I cried myself to sleep after Candace left my cell.

She had such a way with words. I was the one who gave in and agreed to work for her, but I couldn’t help but feel like she had manipulated me into giving her the answer she wanted.

Of course I have people who care about me. I’m a world champion after all, I must have fans out there somewhere. Surely someone should be looking for me by now, right?

But you’re Sophia Cavalier. I reminded myself. They hate you…

Candace was by every measure a more beloved player than me. And it would be a lie to say that it wasn’t well deserved. Hell, I was a huge fan of hers, and I honestly still am. I fell in love with the person she is on stage. If it hadn’t been for her, I never would have reached my highest highs, nor my lowest lows.

Even if none of my fans cared about me, though, my manager must have. He might not be my manager anymore, but Justin’s my friend. Well, he was my friend… Then my boyfriend… Then my ex-boyfriend…

Sigh.

There really wasn’t anyone looking for me, was there?

Eventually I heard noises from the closet to my right. Candace appeared in the cell door and stepped inside. She was clean, dressed, wearing her usual cutesy smile. I pulled on my manacles. She had left me chained to the wall through the night, unable to move any further than adjusting my legs every few hours. It was about time she let me out. I called out for her a couple times since waking up, but she was obviously fine keeping me waiting.

“Having second thoughts, Chloe?” She asked.

“Nothing but second thoughts.” I said. “And don’t call me that.”

Chloe. My feelings about the name were mixed.

I still wondered whether I had made the right choice last night, agreeing to do this. I still wanted to escape. Of course I did; that’s why I agreed to do this. I didn’t really want this… Did I?

“Take that back now or I won’t feed you.” She was tapping her foot impatiently, making a gesture like she was waiting for an appropriate response from me. “Apologize.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I said with my head hung. A grumble of annoyance left me, glaring down at the ground. “Sorry, Ma’am…”

“Very good!”

Candace once again sat down on the floor across from me with her legs crossed. She had a small bowl of food with her like she had last night, but this bowl didn’t look nearly as appetizing. Grinning to herself, she scooped up a large chunk of the weird mush onto the spoon, holding it up to my mouth. “Open wide.”

Turning my head away, I winced. “You don’t need to hand feed me!”

“I’m aware, but I want to! Now open your mouth!”

I continued to dodge the foul smelling concoction, and Candace giggled at my dismay.

“No. Ew. What even is that?”

“I have no idea! But it smells awful, doesn’t it?”

“Yes!”

She shoved the spoonful of gross slop into my mouth as I shouted, glaring at me as she forced me to chew and swallow it, gasping for relief once it was down.

“You’re not the first to fall for that trick, and you surely won’t be the last. As I have previously alluded to, there’s a whole facility where people are taken to be trained and sold to wealthy paying owners. This is what they’re fed. It’s specially made to give you enough strength to do as you’re told, but not enough strength to be able to put up any sort of fight!”

I gagged loudly, wishing I could cough it back out. “I don’t care where it’s from! That’s disgusting!”

“Yes it is! It’s supposed to be, and I made this formula just for you…” Candace reached towards me and squeezed my face in her hand, tilting my head to look at her. “Now open your mouth and eat it.”

I grimaced, opening my jaws for her spoon more of the foul slush into my mouth. “I hate it so much…”

“I told you this wasn’t going to be easy!”

Whining, I reluctantly let the stronger girl feed the entire bowl to me. I was barely able to keep myself from vomiting. It made me feel like a caged animal. And in a sense I supposed that's what I was, but I wouldn’t sit there and take it. Once she was done and satisfied, I made sure to spit directly into her face. This did not amuse her.

“I will no longer put up with this, thrall. Fight back against me even slightly and you will be getting punished. Last warning.” Candace rose to her feet, setting the bowl down next to the hatch connected to her bedroom wall. “Now then, there’s a bathroom for you in the closet, I expect you to clean yourself. Once you’re done, get dressed and return to your cell. Understood?”

Pulling against the chains with my wrists, I glared at her. “Yes, Ma’am. I understand.”

Candace pressed the tip of her foot to my chest and shoved my back against the wall. “Lose the fucking attitude before I kick your teeth out!”

