Jenny was fucking trapped. Again. Inside the mansion from hell.

Fuck, why did she let herself come here? Jasmine was right. She should have been more spineless. She should have run away. She should have just given up and thrown it all away and fled for her worthless life.

But Nicole had wanted her back.

Jenny scoffed. What did that matter? Nicole didn’t exist. And if she did, she wouldn’t for long. They were so intent on turning her back into Precious, she was sure. Precious was what they wanted.

So what were they really up to? Why did they really want her here?

She had sat down on her bed in her new room, now wearing some plain cotton pyjamas. The room was comfortable enough, but plain. Nothing as fine as the furniture the maids had, if anything it was more like a college dorm. Better than a prison cell, she supposed. Then again that’s what it effectively was, despite the door not having a lock. A single bed with cotton and flannel sheets, a clothes rack with no hangers or clothes, and a single wooden chair. Not even a window.

It looked more like they’d just emptied out a spare room and shoved some furnishings into it.

What was the most humiliating thing was how after entering the room, she was ordered, ordered, to strip by the maid. She had immediately tried to protest, but the maid simply reported that Mistress would be informed of her resistance.

Hearing that, she stripped down to her underwear, but was told to strip herself of everything, including her piercings. That was the truly embarrassing part. Nudity around others she could handle, but her piercings were a symbol of who she was to herself.

Only after that was she given pyjamas and told to stay. She knew she had to, but hearing it from what was ostensibly once her coworkers was … it made her feel impotent.

Eventually she did receive a knock at her door, and before she could answer it swung open to reveal a short maid with curly brown hair. Her face looked a little like a rat to Jenny.

‘Your new clothes for your indenture as the Mistress’ ward,’ she explained, proffering a plain brown cardboard box.

Jenny took them and opened it, revealing seven identical jumpsuits of sturdy grey material. Across the back was a barcode emblazoned with a number and her name beneath. The front twin zipper went from the neck to the back of the crotch, but appeared to have space for a padlock to pass through the collar, the same with the cuffs of the sleeves and pant legs.

‘What the hell is this?’ Jenny asked.

‘Mistress has instructed that this is to be your work uniform for your indenture. It is to be kept locked while you are working and can be unlocked by your proctor for bathroom breaks and at the end of your day,’ she explained, ‘Furthermore, good behaviour can be rewarded by keeping the uniform unlocked during work hours.’

Jenny seethed internally but said nothing, pulling one of the jumpsuits from the box and examining it more. It was perfectly tailored, of course. Even the prisoner clothes here had to be fitted like they were for some supermodel.

She pulled off her pyjamas and slid into the jumpsuit, the inner material feeling oddly cool. Zipping up the front, the maid stepped forward with a set of nickel-plated padlocks and clipped them to each of Jenny’s sleeves, her pant legs, and her jumpsuit collar.

‘So what’s my shitty job for-’ Jenny began before electricity jolted across her entire body. She staggered, not knowing what had hit her. It had been mild, not really painful, but it was surprising, ‘What the fuck was tha- Aaagh!’

Another shock, slightly intense this time, hit Jenny as she twitched involuntarily.

‘I hadn’t time to mention,’ the maid said casually, showing no emotion whatsoever, ‘But the jumpsuits are equipped with microphones and audio processing devices which deliver a shock through the jumpsuit’s conductive lining on detection of undesirable language. Nothing powerful enough to be truly dangerous, and vulnerable areas such as the spine and chest are covered by nonconductive material, but it is sufficient to ensure proper use of language within the Mistresses’ house.’

So that was their game. They were taking her fucking words away. At least her private thoughts were still her own. Grimacing, she straightened up her posture.

‘Fine. Nothing I didn’t expect those- the Mistresses might have planned for me. So what do I have to do today?’

‘As I will be your proctor for the day, you will be covering all my daily tasks,’ the maid gave a genuine smile, ‘I’m honestly quite grateful. I always hated when they put me on dusting duties in the library. It’s such a hassle to move the stepladder every time I want to move to the next shelf.’

Jenny rolled her eyes, ‘Yeah, I’ll bet.’

Jasmine hadn’t been lying about making Jenny do everything that no one wanted to do around the mansion. She had been mopping floors, unclogging drains, and scrubbing tiles seemingly all day, and though her jumpsuit had integrated padding to protect her knees, elbows, and wrists, it also left her without shoes. Somehow that was particularly embarrassing, while everyone else wore dainty or professional footwear, she was left without even socks. 

