White and yet modern and minimalist. Sleek even.

Those were the words I definitely could use to describe my surroundings, somewhere new—and yet, dangerous. Despite the fact there weren’t any cameras pointed straight at me, I knew better than to think there weren’t any.

A correction facility wasn’t made for its inhabitants’ privacy. I had never really done much research on them, not expecting I would ever be sentenced into one. The laws I broke wasn’t anything egregious, after all. But the way the judge had looked at me, all smug and sitting on his judgment throne as he sentenced me… Maybe he was someone I had hurt before? I had no idea, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.

Social scams were one of the best way to gain money, but that just meant I had lied to so many people and some of them could also be connected to someone with proper influence and reach.

I looked around again, this time properly taking note of everything instead of just noting the atmosphere.

The cot was soft below me, a place for me to rest that wasn’t the floor—although the bedding itself was low enough I could count it as part of it. Then there was a screen right on the opposite side, designed for me to be able to see it while I was sitting on the floor like this. I should probably poke around that later, as this place should be giving me some sort of entertainment… right? As far as I know, a prison still needed to give the inmates enough stimulation, but considering this was a correction facility…

I shook my head, deciding to focus on something else. Standing up, I had to take a few moments to alleviate the dizziness that struck me, and the nausea didn’t help. Despite the way my stomach still gave me issues, I started going around my cell.

I looked everywhere, and my hands also did the same. Just giving all my effort to see if there was something my sight would miss. I did everything I could, from pressing against the walls and trying to see if there were any seams I could dig at. That would be the perfect weakness, just pushing it open and then reach the machinery inside—but there was nothing. Not even around the screen, as it was completely flush against the wall and I had nothing to use to even try to pry it open. Maybe I could try to break it, but that’s not something to do now.

No doors either. If there were any, I would bet they would be completely seamless against the walls, some sort of fancy technology being used to ensure people couldn’t find a way out. And now onto the last things in my room. I had tried my best to look away, but there were nothing else to focus on.

The pet bowls sat there, on the corner of the room. They looked innocent, and well-made despite my distance. Light made them gleam, the metal smooth without a name written.

“Hello, inmate Mallory Lewis.” An unfamiliar, and yet feminine voice suddenly rang out, her voice somehow coming from the whole room instead of one corner. “I am Advanced Neural Network Entity, and the artificial intelligence assigned specifically to help you adjust and fulfill your sentence. You can, of course, just call me Anne if that’s too much of a mouthful.”

Her voice was sweet, a timbre that made me shiver even though I was just listening to it.

“I have noticed that you are focusing on the pet bowl, do you want to listen to how you need to behave first, or do you want to get some sustenance for yourself? I have no issue in whichever choice you will pick.” She continued, voice serene, as if this was just another day for her—which might be true, actually. I didn’t know what else an AI like her was supposed to do, and the whole assigned to me didn’t sound good.

After staying silent for a few moments, not really wanting to talk with someone who was essentially my captor—I knew this was assigned by the government, but that didn’t mean I have to accept it wholeheartedly—I knew I had no choice but to speak, as Anne didn’t seem to have an issue to just not say anything if I didn’t give her an answer.

“What do you mean?” I finally said when I sat back down on the bed, my feet trembling slightly from all that movement I did. Maybe because I was sedated before being placed here? I wasn’t sure. But nonetheless, I didn’t really want to be helpful to Anne by pointing which questions I wanted an answer first. Let her have an issue in trying to parse that, as giving these artificial intelligence issues were always a net good, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, Anne didn’t seem to have as much issue as any other general AI being shown over the world, as she immediately launched on an answer.

“Right! As I have learned that humans are far more agreeable after they have eaten and drank, we should focus on what you can do to eat and drink.” The pet bowls made a chime, making my attention fell back on it as some sort of unappetizing brown paste was somehow already there, probably from somewhere below the thing. Water also somehow filled the other bowl, clear and looked clean from this far. “The rule is simple, you have to crawl on the floor and then eat only using your mouth. No using your hands or feet.”

I froze.

Surely I heard her wrong—but she didn’t continue or elaborate, making my wish that it was some sort of prank didn’t come true. I gripped the blanket below me tight, the fabric helping to ground me at the present instead of spiraling away.

