This was not at all how I expected to start my day.

I should have been waking up in my own bed, at home, groggily rising to get ready for the day. But instead I found myself trapped in some sort of padded metal container. A pitch black box, hidden away from the light, unable to see my hands. It felt like I was coming to my senses for the first time in ages, having spent the last however long it might have been in and out of consciousness.

The last thing I could remember was the accident, watching my life flashing before my eyes as my car spun out of control. As I felt myself fall into the water beside the bridge I couldn’t help but think of it as little more than a miserable highlight reel of an existence worth nothing in the end.

Maybe I was blind, and that was why I couldn’t see anything. Maybe this was what being blind felt like. Maybe I’d been deafened in the crash too, I thought I could hear people outside, but maybe they didn’t actually exist to be able to hear me. But I could hear myself, I could hear my own voice saying nothing of importance. Being deaf and blind wouldn’t explain these walls either. I was sure they were real. I could feel them.

I was trapped in an actual physical container. Even if my brain did get scrambled by the crash, there was no way I was imagining it. Those people outside must have known I was in here, too. I could feel them moving me around, rotating and picking up the box from time to time, waking me from my slumber. I could only hope that they know that I’m in here, there’s no telling where they might be taking me.

Oh god, I’m in a coffin, aren’t I?

My heart splintered in my chest at the thought. Those people out there must think that I’m dead. A car drives off a bridge into the ocean and everyone thinks it’s a suicide- time to bury the body. If I wasn’t dead already, I’d certainly end up that way if I didn’t do something about this.

After what felt like an hour of endlessly kicking at thudding against the walls of the container I found myself in, I began curling in on myself. Nothing. Nobody heard me. Or if they did, nobody cared to let me out. But that couldn’t have been right. There’s no way they’d keep me in here if they could hear me shouting for help. There must be something I’m missing.

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been. I wasn’t one to second guess my own senses, but this couldn’t be happening right now. If I didn’t know better, I would think that I’m dead.

Am I dead? I asked myself, unsure of what was real and what wasn’t. It certainly felt like real life, but was it? For all I knew, I was a ghost trying to inhabit my long dead body, drowned in sea then in soil.

This must be a prank.

Yeah. That would make a lot of sense. Memories of drowning were still fresh in my mind, but that wasn’t where it ended. I was pretty sure I remembered coming back up. Mark my words, I didn’t die in that crash. It had to be a prank.

“And it had better be a good one.” I scoffed, wanting nothing more than to punch the wise guy that put me in here straight in the teeth. And they’d deserve it, too.

After all, I’m Sophia Cavalier. I shouldn’t be getting treated like this.

Things hadn’t been this quiet in what felt like forever. Enough that I finally managed to get some sleep for the first time since the accident. I should be in my apartment, safe and secure, practicing my skills for next season and blasting music loud enough to get my neighbors to complain. Because if they didn’t like the sound of my drums, the record player needed to be amplified enough to drown everything else out. I loved my neighbors, even if they did go out of their way to complain about what I was doing, they were wonderful.

I had always been a bit of a rebel. I grew up in a foster home after all, there isn’t much to be grateful for growing up knowing your parents were so abusive that they’d gotten you permanently taken away from them. I remembered my parents, but even they weren’t awful enough to stuff me into a box and never let me out. I had no idea how long I was going to be stuck in this thing, but for quite a few hours after I’d awoken, things felt unusually still. The hours felt like eternity from inside this box, but after a while, the box began to open.

The doors to the grey metal container swung open slowly, letting me out of the box. As it did, I could finally see my body as the setting sun started shining in- and thankfully- I was still in one piece. It seemed to open on its own as well, there wasn’t a soul in sight, only the doors of what looked like a decadently adorned mansion.

Oh yeah, this had to be some kind of prank.

I stood up, stretching my aching body, I was still wearing the same clothes that I remember putting on the day of the crash. A long sleeved flannel button up was tied around my waist, hanging over a pair of ripped jean shorts, my navel exposed under my pastel yellow crop top, a pair of rainbow trimmed high tops at my feet. This was the outfit I wore to visit my foster mom on Cinco de Mayo, who I hadn’t seen in years. Although, I didn’t have the small black backpack style purse that I usually kept my things in, which means I didn’t have my phone to call for her help. It would have been nice to hear her voice right now, even if we had been locked in a screaming match when I chose to storm out and head home.

