Chapter Eighteen

They had been long gone by the time Sabrina had recovered enough to pick herself up off the floor. Her thighs felt like the flesh was on fire, like she was being eaten by insects. It hurt and it tingled and it felt so warm... she stumbled over to the fridge and pulled out a bag of frozen peas, pressing it to her thigh with a hiss and a whimper. Faith's punishment was as intense as Kinsley's, and she had not seen it coming.

Angie had been her hope. She seemed so nice, so warm... the echo of her words rang in Sabrina's head.

Aww, she's suffering so much..

That gentle smile had been hiding something sinister. Wincing, she put the bag back in the freezer and finished the dishes, keeping the weight off of her poor, abused left leg. Some movie or other was playing upstairs, slightly ominous music and sounds of heavy footsteps. She finished quickly, placing the casserole dish in the rack before stepping as quietly as she could through the kitchen doorway, past the stairs, toward her room.

She really wanted to talk to Jules.

Anyone.

She hadn't had contact with anyone but the Dolls in so long, bowing and scraping before them was getting too easy, too normal. She had blurted out that she was thankful to be in the Dollhouse so quickly to avoid punishment...

"Where are you going, Bree?"

Faith. She snapped back to reality, her heart sinking as she looked up the stairs.

"I.. I'm just going to go lay down for a little bit... " She was shaking, she had no interest in being around the Dolls right now.

"Did you ask permission?" It was barely a question, more of an accusation - and it sent a chill down her spine.

She was in trouble again already. Tears welled up in Sabrina's eyes as she shrank visibly, drawing her hands close to her chest, her fingers drifting to the steel collar unconsciously.

"I'm sorry... may I please go lay down in my room?"

"No. Come upstairs." Faith didn't wait for an answer, she turned and walked away.

Sabrina sent a longing look toward her door, so near and yet so far away. Her thigh was warning her not to disobey - sure, she could make it to her room, she could even block the door... but there was no escape. She couldn't climb out the window without hurting herself, she'd checked it enough times. There was that wicked looking, long-needled cactus just beneath her window, which was high and awkward to begin with. It certainly wasn't an escape option. The bathroom window had the same problem, but with rusty garden equipment waiting for her there.

The front door wasn't an option, they'd hear her and she had no doubt that Kinsley would break her legs.

A deep breath.

Stairs.

Everyone was staring at her as she rounded the bannister. Faith was sitting in Angie's lap, looking contented. Angie had that unfailingly sweet smile, her arms wrapped around Faith's waist and her chin resting on her shoulder. Blue and red, side by side - it almost hurt to look at. Lila was glaring at her. Kinsley just looked impatient.

"What took you so long?" Lila leaned forward, her cheeks puffing out in a display of immature fury.

"Come sit, Bree." Kinsley gestured to a spot on the floor at her feet. "You've apparently ruined all pretense, so the rules are back in effect."

"B-but... you said I'm a person while Angie is here. You said!" There was an empty spot on the couch between Lila and Angie.

"Angela." Those brown eyes that had been so friendly and welcoming before, that had been lit from within with love for Faith turned toward Sabrina, as cold and intimidating as Kinsley's had ever been.

"W-what?"

"You will call me Angela, not Angie. Do you understand?"

Sabrina nodded mutely, her cheeks burning. She stepped forward, head hanging, toward the spot where Kinsley wanted her.

"Honey." Angie's voice shifted to a whine. "She's being rude to me. She didn't say anything at all."

Sabrina was on the ground again before she even knew Faith had gotten up. Fingers dug into the back of her neck as her cheek was pressed into the unyielding floor. She yelped, going limp in Faith's grip.

"My girlfriend asked if you understood, pet. When she talks to you, you answer."

"I'm sorry! Angela! Angela! I'm sorry."

"I think it's Miss Angela to you now. Hurt her more, honey. I like the sounds she makes."

Sabrina felt Faith's other hand find the back of her thigh, black and blue with blossomed bruises. It lit up with new agony as faith took the smallest bit of her battered flesh between two fingers and pinched, twisting.

She screamed.

"Be quiet!" Lila scolded her as if she had a choice. Tears spilled from the corners of Sabrina's eyes as Faith pinched again and again.

When the pain stopped, she whispered her pleas immediately. "I'm sorry Miss Angela, I'm sorry. I understand, Miss Angela. I'll only call you that from now on, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

"See honey?" Miss Angela's tone was sweet once again as Faith released her. "She can be taught, you just have to be firm with dumb animals."

The words stung.

"You're so smart, honey." Sabrina watched Faith climb back into Miss Angela's lap as she pulled herself to a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her knees and curling into as small a shape as she could at Kinsley's feet.

She whispered a plea, afraid to look up. "Please Kinsley... please, may I go lay down in my room?"

"No. Now hush, we're going to put the movie back on - the one you rudely interrupted by sneaking around instead of coming to sit where you know you're supposed to. You were going to get to sit on the couch, now Angie knows you're just a pet, so it's back to the floor with you. You had your chance."

"Oh sugar," Miss Angela's laugh was saccharine and lilting. "I knew what she was the second I stepped foot in the house. She didn't seem like the type to climb above my Faithie." Faith squirmed suddenly as Miss Angela tickled her. "Isn't that right honey?"

"Honeeeyyyyy... "

Sabrina's jaw nearly dropped at Faith's blushing whine. Lila started the movie back up with a sharp glare toward Faith.

Coming into the middle of it, nothing made sense. It was some sci-fi film, there were spaceships and aliens and some kind of animal girl in a cage...

