Chapter Seven: A Slave By Any Other Name
With a sense of unmitigated dread, I make my way down the garden, and towards the entrance, of Alia's mansion. And not as a guest, this time.
I climb the stairs to the front door, feeling like a passenger in my own head. I can barely believe I'm about to do this, to consign my entire life into the hands of the two sisters. But I know that trying to change course would be futile, and I don't even try.
I really am being broken down, if I can't even muster any kind of resistance when I am alone. I can't even look behind me, to throw one last glance at the outside world, before I step into the maw of servitude to this spoiled, rich household.
With a defeated sigh, I ring the doorbell, and then descend to my knees.
Absurdly, I think that Alia and Anbar both hate having to get up to answer the door. They will never have to suffer the annoyance henceforth, I suppose. They'll have me, living under their roof, scurrying to obey them.
The seconds stretch into minutes. My knees have gotten used to kneeling for long periods of time, but the marble beneath me is hard and cold, and in my revealing slutty maid outfit, every gust of wind sends shivers down my spine. So it's almost a relief when, at last, the door opens.
Goddess Anbar and Queen Alia stand at the threshold, contemplating me like I'm literal dirt under their shoes. Anbar is in her PJs and slippers, while Alia is in comfy yoga pants she would only wear around the house. I can smell her naked, sweaty feet from here, and the heady aroma immediately sends me even further into subspace.
But what really kills me is the absolute lack of surprise in their eyes. They took it absolutely for granted that I would show up here to become their maid on a 24/7 basis.
And to be honest, were they wrong?
Silently, I shuffle forward on my knees, ready to begin the ritual. We usually do this upon coming inside, but I know I need to earnaccess to the house where I'm meant to serve them.
Incredible. I'm the one being enslaved, yet I have to earnthat. Like it's a privilege. It drives a confused spike of outrage, humiliation, and... mild arousal... through me.
I lean forward, towards Alia's sweaty, naked feet, and pay my dues to the former friend who has so thoroughly asserted her superiority over me. I place soft, humble kisses on the tip of each toe -- much different from the slutty tongue bathing, deepthroating, and toejam eating I will have to perform later, I'm sure. This gesture is more worshipful than anything else.
I move along the length of the arch, kissing as I go, letting the sweat stain my lips, and the scent bind my will to hers. Politely, Alia lifts her feet one at a time, so I can rain demure kisses all over the bottom. The sweat is worse here, and I feel less and less a human as the smell violates my nostrils and seems to make a beeline straight for my brain.
Wordlessly, I move to Anbar. I rub my cheeks against her slippers like a cat or any kind of affectionate pet, then sneak my lips beneath the hem of her PJ trousers, just so I can rain tiny kisses all over her ankle.
Once again, it kills me to realize a part of me really appreciates these moments. I'm not being abused, or insulted. My life isn't being destroyed. This is the one instance of somewhat affectionate physical contact I have with any human being these days. Feet aren't so bad, really, especially next to everything else the sisters keep doing to me.
But it does make me feel like I'm being reduced, cut down to size under the onslaught of these two girls' inexorable superiority. I'm starting to think of myself as Zainab the maid, Zainab the foot girl, Zainab the dumb maidservant who's only good enough to do the bidding of her betters.
Alia and Anbar are young women. Me, I'm just a girl. A dumb peasant girl.
"Alright, I'm getting bored," Alia says, effortlessly killing the atmosphere with a quip and a giggle. "Let's get it on, we have so much we need to discuss!"
"Right behind ya, sis," Anbar says, before actually walking past Alia and disappearing down the hallway. Alia arches an eyebrow in my direction.
"As a maid, you're supposed to keep my floor clean," she says, looking meaningfully towards her sweaty feet. "I forgot my slippers, and I'll be leaving footprints all over this floor. We don't want that, do we?"
I gulp, buckling under the realization -- but not hesitating to obey. The latest intake of foot scent has blasted away all residual free will I might have had this morning. "Yes, Your Majesty," I whisper, bracing myself for this new humiliation.
"See, you're not so stupid after all when you listen to me," Alia says with a giggle. Then, she turns her back to me, walking towards the hallway, and the stairs behind.
I crawl in Alia's wake. And, at every one of her steps, I bend forward, and wash her sweaty footprints off the floor. With my tongue.
A part of my mind, the residual part from the studious and nerdy girl I used to be, remembers the strong connections between smell and taste. As I obediently lap Alia's sweat off the floor, I feel more and more domesticated. It takes this little to drug me, just a few drops of foot sweat on the floor.
Can I really blame Alia for deciding to subjugate me? What would I do, if I had a friend who went completely stupid when exposed to my foot scent? My traitorous brain keeps bombarding me with these thoughts and feelings as I lick.
That a girl who truly loses her intelligence and her spine over feet kinda deserves to be beneath other girls. It's her rightful place in life.
I'm so stupid. I'm a loser. I truly am so easily led. It was silly of me to think myself as Alia's equal. I deserve to be her maid.
Before I know it, we're at the far end of the hallway, and entering Anbar's room, the foot scent fortress of this house. I think it's truly overkill this time -- I've never felt this utterly docile -- but I'm not about to tell the sisters what to do.
I kneel in my usual corner, rocking gently back and forth on my knees as the foot daze descends on me, sapping me of all higher intellect. Anbar sits down in her gaming chair, and Alia carefully sidesteps the empty energy drink cans and strewn socks on the floor, to carefully sit on the edge of Anbar's bed.
"Crawl to us," Anbar says to me, in her usual cruel tone. "Beg to kiss our feet. Treat us like fucking goddesses."
"Yes, Goddess," I whisper breathlessly, and I adhere to the floor with my entire body, inching my way closer to the sisters like I'm a worm. Alia laughs out loud, finding this incredibly amusing, but Anbar simply looks on with a stern expression. She's so scary at times.
"That's it," she says. "Bow the fuck down to us, maggot. You were so haughty before, look at you now. Beg for the gift of our feet. Beg us to drive you stupid, to take everything away from you."
I whimper in fear at the violence behind Anbar's words, and a part of me wonders in terror what's going to happen to me by living under their roof -- but the foot fog has me in its claws, and so I immediately obey.