“Y-yes, Ma’am! I’m sorry!” My face turned bright pink, fearfully embarrassed as I spoke. I didn’t want Candace to kick me again, not while I was still recovering from last night.

“Better.” Candace said, pulling away from my chest. She smiled at me, like she was appreciating what she saw. But catching herself after a moment, she placed her foot down on mine, crushing my toes under her shoes before stepping back out, mumbling to herself as she left. “Fucking animal…”

Once Candace had returned to her bedroom and closed the door behind her, the manacles keeping me in place suddenly opened on their own, allowing me to wander out of my cell for the first time since I’d been trapped there, back out into her closet. I rubbed my bondage weary wrists and stepped into the larger space. It was upsetting that the walk in closet could be more spacious than the tiny bunker she planned to keep me in. I pulled on the other doors to no avail. The entrance to Candace’s personal bathroom was locked, but across the space from her room was another secret door now swung wide open.

The small bathroom was slightly larger than the cell I slept in, complete with a shower off in one end, a small sink with a mirror over it, some shelves on the wall next to it, a tiny bench in another corner, a wash bucket beneath the sink, and a toilet that didn’t even look like it worked. “Gross…”

After Candace shut the hot water off about halfway through my shower, I hurried to get myself cleaned off and dressed, putting on a clean uniform left to me by the mistress. I quickly returned to my cell, closing the door behind me and kneeling on the floor like you kind of had to do while wearing a skirt. The room filled with a quiet sadness.

This was something the likes of which I thought only existed in movies. A rich villain with a house full of secret entrances and mechanisms. The hatch between my room and hers slid open a hatch, a pair of wrist cuffs attached to the panel beneath it.

“Hands in the shackles, slave.”

Recalling her earlier promise brought me great pain. Candace would make me her slave. And if I heeded her every word my life would be spared. But then again, I would be her slave.

Swallowing my pride, I bit my lip and placed my wrists in the shackles. Watching Candace’s neatly manicured hands lock them away, once bound together I saw the cuffs detach from the panel, letting me stand up, hands now held together by the cold metal restraints. “Come.” Candace said, slowly closing the panel before seemingly opening the door to my cell wirelessly, opening the way into her room. I came to her.

“What do you plan on doing with me-” I asked, “now that I’m your slave?”

Giggling, I heard. Candace was rather amused with this thought. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, you’ve still yet to learn.” She said, “And you’ve still yet to become my slave as well.”

A twinge of something made itself known inside of me. Somehow that hit me with indignation, an almost jealous displeasure at what she was saying- that I wasn’t yet her slave.

“As I’ve said, I don’t want to kill you, but if you fail me today…”

I felt my heart nearly jump out of me. “I don’t get it. You said you wanted me as your slave. You gave me your word-”

“I gave you a choice. Make no mistake. We are not talking about a quid pro quo, we are discussing your terms of surrender. I made my demands. You don’t get to make demands back. You get what I am willing to give you, if you are willing to earn it.”

All my resolve came under scrutiny. Why did it bother me? Was it disappointment? Or was it fear? I didn’t care to be hers. I wasn’t her slave, Candace said so herself, that should have been a good thing. But I also should be her slave. Not because I wanted to be, but after humiliating myself this much, I should have earned it.

“But you said-”

“Silence.”

Candace stepped towards me, grabbing me by the neck of my uniform and curling her fist, pulling me to her. “I told you to be ready to perform exceptionally well for your first day. Are you not ready to perform exceptionally well today?”

I gulped. A lump in my throat formed against her knuckles. “I am…”

“Then you should perform exceptionally well today.” She said. “Do so and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

My heart beat unreasonably fast, threatening to burst through my chest and splatter onto the floor. Candace looked me up and down, holding me by the throat.

“Do you want to be my slave, Chloe?”

Without hesitation- despite how red I was in the face- I gently nodded my head. The look in my eyes softened. For whatever reason, my thoughts and feelings on the matter became perfectly clear.

“You are not my slave until you wear my collar around your neck.” She said as she released me, now holding her arms behind her waist. “Only once you have finished will I decide whether or not to let you live. But fail me early on and I’ll be forced to end prematurely. I don’t want you wasting any of my time.”

With my hand I clutched at my own throat, gently easing it. I gave her a nervous smile. I wasn’t about to fail.