I took a few steps towards the house, examining my reflection in the windows. Usually I plastered over my freckles with concealer, but my makeup seemed to have washed off, including the black eyeliner that I normally never left my house without. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to fix it up, I took great care of my hair at all times, my curls were dyed peach because the pinkish tint was really all I could do to my hair without bleaching it, I refused to damage my delicate locks even slightly.

I stepped back, taking a look at my surroundings. Aside from what I assumed was a garage behind me, I was seemingly surrounded by a large enclosure of hedges and black fences. I must have been brought here for a reason. It seemed likely that whoever decided to bring me here was likely inside of that house.

“Come on. A mansion, really?” Even I had to admit that it was impressive, but I didn’t pay as much mind to it as I probably ought to have.

But I did take a long look towards the outer gates of the property. I could and should have bolted right then and there, but the sun was quickly setting, and I didn’t want to sleep on the streets again. I’d gotten enough of that when I tried running away from my foster home as a kid. Besides, it didn’t look too bad, maybe someone important just really wanted to meet me.

Of course this could also just be a huge prank, and if I was being pranked there was only one logical thing to do.

I rang the doorbell before immediately skipping back down the steps, running away towards the garage to wait for someone to answer. Low and behold- the door to the mansion quickly opened. But to my dismay, there was nobody at the door.

“Nope. Absolutely not.” I decidedly mumbled as I turned and walked the other way. I’d seen and played enough horror films and games to know where this was going. Nowhere good. I needed to get out of here, and fast.

Naturally, I was drawn towards the sunset at what must have been the back of the house from the looks of it. I thought the place looked big from the side, but there was more to it than I’d seen. Not that I cared. It wasn’t like I’d ever afford to live in a place like this in my life, even with my winnings from the tournament. I had always lived a humble life, and I always would. Money only got you so far. You can’t buy victory, and I didn’t care who I had pissed off in proving that. Candace Saint Clair could suck my dick.

Not that I had one. I often fantasized about what it would be like if I did, but I didn’t, and I was a little bit glad for that. Although, if I did have one, I would have been more than happy to let that stuck up little princess choke on it. Or if she just wanted to have some fun, that’d be fine too. Part of me still couldn’t believe she’d given me such a cold shoulder after the match. All I wanted was to hold her hand for just a moment, and she wouldn’t even let me have that. What kind of sore loser doesn't even shake hands?

Can you stop thinking about Candace for two fucking seconds already? I shouted in my head, trying to refocus. The sunset shining over the ocean through the gate was pretty- extraordinarily so- but I needed to get out of here. You’re getting thrown into a horror game, this isn’t the time to muse about in your head thinking of your crush.

It only took me a few seconds of trying to climb the metal bars to discover that yes, they were in fact electrified. They were tall too, and even with these shoes, there was no climbing over them without getting myself shocked unconscious. Suddenly, the sunset over the ocean felt that much more enticing now that I knew just how far out of reach it really was.

“Well don’t be shy, Sophia. I’ve been expecting you.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I heard those words. It sounded like a voice on the intercom, a woman speaking to me. Someone who knew my name.

“I’m sorry, what?” I snapped back, stepping towards the sound, trying to figure out where among the many fence posts the speaker must have been placed. “Do I know you? Where am I? Why am I here?”

Oh good, she can hear me , I thought as the intercom kicked on again. Then surely she’d have some answers for me.

I heard the woman giggling at me from the other side of the intercom. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar- maybe even more than that- but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “We can talk when you get inside. Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Don’t patronize me.” I growled at the mansion as I began to walk back towards it, seeing no option but to do as told, slowly but surely stepping into the doorway. “You should know that crashing someone’s car and kidnapping them doesn’t make for a very funny prank. It just means you’re a selfish asshole with a lot of money to throw around.”

The door slammed shut behind me, pushing me the rest of the way into the house. I quickly turned around, trying to move the handle and open the door again, but it was locked, and nothing I could do managed to budge it. “Like I said, a lot of money. So you can open, close, and lock doors remotely, how impressive.”

She didn’t respond to that one, either I had scared her off by badmouthing her or she just didn’t want to listen to me anymore, I chose to believe it was the former.

Through the silence I heard another noise, music coming from the door to my left, it sounded just like the album I had left in my record player at home, which I liked to listen to on loop. Not that I could loop a record by any method but physically.