Lila couldn't help but comment. "We need one of those for Bree!"

"No thank you?"

The answer was a smack on the top of her head by Kinsley. "Quiet. No talking during the movie."

"But she... "

"I swear," Faith snapped at her, "one more word and we'll gag you."

"You should, honey. It would be so cute to watch you gag her."

The lot of them discussed it over the movie for another few moments... Sabrina sat, afraid to move or make a sound. Being gagged did not sound fun and it seemed quite clear that the 'no talking' rule applied only to her. And Miss Angela was worse than no help - she seemed to constantly encourage Faith to be mean to her. She closed her eyes and waited, hopeless.

It was Kinsley that finally ended the discussion. "Can we please watch the movie? We're almost done."

The movie was beyond boring, due mostly to the fact that it was confusing. She spent the majority of the film focusing on not moving, on staying as still and as quiet as possible, staring at the floor, staring at her toes, closing her eyes and just... waiting.

And wishing desperately that the movie had another hour to go when it ended.

Miss Angela spoke up first. "What shall we do next?"

Everyone spoke at once.

"Video games!"

"Let's go cuddle and kiss... "

"I think we should watch something else."

The smile on Angela's face seemed unnerving, almost predatory. "Oh, Bree. I almost forgot you were there. Faith told me you have a lovely singing voice, why don't you sing something for us?"

Sabrina could only stare. She couldn't sing at all, the only time she did was in the shower, off-key and horrible and ideally drowned out by the rush of water. Faith looked confused as well... and after a moment, it dawned on her what Angela was up to.

"Um, no thank y- "

"Honey... " Angela had squeezed Faith tightly around the midsection, her chin resting on Faith's shoulder, her blue hair tossed over and mingling with Faith's own red.

"Train- "

"Ah ah," Angela cut her off. "Stand up so we can see you." Cheeks burning, she stood in front of the TV and began again, wishing she were locked in her room or chained to the stove or being spanked, anything but this. She thought about purposely misbehaving, but she knew that they'd just make her sing anyway - the Dolls always got their way and she had no doubt that the same would extend to Angela.

"Train roll on... on down the line... " She launched into the first song that came to mind. "Won't you please take me far away?"

Faith and Kinsley winced in unison. Lila simply yelled.

"STOP! Stop! Stop singing, please! You are terrible."

Sabrina already knew it was true, but that didn't make it sting any less. She closed her mouth, wrapping her arms around herself unconsciously as she looked to Angela. Conflicting orders were always so frightening - if she stopped singing, Angela could punish her. But if she kept going, Lila would certainly get Kinsley to punish her instead. It seemed like her entire life was a series of stressful catch-22 situations lately.

"Um... may I please go to my room?"

There seemed to be actual pity in Kinsley's eyes. "Ye- "

"No." Angela's answer was curt and pointed, cutting Kinsley's off. "If you can't sing, then dance for us. There must be some reason they keep you. Amuse me, petgirl."

"Please... I don't know how to dance, I... " Tears were threatening again. Angela was nothing like she had expected, and Sabrina felt beyond fooling for having had any hope resting in Faith's girlfriend at all. Everyone was always talking about how sweet and nice and funny Angela was, nothing had betrayed any hint of the demon that tormented her now.

"Then what good are you?" The words cut.

"I... I... "

Lila chirped in. "She gives good cuddles, and she lays still when you stroke her hair."

"She won't sing, she won't dance - you say that she best serves as a pillow. I don't think you have a pet at all, I think you have - ironically - a doll."

Lila's mouth hung open in a gaping "O". Her eyes sparkled with a new glee, the kind that generally accompanied a demand... but somehow with more of a twinkle, more desire, more amusement.

"A dolly! I want a dolly!"

"Then it's settled." Angela's malicious glee was naked, on display for all to see. "Bree, you're a doll for the rest of the night. You aren't to move or speak at all. Someone will... actually, Faithie - will you go pose Lila's dolly for me? Bree, if you speak or move... well, you know."

Sabrina's stomach dropped as Faith approached her. Instinctively, she raised her arms to protect herself but both of her wrists were grabbed in a flash, her left arm straightened, palm level with her shoulder and pointed upward. The other arm was positioned so that her hand was flat against her tummy. She held her breath as fingers grabbed her chin, straightening her posture and pointing her head up slightly.

Her arm was already getting tired before Faith stepped back.

"There. What a pretty dolly you have, Lila."

"I want to play with her!" Lila's feet kicked against the side of the couch.

"You'll get to, sweetie." Angela beckoned Faith back over, pulling Sabrina's tormentor back down into her lap and ruffling her pixie cut. "But let's see how long she can hold that pose, hmm? Then you can think up a new game to play with your new dolly."

"I want to dress her up!"

"Oh really? What are you going to dress her in?"

"Well, she fits in my clothes and I have lots of cute outfits... "

Sabrina stood as still as she could, her left arm beginning to ache from the strain of holding it up. It shook slightly and she did everything she could not to move, not to allow her arm to shake - though she couldn't stop it completely - while the others discussed her, as though she were an object. So much had happened since she moved in with the Dolls, it was hard to tell if this was the most humiliating thing she had gone through. The look in Kinsley's eyes, the sense that she was actually sorry for what was happening, almost made her drop her arm, almost made her think she could avoid a punishment.

Almost.

Her attention snapped back to Lila suddenly. "Oh! I'll put her in diapers!"

"What? No!" Sabrina's eyes widened in horror.

And she realized that everyone, Kinsley included, was glaring at her.