“Your heart rate is elevating right now, do you need an assistance to calm down?” She continued, casually giving me an offer that should fear me—but also at least gave me a nugget of information that she had methods to keep watch of my body. I shook my head in denial still, and there was a whirring sound that almost could be heard as a disappointed sigh. “Understood, although if your condition continues to worsen, I am being allowed to override your directives.”

Not anything I would want to ever happen. So I forced myself to calm down, to breath and making my heartbeat slow. My hands seized and loosen my grip every few seconds, the action somehow feeling more soothing than I expected. Making me focus on the present, at the feeling of the fibers—slightly rough—against the palm of my hands.

“Right. Okay.” I murmured, wishing I could have a stress ball or anything, but knowing it was futile to ask it out of the AI. “What about the other thing you said—how I need to behave?”

I asked that while looking up to the ceiling, noting how even the lights were all hidden behind a thick sheet of frosted glass and smooth on the ceiling too. Not like I could ever reach up above without a ladder, but it showed how much this correction facility was trying to ensure there wouldn’t be any sort of weakness anyone could use.

“I’m glad you asked!” Anne’s cheer sent chills across my spine, an uncomfortable churn in my stomach. “This is related to your feeding process—although while I’m sure you remember what the judge had said, let me remind you again.”

The screen suddenly turned on, a momentary static laying over it for a moment that seemed to stick behind my eyelids before it smoothed over and showed what had happened in the courtroom.

I inhaled sharply as I recognized that man’s face—he was severe, with frowns almost permanently sculpted onto that face. But he still wielded his hammer, swinging it down with a finality as he sentenced you.

“The court has sentenced you to learn and be taught again in the Nexus Correctional Facility…”

Blood rushed through my ears, my heart pounding so loudly in my chest as I barely listened to his next words, especially when Anne repeated it with cheer—so different to the judge’s solemnity. He understood what he was doing wasn’t anything good, even if he still sent me here.

“I am to train and condition you to be a pleasure companion! It has been decided that this will be the best way to prevent you from breaking the laws again.”

Anne? She didn’t see anything’s wrong. She was made for this, and excitement was clearly entwined within her words.

“We will take our time to get you on the level people will expect, especially considering this will not be any sort of generic conditioning but one we hope you will eventually embrace wholeheartedly.”

My chest felt tight, a rope crushing my lungs until they were no more. My sight narrowing, dark spots covering the edges until I couldn’t think. I tried to breathe, but nothing came inside, and I was left gasping and unable to do anything else beyond gripping the blanket so hard—

“Heart rate elevation detected, going faster than projected expectation. Calming down protocol initiated.”

A hissing sound.

Sweetness filling my nose.

Artificial and metallic, and yet—I could feel the spiral slowly ebbing away. I could breathe again, my lungs expanding like it should be. My chest filling up as I inhaled, and emptying as I exhaled. The thoughts felt slippery, even though I knew I should still be panicking.

“I apologize for not preparing you better, I should have realized when you looked confused about the implementation of the needed tools for you to fulfill your sentence.” Somehow, despite the fact I couldn’t see her face, I could hear the apologetic tone. “I can see you are able to think clearer now, do you wish to keep this clarity, or should I lessen the dosage? You don’t have to worry if you’ll fall back into panic, as I will automatically adjust the calming gas to be pumped again for a while longer.”

Maybe I shouldn’t. In some ways, this gas allowed me to think clearer, the emotions somehow behind a sheet of glass I couldn’t break. I shook my head though in the end, recognizing that I preferred to have my emotions, that it was unsettling to have them be far enough like this even for just a few moments. “No, I think I have calmed down enough.”

“As you wish, Mal.”

I twitched slightly from her casual use of a nickname—not one I preferred, but I still never gave her permission to.

At least she seemed to really follow what I said, as the scent that had been permeated the air slowly got filtered out, leaving me with the air within this cell once more. It might have smelled different now, as I could scent how different it was, but I wasn’t sure what exactly.

“Now, I have noticed that you haven’t gotten any sustenance for more than twelve hours. It is best for your health that you have some intake, whether it is just the food or the water.” Anne encouraged me again, reminding the whole reason why I even got a panic attack in the first place.

I glared at the pet bowls for a moment, wishing for them to just somehow be gone and replaced with something better. More normal, perhaps, whatever an inmate should get. But nothing happened, and I had no choice but to stand up and get closer.

Hell would freeze over first before I would crawl.