This door was locked too, which aggravated me. Whoever she was, she obviously knew who I was and what kinds of things I was into, but I wasn’t just gonna cave into whatever she said. I took a few good steps away from the locked door, backing myself into the wall across from it before slamming into the door with my shoulder. But it didn’t budge. Instead I was sent reeling in pain onto the floor, rubbing my shoulder with the opposite hand. How in the world could her doors be so tough?

“Well don’t break anything. I’ve put quite a lot of time and money into this house after all.” The speakers from within the house played her voice much more clearly than those without. Her voice really did sound familiar. I couldn’t think of anyone I would know with this kind of money, but I recognized that voice.

It couldn’t be…

Trying to clear my head, I rose to my feet and stormed down the hallway, growling at her in anger. “Bite me!!”

I hated that I had to play her game, but there was only one way to go from here after all, forward. It led me to an intersection, off to the left was a longer hallway, while the room in front of me looked like it led into some sort of massively oversized parlor, and to my right was a single room- which I swiftly turned towards, opening it up and taking a peek inside.

And let me tell you, did I regret that. I jumped, backing away from the door as I watched a small black cat exit the room the instant I opened the way for it. Before I could slam the door shut on it, though, it had quickly darted its way towards the large parlor room.

“Well I guess I know which way I’m not going.” I turned around and made my way down the longer hallway, wanting to get away from the damn thing as soon as possible. I hated cats with a passion. “Gross…”

I was much more of a dog person, my foster mother even gifted me a small stuffed dog with my name on it as a gift after I’d tried to run away from home. She wanted me to know that she cared about me and wanted me to be safe. Ever since then, just holding that stuffed animal was the quickest way to cheer me up and make me feel safe. I wanted to squeeze that dog more than anything else in the world right now.

I gripped the handle to the next room tightly. “Please don’t be more cats…” I swung the door open, walking into what I realized was a bathroom. It only began to occur to me just then that I hadn’t eaten in several days, that must be why I didn’t even feel the need to relieve myself after getting out of my container. From the other side of the wall I heard more music, but not metal music this time, video game music. Sounded like someone was playing Stolen Cosmos.

With a smirk, I made my way out of the bathroom and towards the next room. I won the Stolen Cosmos world championship, and I was extremely proud of it. I had defeated the famous Candace St. Clair in the world championship finals just a few months prior. I remember playing that game day in and day out growing up in the group home. It was one of the few things I had that helped me cope with the numerous other children I had to share a bedroom with.

I didn’t get along with the other girls very well, for some reason they just didn’t like me very much. My foster mom eventually had to give up and make me sleep in one of the boys bedrooms, thinking I would get so sick of the boys that I’d beg the other girls to let me back in, but that never happened. For some reason I got along with the boys a lot better, sitting in my top bunk, only ever getting down to go to school and play video games with my roommates. In retrospect, I should never have been allowed to sleep in the same bedroom with other girls as a teenager, knowing how I turned out. One of my crowning achievements as a child was when the boys in my room got caught looking at a magazine full of naked women, and I convinced my foster mother to let me keep it. I spent hours and hours staying up at night masturbating to those kinds of pictures while the boys in the room were asleep.

I scoffed at my painfully tacky rainbow high tops as I walked into the large gaming room, I had grown up to be a proud lesbian, awful fashion sense and all. I looked up from my shoes, my jaw dropping in awe as I saw what was inside. Multiple monitors, high tech speakers, leather couches, and a large lcd screen that stretched almost across the entire wall. To say I was amazed would have been an understatement, this was my dream gaming set up as a child.

“Where have you been all of my life?” My gaze finally rose to the large LCD display to figure out what I was hearing, finally realizing who was playing Stolen Cosmos. Me.

Of course I wasn’t actually playing the game, and neither was anyone else. On the large monitor mounted to the far wall was a replay of me playing the game, a video of me from one of my very few streams. I stomped my way into the room, digging around in the couch cushions for the remote, thinking it was the most obvious place to find it, picking it up from under the pillows and turning the large screen off.

“So you’re a creepy weirdo superfan, is that it?” I tossed the remote back onto the couch cushion before getting up and heading back out the door into the hallway. As soon as I reached the door however, I heard the music playing again. She turned the monitor back on. I stormed back into the hallway, slamming the door shut behind me. “Will you please cut it out with the creepy haunted house bullshit?”

