Monsters
By Karen Singer
Chapter 31 – A Few Answers – Part 2 of 2
Brandy!” Carol said. “I need to know about Brandy.”
“Of course,” Janice returned with a smile. She moved in front of the naked woman. “We’re going to ask you some questions now. I want you to answer each and every question truthfully and completely to the best of your ability. There will be no hiding anything. My mind controls your mind. My will is your will. And my will is that you will answer everything as best you can. Now let’s start with something simple. What is your name?”
“Sally Logan,” the woman replied. “But lately it’s been Sally Sweetlips. That’s the name they gave me in Las Angeles.”
“Los Angeles!” Janice exclaimed. What were you doing there?”
“Working the streets. Hooking.”
“I see,” Janice replied. “Did you want to be a hooker, or did someone force you to it?”
“I had no choice,” the woman replied. “It was either that or starve.”
“How about your family?”
“I left them.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t like it there. We didn’t get along.”
Janice figured that would be something the interrogators could get into later. “Sally, someone has gone to an awful lot of trouble to control you. Who was it?”
Sally shook her head. “I don’t really know. I think I heard his name at a few parties they made me work. They called him Alfonso.”
“A party. Where you there as a hooker for the men?”
“Yes…and no. I was…I was…” And then she barked.
“Sally!” Janice said sternly. “You are not a dog. You will no longer bark or act like dog in any way. I forbid it! And my will is now your will. You are a human woman and you will act like one.” But now Janice suspected something else. “Sally, at these parties, did you act like a dog?”
“Yes. For the first few. Then later, I was allowed to be human again.”
“I see,” Janice replied. This was more information they could dig out of her later. “And where were these parties held, in Los Angeles?”
“I don’t know where we were.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I don’t know. I have no idea where they took me.”
“Where they took you? What happened.”
“Bryce was mad at me for not getting enough customers. So he beat me up again, then the next morning, I got tied up and thrown into some kind of vehicle.”
“You don’t know what kind of vehicle?”
“They put a bag over my head. I couldn’t see anything.”
“Was Bryce your pimp?”
“Yes.”
“In Los Angeles.”
“Yes.”
“And where did Bryce take you?”
“He didn’t. He handed me over to some other guys, and they tied me up and put the bag over my head.”
“And you don’t know who they were?”
“No. Just that they worked for this place they took me to.”
“And where was that?”
“I don’t know.”
“They put a bag over your head and put you in some kind of vehicle and took you there. How long a ride was it?”
“Very long. A long time. I don’t know how long.”
“And you had the bag over your head the whole time.”
“Yes.”
“And what happened when you got there.”
“They took the bags off our heads.”
“Our heads? How many were there?”
“Me and two other girls.”
“Did Bryce hand them over too?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t recognize them.”
More information for the interrogators to dig into. “What did they do with you all after that?”
“They dragged us into this place and into a room where…” She stopped talking as her mind pictured the room with cages and the two other women already locked into them.
“Sally,” Janice said. “Continue. Tell me about the room.”
“Horror! Women! Mad!”
“Mad? The women were mad?”
“They were in…cages.”
“They had cages for the women?”
“Not like anything I’ve ever seen or heard of. And then they…” Once again her mind could only picture what had been done to her.
“Sally, keep talking. Tell us what happened. My will is your will. My will is that you will describe everything you can to us. My will, is your will.”
“Cages,” Sally said again. “We were stripped naked and put into…metal…things. Like cages but not cages. Locked in bent down. Fixed so we couldn’t move. Couldn’t move anything at all. Ring shoved into my mouth so I couldn’t close it. My hands covered so I couldn’t open them. My head held rigid so I could only look forward and not move it at all. Couldn’t move anything on my entire body…except my tongue. The only part they were interested in. Turned to face the wall. Beige wall. Blank. Totally blank. Told we weren’t human anymore. We were things, nothing more. Nothing but three holes for the men to use. And then they proved it.”
“They proved it?”
“Raped me. Raped us. All three holes. Couldn’t stop them. Couldn’t do anything. Not human anymore. Just a piece of furniture that men could use.”
“How long were you kept like that?” Janice asked.
“Don’t know. Forever. A very long time. No day. No night. No nothing. Just a blank wall and men coming in to use me. Women came a few times and washed me off with a hose. Fed me mush from a bottle, then left. Nothing but the blank wall. Nothing. Lost…went mad. Couldn’t move. Impossible to move. Impossible to do anything. Impossible to be anything. Madness.”
Janice looked at the others briefly. “When did they let you out of that cage?”