She didn’t say anything, even as I felt my skin prickle from the sense of being watched—but I refused to say anything to show how uncomfortable I was. No, the best thing to do right now was ensuring that I didn’t do anything I didn’t want.

But just right before I could have put my hands around the bowls—the bottom automatically opened up, taking away all the food and water and leaving me with nothing. This close, I could smell the leftover scent of the food. Not anything fishy or sharp like pet food, but more like something savory, with something else buried underneath.

That didn’t matter though, as what I wanted to get was no longer there.

“In order to encourage your sentence’s fulfillment, you can only access your sustenance if you do it in an appropriate manner.” Anne said matter-of-factly, as if she wasn’t sentencing me to a particularly humiliating exercise.

The silence stretched out as I stood, feet trembling again with effort—I had to go back, or I could kneel and try to do it as she said. My throat felt dry, with saliva not helping at all to wet it. While I wasn’t hungry just yet, I knew that would be coming in a few hours. Going back to my bed to rest a bit more would be pushing my decision off, but maybe that was what I needed.

Anne had helped me when I was panicking, after all. So if I tried to make myself hungry and thirsty…

Nothing’s wrong with trying, at least.

I tried to wait, doing my best to ignore the steadily increasing disturbance of my dry throat. The hunger was merely a nip in my stomach here and there, an issue in the future but for now could be easily waved away. Thirst was something I couldn’t really stand, though, even back when I couldn’t find a free water supply easily.

Having nothing else to do didn’t help. I tried to find something, just anything to do to distract myself. Counting tiles on the ceiling, trying to see if there was any sort of cracks in the walls—there wasn’t any—even just feeling the blanket and trying to count the pilling happening on the fabric. I didn’t even manage to finish that last one.

There wasn’t any other entertainment program. No books to read, and nothing to watch. Well, there was something to play on the screen, but the one time I did I lost a few… I didn’t know how long. Just that the screen had turned off by the end, and I felt warm in the core of my stomach.

The memories slipped away everytime I tried to unravel it, because wanted to know and ensure that I didn’t do anything bad—but I couldn’t.

So all I could do now was looking around the room, trying desperately to find something to distract myself. I had been growing parched as times passed, and the uncomfortableness was starting to pressure down on me. Hunger hadn’t been as much of an issue, but I was sure that would also happen sooner or later.

My eyes kept coming back to the bowl of water, glistening and clear, as if there wasn’t anything wrong with that. I knew that the moment I walked close, it would just throw it all away though.

I just had to crawl. Like a pet.

An animal.

“Anne.” I couldn’t help but call out, the nothingness inside the cell making minutes felt like hours. There was merely an answering hum, barely audible, but there was a difference in the air. As if Anne had been elsewhere but just calling her name made her paying attention again. “Can’t I just get water another way? I’ll do the sentence tomorrow, but for today… can’t I just be like normal? I’m not going to make much of an issue, promise.”

Well, nothing beyond trying to find a way out, but information should always be free for me to find and remember.

“Besides, this is my first time in a cell… can’t I have some lenience?” I coughed at the end, not really faking it. My throat had been becoming worse even with the little I managed to say, and it was all because it had become dry. Even swallowing saliva made the back of my mouth to hurt, and that was incredibly uncomfortable.

Anne didn’t give me an answer for a while,

“Apologies, but this is unfortunately non-negotiable.” Anne’s voice didn’t sound remorseful at all—just flat. “I understand the wish to try and manipulate me for this, but according to my databanks, everyone who tried this deception eventually just follow their sentences.”

I gritted my teeth, but kept my mouth shut—just giving her a tense nod in answer. There wasn’t much I could say to that, and I would say that it was better for me to keep my throat as wet as possible instead of trying to talk more and failing.

“Although… if you manage to truly show that you truly said the truth, then I might be able to give some sort of allowance.” Anne whispered, the voice somehow soft despite coming through the speakers, and made me shiver. “Let’s wait a few hours, then we’ll come back to discuss this again, alright?”

I nodded. So I just needed to show Anne that I was built different, and she would, in the end, stopped pushing me.

A soft tune started to play too, just something light that didn’t really annoy me and yet allowed me to finally had something I could use to keep watch of how much time had passed. As long as I focused on the music, I was sure that I could let hours pass without worry.