I was trying my best not to show it, but I really was scared out of my mind. First they take advantage of my car accident and have me sent across the country to their doorstep, then they trap me inside of their mansion, and now they’re playing mind games on me to freak me out. This was beyond messed up, if this really was a prank, it had gone too far. I hated to think what was going to happen if this wasn’t a prank after all. I was powerless in this situation, all I could do to fight back was to do what I always do, be a brat.

Shaking my head and angrily stormed off, I continued down the hallway. When I came to the end, the only way to continue was to turn right and head through this woman’s dining room, but I wasn’t quite done here. This open area at the end of the hallway seemed to be some sort of lounge, except instead of decorating it with furniture and entertainment, it seemed to be adorned with all sorts of valuable paintings, carvings, and decoration. It was a place to display art.

Yours truly wasn’t an aggressive person by nature, but I’m no pushover either. If she was going to play childish games on me, then I was gonna play a few games of my own.

I paid very little attention to the pictures on the wall, they looked valuable but they weren’t as satisfying to destroy. Instead I turned my attention to one of the marble pedestals, the kind that you’d find in a museum holding some manner of priceless artifact, and I picked up the ornately carved figurine that was sitting on top of it. This thing looks like it would sell for a fortune, it’s too bad that it’s owner was a bitch.

SMASH!!!

The figurine lifted upwards as I held it above my head with both of my hands, before hurling it towards the ground as hard and as fast as I could. I felt childish to do something so blatantly rebellious, but it was all I could think to do in this situation, and it felt kind of cathartic to destroy someone’s valuables after I’d been explicitly told not to. She deserved it.

No response. Surely she must have watched me do that, she should have at least heard the sound of things shattering from somewhere else inside of her own house, she couldn’t just ignore it. Her silence just aggravated me, I felt like I was making a fool of myself for no reason, and that she was sitting back and laughing at me acting like a child. I put all of my weight into knocking the marble pedestal over onto the shattered remnants of the small statue, putting one foot on the side of the pillar and pushing down on it, watching it tumble to the floor before I stomped off into the dining room.

Still nothing.

“Fine.” I shivered, quietly mumbling to myself to mask how badly this was hurting me. “I don’t want to talk to you either.”

The sun was setting through the dining room window, into the ocean below. Suddenly things felt darker than they ever had before. I had gone a long way and achieved a lot, but I felt so lonely.

Even if I had my phone with me right now, I wouldn’t even know who to call for help. My only real friend was my manager and ex-boyfriend, Justin. He was the last person I saw, trying to help calm me down from a crying mess after getting done with screaming at my foster mother. I didn’t have parents or siblings to call, just her, and I wasn’t even sure I could do that. She and I hadn’t seen each other in so long, my foster family didn’t stay in contact with me.

Or rather- despite her insistence- I chose not to keep in contact with her. And I was really regretting that right about now, knowing that the last time I might ever see her face I had made her cry.

I was the Stolen Cosmos world champion, I had thousands of fans, but I couldn’t even name a single one of them, and there was no way of reaching them from here. The only people I could think to call were the police, and even if I did call them I had no idea where I was and why, I didn’t even know what was happening.

All I could think to do was lash out, so I did. I picked up one of the chairs tucked away under the dining table, wielding it with both hands and swinging it at the glass, watching the wooden seat just bounce off of the bulletproof surface and fall onto the floor. There wasn’t much I could do but try and beat my way out of here, and when that didn’t work, I wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t going to give up, but I wasn’t sure how to keep fighting, so I decided to pause the game.

Curling up in front of the sliding glass door, I decided to take a break, becoming no more than a little ball on the floor watching the quickly fading sunset.

It was getting dark. I wanted to get through this door just so that I could dive headfirst into that beautiful blue ocean. I wanted to escape, not just from this house, but from everything, to get away from this life and start something new, a life that wasn’t quite so lonely.

And when it was finally over, I stood up and walked towards the other end of the dining room. The lightswitch flipped upward, but nothing happened. She was keeping me trapped in this house with the lights off, just as pitch black as the container I’d arrived in, and even worse, she was ignoring me.

Oh well, how much worse could it get? I sighed, moving on yet again. Next was the kitchen, which I entered and made my way over to her fridge.