She supposed she should just count herself lucky they didn’t put her in chains while she was still working there, like an actual prisoner.

It was as she was scrubbing the floor tiles of one of the many, many guest bathrooms that she heard a distinctly familiar meowing.

‘Oh please, not now…’

‘Nya~? Oh, is that?’ there was a gasp as Lisa, the dommes’ human cat slave, slinked into the bathroom, ‘It is! It’s been a while since I last saw you, Jenny.’

‘I’m surprised you remember me,’ Jenny said as she began standing up, ‘Look, I don’t have time for this-’

‘Ah, ah!’ Lisa tutted, her expression darkly mischievous, ‘From what I hear you have to do everything I say. Isn’t that right?’

Jenny paused, trying to keep her teeth from gnashing together, ‘Yes…’

‘So why don’t you stay on your hands and knees with me? I haven’t had someone I can see eye to eye with in a long time,’ she said slyly, slinking up to Jenny.

Jenny muttered darkly as she sank back to her hands and knees.

‘There, good Jenny!’ Lisa purred before her tone quickly switched to conspiratorial, ‘But hey, you’ve still got that thing that mind-wiped Precious?’

Jenny’s eyes widened in surprise, ‘You know about that?’

‘Yeah duh! That’s all that Mistress and her Majesty could talk about for ages, meow,’ she whispered, ‘Can you do it to me?’

‘What?’

‘I think if I get my mind wiped and forget everything, they’ll let me get outta here,’ Lisa grinned, ‘It’s the perfect plan. Help me get out of here, and I’ll find your own contract and help you escape!’

Jenny’s eyes darkened, ‘It’s … not that simple. Besides, I can’t even use the recording I made for it. That b- I mean, Mistress took my phone.’

‘But you could still try saying it, right?’ Lisa huffed, ‘Come on, just do it!’

‘Even if it worked, I’d get in more shit than I’m already-’ Jenny snapped before she felt another shock crackle across the conductive fabric of her suit, ‘Gah! Damn it!’

‘Oh, that’s a very fun toy,’ Lisa said, her mischief turning devilish, ‘But since you didn’t do what I wanted like you’re meant to, Mistress said I get to punish you a little!’

‘What? No, I don’t believe that for a seco-’

‘Bad Jenny!’ Lisa declared with barely concealed glee.

An intense shock, stronger than the others she’d felt just from her own foul mouth, wracked her body as she was forced to bow her head from the crackling electricity.

Lisa couldn’t help but clap and laugh as Jenny shook off the last of the static.

‘That’s so much fun!’ she giggled, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea. What if I wasn’t the only kitty around here? I get soooo lonely after all, nya~’

Jenny realised with horror what Lisa was about to ask of her, ‘God, please don’t.’

‘Aww come on Jenny, just a little meow? One little mew for me?’ Lisa asked, pawing at the air in front of her.

Jenny’s mind blinked back to the girl in the cage, the shock collar giving her shocks much the same as these, and cringed, ‘I really don’t…’

‘Bad Jenny!’

Her body convulsed again, shocks zapping and snapping at her exposed skin. There was nowhere in the suit to avoid the electricity.

She caved.

‘M-m … meow,’ Jenny said weakly.

Lisa gasped with happiness, utterly ecstatic at this development, ‘Jenny has such cute meows! I wanna hear more! Go on, do it again!’

‘M-meow,’ Jenny mewled as Lisa purred and began circling her.

‘Aww, so cute! Again.’

‘Meow.’

‘Good Jenny, meow. Come on, do it again,’ she said, beginning to make small licks at the side of Jenny’s face.

Jenny whimpered, utterly humiliated by all this, ‘Meow.’

Lisa tittered and was about to open her mouth again when she heard the telltale footfalls of Mistress approaching, ‘Sorry to go so soon, but I’ve got to tell Mistress all about this!’

The slave scampered off, her tail flicking around the corner and out of sight. Jenny fell from her hands and knees to her side, taking deep steadying breaths. This was awful. She was totally wracked by her own guilt, and now she was getting put through this kind of abuse? What the fuck even possessed her to come back here?

Jenny was found not long afterwards by her proctor, and taken back to her room to rest. Her jumpsuit was unlocked and the moment she was able to she flung it with as much force as she could muster at the wall, stomping on it a few times for good measure.

Collapsing back onto her bed, she stared at the bare ceiling of her room. Her whole skin prickled uncomfortably, her joints ached, and she never wanted to peel another potato by hand again.
And getting utterly humiliated by Lisa of all people – though it was a stretch to call her a person at this point – was absolutely the last straw.