Candace returned my smile. “On your knees, slave.”

I knelt, bending to her will out of fear. Unsure of where to put my hands, I gazed up at her from below.

“No. You’re to look down when you kneel.” She said as she placed the ball of one foot on top of my head, pointing my gaze downward.

“I… Sorry…”

“You’re to address me as master or mistress from now until the end of time, understood?”

“Understood…”

“What was that, slave?”

I watched Candace’s foot lift off the ground, nestling under my chin and tilting my head once again back up to face her, she was frowning. “Try again.”

“Yes… Master?”

“Very good.”

I looked back down as she pulled her foot away, trying not to glance upwards. “What do I have to do?”

“You want to earn this position, don’t you?”

“Very much so…” I said, quickly amending. “Master.”

“Then prove to me that you are even a worthy candidate for the role. You’ve had your metaphorical interview, now think of today as your job application.” Despite how she spoke, I was willing to bet Candace’s heart was pumping with excitement, she could hardly believe that the day when she could literally wipe the floors with Sophia Cavalier had finally arrived.

…Probably.

“I won’t be guiding you through this. If you truly want the position you’re after, you’ll need to prove to me that you’re capable of fulfilling the job description.” She grinned excitedly. “Do anything and everything you can to amaze me.”

“B-but I can’t!” I stammered. “I’ve never done anything like this in my life! Just look at me!”

“I am looking at you, Chloe. And I don’t see anything wrong. You are dressed for the part.”

“You know me, Candace-”

“No, I don’t.” She said. “And you don’t know yourself either.”

I bit my lip to try and control myself. “What do you mean?”

“Sophia Cavalier dies today.” Candace said. “But Chloe doesn’t have to.”

Breathing deeply, I steeled myself, trying to shove all of my pride and arrogance to the ground. Candace was right. I was going to do everything in my power to impress her. “…And how would Chloe perform exceptionally well today, Master?”

Candace stepped forward, leaning over and the kneeling slave and gleefully watching the shock on my face as she produced a length of chain from behind her back. “My lips are sealed.” She giggled to herself, reaching down and attaching the heavy lead to my handcuffs. “Ready?”

I swallowed, nodding my head to her. I was already sweating nervously, but there was no time to wipe the beads from my forehead. There would be no time to catch my breath. “I’m ready.”

Wrapping the chain around her right hand, Candace reached for her bracelet. With a single button press the doors around us unlocked, and the only sound that could be heard was that of a ticking clock around her wrist. A countdown timer for my judgment. “Go.”

I rose to my feet and headed for the door. Not only was I going to have to do this on my own with my hands tied together, I was going to have to physically drag Candace along with me.

What am I supposed to do? What’s most important? What needs to be cleaned?

Nervously stumbling through a house whose layout I had forgotten, I quickly encountered my first hurdle. “Where are the cleaning supplies?”

I turned to face the woman behind me. She was clutching the chain as tight as she could, but she was simply using it to follow me, instead of leading.

Candace made eye contact with the slave on her leash and smirked, but instead of giving me a verbal answer she simply looked at her bracelet. I could hear the menacing tick tick tick of the timer on her digital wristband, making sure that I knew I was on the clock. Fuck me.

I went to the kitchen. My apartment was pretty small, so I had always kept cleaning supplies under the sink. My mind was racing. I was in such a race that I almost missed the mess of glass shards that I had created the night I was delivered here, like a trap I accidentally left for myself.

Of course, I was barefoot. The look on Candace’s face told me that she had planned on this. She clearly had no reason or desire to step through a minefield of ceramic splinters, and as I carefully navigated towards the sink, she remained stationary. The leash pulled taut, making every step more difficult.

Getting out of here is gonna be a lot harder with her attached to me, I thought.

I sighed quietly. The drawer beneath the faucet was locked. In fact, all of the drawers I could reach were locked, and judging from Candace’s posture, struggling to reach any of the others wasn’t going to do me any good.

Trying as best I could to pull my hands apart, I realized the bracelets clasped to my wrists weren’t about to break. They weren’t your average cuffs.

This wasn’t my first time in handcuffs, but never something like these. Police used much simpler restraints. The device I was in currently was far higher tech. If I wanted to escape, I would need them off.