Once there I began to start digging out whatever food I could find and shovel them into my mouth, less out of rebellion than just out of sheer hunger. It had been days since I’d eaten anything at all, and the fatigue was beginning to get to me. I made sure to fill up a glass of water to go with my makeshift meal, chugging it down as quickly as I could before smashing it onto the kitchen floor out of anger.

As stupid as it might have been to blindly shatter glass onto the floor of a room that’s so dark you can’t see in, I managed to avoid the broken shards of glass as I walked out of the kitchen and into another hallway. The whole house was pitch black, with one exception, there was light shining from the crack under one of the doors to my left. I pushed on the handle, opening the door to be greeted by yet another bathroom, but this one was much bigger.

I left the door to the bathroom open, but I wasn’t an idiot. I was expecting it to swing closed as soon as I stepped inside of it. She was trying to trick me into going into that bathroom for some reason, and even though I was beginning to feel the need to relieve myself after the small meal I had just eaten, there was absolutely no way I was going to do it in that room.

So instead I backed up and walked away, letting the light from the bathroom illuminate the hall as I found the next room. This one looked like it was supposed to be used as another bedroom, but instead the walls and floors were lined with racks of clothes, like a gigantic closet the size of a bedroom, and across the hallway from it was another room with its lights on, but unlike the other room, this door did not open.

It sounded like there was someone in there.

Disregarding the room full of clothes, there was only one other room left to explore, the parlor, just down the hallway from where I was, completing my loop around the house, but that little monster was probably still in there.

The parlor, though not the main entrance, opened up at the front of the building. Right into the massive sprawling garden outside, opposite the ocean behind it. The sunrise was sure to shine in this room.

I carefully stepped into the large gathering room, luckily for me the room was partially illuminated by the light of the night sky shining in through the large sliding glass door at the end of the room, and I couldn’t spot the oversized rodent anywhere. It was too dark to find it before it found me. I almost shrieked as I saw a small shadow dart it’s way across the room, and a moment later I heard a quiet scratching sound at one of the doors. that must be that horrible cat that I had met earlier, I didn’t like to admit it, but I was quite scared of those little nuisances.

My nervous heart quickly beating out of my chest, I slowly walked over to investigate the noise, tiptoeing down the hallway. I felt a small bump underneath one of my feet as I took a step towards it, and I jumped. It hiss loudly at me, moving out from under my shoe, causing me to fall flat on my ass onto the floor below.

Quickly squirming away from the monstrous creature, I scurried down the hallway towards the gaming room, hurrying to shut myself inside of the bathroom. But to my dismay, even though the door had opened before, I could no longer get it to budge. Leaving me to bang my head on the door in frustration.

Part of the reason the other girls at the foster home didn’t like me was because I was a bedwetter. We never got along because they always made fun of me and teased me about not being able to control my bladder. It had always made me feel bad.

“Great.” I snarled loudly, falling to the floor in humiliation. “Just great.”

I could feel my shorts getting ever so slightly wet between my legs. I hadn’t quite pissed my pants, but I was close. This woman surely had some sort of night vision camera that she was using to spy on me, and she undoubtedly was watching with bated breath to see me soil my pants like an untrained toddler.

Towards the other end of the hall however, I heard that scratching noise again, accompanied by a loud purring sound. It was that stupid cat, clawing at something, asking for my attention. So I stood up again, walking towards it, making sure it didn’t get away. It was scratching its claws on the door to the room I had found it in. I must have accidentally trapped it outside of its own bedroom when we first met earlier. I sighed loudly, reaching for the handle and opening the door to let it back in. Listening for it as it made its way inside, closing the door behind it and heading back into the rest of the house, walking directly towards the wardrobe room.

All of a sudden, however, I heard a door slam close across the hall before I could step aside. The light that was already barely illuminating the room went out completely, leaving me in total darkness.

Trying to see what was up, I rushed myself back into the hallway, walking back to the bathroom and turning the handle again. The door opened like it had before, but this time as soon as I turned to walk away it slammed shut again.

“I hope you’re enjoying this.” I said out loud, both to everyone and to no one. “Alright. You win. I give. Just tell me what you want from me and we can move on, please.”

For a moment, I was afraid I wouldn’t get an answer. It took a moment, but surely enough, the intercom kicked back on. And out came that voice. “Come towards the light, slave.”

Things were suddenly much worse than any horror game I’d ever played. “…What?”

“You heard me.” She repeated, almost letting me hear that maniacal smile of hers. “Now come towards the light.”