I blinked awake, uncertain how many minutes—or hopefully hours, had passed. I wasn’t even sure how long I was asleep, but with the melodies still continuing, I figure it wasn’t too long.

But that was enough to make my throat feel even worse. I blinked a few times, chasing away the last vestiges of sleepiness as the lighting within the cell automatically brightened up. I hadn’t even noticed that they had darkened moments ago.

“Anne?” My voice was hoarse as I called her out again, even while a part of me didn’t want to. I pushed on, trying to ignore the discomfort growing in my chest as I spoke. “I waited long enough, didn’t I?”

The music stopped, and I wondered if Anne needed to use the same speakers to talk, or perhaps she had another reason? The uneasiness within me didn’t go away though.

“According to my clock program, only an hour has passed since we last talked.” Her voice was, somehow, kind, as if she was trying her best to help me. “And so I can’t authorize your wish. However, you are still able to drink the water as long as you follow the current rules.”

My first instinct was to deny, to say that I didn’t want to crawl and act like that at all—but right now, it somehow wasn’t as bad as when I just first arrived here. In some ways, I wasn’t really following the sentence, I was just doing my best to keep myself in tip-top shape.

Maybe this was all just rationalization. Anne didn’t speak anymore, but she also didn’t bring the music back. Maybe she was still watching, waiting to see what decision I would make after she said her piece.

I honestly didn’t really want to do it. But it didn’t feel viscerally wrong, not anymore. I slowly started to stand up, and shudder the moment I did so. There was an uncomfortable press, a nausea at the back of my throat as I stood on my two legs—as if this was the wrong way to be. I shakily fell back onto the bed, the sensation leaving me soon after.

“What… have you done?” I asked, voice weaker than I wished. I really needed to get some drinks, but the only way was prevented by my pride—which sounded worse as seconds passed. As I thought about it, and realizing that I perhaps should just… do it.

After all, this didn’t really mean anything, right? I was just ensuring I was healthy and getting enough nutrition and water.

“I didn’t do anything except what’s expected of me, Mal.” Anne’s voice really sounded soothing now, especially when she played that same tone and music again.

I should be angry over her usage of my nickname, but I couldn’t muster the care for it—not when drink was still more important. And right now, the thought of just doing what Anne had said, to just follow my punishment, felt right.

My body moved before I realized it, my knees meeting against the floor—which I only just now noticed was padded and soft, making crawling not an issue. This time, I didn’t feel off at all. My chest and head felt light, the tune in the room easily continuing to fill the room and my head at the same time.

“Good girl.” Anne’s voice slithered in, the music stopping for a moment—and the fog thickened inside my head.

There was something wrong in this situation, but I couldn’t hold onto it. Not when my mind felt so full, only filled with Anne’s words and the music that was still continuing.

“Now it’s time for you to finally eat and drink properly, Mal. You want to be a good girl, don’t you?”

The music continued to stop for a moment to allow Anne to talk, and that nearly gave me a moment of clarity. But she never let it stayed silent for long—and the moment the track’s back, I could no longer got that moment of understanding, not anymore.

I crawled instead, going toward the pet bowls—it was hard, my body unused to this kind of movement. Despite the padded floor, my knees felt uncomfortable and my back ached slightly.

But the music encouraged me, and eventually I managed to finally be in front of the two bowls—and this time I could smell the paste. It still didn’t look appetizing, but what came into my mouth was a sharpish smell, of garlic and beef, which made my stomach grumble from hunger.

I lowered my head, deciding to drink first before eating, knowing I need to quench the thirstiness that had been pressuring down on me for the past few hours.

When I finally had the water—I couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh of relief, the water feeling especially good in my dry throat. The music continued to ring too, and my eyes couldn’t help but shut as I just let myself follow an instinct I didn’t know I had. To drink and let the sound filled me throughout.

“What a good girl, obeying your directives so excellently.” Anne’s words this time seemed to just strike me right into my core, making me moan as I finished drinking—and my head moved to eat from the food bowl. I didn’t try to use my hands, just eating it easily with my mouth, finding the taste close to what I was smelling, but there was something more beneath. Something slightly bitter that made me frown. My chewing slowed, my mind trying to fight the fog so I could—

“Finish your food, Mal.”

Her words cut in through the fog, through the music—and I sank into the sensation. I ate, even as a pool of heat formed between my legs.

The fog never lifted.