“Offered me a chance to move again. But only if I became an animal. Not human. I wasn’t human. But I could be a dog. But I had to be a dog. In all ways. Couldn’t be human. If I wanted out of the cage. If I wanted to move again, I could only be a dog. Nothing else, and I had to prove I was a dog and nothing else.”
“How?”
“Acting like a dog.”
“So you took the opportunity.”
“Madness. Blank wall. Couldn’t move. Barked for them in my cage.”
“And what did they do?”
“They set me free. Put collar and leash on me and trainers took me out to the kennels where other dogs were.”
“Other dogs?” Janice asked. “Or other women?”
“Dogs. They used to be women, but not anymore. Trainers made sure we only acted like dogs – always! If not, cages were there in the kennels and we were put into them where we couldn’t move again. Could only watch other dogs moving. Running. Making love to men.”
“Making love to men?”
“Our most important responsibility. It was the only reason for us to exist. Give men pleasure. Always. Otherwise…cages.”
“How long were you kept as a dog?”
“Don’t know. A long time. No time. Just existing. Being a dog. Giving men pleasure. Begging for chance to give men pleasure.”
“How did you get to be a human again?”
“Long time as dog. Then gradually allowed to stand upright, but still could only bark. Cleaned and fed women in cages. Worked at parties to give pleasure. After time, I was allowed to talk and wear clothes like a human…but I wasn’t human. I will never be human. I know now that I am nothing but three holes for men to use. And that’s all I will ever be.”
Once again Janice glanced around at the others. Then she turned her attention back to Sally. “Sally, we’re looking for someone who may have been taken to that place. Her name is Brandy.”
“Don’t know any names. None at all.”
Carol spoke up quickly. “People usually called her Retribution.”
“Don’t know,” Sally replied. “But I heard the word used once shortly before I left.”
“In what way?”
“New girl. But…different. I never saw anything like it in my life.”
“What do you mean?” Carol asked.
“I had to teach another to clean and feed them once. She was in a cage, like the others, but not turned to face the blank wall. But…awful! Worse!”
“What do you mean?”
In cage but…welded all over so she can never get out. And her breasts pierced…bucket hanging from them that collects all her pee so it pulled on them horribly. Vagina sewn shut with steel cord…just a tube sticking out of it going down into pee bucket. We were told we couldn’t empty that bucket until it was overflowing.”
“And you don’t know her name?” Carol asked.
“No. No name. She was just…different. Awful! Special care. Not three holes for men…just two.”
“What color hair did she have?” Carol asked.
“Black. Long. Braded around head rod like all the others so it stays out of the way.”
“Black hair,” Carol said. She looked at her mother. “I’d bet anything that’s Brandy.”
Janice nodded. “I agree. And she did say that Retribution was used once in reference to her.”
“Right!” Carol replied, confidence and hope filling her. “Brandy is alive. She’s just locked into one of those cage things.”
“But the question is,” Susan Wu throughout. “Where is she? Where is that place? She doesn’t seem to know.”
Janice turned to Sally again. “Sally. What happened when you left that place? Tell me how you got from there to Las Vegas.”
“Man wanted me. Took me.”
“What man?”
“Black man. Others called him Vince.”
“Did you see anything when they took you away from there?” Janice asked.
“No. Put me into a van. Back of van. No windows. No seat. Had to lay on floor. Tied my hands behind me. Put bag over my head so I couldn’t see anything. Told to stay quiet and to sleep. Long journey. Then. Big city. Men grabbed me and took me into building. I had…” her voice seemed to be filled with awe. “A bed.”
“So you have no idea where that place was.”
“No.”
“Was it closer to Las Vegas than to Los Angeles?”
“I don’t know.”
Janice turned to the others. “I’m going to prep her now for the interrogators. Maybe they can get some more useful information out of her.”
“Hopefully!” Carol replied. “But we do know that Brandy is alive, and we also know that Vince has her and that he knows where she is.”
“We also have a few other starting places to look,” Susan pointed out.
“Where?” Carol asked.
“Two names. Alfonso. And maybe more importantly, a pimp named Bryce.”
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The door opening behind her made no impression on Brandy at all. Her fogged out mind didn’t even register it. In fact, the men’s voices that soon followed didn’t make an impression either…for a while. Nobody was paying attention to her, so she wasn’t paying attention to anything happening behind her. There was no trigger point that she would ever be able to put her finger on, but her mind suddenly came more awake when she realized that one of the men was offering the other women in the room a chance to get out of the cages. That concept brought her fully alert and her ears strained to hear everything that was being said.