The word rang in my ears. Slave.

This wasn’t a prank, not even remotely. My stomach churned as it received confirmation. I’d lived alone for so long, and it had always been fine, but all of a sudden the things I’d been told I should be afraid of were very real. Hearing somebody say those words to me was all it took for it to sink in.

I’d let myself become a victim of human trafficking.

Whimpering, I asked. “Do I have to?”

There was no response from there. My captor was done talking, she’d laid out her terms- or rather- her instructions. And clearly, whoever she was, she expected me to follow them.

But now that I was this close to her bedroom, I wasn’t just hearing her on the intercom. I could practically hear her voice through the walls. I recognized that voice, and it somehow both terrified and delighted me. More than anything, though, it made me blush.

Not wanting to make an even bigger fool of myself than I had to fumbling around in the dark for the rest of the night, I relented, opening the door and letting it shut behind me as I entered. As expected, the door back into the hallway was locked and unmoving, leaving only two other doors out of this room. I wasn’t going to be getting out of here until I eventually caved into my captor’s demands, I just didn’t know what she wanted yet. Whether or not she was who I thought she might be, I took a moment to compose myself, not wanting to face her.

“Candace?” I quietly mumbled, hoping she both did and didn’t hear me at once. If I was wrong, it was going to be embarrassing for me. But I’d heard her voice in person, we spent the day together on the big stage, that had to be her.

No. I took a deep breath, trying to relax. It can’t be her. Candace might be a sore loser, but she’s not a criminal. She wouldn’t do something like this.

Light was shining from one of the other two doors, which must lead to the same place as the one in the hallway with its lights on. I made my way over to it and tried the handle, only to find that it too was locked.

The further of the two doors on the other hand, was unlocked, opening up into what seemed to be a real walk-in closet, although smaller than the bedroom full of clothes, it was closer in size to a small sitting room than a closet. It also had a single light on, making it possible to step inside without worrying about stepping on another cat. Other than the one I’d entered through, the only door I could see was the door into the closet from what I assumed was the bedroom it came attached to. From what I’d seen of the rest of the house, this was likely the master bedroom, complete with a walk-in closet and master bathroom connected to each other in a small three room loop.

Inside, the closet was totally inconspicuous. Aside from noting that I was getting deeper and deeper into the house, there was nothing suspicious about this room.

Seeing no other choice, I set my hand upon what I presumed would be the door out of the closet, and took a deep breath. Anyone could have been waiting for me on the other side of that door, and I was terrified of what they would do when they finally saw me.

The door opened with a creak, allowing me inside. It was huge. Not even the parlor could compare. There was a massive vanity. Gorgeous, elegant, and sickeningly beautiful. A king sized bed with messy sheets off to one side of the room. A glass table near the center, white leather sofas surrounding it. Yet another gargantuan display on the wall opposing them. And in the corner of the room nearest the closet door, a large metal hatch in the wall hidden behind a strange black chest. But there was one thing that this room was missing.

People.

“Hello?” I said. “Are you not in here?”

But that couldn’t be. My head was spinning, scanning the room from top to bottom to make sure they weren’t just hiding from me. Unless they were hiding behind some secret door, there wasn’t anywhere else they could have been. Yet search all I might, there was no one here. Just me and the black mirrors that surrounded me.

On second look, there was something else in here, however. Another large desk off in the furthest corner. The best spot for avoiding glare. It had three more screens sitting atop it, monitors for the two computers on the floor beneath them. Those were gaming PCs. And alongside them sat every game console you could imagine, current generation or otherwise. Whoever lived here definitely had good taste in hobbies.

“I was beginning to wonder when you were finally going to get here.”

It was the same woman. Her voice sounded different in person, but I could tell it was the same broadcasted over the intercom, this time from behind me. I recognized that voice. All it took was hearing it from her own two lips for me to finally know for sure.

She licked them as she spoke. “What in the world took you so long?”

“Candace.”

Candace St. Clair. The Mary Sue of the entire electronic sports profession. Poster child for female gamers. Like me.

“Sophia.”

Bafflingly, she stood just inside the closet doorway wearing her usual smile. How she could have been in there without me noticing her was beyond me, but I didn’t stop to give it much thought.

It had been so long since I’d laid my eyes on her that just seeing her here with me now brought me to the edge of tears. Candace was always a joy to be around. She was such a sweetheart, someone who couldn’t hurt a fly. My heart swelled with relief, I was so happy to see her. After everything I’d just been put through, it felt good to see her face and know it was over, worries fading to dust in an instant.

