Jim hadn’t answered. Jessie glared at the bars of the cage around her, hatred boiling her blood. She sighed and kicked at the bar out of anger. “Shit!” she shouted when her small foot hit the hard metal. She shook at the cage again, screaming on the top of her lungs. “I hate you!” she shouted, hoping Keith could hear her.
She tried to swallow the lump that had built up in her throat, but she couldn’t. It lingered there, a strong reminder that she was not able to control her emotions as well as she’d like to.
“Damn you!” she shouted out again, shaking the cage once more. She turned around in the darkness and felt for the small chair that she knew was still in there. Why was he keeping her locked in the dark? Tears threatened to run as she folded her arms and sat on the chair. He had done it again. He had toyed with her feelings until she fell in love with him and then crushed her to pieces within minutes. Fuck him.
A cold draft filled the air and she folded her arms across her chest tighter, trying to warm her naked skin. There was a candle lit in the corner at the opposite end of the dungeon, the only light in the entire area. It wasn’t enough to really light up the room so she could see anything, but it was enough to let the metal bars gleam in front of her.
“Are you ready to behave yet?”
The question was simple and quiet, yet seemed to mock Jessie’s very existence. She glared at the shadow before her, knowing he was staring down at her.
“Turn on the light,” she begged. “I can’t stand the darkness.”
“Unless you can behave, you will be in the dark for a very long time, Jessica. I’m giving you another hour down here just to make sure you’ve learned your lesson,” Keith explained as he turned around and headed back upstairs.
Jessie stood up and shook the cage violently. “Let me out, you stupid jerk! You’ll be sorry!” she shouted over the slamming of the dungeon door. “Go to hell!” She shook the bars again before leaning back against them and sliding to the floor.
Her wide eyes stared at the flickering candle across the room, it being the only thing she could comfortably look at. She was curled up in a ball on the floor now, her hair over her shoulders for warmth. Salty tear stains were dried on her cheeks and her body was trembling. “I hate him,” she whispered periodically, trying to keep her heart agreeing with her. She knew the moment he released her, she would be his again.
Light flooded through the dungeon. Jessie flinched against the sudden invasion of her darkness for a moment before pulling herself up onto her hands and knees and looking at the stairs. Keith descended with a tray of food in his hands.
She looked at the tray with hunger as it was placed only three feet from the cage. She could see a sandwich chopped in half resting on a plate beside a bowl of soup. Her stomach growled loudly, demanding she fill it.
“Jessica, I’m not sure you deserve this food,” Keith growled as he bent over and lifted a half of the sandwich off the plate. His fingers tore a piece off and he stuck it in his mouth. She watched with anger as he over exaggerated his movements on how well it tasted.
“My, Sir, please? I’m hungry!” she cried out, unable to hold back. Her slim arm reached through the bars and she tried to grab the tray, although she was unable.
“Oh, now that I have food, I’m your Sir again? Whatever happened to me being the stupid jerk?” he asked, grinning as he took another bite.
“I’m sorry! I am! Please, oh please give me some of that?” Jessie pleaded.
“Yes, you had no right to call me that, did you my little slut?” He asked, rubbing it in her face.
“No, Sir, I didn’t,” she admitted.
“What are you?”
“I am your slave, my Sir,” she whispered with reddened cheeks.
“You are my slut, Jessica. Say it.”
“I am your slut,” she choked, her eyes staring at the food in his hand.
“Again.”
“I am your slut!” she shouted loudly.
He handed her the sandwich, a grin on his face as she fell back, leaning against the cage and devouring it within minutes.
“You’re just a hungry little puppy aren’t you?”
She didn’t respond as she filled her stomach with the delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When the half of sandwich was gone, she stared at the rest of the food with hunger, craving the flavor of the soup.
“We’ll see just how well behaved you can be from now on,” Keith said with a chuckle. Jessie watched as he lifted the bowl of soup off the tray and set it beside her cage. He unlocked the door and opened it a little bit, slipping the bowl of soup into the cage before locking it again. “I will be back in an hour. Do not touch the soup until I get back.”
Jessie was stunned as she watched him turn around and head back up the stairs, closing the door tightly behind him. She was once again in darkness, her only light a flickering candle.