For now I couldn’t possibly expect to leave the kitchen in a state like this. Even if there wasn’t a waste basket nearby, I had to get the glass off of the floor as soon as I could. “Apologies for the mess…” I said, “I’ll get this cleaned right away.”

I knelt carefully to make sure I didn’t cut my knees on the shattered dinnerware, or more importantly, damage or soil my uniform. I slowly crawled across the hardwood back to Candace’s side, picking up every glass shard I could find and placing them in the pocket of my apron.

Once finished I stood, looking up at the mistress to gauge her response. Candace, unfortunately, was stoic. Determined not to let my draw any insight from her reaction, though she did of course take note of my performance.

The clock was ticking and my heart was beating just as fast. Failing to impress her at this rate was certainly going to spell my doom. I couldn’t clean any floors or surfaces without supplies, but I could make an attempt to correct my mistakes from the previous nights.

Maneuvering through the manor wasn’t easy. I wanted to move as quickly as I could, but Candace was in no hurry. She moved no more brisk than her normal walking pace, and it was natural to think that my future master’s comfort was the most important thing to keep in mind.

Focus, Sophia. You’re trying to escape, not end up her slave, remember? I wanted to slap myself upside the head. But I can’t do that if she kills me first…

Whatever I did, I was going to ensure that my actions didn’t inconvenience her. Even if it meant moving at a snail’s pace.

Every movement she made, no matter how small, made things more difficult. A single stroke of her guiding hand meant yanking on both of my wrists, swaying my entire body on a whim and often knocking me off balance, even if it was unintentional. I wasn’t sure she even noticed the care I was putting into ensuring her comfort, but I was confident that she’d notice if I did somehow hamper her movements, and I wanted to avoid that.

I led the two of us through the dining room, tucking all of the chairs- including one I had thrown at the adjacent glass door- back under the table.

Candace had ensured that every single mess I had made was left for me to clean up.

Including the precious ornament that I smashed onto the floor of the lounge.

Up to this point Candace looked stoic. Now she looked furious.

Oops.

“A-again my sincerest apologies for the inconvenience, and for the blatant disrespect I’ve shown you in your own home!” My voice sounded so foreign to me. It was so formal, so polite, so deferential. I usually wasn’t any of these things. Humility was one thing, but reverence was another. A strange feeling overcame me; bowing suddenly felt so natural. “Master~”

Candace smiled, letting the chain between us grow slack. It was a relief to finally get a positive reaction from her, even if it was as small as a smile. She nodded for me to continue my work.

And I did, once again picking up the shards of my mistakes off the floor. Candace crossed the room as I did so, leaning against one of the walls. I picked the tumbled pedestal back up, beginning to head out of the lounge when the slack became tight.

She was too busy staring at a painting in the corner opposite from me. It was a portrait of a ghastly yet beautiful woman in her early thirties, along with what looked to be her son. Candace was too enthralled by whoever she was, and as intent as I was on not disturbing her by pulling on my chains, she still hadn’t noticed the leash slowly pulling taut.

Naturally, I stepped towards the painting, partially to get into the other woman’s field of vision, but mostly out of curiosity. The woman in the portrait was unusually pale in both skin tone and hair. Her eyes, red like the setting sun, and from what could be seen of her child, his appearance looked to be about the same, eye and all. I approached the frame, trying to make sure there was nothing about it or any of the other paintings that I needed to attend to. Maybe it’s crooked, or does it need dusted?

I heard Candace audibly gasp from behind as I approached the painting, and after just a moment I was around in place.

My hands, which were in front of me as I stood there, were suddenly yanked behind me. Instantly it turned me about and sent me stumbling towards Candace as she violently pulled on the chain. Disoriented, I fell to my knees with a heavy slam. Her face was flushed with fury as I spun, but promptly dialed back to mere irritation as soon as I was on the ground again. The anger she felt watching me approach what I now assumed was an important piece of her family history was seemingly replaced by annoyance at the new mess on her lounge floor. None of the other pieces of art had fallen over, but as I twirled the shatters of glass I had been collecting in my apron must have spilled out, like a sprinkler watering the lawn.

