The female starts talking, and I force myself to focus on her and listen to her words. “I know you must’ve had a long day. You can come out whenever you like,” she tells me softly. “You’re not a prisoner, and you have nothing to fear here.”
She says some more things, but I don’t catch the rest, because those words needle through my mind.
I’m not a prisoner?
Nothing to fear?
Those concepts are completely foreign to me. And I know without a doubt that it’s not true. Rick Dick will return any minute now. I’ll be snatched back into my normal life of captivity where I live under their thumbs.
I don’t know what kind of game Rick is playing, but I know he’s tricking me. He’s trying to give me false hope and then take it away from me again. But I’m not going to fall for it. He would never let me go. Sid wouldn’t allow it.
So even though she really does leave my cage door open, and even though she leaves the room with the bedroom door cracked, I don’t fall for it. I don’t try to climb up the walls of my cage or escape.
If I do, I’ll just be punished more severely, and self-preservation is something I’ve gotten very good at. Just survive. I always tell myself. Just get through another day. So that’s what I do. Day in and day out, I survive. I curl up inside of my animal, keeping myself as safe as I can.
My rat takes over, offering me a protective nudge, promising me she will keep us safe. She also promises to play the shit out of our new toys because they’re really fun, and she might as well enjoy them before Rick Dick takes them away. She’s going to enjoy this respite, no matter how short it lasts.
Update: My respite is lasting a long friggen time.
I’m not sure exactly how many days I’ve been here, but it’s much longer than I ever expected to get. Even my rat, who doesn’t have a good judge of time, is wary.
Every day like clockwork, my food and water are refilled and the female who takes care of me makes sure that new wood shavings are put in my cage.
I eat. I drink. I play. I sleep. I climb the walls of my cage and sprint back and forth along my wood shavings. But I don’t go out.
Despite the fact that my door is always left wide open, I don’t risk it. Not even when the female leaves me new toys on her bedroom floor to entice me, I still don’t go, even though they look really fun. I just stare at them longingly from inside my cage.
But today when she gets home from work, she shoots me a smile and comes over as she kicks off her shoes. She has a bag in her hand that she sets down in front of the cage for me to see. “Got something yummy for you today,” she says with a smile. “How about you come out of that cage?”
Instead of coming out like she wants me to, I retreat back into the cave and bury my ass under my little rat bed.
I hear her give a little sigh and then the rustling of a bag fills my ears. The most delicious smells come wafting out, making my nose twitch and my mouth water.
“Well… If you change your mind, I brought you fresh chicken wings. They’re still warm.”
Dammit. She’s playing dirty.
I peek out, but when I see her looking at me, I quickly retreat.
“Okie dokie. I’m just going to go…take a shower.”
Her footsteps retreat, and then I hear the bathroom door shut. I wait a good sixty seconds after I hear the shower turn on to venture back out. My head swings around in all directions as I look for any kind of threat that might be hidden. I don’t see anything, but damn, that smell.
Maybe I can just sneak out for a little nibble. I’m sure I can dart back inside my cage before she gets out of the shower.
Hesitantly, I crawl up the wall of my cage like it’s a ladder and then look through the open hatch. I eye the plate of chicken wings waiting for me. They’re seasoned, dammit. I’m just not strong enough to resist something like that.
The bedroom is empty, so I climb the rungs of the wire cage and go out through the open hatch before climbing back down the side. My claws click onto the floor as I land, and I sniff around, searching for threats. No movement happens and the shower is still going, so everything looks safe.
That plate is mine.
I launch myself at it, immediately nibbling through the chicken as fast as I possibly can.
Oh, cheese squeeze, that’s friggen good.
I eat the first wing right down to the bone before starting on another. Hmm. I wonder if I can drag that bone into the cage? It would be an awesome addition to my nest. I continue to eat, happy at that thought, and my tail starts wagging again. I’d be embarrassed if there were anyone around.
“I thought you’d like that.”
I squeak in surprise at the female’s voice and whip my head around, tearing a piece of meat along with me as I move.
I turn to flee, but she holds up her hands in front of her. “Don’t run away! I’m not going to hurt you,” she says softly. “I won’t even come closer if that would make you feel more comfortable.”
To prove her point, she slowly sits down in the threshold of the bathroom, crossing her legs in front of her as she leans her back against the doorframe. She took a shockingly fast shower. Her hair is wet, so I can see the pastel-colored streaks she has dyed throughout her blonde tresses. She’s wearing a baggy t-shirt and pajama shorts with ducks all over them.
I hesitate, debating what to do.
Should I run? Should I hide?
I glance back at all of the toys, the food and water, and my new cage. She’s taken care of me. She’s never once been cruel. I should know better than to hope, but maybe, just maybe, I can actually trust her.
Instead of running back into my cage, I force myself to stay put. She keeps sitting down, not moving any closer just like she promised, and I relax just a little and chew the chicken still hanging out of my mouth. When her phone rings where it’s beside her on the floor, she picks it up and answers.
“Hey, Penn,” she says into the phone before her eyes dart over to me. “No, but she came out of her cage on her own, so that’s a start. Yeah, I know. I’ll try.” She rolls her eyes. “Oh, good grief. I just saw you last night!” She snorts into the phone. “Mm-hmm. Maybe I’ll come over, maybe I won’t. Guess you’ll just have to see.”
She hangs up and tosses the phone down in her lap. “Males. So demanding of your time,” she says conversationally. “You know, I’d really love a girlfriend to talk to,” she muses to me. “Having mates is exhausting. And I don’t just mean the sex. I swear, they can’t go more than ten hours without seeing me, or they get all moody.”
I listen to her in fascination as I nibble away until there’s a knock on the door, and I immediately scurry over to my cage despite the female assuring me that it’s okay.
I’m back in the safety of my cave when I hear her open the door. “Hey, Alpha.”
“Hey, kid,” I hear a masculine voice reply.
I peek out to look, seeing the same alpha as before. Even from here, I can already feel waves of power coming from him.
“How’s she doing, Addie?” he asks.
The woman—Addie—looks over at my cage. “Well, today’s the first day she ventured out of her cage by herself, but…”
I hear him sigh. “Well, I guess that’s progress.”