Chapter Fifteen

The stairs were agony, her leg was made of fire. Her knees felt battered and bruised by the time she made it to the movie-watching area upstairs where Kinsley was standing...

"How are my good girls?"

"Fine Mama! Shh, cartoons!"

Sabrina looked up at them from her crawling position. They were both sitting on the floor, legs spread out before them amid a pile of stuffed animals. The scene didn't make sense. Lila was sitting in pink overalls... but they ended in a short skirt, a thick white diaper with unicorns dancing about on it plainly visible from her position on the floor. She had bows in her hair, a stuffed bunny in her arms, and a pacifier between her lips. She looked like an overgrown toddler.

But Faith... the grunge girl, the fierce punk... was wearing nothing but a t-shirt that snapped closed between her legs. The shirt was lavender with dragonflies flitting to and fro, the short sleeves and the leg bands were ruffled with a darker purple, which matched the headband with the enormous bow that rested in the fire engine red pixie-cut locks. The crotch of her snap shirt was bulging, bits of white plastic peeking around the leg bands and between the snaps. A diaper. Sabrina couldn't believe her eyes, couldn't believe that Faith had allowed herself to be put in this situation so easily, with so little pushback. She had offered only one, small objection that Angie was coming over, and that was that... Sabrina guessed that she'd be dressed normally before she arrived, hence the "two day" threat. A soft purple pacifier hung between her lips, and the scowl on her face threatened violence - a sharp contrast to her cutesy outfit.

Her expression could be read plain as day: "You say one word and I murder you."

Without the fresh pain in her leg, without the abject fear of Kinsley standing over her, she might have laughed. She might have commented, especially at Faith - who bullied her more than anyone. But the fear was fresh, the threat was at the forefront of her mind, and she held her tongue.

Lila, on the other hand, looked delighted. "It's Bree! Come here girl! Lay down next to me and watch We Bare Bears!" The condescension stung, and the kissing sounds she made didn't help. Lila's fingers in her hair, however, felt surprisingly good. She laid on her stomach next to the girl, her eyes drooping at the gentle caressing.

It didn't make sense. Lila was supposedly a genius that peed her pants? That dressed and acted like a baby? What happened to her?

Kinsley leaned down and planted a long, lingering kiss on Lila's forehead. "Who's my good girl?"

A shiver went down Sabrina's spine. Those words. The words even now made her feel warm... and drew a giggle from Lila. Even Faith seemed relaxed by them, which was deeply suspicious.

"Me! It's me!"

"It is you, and your sister, and your pretty pet. You're all such good girls." The warmth didn't come this time, couldn't push away the suspicion. Sabrina tensed up, fearful as the threads came together. Kinsley was doing something to them. This wasn't normal, and it didn't seem right... it certainly didn't seem right that she had begun to crave that praise.

She had to figure a way out.

As Kinsley walked away, the girls turned their attention to the television, a cartoon about three bears and a boy. Girl? It was hard to tell. But they weren't bears who should even be together, but they seemed to be brothers or something? Sabrina was only confused by it, and the polar bear who only spoke in third person was irritating. The way that Lila was stroking her hair and shoulders was nice, however, and after a while she relaxed again.

Until Lila started pinching her. On the arms, on the shoulders, but Sabrina let out a loud yelp when her nipple was pinched, sending shooting pains through her.

"I think you're the best pet Kinsley has ever gotten me." The way she said it, the simplicity of it, made Sabrina's blood go cold. It was so matter-of-fact. Her mind turned to Emmie, wondering what had actually happened to the last girl whose room she was sleeping in. "You're just so cute."

Pinch. Pinch. Pinch.

Sabrina struggled, pushing Lila's hands away weakly, squirming on the ground and yelping, begging pleas on her lips but afraid to be spoken. Kinsley had been beyond clear. The amusement on Faith's face pushed her despair to a new level as she futilely batted at Lila's attacks. She rolled over and crawled to Faith, covering herself as best she could, balled up on the ground with her breasts protected, and hoped.

"Mama! Mama! Little sister looks hungry! I think she needs her bottle."

"What? No! I'm not hungry. I'm not... Lila, please." Sabrina stole a peek at the sound of Faith's obvious discomfort, struggling to hide her smile. Her plan had worked, she had successfully redirected attention away from herself and onto 'little sister'.

"She's definitely fussy, Mama. Can I pretty please have her bottle?" Sabrina's stolen glances found Faith turning a deep shade of red as Lila grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her to a laying position, Faith's head resting in Lila's diapered lap. Lila ran her fingers through the deep red fire that was Faith's hair.

"Of course." Sabrina stayed completely still as Kinsley walked by, hoping she would continue to be ignored, but she had no such luck. "Bree. Come girl, to the kitchen with me."

"Hurry Mama! She's very hungry and fussy."

Sabrina crawled wordlessly down the stairs, wincing at the discomfort and pain in her knees, cautiously descending the stairs and eventually catching up with Kinsley in the kitchen.

"We're going to give the baby warm milk, Bree. I know you're just a dumb animal and you can't understand me, but I might need a helper someday, so I'm going to practice explaining things now." She poured milk in a coffee mug and put it in the microwave. "Three minutes at thirty percent power. It takes a little longer, but it will be warm, not hot. Sit up, girl. Show me who's a good girl."