I ran to her. I dropped every pretense of rivalry between us, and I ran to her. My chest was tingling with a mixture of embarrassment and excitement. She stumbled backwards, not bothering to return my hug. I just about toppled her to the floor, arms draped over her shoulder, wrapping around and squeezing her as tight as I could.

“Oh thank god, it’s you.” I said. My iron grasp now mostly served to hide my teary eyes from hers, unable to face her with any sort of weakness.

“There there.” The other girl sighed. It took her a moment, but she did eventually wrap her arms around me in return. “You can let go of me now."

And so I did, trusting her word and slowly letting go of my tight embrace as I stepped back a few steps to offer her a friendly smile. “I was afraid that someone was trying to hurt me.”

“And how do you know you’re not still in danger?” Candace joked. With a smirk on her face and one eyebrow raised, she stepped towards me again to close that distance. She wasn’t afraid of me, not in the slightest. “What makes you think I won’t hurt you? Don’t think I have it in me?”

“You wouldn’t. I’m sorry for getting all worked up. If I knew it was you, I wouldn’t have broken anything.”

I couldn’t see myself smile, but I heard myself giggle and assumed I wore a happy grin. The glee painted across my face was extremely short lived, however. My delight dropped off the face of the earth as I watched her reel her arm back, curling her fingers into a fist and swinging her arm forward before pounding me in the face. Her punch catching me totally off guard, I was sent reeling to the ground, my hands gripping at my surely soon to be blackened eye.

“What about now?” She asked with that awfully familiar voice. “Still don’t think I have what it takes to hurt you?”

Oh she could hurt me alright, and she had before. This was just like back then, standing on the big stage with her last fall. This was not the touch I wanted when I asked for her hand. “What the fuck, Candace?! What was that for?!”

Candace began caressing her fist with her other hand, stretching fingers and popping knuckles. “Don’t act like we’re friends, Cavalier. I’m not here to save you.”

Seething, my hand pried from my eye, glaring her directly in the soul. “Then why are you here then?”

“This is my house, Sophia.” She gestured to the gaming computers with a menacing grin, sending daggers directly back at me with her evil little eyes. Candace was giving me a look that I’d never seen before, one I never wanted to see again. “Who do you think had you sent here in the first place?”

“You? If you don’t want to be friends, why would you have me brought to your house in a box?”

“You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can figure that out on your own.”

She called me a slave. I said in my head. “You can’t be serious.” By now I was backing away from her as quickly as I could. A snail, my hands shook with slimy sweat as I reached for the door. “Don’t tell me you’re upset about the championship?”

“Well there you go.” She addressed the doorknob over me. “Maybe you have a brain in there after all.”

The handle wouldn’t turn. “O-okay, fine. You’ve had your fun. Please let me go home now…”

Candace shook her head at me. She was getting ready to hit me again. “For someone as rebellious as you, I really expected you to strike back.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” I let go of the handle and began to guard instead, preparing to defend myself from her. “This is insane.”

“That’s a shame. Because I really want to hurt you.”

She swung her fist at me again, only barely allowing enough time to block with my arm. Seeing no other choice, I stepped away from the door, reluctantly swinging at her with my other hand, watching her quickly duck to the ground, going under my arm. She dug her fist into my stomach, twisting her hand and grasping at my clothes, quickly swinging me around her and shoving me away from the door and back into the room.

“Did bedwetting Cavalier really piss her pants in fear?” Candace strided towards me with confidence as backed away, unable to keep herself from giggling. “I guess I need to strip you naked too.”

I watched as she darted towards me, barely able to follow her as she quickly ducked, grabbing me from behind with both arms and restraining me. I growled angrily. All I could do was thrash at her, walking backwards to try and pin her into the wall behind me. Candace scoffed, placing one foot on the back of my leg and bending my leg, forcing me to my knees. She then pulled her arms out from under mine, dropping me to the ground, one foot still on the back of my calf as she placed the other between my shoulderblades, pushing me onto my hands and knees.

“What a pity.” I could hear the smug grin in her voice even without looking at her, huffing angrily as I struggled to catch my breath. “I expected more of a fight.”

“You’re heavier than you look…”

“Thanks, it’s all muscle mass.”

