She woke up slowly, her head hurt.
Her last memories were of slowly drifting to sleep after take-off on the private flight. She opened her eyes and tried to focus. Her vision throbbed in unison with her heart beat and she slowly took in the shape of her surroundings.
She was alone in what looked like a small room filled with only a toilet and a large steel door on one wall. She felt beneath her and found that she was on a soft mattress and not wearing any clothes.
Was she in a prison? Her mind raced. Most likely not, the room she was in looked clean, the walls were white and seemed almost antiseptic. The room was warm. This didn't match what she imagine a prison would be like.
No, I must be in a hospital she thought. She remembered taking the pills on the plane. Maybe she'd had a reaction and they'd flown her to a hospital? It didn't look like a hospital either though, at least not any hospital she'd ever been in. It was strange and entirely foreign to her.
The door creaked open and startled Jessica.
"No, don't get up," a short young Asian man walked into the room glancing at his clip board before looking up and smiling at her. "Not that you'd likely be able to anyway if you tried." He smiled and chuckled to himself. "You can call me Dr. Huang." He ignored Jessica's frantic attempts to cover her naked body and ignored her panic and discomfort at his abrupt entrance.
"Where am I? What happened to me?" squeaked Jessica. She used her hands to afford herself as much modesty as she could manage given the circumstances.
"Well, where you are I can not tell you, but I can most certainly tell you what happened to you." Again he smiled and grinned at her obvious discomfort.
"May I have a robe or something?" She pleaded, hoping that at least then she wouldn't feel so vulnerable.
"There's no need for robes here," Huang gestured around the room with his hand. "Although as I mentioned I'm not in a position to tell you where here is."
"Perhaps it would be best if I just launched right in and told you what happened," his smile spread across his face again. He was obviously enjoying this encounter more than she was.
"As you probably still remember you signed on for a two week trip to Asia for a modeling adventure." He paused and glanced at her face to ensure that she wasn't having problems remembering. Jessica nodded her head and grimaced from the dull headache.
"Good," he continued. "You probably remember boarding the flight. Shortly after you were given a strong sedative to help you sleep. Once you were unconscious you were given a stronger tranquilizer which kept you unconscious during the journey. When you arrived at this facility you were handed over to my care for the next stage."
Jessica looked at the man confused and horrified at the same time. He was so calm in his revelation and she didn't understand what he was talking about. He continued.
"Once you arrived here you underwent a procedure that implanted a spinal augmentation right between your hypothalamus and pituitary gland. The operation was a success and we kept you unconscious for six days to expedite the healing process."
He paused. Jessica felt sick to her stomach. She felt behind her head and found the area sore but no wound or scar. She was confused, disoriented and now she felt nauseated. She felt an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach and crawled quickly to the toilet where she vomited.
"There, there. I bet that feels a little better," Huang's voice was nearby behind her.
"What have you done to me?" Jessica cried as her head hung over the toilet. She began to cry softly. What was happening, none of this made sense.
"Well, you've been on an I.V. for several days so your system will take some time to get back to normal. Some food will help as well." He walked over to the steel door and whispered to someone outside.
"We'll get you something to give you some more energy." He smiled at Jessica as she retreated from the toilet to curl into a ball on the mattress again.
"What do you want with me?" She half shouted half sobbed.
Huang's smile faded somewhat and he sat on the mattress beside her. "Jessica," he started. "I don't know if you realized what you were getting yourself into when you signed up for this trip, but there isn't much you can do about it now."
"This agency is renowned for creating beautiful, willing sexual partners for the world's most powerful and discerning clients. This organization recruits average but attractive people and transforms them into extreme specimens for our customers."
"The procedure I performed on your brain was to insert a very small augmentation chip into the portion of your brain that controls your body's production of endorphins. Endorphins are the compounds released into your body during orgasm. They're similar to opiates like morphine. They make you feel good."
"The implant I inserted detects when your brain produces these endorphins and will immediately send signals to your hypothalamus to produce more over a short period of time. In short, this implant will increase your sexual arousal and enhance your orgasms."
Jessica was horrified. "I never agreed to this! I never gave permission to perform any surgery! I don't want to be here!. I signed up for a quick modeling job!" She sobbed uncontrollably and lashed out weakly at Dr. Huang. "I want to go home, get me out of here!"
