"Rachel, what on earth are you doing in there?"
Megan and Claire are watching me with distressed faces through the solid iron bars. I lift my head from the pillow of my narrow bunk bed.
"Well, I am in prison. Kind of obvious, isn't it?"
"No it isn't! I mean, why would you be in prison?"
"Because I was a bad girl."
Claire looks perplexed.
"That is nonsense! You are the most orderly, and sensible, and well-behaved girl I have ever known!"
"But still, here I am. Maybe I am not so nice and ordinary as you think I am."
She pushes the iron-bar door open.
"Nonsense! Come out here with us. See, the door is open, you can just leave!"
I lift my ankle out from under the blanket, to show off how it is chained to the bed post. They both step forward in amazement into the cell. As they inspect the cuffs and chain, the door silently closes behind them.
"We will get that thing off you soon enough! Just wait, while I go and get my stuff." Megan has an energetic, self-assured air about her. She turns to go out of the cell door again, shakes it violently when it doesn't open.
"WTF, it was open just a moment ago!"
"That is how it is. You can enter, but you can't leave."
"That's absurd!"
"Yes. It is."
"Did you put that thing on her?"
Claire is staring angrily at Jennie, who has somehow appeared beside me.
"No, I didn't. I thought you did it?" She is not looking at Claire, but at Sarah, who is also there now. I begin to feel confused, drowsy. Sarah holds up her hands.
"I didn't do anything. Are you sure you didn't do it before we dozed off?"
"Totally!"
"But then what? Could she have done it herself?"
"Maybe? I don't know why she would do that."
"Well, let's find it out."
Sarah grabs my shoulder and begins to shake it. As she shakes, Meg and Claire and the prison cell dissolve and vanish, and I wake up, dizzy and drowsy, in Jennies bed.
"Wake up girl!" Sarah says, then points to the handcuffs around my ankle.
"What is that about? Did you put them on?"
"I slept fine, thank you. And you?"
"Yeah, I slept fine and blabla. But did you cuff yourself to the bed? Answer me, now!" To my other side I see Jennie hiding a little smile.
"Yes, I did put them on. Someone had to do it."
"Why did someone have to do that?"
"So that your naughty slave girl would not run away?"
Sarah's mouth opens and closes. The answer is so meaningless that she doesn't know what to say. Jennie is smiling broadly now.
"Would you have liked to run away?" she asks me.
"I don't know. I just didn't like to have the opportunity."
"Or you didn't like to get up early and make breakfast to your mistresses!" Sarah grumps. I turn on my side, and move a bit closer to her, as close as the chain will allow.
"Well, I didn't really look at it that way. You see, I am a dumb little slave girl, with a lot of manners to learn. And I haven't been spanked for many hours."
She pulls close to me. I throw my arm tightly around her, feel her firm warm body against mine. She begins to slap my bottom, while moving her free hand in between my legs. It finds my clit, rubs it softly. What a great idea. I move my other arm between her legs as well. We work ourselves into a common rhythm as pleasure spreads through us and my sizzling tail grows hotter. I put my mouth to her breast, licks the nipple with the tip of my tongue. Time and space warps snugly around us, trapping us in an instant of eternity. When it unwraps again, we are lying hot, panting, and relaxed on our backs, lazy pleasure oozing into the far corners of our bodies. My ankle with the handcuff is a bit sore, because the excitement and ecstasy made me twist and kick. Although the feeling is vaguely uncomfortable I somehow appreciate this little memento of my pleasant captivity.
Some time must have passed in the outside world, because a delicious smell reaches us from the kitchen, and Jennie appears with a big tray. Toast, pancakes, scrambled egg and bacon.
"So you made us breakfast!" Sarah exclaims, slightly surprised.
"Someone had to do it, and the two of you were not much good! Guess we should call it brunch, though."
Sarah glances at the alarm clock, then jolts upright.
"Shit, it's over 11!"
"So it goes!"
"But I have customers coming over for acceptance testing at noon! Look, I really gotta run now."
She gets up, and begins to dress with abrupt, frantic movements.
"Need a ride?"
"No, I'll manage. But I won't have time for brunch."
She is already dressed and begins to make for the door.
"You coming over later today?" Jennie asks.
"Don't know. Depends. I'll text you when I figure out my day. See you later, ladies!"
She waves goodbye and is off. The whole thing didn't take more than a minute or so. I look at Jennie, slightly surprised.
"What was that about?"
"Sarah is not very good at accepting favors. For some reason self-reliance means a lot to her."
"No, but I mean that thing with customers, and testing?"
"Ah. The thing is Sarah is running her own little one-woman enterprise. And the customer is king, as they say."
"What's she doing?"
"She's a sort of carpenter."
"Sort of?"
"Well, she makes various kinky furniture for BDSM games. Custom designs to measure, and in a good quality. Most of the larger implements you saw in the basement are her works."
"That sounds expensive."
"It is. But it seems there are enough well-to-do buyers. As for me, I get it at friendly prices. Or if you like, you could take the view that I pay in a different currency."
"I see! So what exactly does 'acceptance testing' involve?"
"Who's to know? Depends what it is that she is delivering. I guess it could get hot. But here, let's have some breakfast now."
She puts the tray beside me, and opens the handcuffs tying me to the bed. I begin to eat while trying to picture Jennie working off a debt to Sarah. Then my thoughts drift to that dream I had just before they woke me up. What was that about? Of course I worry about how Meg and Claire will receive my new-found sexuality. But why did I dream about them in that particular way? As if I somehow wanted them to join me. That is maybe not so good. After all, we are good friends, not lovers.