And I soon realized I had landed on quite a few of them. Being knocked onto my bare hands and knees over the many sharp pieces of broken ceramic had naturally sent a number of them into my skin, like sliding a needle into a pincushion. My hands, which had suffered the brunt of it, were now bleeding.

I need to hide this before she notices.

Still dropped to my knees, I desperately started to pick up the pieces of my shattered dignity with slowly bleeding hands. It was going to hurt, but if I left the splinters in my palms, I was less likely to drip blood all over the halls as I tried to work.

“So sorry again Ma’am! I’d be more than happy to pick those back up. I can’t expect the lady of the house to walk across floors littered with shards!”

Candace sighed loudly. I could feel my hands being lifted upwards slightly by the chain as she tilted her head backwards, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. After a moment she shook her head and lowered the leash, looking down at her wrist. I could suddenly hear the time ticking away, louder now than ever. I desperately needed to pick up the pace. What sort of person would hire a maid who spilled broken glass all over the manor floor while demonstrating her abilities?

Caltrop enthusiasts maybe, but Candace was the opposite of impressed.

“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.” My voice shook with fear and anxiety, but it was true. I always had steady and careful hands, as expected from a world class gamer. You couldn’t win a match if your hands weren’t coordinated enough to masterfully use the mouse. Even as they bled, despite being bound together and tugged by restraints, they remained skillfully swift. It wasn’t my fault I spilled. If she had stopped to think before hastily knocking me to the ground, my pocket would still be full. But I was in no position to point that out to her.

From where I stood, the most important thing was showing respect and diligence to my captor, at least until I was out of these shackles. No one in their rightful mind would be pleased hearing their servant mock them.

I attempted to rise, confident there didn’t remain any more glass on the ground even if a few of them had lodged themselves into my skin. But one such shard- caught just beneath my knee joint- had other plans for me. I wouldn’t stand until I pulled that thing out. Candace watched me pull the bloody shard of glass from my skin. Her eyebrows raised curiously.

“Looks like I landed on one… Nothing to worry about. It’s just a scratch!” I covered up my hands and knees before she could see and hid the glass shard away from her watchful gaze. “M-maybe in a bit I can feed the cat, wh-what’s his name?” Turning heel, I faced down the hall and nervously began to limp my way to the parlor with Candace behind me, only turning around once to gauge her reaction.

“Her name is Thea~” Candace couldn’t help but let out a quiet giggle, smiling eagerly at me and shaking her head as she reluctantly broke her silence. “Now quiet you, I’m not supposed to be talking!”

“But how am I doing?” I asked, desperately turning my whole body to face her, eager to take a moment in order to take pressure off of my injured leg. “You’re not disappointed, are you?”

Candace wrapped my leash around her arm a few times. Stepping forward and roughly pulling me towards her, our faces were less than a foot apart. She stared me directly in the eyes and giggled at me. The other woman seemed to be enjoying herself somewhat, smiling in a less intimidating and more friendly manner. “Less cheating. More working.”

My heart raced desperately. I knew I was running out of time, the sound of her wristband made that obvious, but I was also running out of things I could clean without supplies. Rounding the corner into the parlor, I passed her pet’s room. Without the cat food I can’t do that either.

The sun was already setting. My eyes scanned the parlor and I nearly skipped a beat. Over in the corner was some sort of supply closet. I didn’t see it when I first arrived because the house was pitch black by the time I reached it. Trying not to rush Candace’s stride, I eagerly made my way to the closet and opened the door.

Cleaning supplies, finally!

I hurriedly grabbed the waste bin off of the floor and began to dispose of the shards of glass I’d been carrying around. Then I turned my attention to the mop bucket. Even if there was less than an hour left before my time was up, if I could do just a little bit of mopping the floor, maybe I could impress her enough to save my skin.

But as soon as I gripped the handle of the broom, my body very nearly collapsed in shock. The broken shards dug deeper into me. Blood began to drip down the length of the mop. I shook nervously as I watched the lead grow more and more slack.

Candace immediately approached me. She grabbed the chain by the end at my wrist and forced my hands from the handle. A red stain marked the wood where I’d been holding on, and as she turned my palms face up, there was a pretty grizzly array of glass splinters in my bleeding skin. Scoffing, Candace grabbed the hem of my uniform, flipping my entire skirt upwards to take a closer look at the shards embedded into the surface of my knees.