"I'm afraid you really don't have much choice Jessica. This organization doesn't obey any particular country's laws and our clientèle has afforded us the power and financial means to operate by our own rules. I'm afraid you haven't much choice in the matter."
Jessica shrieked and sobbed and pounded on the shoulders of Dr. Huang. She was too weak and her blows fell softly.
"Now, now," Huang looked upon her compassionately. "You're going to enjoy your transformation and when you're done you may even go home and visit your old life if you choose to and behave yourself." He spoke calmly as he gently stood up. He walked to the door and retrieved a tray from outside.
"Here, eat this you'll feel better with some real food in your stomach again. Then you can get some rest and we can start introducing you to your new life and the choices you can make."
"Choices?" Her head perked up and she looked at the doctor with tear clouded eyes. "What sort of choices?"
"All in good time, Jessica. First have something to eat and get some sleep." His smile was back and he walked slowly out the door and closed it firmly behind him.
Jessica remained curled up in the corner on the mattress. Her tears streamed down her face. She was confused, startled and horrified with the events so far. She rocked back and forth for over an hour and when nobody returned, she crawled tentatively toward the tray on the floor.
It was full of vegetables and what looked like beef in a rich sauce. On top of the tray was a pair of wooden chop sticks in a paper package. Ripping them open she tried to pick up the food with them. Matthew had taken her to a Japanese restaurant once. He had laughed at her playfully when she had tried to use chop sticks to eat the sushi. How she longed for him now.
Abandoning the chopsticks she ate the food with her hands. It was delicious, or maybe it just felt that way because of its relative comfort given the circumstances. Either way she left none in the tray. She huddled in the corner on the mattress again before falling asleep.
*********************************************
She awoke again with a start as the door creaked open again. Dr. Huang was back. Jessica retreated back into the corner of the room and tried in vain to hide her nakedness.
He was glancing at a clipboard and spoke without even looking up. "It really won't do you much good covering up Jessica. I'm a doctor and I've already seen every inch of you over the past week."
She wasn't comforted and remained prone in the corner.
"We've got you scheduled for some grooming today Jessica. Come with me and we'll get started."
He turned and walked towards the room. She didn't budge. He stopped.
"Jessica, we don't need you to be conscious for this portion. If you don't follow me and cooperate I'll ensure that you aren't." His voice was firm. "I would highly recommend that you don't force me to do that. The anesthesia has side effects if used too frequently that you wouldn't enjoy."
Jessica stood shakily and began to follow him. Huang noted that she tried awkwardly to hide her nakedness and grinned to himself. They always start off so innocent he thought to himself.
The doctor and Jessica walked down a well lit white corridor. They passed several closed rooms whose doors looked similar to the one Jessica had just come from. She wondered if Melissa and Aaron whom she met when she boarded the flight were part of this conspiracy or victims themselves and if so were they even still alive? Jessica shuddered.
Huang stopped in front of a pair of double doors and swiped a key to unlock them. He swung the door opened and gestured for Jessica to enter. Jessica looked stricken, unsure of what to do, tears rolled down her cheeks.
"It'll be alright." Huang spoke gently. "I'm coming with you." Somehow, Jessica found that comforting even though this stranger had been a key player in the advancement of this horror story she was living.
She stepped inside. Her eyes adjusted to the brighter light and Jessica found herself inside what looked like a very modern well equipped salon and spa. She relaxed somewhat. This grooming didn't look so bad.
Huang squeezed her shoulder. "See, it's not so bad."
Jessica's evaluation of the room was interrupted as a young Asian woman with long black hair, almost to her waist, came around the corner. She look quickly at Jessica and then spoke to Huang. "Is this Jessica then?"
"Absolutely, Jiao, this is Jessica. Jessica this is Jiao, she will be preparing you. Be polite and cooperate, please. I have a few other items to take care but I will be back when you're done. Don't cause any delays, this room and all of the rest in this facility are monitored closely, so don't give Jiao any trouble."
Jiao stood beside Jessica, taking her by the hand as Huang turned and left the room.
"Confused?" she asked with a slight accent.
Jessica nodded as she glanced back at the door.
