A sharp jab landed on her neck as she struggled against her restraints until a wave of sudden drowsiness washed over her and her muscles turned to jelly. She barely felt her limp body being hoisted over her attacker’s shoulder and her head flopping against his back as she was carried down the stairs. Just as her consciousness was fading, she realized she was being loaded into the trunk of a car. Then everything went black.
When she awoke, Leah was lying on a soft mattress. Her head was pounding and she felt nauseous as she sat up, unable to pinpoint exactly where she was. Rubbing her eyes, she looked down at her bare breasts and realized she was naked. Vague memories of her capture came to the surface but she couldn’t piece it all together. She quickly covered herself with her hands and looked around.
Through blurred vision, she surveyed her surroundings and tried to remember exactly how she got here. The first things that stuck out to her were the bars. Thick, iron bars reminiscent of an old style animal cage, the kind that they would use in a traveling circus. Every way she turned her head, bars obstructed her vision and she realized that she was, in fact, inside of a well-constructed, animal cage. It had a low, barred ceiling, too low to stand up in. Her mat was in the corner and ran the entire length of the longest wall, taking up almost half of the floor space. She spun around to inspect the bars that were closest to her, studying how they were securely fastened to the thick wooden planks that made up the floor of her enclosure.
Leah took a long breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds only to open them and see the same surroundings that she had hoped were an illusion. Her cage was inside a small empty room with nothing but a strange round window and closed door. Near the door of her cage, there was a large bottle of water, and what appeared to be a bag of trail mix. There were also two buckets, one smaller and lidless, and the other larger with an odd looking double layer lid.
Rolling her knees beneath her, she crawled over the door and tried to open it. She pushed and pulled to no avail before finally ran her fingers along the cold hinges. The bottle of water called to her but she was too afraid to drink it. Crawling to the back of her cage, Leah inspected the buckets. The small one was simple enough, just a plain pail that you’d find in the kitchen. But the larger one frightened her somehow. Tentatively, she knelt beside it and lifted the lid and looked down at a toilet seat.
For some reason, she found the site of her latrine entirely overwhelming as the gravity of her peculiar situation finally pushed down on her. She let out a howl and kicked it backwards, scampering back to the door of her cage. She flung herself against the door in a vain attempt to push it open and thrust her arm and shoulder between the bars to see if it was impossible to squeeze out. Lying on her back, she kicked at the door over and over, crying out as hot tears ran down her face.
Looking up at the ceiling through her cage, Leah noticed a shiny black orb. It appeared to be a security camera, similar to the type that you see in a department store. Most of those were fake, but she knew deep inside that this one was functioning, and someone was watching her. With her face red with rage, a determination settled over her and she rose to her knees. Stretching out her arms, she gripped two bars on opposite walls of her cage and began rocking her body weight back and forth, hoping that she could some how tip the cage over and it would break, as unlikely as it was.
After several motions, she found a rhythm that started to lift the side of the cage. It was beginning to work and she began to put all of her might into the rocking. Her arms felt like they were going to rip out of the sockets, but she kept it up, her loud, guttural grunts echoing through the tiny room.
“Stop that!” a loud voice commanded from overhead and Leah froze in shock. Having lost her momentum, she pulled her aching arms around her and looked up at the camera, her eyes filled with hate and despair. “There is no use trying to escape. A gorilla couldn’t force its way out of that cage.”
“What do you want?” she asked quivering, terrified of the answer.
“If you continue to fling yourself around, you will be further restrained,” the electronic voice responded blankly. “Drink some water, or someone will make you. Now.”
Hands trembling, she picked up the bottle and opened it. Once she brought it to her lips, something instinctual took over and she gulped it down until she was out of breath. When she was done, Leah collapsed into a heap on the mattress, letting out long sobs and curling up into a ball. She pressed her forehead against one of the cold iron bars of her prison and watched the light fading through the tiny round window. She lay there, crying until her tears were spent and then gradually drifted off to sleep, feeling the eyes of her electronic observer on her bare helpless body.