I didn’t even have time to fluster before she let go, shaking her head in disappointment.

“I’ve seen enough.”

“No!” I lurched forward, my voice shaking. “I- I haven’t even finished cleaning up after myself, there’s still time left for me to get everything done!”

Candace snarled. “I told you I would be forced to stop you early if you disappointed me.”

“But I’m trying my best! I was even going to feed your cat-”

“I can feed my own cat, Sophia.”

“Of course! But so can-” I stopped. “Sophia?” My heart wretched. Never before had I been so mortified hearing my name. “I- I thought you said you didn’t want to hear that name anymore? Just last night you said-”

“I don’t want to hear your name anymore. Luckily I’m not going to hear anything from you anymore. This whole affair has been nothing but a waste of my time.”

Candace turned her back on me as she grasped at the chain, dragging me all the way back into my prison to have me starved. The door opened at the press of a button. The clock stopped.

That little moment opened my eyes. The band on her left hand was more than a countdown to my doom, it had been the key to me getting out of here this entire time.

But I was falling apart, unable to do anything at all except follow in her footsteps like an obedient animal. Even in my quickly crumbling state, something felt terribly wrong. Not even tears were coming to me. It felt as if my life didn’t mean anything- it didn’t matter whether or not I was about to die- the world was spinning around me.

All of a sudden I didn’t want to escape. I was about to die, but I didn’t care. My only chance at living was if I took that bracelet from her and ran, except it didn’t matter anymore. The only thing that mattered to me right now was that I had failed her. As if the greatest pain in the world was knowing that I wouldn’t get the chance to serve her.

All of a sudden I truly did think of Candace St. Clair as my master, and I wanted to be hers.

There was a revolted twist in my stomach as I realized how it was I felt. That desire to belong to her. It’d been with me this whole time. I dropped to my knees on the cold hard floor of her closet, stopping just as she was about to shove me back inside of the cell one final time.

“This isn’t fair…” I said. “I know you’re not impressed, but it’s not fair!”

She looked at me like I was crazy and I looked up at her, my hands and knees trembling. “I don’t know where you keep things! I don’t know what all there is to be done! I don’t know what it is you want me to do!”

I bowed, placing my open hands on the floor before me and prostrating myself at her feet. The only way she would let me serve her now is if I showed her that I really wanted it.

“But I can figure it out… I can learn… I can be taught.” I said. The grip on my leash was tightening, trying to pull me back to my feet, but I refused to stop. “I can listen to you. I can do as I’m told. I can follow!” I choked on my own quivering voice, biting back a stream of sobs, groveling. “I can follow directions! I can do as I’m told, I mean it!”

Unable to hold back tears anymore, I wept. Unconcerned with any sense of pride that I might have previously had, I wept. “Please… Tell me what to do, I’ll do it! Anything! Please! Please… I can be useful… You just have to tell me what to do…” I cried, lifting my crying head for her to see. Tears streamed down my face, pooling beneath me as I pleaded. “I want to serve you. Faithfully. Loyally. Obediently.”

From the heavens above, Candace’s gaze met mine. “Do you really think you can make up for your gross incompetence with just dedication?”

“I do…” I said, staring deep into her sparkling eyes with a desire to see her smile at me again.

Candace stood quietly.

“You’ll follow every order?”

“I’ll follow every order.”

“You’ll abide by every rule?”

“I’ll abide by every rule.”

“You’ll obey every command?”

“I’ll obey every command.”

“And you’ll do so? Without hesitation? Without complaint? Without regret?”

“Without hesitation! Without complaint! Without regret!”

The words spilled from my lips with ease, never before had any words come so easily to me, and I meant them. They came from the bottom of my heart, and I meant them more than anything I had ever said before.

Candace smiled at me. “Good.”

My heart was sent fluttering. Candace released the chain, letting it fall to the floor in front of her, following the leash all the way to the end and easing my still aching hands.

“I will expect nothing less from you.” She said more sternly. “Now crawl into your cell.”

I bit my lip, still choking on tears as I nodded.

“What do we say, Chloe?”

That name brought me to tears again. “Yes, Master?” I smiled. “Thank you, Master?”

