Megan sat in the dark, illuminated only by the light of the pink glow of the TV and the blue glow of the glass tanks around her. Her white headphones blocked out the noise around her – the bubbling in the tanks, the slight hum of the air conditioning, the faint moans from the orgy on the other side of the wall.

Then, she heard the knocks. Again.

She paused the video, took off her headphones, and rotated her chair around to the door behind her. And waited.

Knock, knock, knock. “Miss Megan?” the muffled voice called.

Megan sighed. “You may enter, renee.”

The door cracked open, first slowly, then quickly, spilling natural light into the room. There stood renee, dressed in her secretary uniform, another tank at her feet.

“You just keep coming back,” Megan said flatly. “And with yet another eel, I see.” This one was brown with red rings, probably about two feet long.

“I’m sorry, Miss Megan,” renee said quickly, her face red and tears already welling up. “I’m sorry for trying to run away. Please let me stop. People are asking questions.”

Megan didn’t say anything, instead clapping twice to turn on the lights. She looked around the room at the tanks on display; the south wall had five aquariums lined up end to end, and with this new addition, the north wall had four.  She took a few steps to the north wall, squatted down next to an eight-inch orange one, and looked up at renee expectantly.

“They’re so heavy, Miss Megan,” renee sobbed as she hefted the aquarium the last few feet to its resting place. “And none of the other girls will help me.”

Megan looked silently into the tank. The zebra-like fish inside appeared asleep. Moray eels, as she had learned recently, tended to be nocturnal. She stood, then returned to her chair and sat, casting her gaze to the crying love slave before her.

“renee, let me be clear with you.”

renee nodded.

“It might upset you to hear this, but I need you to listen and understand.”

renee nodded faster, a fresh well of tears erupting.

“renee, I never asked you to bring me, at this point, ten different moray eels. I never asked you to bring me one moray eel. At no point did I in any way request any sort of aquatic pet from you or any of the other slaves.”

renee stopped sobbing at that, drying her eyes and looking at Megan in absolute befuddlement. “Wh-what?”

“I do not want them in a box. I do not want them with a fox. I do not want them here or there; I do not want them anywhere.”

renee stared, stunned. “But… But i… i’ve spent so much money. i think i’m on some kind of exotic pet watchlist now,” she stammered. “You’re saying you didn’t command this?”

“Not even remotely,” Megan said.

“But… but I thought this was some kind of ironic punishment for trying to escape while you dealt with the first one.”

“It might be,” Megan sighed, spinning in her chair. “But I’m not the one inflicting it. The ironic punishment is coming from inside the house, as it were.” She stopped spinning and leaned her head on her hands, staring directly into renee’s bloodshot eyes. “That means there’s only one thing to do.”

renee stepped backwards towards the doorway. “Y-you can’t mean…”

“That’s right, renee.” Megan smiled coldly. “It’s time to go back to therapy.”