Sabrina's face was easily as red as Faith's had been only moments ago, but she didn't fight back. She followed Faith's example and rolled with it, let Kinsley have her teasing. She rose up on her knees, watching Kinsley and cocking her head to one side, like an animal. She hated herself for complying, for playing along, but it was vastly preferable to another beating.

"Do you know how to beg, girl?"

The deepest shame flooded through her body as Kinsley towered over her kneeling form. Reluctantly, she raised her fists in front of her chest, letting her wrists go limp and hanging her 'paws' in front of her. The microwave marched on, the seconds dragging and proving to her just how long three minutes could take.

"Good girl!" The blush came unbidden, the warmth of shame struggling against the warmth of... pleasure? Kinsley reached down and stroked her cheek, brushing those strong fingers across her skin, sliding over her hair, short nails bringing unexpected enjoyment to her neck, just below her ear. Just behind her ear.

Her lip quivered as she realized how much she was enjoying Kinsley scratching her behind the ear.

Like an animal.

"Do you like being my pet, pretty girl?" The humiliating question hid inside a coo, a gentle purr from Kinsley's lips.

Sabrina nodded slowly, her eyes downcast. She was too afraid to say no, so she agreed, she condoned the dehumanization, the shame.

"Do you want to be a person again?" Her head snapped up, catching Kinsley's gaze. Those blue eyes were full of amusement, but the question seemed sincere. She ventured a small nod. "Prove to me that you can be the best girl tonight, and tomorrow you'll be human. Can you do that?"

The nod was eager this time, quick and bobbing. Hope blossomed in her heart as the microwave beeped.

"We have to make sure it's not too hot." Kinsley dipped a finger in the milk as she explained. She opened a cupboard that Sabrina had been in dozens of times and reached deep into it, way at the back, and retrieved a glass baby bottle the size of a Coke bottle, a twenty ounce. The bottle was quickly filled, an odd elongated nipple protruding from the top.

"Mama!"

"Coming sweetie!"

Sabrina crawled behind, forcing away her winces as they headed back upstairs. Faith looked miserable in Lila's embrace, the 'older sister' had threaded one arm under Faith's arm, her palm pressing on the back of that red head. It looked very uncomfortable, and Sabrina didn't envy Faith at all... especially as the nipple of the bottle was forced between her lips unceremoniously.

"Enjoy your cartoons, sugar."

The bears resumed their capering as Faith suckled noisily at the bottle. Her legs were splayed, one knee up in the air as she struggled to be comfortable, making the bulge underneath her infantile shirt all the more obvious. Quietly, Sabrina laid down on the far side of Faith, in front of the couch and away from Lila's hands.

Cartoons came and went as Faith drained the milk, far too slowly for the liquid to have been satisfying at all. When it was empty, Lila sat the other girl up and turned her around, hugging her tightly and patting her on the back gently, rubbing in soft circles. Sabrina blushed as she realized what Lila was up to.

Faith knew it as well. "Lila please! I don't need to be- "

"Hush, little sister. If you're fussy after eating, Mama will just guess that you're not feeling well, and she'll give you medicine. And Miss Angie is coming over, isn't she? Wouldn't it be awful to have that medicine in you while she's here?"

Faith's only answer was a small belch and a sagging posture.

"Good girl!" Lila seemed overjoyed, finally letting Faith go. Sabrina, after getting to rest and relax for a while, let a snicker escape her at Faith's predicament.

Which brought immediate, unwanted attention.

"Bree!" Lila's exuberance continued but Faith's glare was pure malice. "Come here, girl?"

"I wanna hug the pet!" Faith declared childishly from her spot on the floor. She crossed her arms haughtily and pouted. It would have been funny if it wasn't for the fact that Sabrina felt a very real fear at the idea of being in Faith's reach at that moment.

"Okay, sugar." She sounded disturbingly like Kinsley as she said that, beckoning to Sabrina. "Here girl, come here and lay down next to me." She wiggled her fingers, hovering above the ground next to her.

Sabrina blinked, an idea coming to her. Faith was getting her way by leaning into the ridiculous role. She put her head to the ground and her rear up in the air and let a long whine start in her throat.

Lila was unconvinced.

"Now, Bree." The words had a surprising gravity considering they were coming from a woman her own age sitting on the floor in an obviously wet diaper, watching cartoons and dressed off of the 'overgrown toddler' rack. Sabrina doubled down, covering her nose and eyes with her hands and whimpering.

Her reward was Lila's fingers around the steel collar, yanking her forward. She yelped, unintentionally, as she crashed to the ground next to Faith, who was immediately on top of her, squeezing her midsection and breathing down her neck quite literally.

"If you ever, ever laugh at me again Bree... I will make you sorry." Faith's hand reached forward and pressed against Sabrina's skull as she began 'petting' her hair altogether too roughly, applying a lot of pressure as she drew her fingers back toward the base of the skull. Sabrina winced and whimpered, but did not fight back, didn't complain.

"Aww, you love our pet so much, don't you Faithie?"

"I sure do!"

The show resumed, Sabrina held in Faith's near-crushing embrace as her scalp was rhythmically assaulted. All the while, Lila giggled at the television.

Sabrina was determined not to cry out, not to say a word, not to ruin her chances.

She was very much looking forward to being human again.