“Good girl.” Candace said with her hands behind her back. “Do you know what this means?”

Shamefully, I was returned to my new home and stripped of both my uniform and the bands around my wrists, waiting for Candace’s word. I retreated. My body trembled. I was still in turmoil over the rush of emotion I had just been through, leaving me only capable of shaking my head at her. I didn’t want to put up any more of a fight tonight.

Candace knelt in front of me, collar in hand, pulling the brand new toy out of nowhere. I couldn’t help but find myself in awe. The band was a gorgeous metallic gold, extraordinarily smooth, beautifully made, undamaged. It was perfect.

Heart racing, I stared. That collar alone was worth more than I would ever be. And I knew exactly who it was made for. “You mean…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Candace nodded. “This is your collar. When you’re ready, I’m going to put it around your neck, and you will officially be mine.” She gave me a reassuring smile. “Your submission has always been what’s important to me. Even though you disappointed me today, as long as you submit, you can be trained.”

A heavy sigh of relief blew through my lungs, untangling so much of the tension in my body and unlocking the tears from behind my eyes. Finally, I felt safe. “Thank you, Master…”

Candace giggled at me again. “Alright now, up and on your knees.” She said, holding the collar out to me. “You didn’t perform exceptionally well today, but I still think you deserve a reward.”

I got up and knelt, facing her with a tight chest, my palms up on my thighs. “What happens once it’s on?”

“Once this collar is on, it never comes off.” Candace said, reaching her soft hands up to wipe the tears from my eyes. “Once it’s on, you belong to me… Forever.”

The warmth in my heart began to spread. “Forever?”

Candace smiled, reaching behind my head with the metal band, letting me feel it pressed against my skin, and permanently closed the collar around my neck.

Click .

“Forever.”

My hands clutched at the head of her collar around my neck, feeling it. Safe. Secure. Strong.

Candace slipped a finger under the band and gave it a firm tug. “How do you feel?”

Sniffling back the last of my tears at long last, I met her eyes with mine. “I don’t know. I feel…”

“Good.”

Candace smiled. “What do we say?”

“Thank you, Master.” I said. “Thank you so much…”

✶ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✶ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✶

That’s how I ended up with this collar.

That’s how I ended up in this place.

That’s how I became Candace’s slave.

That’s how I became Chloe.

Sophia held on, but it was time for me to let that name go, and finally be Chloe.

“Please don’t put me back.” I begged my master. “I don’t want to sleep in a cage anymore.”

“That’s just the drugs talking, Chloe. You need to get some sleep.” Candace gave me a firm push, trying to detach me from her arm.

I clung to her as hard as I could. “No, Master. Please. I don’t want to leave you…”

Candace firmly stroked me. “Just because you got fixed today doesn’t mean you get to sleep in the guest bedroom, Chloe.”

“I don’t want to sleep in the guest room either!” I cried, still unable to filter my thoughts thanks to what I’d been given from the medical facility, leaving me in such a mess I was rubbing my head against her.

“I can’t have you wandering the house at night. Where else am I supposed to put you?”

Candace grabbed Poppy from my arms, pulling me in front of her and having the stuffed animal look me in the eyes, asking me instead.

“Speak Chloe. Where do you want to sleep tonight?”

I giggled, snatching Poppy back from her. “I wanna sleep in your bed!” I said. My face turned red as soon as I shut my mouth, realizing what I had just said. “With you…”

Candace blushed. “I… Chloe…”

“You told me you wanted to make me a part of your family!” I loudly blurted out, my cheeks still flushed. “What does that mean? How can I be a part of your family if you keep me so far away?”

She froze for a moment, frowning. “Chloe…”

“Master?” I said, looking up at her as I squeezed the stuffed puppy to my chest. “I feel so alone…”

Candace finally smiled, sighing as she shook her head. “Say please.”

“Please, Master?” My eyes widened.

“Okay…” She nodded. “You can sleep with your master tonight if you really want to.”

The same warm feeling from that night spread through my chest. “I do…”

My master scooped me into her arms and carried me back with her to bed, holding me as we turned in. I set Poppy down, burying my face in Candace’s chest.

Her cheeks turned bright pink just thinking about it. “I do too…”