off for now, that is, if you behave appropriately.” My eyes widened and I nodded eagerly. “The corners of your mouth and your cheeks are becoming raw, and I don’t want such a pretty face to scar.”
“Thank you, Mistress.” Right now, I’ll say anything to boost her ego and get me out of here.
“I’ve brought you your lunch, and I also want to ask you a few questions.”
“Thank you, Mistress. Whatever you want, Mistress.” Play along. Just play along.
A satisfied hum once again emerged from her. She stood up and walked over to a chair in the corner she had brought into the cage while I was sleeping. From the chair, she picked up a tray and handed it to me. I was confused she hadn’t placed it directly on the floor.
Without wanting to upset her, I put the tray on the floor and waited for her command to be able to eat.
She raised an eyebrow at my actions and told me I could eat.
I placed both hands on the floor on either side of the tray and lowered my head towards the food to begin eating.
“You can eat normally,” she interrupted. “I appreciate the obedience, but that is just Dahlia and Mia’s way of punishing you. You’ve been good since I entered, so you’ve earned that at least,” she said, quite amused.
“Thank you, Mistress.” Play. Along.
She sat down on the chair with one leg over the other, leaning forward, her chin resting on the palm of her hand eagerly looking at me, waiting for me to dig into my food.
I noticed a set of plastic cutlery and was thankful that I at least could keep some dignity.
There was white rice and beans, pork chop, salad, and cantaloupe melon, along with a bottle of water.
I began scarfing down on the food, amazed at how good it tasted. Come to think of it, the food here has been decent and tasty.
Dr. Garnett had been intently looking at me all this time, but I ignored it, focused on my food.
“How have you been feeling?” Her question cut through the silence.
“Mistress?” What exactly did she want me to answer? My feelings since I was kidnapped, how shitty her goons had been, or my head just after the fall?
“How is your headache?” Got it.
“I don’t have one anymore, Mistress.” I eyed her suspiciously.
“Since when?”
“It’s been gone since I woke up, but my head is still tender.” My hand went to caress the bump on the back of my head.
“Yes, I can imagine. Have you been feeling nauseous at all since waking up?”
“Not really. Just starving.”
She chuckled at my response.
“How about feeling exhausted at times?”
“Only since I was put in here.” The cold does not help.
“Have you had any difficulty understanding anything that has been said to you today?”
“No. Not really.” My brows furrowed in confusion. Where was she going with this?
“How about trying to concentrate on a memory or something specific?”
“Only yesterday after the fall, but not after this morning. Why?”
“Just wanted to follow up on how you were doing. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t have to take more... drastic measures.”
“Oook.” That was weird.
“Finish your food. I’m getting you out of here unless you prefer to stay in this ice box?”
I shook my head and proceeded to quickly finish my meal.
Once I was done with my food, Dr. Garnett ordered me to stand up. She then clipped the leash onto the collar and turned around to walk out of the glass prison, me following in tow.
She then took me to her office, where we had first met, and sat me on the chair right next to her desk, my back to the door and her enthroned on the desk chair.
“So, Keira,” she turned her chair towards me, “my IT department has finished getting all the information from your phone. How fortuitous that you just so happen to want to go into medicine. Well, I happen to have a proposition for you.” She placed a hand on my knee.
I looked at her hand, then met those electrifying blue orbs. My eyebrows scrunched up in suspicion. I wanted so badly to push her hand off my knee.
“Yes?”
“Since you want to study medicine, how about I teach you? You don’t have to deal with all the annoying admissions process, and you’ll save a ton of money by not going to school. Also, you’ll be free to do whatever you want, no board or committee will overlook what you’re doing, except me that is. On top of all that, you would be responsible for taking care of the people in this base. We might have started off on the wrong foot, but think about it, you’d have some power and relative freedom to roam around the compound. Of course, you’d still answer to me and any rules I wish to impose on you, but at least you wouldn’t be just my plaything.”
Is she serious? So, I would either be a sex slave to this delusional maniac or be a glorified sex slave with medical knowledge and a bit of freedom to walk places without 24/7 surveillance? What the hell? What kind of choice is that? No, bitch, I want complete freedom. I want to make my own future, not have it be dictated by someone else to carry on her twisted legacy.
I grabbed her hand and put it on the desk. She raised an eyebrow at me. I got close to her. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t want to follow in your depraved ways, and I most certainly don’t want to be your damn plaything. I’m getting out of here the first chance I get, and I’m going to make sure that this whole operation you’ve got going on gets shut down for good.” I spat back, incredulous at her bold words.
I moved my hand away from hers, but she snatched my wrist and pulled it towards her. My head was going as far back as it could to keep away from her. Even though I tried to pull my arm away from her, she tightened her grip on my wrist, nails digging into it until it was painful. My other hand grabbed at her wrist and did the same thing to her to see if she would let go. Her free hand now grabbed a hold of my other wrist and did the same as before.
I held her gaze for a moment, my eyebrows forming a thin line in anger. As our eyes danced around each other’s, I was the first to let go. Her grip was ridiculously hard, and my hand couldn’t keep gripping. I know more bruises are going to form after this.
“You sure you don’t want to reconsider my offer? It’s your last chance.” Her half grin showed a pearly white canine.
“Go. To. Hell.” I spat through gritted teeth.
“God, I love your tenacity! You sure are one stubborn pet. Have it your way then.” She laughed as she finally let go of my wrists. “You know, this little game you’ve got going on of selective obedience will end soon. As much as I love your stubbornness, making you submit to me will be all the sweeter. I sure am glad that you are feeling better ’cause you certainly look like it, so I’m not going to be too worried of finally getting to explore the wonders your body has to offer.”