Tears welled up in Jenny’s eyes as she rolled over and curled into herself. All this for someone she didn’t even know still existed. Who was this for? The memory of some girl she knew?

God, she had been so painfully stupid to come back here.

The handle to Jenny’s door clicked as it began to swing open, Jenny bolting upright afraid it was one of the Mistresses.

Instead, it was her.

Or rather, not her.

Precious stood in the doorway, looking vacant and doll-like as Jenny worried she would be. Thoroughly rouged cheeks and dainty, painted features with floral and saccharine clothing, all lace and petticoats.

The door shut behind her with a disenchanting click.

‘What do you want?’ Jenny spat.

‘I wanted to see you,’ Precious said.

‘Why? So you could tell me again how much I ruined your perfect life?’ Jenny cursed, withdrawing into herself, ‘I came back to apologise but just … fuck, how do I even begin?’

Jenny heard rapid footsteps and looked up just in time to see Precious wrapping her arms around her, drawing her into a big hug. Sobs shuddered out from her lungs as she pulled Jenny tighter.

‘I thought I’d never see you again!’ Nicole sobbed.

‘Nicole?’ Jenny asked disbelievingly, ‘But why? How?’

Nicole broke the hug, sitting down beside Jenny on the bed as she dabbed at her tears with a silk handkerchief, ‘It’s a long story. But a while after I came back, after what happened in Venice, Mistress and her Majesty … something happened I shouldn’t talk much about. But after everything settled, they changed how they did things with us,’ she explained, ‘We have a lot more freedom now. They gave me the option of having an apartment in town, but I wanted to stay here with them and Clara. They also changed my conditioning so it can be turned on or off. It’s my choice to be Nicole or Precious, though a lot of my memories as Nicole are still sort of hazy. And I like being Precious better. It just feels more whole to me.’

Jenny gave another huff, ‘What good will memories do you if you can’t even remember them when you’re being Precious?’

‘Because,’ Nicole looked back at Jenny, ‘They're still my memories. Even when I am Precious, they're still just as much a part of me. I feel as if there's something missing. And if I'm not Precious, I want to remember the good things from before they took me as their plaything. That includes you.’

Jenny looked at her in disbelief, ‘So you really did want me back?’

Nicole nodded with a smile.

‘I don’t think you deserved what could have happened to you,’ she said, ‘You didn’t know what you were doing. You thought you were helping me, saving me even! You couldn’t have known that this was what I wanted, and even if you had talked to me about it, you wouldn’t have believed me.’

Jenny hung her head, fists balling up around her bedsheets, ‘It was,’ she choked, ‘Stupid of me.’

Nicole pulled her friend back into a hug, ‘You thought you were doing what was best. But that’s just it. You can’t decide what’s best for other people if you don’t know them. That’s why I wanted you back,’ she held Jenny by the arms, ‘So you could see me for who I am, and how I really am happy here.’

‘So … what about my indenture? I’m basically a prisoner here.’

‘Do you know what they really want you to pay back? It's not money. They have plenty of that; it's something much more than that. It's my lost memories. Not remembering my past life as Nicole while I'm precious doesn't have any meaning if I had no chance to remember them in the first place,’ she explained, ‘Besides, if you got hit with the consequences from the broken contract you could’ve been stranded without anything in some far-off country with no one to help you.’

Jenny shrugged and spoke tonelessly, ‘Not the first time I’ve been in that situation.’

‘Well I don’t want it to happen to you again,’ Nicole said firmly, ‘I missed you, you know. Every day you weren’t here; especially after Liz left. And I don’t want to let you just disappear again,’ Nicole’s eyes turned downcast, ‘You were the first real friend I’d ever had and … and you never even called or let me know how you were. Or where you were or … or if you even missed me, too.’

Nicole began to cry again as the hole in Jenny’s chest yawned a little wider, ‘Nicole I … I didn’t know you cared.’

She sniffed again, drying her eyes with her handkerchief, ‘I do. I really, really do.’

Nicole took Jenny’s hands into hers, carefully slipping the silk handkerchief inside her cupped hands, ‘I have to go now. Take care, okay? I’ll see you soon.’

With that, Precious straightened her back, turned on her heel, and left the room with not another word.

Jenny looked down at the silk handkerchief in her hands, delicately monogrammed with the letter “P.”

Crawling under her covers, Jenny held the handkerchief tightly in her fist underneath her pillow.