Relief came only for a second before her strength was proven. Candace lifted her weight from my leg, only to then proceed with slamming my face into the ground, one foot firmly planted between my shoulderblades as the other stepped on my head.

“No, please! You win!” I shouted out in pain, my body begging to get out from under her. “I’m sorry! Please, I’m sorry!”

Candace only crushed my skull further beneath her feet. “Sorry for what, exactly?”

Heart hung broken in my chest, I decided I’d bite back my pride, just this once. “I’m sorry for beating you in the finals…”

Seemingly satisfied with my apology, Candace stepped off of me and back onto the floor of her bedroom, standing over and staring down at me, cowering on all fours in front of her. “Say it again, if you’d please.” She leaned over me, proud of herself for beating me into submission. I could tell she was delighting in my pain, and that hurt so much more.“Say it again. But this time, address it to your mistress…”

My breath quivered. “Mistress?” I’d never heard that word before. “What does that mean?”

“It means master.” She said, “And unless you would prefer to call me master. You will address me as your mistress.”

“No fucking way.” I said. “Absolutely fucking not!”

My stomach was churning at miles and miles per hour, disgusted. I would rather spit in her perfectly beautiful little face than say such a thing. But all it took from her was a little bit of encouragement. Candace sighed, watching me flinch as she picked her foot up off the ground and prepared to send it soaring into my head. Then I caved.

“No, please. Wait. I…” I rose to my knees, holding my hands up in surrender. My cheeks were hot, boiling with an angry embarrassment. It was a humiliating thing to have to say, but I had to say it. “I’m sorry for beating you, Mistress…”

A twitch hit my heart as Candace smiled, debasing me with a small round of applause as she set her foot back down on the ground. “Much better.”

Still dizzy from the last kick to the head, I look up to her pretty blonde face in terror. “Please, Candace. Are we even now?”

“Oh absolutely not. Just because you’ve apologized doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.” She leaned down, her face getting dangerously close to mine as she smiled at me, gazing deep into my soul with her beautiful blue eyes, as deep as the ocean. “From now on, I will be the one doing the beating.”

I swallowed nervously. “From now on?”

“You have a new life ahead of you to look forward to, Sophia Cavalier. Now strip.”

Her face lit up with excitement, quickly gazing across the room to the small metal hatch built into the wall, making sure to let it sink in. My eyes followed hers, by contrast showered in dread as I came to understand her dire implication.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No…”

“Yes…” Candace prodded at me with her foot. Mine begged me to hop up and scurry away as fast as I could, but I couldn’t even take a single step. Not with her looming over me. “Now do as you’re told and take off your clothes before I have to do it for you.”

Of course I couldn’t, and she had to. Before even getting me off of the floor, Candace was already stripping my flannel from my waist, methodically removing every article of clothing I was wearing. I didn’t know what else to do but to let her. I was supposed to be tough.

But I wasn’t.

“What a gorgeous little body you possess.” She commented on my naked form. “Or should I say, what a gorgeous little body I possess…”

Arms crossed over my body, trying to hide my bare breasts from sight as she oggled me. I was in shock, but without resistance. Shivering with shame. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Whatever I wish.” Candace stood, offering her hand to help me up. “Now come on, you were the one who wanted to hold hands, were you not?”

At this point, I knelt before Candace, already defeated. If she had gotten me to sit still as she stripped me naked, there wasn’t much strength in me left to fight a simple compulsion deep within my heart that was happy to take her hand. Butterflies fluttered as I reached back, letting her help me to my feet without a fight. Cold fingers squeezed hers for warmth, I followed.

Now I knew where she’d been hiding. My eyes grew wide with horror as I saw the secret door open inside of the closet, entering into a small stone cell, exactly on the other side of where the hatch would lead. And Candace walked me inside hand in hand, gently setting me down on the cold floor of my new home, my cage.

“You’re not fighting back.” She said as if she was disappointed. “I thought you would fight back.”

My mouth opened to speak, and then it closed. This scared head of mine could only lower in shame as she said that, true as it was. I watched helplessly as Candace backed out of the cell, leaving me once again by myself.

Alone in my prison as she closed the door. I struggled to get up, still petrified. Sitting up, all I could do now was lean towards the door, pressing my forehead against the barrier between us. The only answer I could give her was, “I hate you.”

And Candace’s voice penetrated through it, humming back. “I hate you more.”