Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 68525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
As if to confirm just how much a handheld could do, the agent tapped the thing and the lights on the columns nearest to my cage suddenly lit up much more brightly, so that I had to raise my hand to shade my eyes. I saw the agent look up from the device, and though with the new brightness I couldn’t really make out his expression, the way he crossed his arms made me close my lips and start to chew the inside of my cheek.
“Chalondra,” he said, beginning to pace slowly towards me. “I’m disappointed.”
He had unfolded his arms. As he advanced, he rubbed the knuckles of his right hand with the fingers of his left, a subtle movement that nevertheless sent a thrill of fear through my upper body with its suggestion of masculinity and aggression.
Almost unconsciously, I tried to push myself further back into the cage. My back came up against the metal bars, and I let out a little cry of alarm, thinking that they might give me the same kind of excruciating warning the lock had delivered. Nothing happened, but although for a few moments I had forgotten all about my bladder, at the entrance of the agent, I suddenly felt the pressure down there again. My soft cry became a whimper of humiliation as I felt another few drops of wetness emerge into my already damp underwear.
He had reached the chair. He put his hands on its back and stood looking at me, assessing and evaluating me even more closely than he had done outside.
“My name is Senior Agent Delvik,” he said, with a smile that seemed to me even more frightening than a frown would have. “You will address me as sir, or Senior Agent. Do you understand, girl?”
My lips opened and closed. I clenched my fists with the effort to hold in my pee. I felt my face crumple into a mask of woe. I hoped the man might take it as penitence for my failure to obey him, because I felt desperate to find some way to get from him the boon I so desperately needed.
“Sir…” I started, hearing the strain in my voice. “Sir… I need…”
His smile changed to a frown of apparent confusion. Feeling my cheeks burn, unable to name my mortifying request, I turned to look at the horrible bucket. It was blue; almost the same shade as my skin. It looked clean, but to my dismay I could detect a whiff of odor now that gave away its purpose.
“Ah,” said Agent Delvik. “Well, girl, you may go ahead, if you answer me, and obey the instruction I gave you before the elders brought you down here.”
I swallowed hard, my brow creasing almost painfully. The tears of shame and terror came back into my eyes. Agent Delvik looked back at me steadily. His little smile had returned as he contemplated my ordeal.
“Otherwise,” he continued, “it seems as if you’re going to have some difficulty—though, really, of course, your new life as a concubine will bring you nothing but difficulty if you persist in your disobedience.”
My mouth opened, and I breathed in little gasps, in and out. The agent had spoken so vaguely, and yet my mind had filled with horrifying images. Another stab of agonizing discomfort came from between my legs. I couldn’t help it: I put my hand down there, between my thighs, pressing in a desperate little-girl attempt to keep my pee inside. I watched as Agent Delvik’s smile broadened slightly in obvious appreciation of my dilemma.
“I’ll make it easier for you, Chalondra,” he said, though the tone of his voice suggested that he meant the opposite of what he said. “For the moment, all you must do is remove your dress.”
“Please…” I sobbed. “Please… just let me…”
“I’ll let you relieve yourself,” he said, “once you’ve shown you can do as you’re told. Though I must say that it seems you’re under the impression that I’m going to turn my back, or leave the room, while you use your bucket. I don’t want to leave you with an incomplete understanding of your position. That sort of privacy isn’t going to be part of your life from this point on.”
“What?” I choked out. I realized to my dismay that he had spoken the truth. Somehow, because ever since I could remember I had, like everyone else I knew, had the expectation of privacy when using the outhouse, I had felt certain I would be allowed it here in my cage—despite all the obvious indications to the contrary.
“Stand up, girl!” the agent said, his voice suddenly very sharp.
My eyes blinked and went wide as I looked at him. I realized to my relief that the pressure of my bladder had eased again at the distraction the agent’s dreadful words had provided. Part of me wanted to obey, out of the rationality and the intelligence I had applied before the elders had left me here. The consequences of disobedience had started to become clear: the pain in my arm from trying to touch the lock had vanished but left its mark in my memory. How could I bear more of that?