“You wouldn’t be mere…things anymore,” Brandy heard the man saying. “But you certainly won’t be human either. You don’t deserve to be human. You will never be human again. Ever! But…if you want to show me how much you’re willing to give up your entire humanity and become something else, something that can move around again, then this is your only way out. Otherwise, we’re perfectly happy to keep you in those cages forever. And trust me, if you mess up in any way at all after we take you out of there, you’ll quickly find yourself right back in them again. So the choice is yours.”
The biggest thing that filtered into Brandy’s brain was the chance to get out of the cage. The chance to move some part of her body again. Not human? She wasn’t human now. But to move again. Even just a little. She dreamed of it constantly.
“But the question is,” the man continued, “what is it that you would become. As I said, not human. You will never be human again. But…I suppose…if you want out of those cages, then if you can’t be human, then your only other choice is to become an animal. A complete animal, in every way imaginable. And not just any animal. But a dog.”
A dog? Brandy remembered something from what seemed like a hundred years ago now when she had been a party decoration in another part of the building. There had been entertainment, and some of the women had only been allowed to bark. She had heard Alfonso saying that the women were turned into dogs before they were allowed to eventually become human again. Her brain seized on it all instantly. To be human again, to get out of the cage she was in, she would have to become a dog first…and then, later, she could be human again!
“If you want to move again,” the man continued. “If you want out of those cages, then your one and only choice is to become a dog. Completely. In every way possible. For the rest of your life. That is your only choice. Become a complete dog…an animal for the rest of your life. Or spend what’s left of your life in those cages where I’m sure your mind has already started to sink into madness.”
Brandy heard a loud slap and then a surprised grunt. She realized the man must have hit one of the girls.
“How about you?” Brandy heard the man ask. “Are you interested in becoming a dog, or would you rather stay here for the rest of your life?”
Brandy heard odd noises from the woman. Enthusiastic odd noises. She could only guess that the woman was very interested in the man’s offer…as horrible as it was. But as far as Brandy could see, the life of a dog would be heaven compared to what she was enduring now.
“Nope! Not this one,” Brandy heard the man say. She heard more noises from the woman. Pleading noises. She heard another slap. Then the man said again. “How about you? Are you ready to show me that you want to be a dog for the rest of your life?”
Brandy heard crying from the first woman as the second woman started to make sounds to agree to the man’s request.
“Nope,” Brandy heard the man say. It sounds like neither of them is ready yet.
And then Brandy heard one of the women behind her trying to make a barking sound.
“What’s that?” the man said.
Brandy heard more barking. Then she heard barking coming from the other woman too.
“Perhaps we do have some volunteers,” Brandy heard the man say. “Are you sure?” the man said. “You will never be able to make a human sound again. You will never be allowed to be human again. Just a dog. Just a lowly stinking dog. Is that what you want?”
Brandy heard one of the woman making some kind of agreeing sounds.
“Nope!” the man said at hearing something other than barking. “I guess she’s…”
Brandy heard the woman start barking again. Both women were barking repeatedly and loudly. Before she knew it, Brandy was doing her best to bark as well. She had to get out of her cage. She had to do something. Anything. She was willing to do or be anything to be out of her cage and be able to move again.
She heard laughter behind her, and then someone slapped her rear end.
“Hear that?” Brandy heard the man say. “This one want’s out of her cage too. “Sorry. Not gonna happen. You’re never getting set free. You’re never going to have a chance to be anything more than what you are right now.”
Brandy screamed as she heard the man laughing behind her. Her rear end was slapped again, and she began to cry.
“Get them out of their cages,” she heard the man say. “Let’s see just how willing they are to become dogs now for the rest of their lives.”
Brandy could barely hear the faint metal sounds over top of the two women barking. She could hear one of the women barking…and crying at the same time.
“Get a collar and leash on her before you do the other one,” Brandy heard the man say behind her.
One of the women was free! But not her. Brandy barked. She barked loudly and repeatedly. But her barking did nothing, it gained her no attention at all. The sounds of things happening behind her went on while she barked.
And then the barking grew less, then it was suddenly gone, and the room became completely silent again. Was she alone? She knew she was. Not that it made any difference. Alone or with others in the room, facing the blank wall was its own isolation. The others had been taken out. They had been set free.
But not her.
She would never be allowed out of her confinement. She would never be allowed to move any part of her body again. She had been rendered into nothing more than a thing. A piece of furniture or whatever kind of inanimate thing the men wanted her to be. She was nothing. She would forever be nothing…except two holes for the men to use whenever they wanted.
