When she woke up, she was lying in a dimly lit room she did not recognize. She had a light headache, less of a pounding and more of an uncomfortable pressure, as if her head was being squeezed by someone, but otherwise felt healthy. She felt a little bit too cold, especially her arms, which were as she now noticed bare of any clothing and not under the duvet like the rest of her body. In the small amount of light that was coming in through the windows underneath the curtains, she could tell that the room she was in was a fairly average bedroom, with a double bed with dark sheets, a large wardrobe with a chest of drawers next to it, and an armchair close to the bed, on which lay what seemed like a large pile of white fabric.
She thought about calling for someone, but as she had no clue where she was or how she had gotten here, she wanted to wait a bit longer until her headache cleared up, maybe everything would be clearer to her then.
But she did not get that time to think, as barely a minute later someone opened the door to her room and stepped inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She gulped. Although she could not see his features very clearly in the dim lighting, the man did not seem familiar to her at all and the grin on his face as he watched over her still form unsettled her.
She tried to remember very hard what had happened before she woke up and how this man connected to that, whilst he continued watching her intently, but that only made her headache worse. She had a vague idea of walking somewhere, but couldn't remember where from or to, and what had happened then. As the man continued staring at her (because by now she was sure she could call it staring) with an expression of which she didn't know what to make, she suddenly realized that she not only did not know where she was, how she got there and what had happened before, nor the identity and her relation to the man in front of her, she also did not know who she was. That thought shot a sudden rush of fear through her, although strangely not as much as she thought appropriate in her situation, in fact her whole emotions seemed quite dimmed, as if there was a blanket of calm over them.
After another minute or so of her trying to make sense of her current situation, she could not take the man's staring any longer and decided that locked in this room with him, he was her only source of information.
"Who am I?"
She had not planned for that to be her first question, as it seemed rather philosophical and like many different answers would befit it, but it was what she first asked in her slightly raspy voice. She must have been out for a while then, as her voice felt quite unused, and spotting a glass of water on the bedside table she sat up, clutching the blanket to her as she wasn't sure how much clothing she wore underneath.
"It worked well then, as you don't seem to remember anything. Do tell me what you do remember if you don't mind, sweetheart."
His use of the endearment for her made her even more uncomfortable than she was already, with his staring and the way he seemed to appreciate her complete loss of memory. She pulled the blanket up a bit further over her shoulders and arms, so only her neck and head were visible. He smiled as she did so, and took a step towards her.
"What do you mean, it worked well? What happened to me? And who are you?"
"Answer my questions and I might answer yours, baby."
He emphasized the new endearment, and seemed to enjoy how uncomfortable it made her. His tone was assertive, it was clearly an order even with the endearment at the end. Her voice trembled as she explained how the only thing she could vaguely remember was walking somewhere outside. He seemed happy to hear that, and sat down on the armchair next to the bed, turning on the lamp on the bedside table as he did so. For the first time since he had come into the room, she could really look at him, as his back had been towards the windows so the little light from there didn't illuminate his face. He seemed to be a man in his thirties or close to that, he had short brown hair and a stubble of facial hair the same color, she didn't see any grey hairs in either. He was quite tall, something she had noticed as he had come into the room, and seemed to be muscular, although not insanely so. He wore a dark grey suit, and a white shirt, which had the top buttons open, letting her see his chest hair, which made her more aware of how very nearly naked she was. Looking at herself under the blanket as she had been talking to him, she saw how she only wore a white lace bra and matching underwear, which judging by how uncomfortable it felt was a thong. After being able to look at him more closely, she still felt no familiarity with the man, and wondered further how she had come to be in this house he seemed to know well in only her underwear.
"Do you feel alright? Any headaches or other pain?"
She nodded, telling him about her headache, which seemed to appease him. There was a long moment of silence before he began to explain himself in a cold matter of fact tone.
"Listen closely and don't interrupt. Your name is now Victoria or Tori for short, and as I personally chose this name for you, you will not argue or complain about it. Your last name does not matter, as it will change in about an hour anyway."
She wanted to interrupt, ask about what he meant, but his tone and facial expression breached not interruptions.
"You do not remember anything, because you have been given medication to induce amnesia, which will hopefully be permanent, except for maybe an occasional feeling of Déjà vu or dreams that do not make sense. But even if you were to remember anything about your life before, it doesn't matter now. Your new life will be very different, and dwelling on what was or would have been won't do you any good. Do you understand?"
He made a short pause there, but when she opened her mouth to ask what the hell he was on about, he continued talking.
"You are now mine, Tori, in less than an hour we will be married and from then on the only thing that matters to you is what I want. You will do whatever I want you to do, be whatever I want you to be and not fight me on anything. If you ignore any of my orders."
He pulled a small remote from the pocket of his pants, and a sudden pain spreading out from her throat had her screaming as she fell backwards from her seated position to lie on the bed. She clutched her throat the moment the pain stopped, and noticed some sort of tight necklace around her throat, which she had not noticed before. The man continued speaking once she started breathing evenly again, unfazed by the pain she was in just then.
"Your collar. It shows everyone else that you are mine and ensures good behavior from you. If you don't behave as I tell you to, I will shock you like I did just now. That was the lowest setting, and only for a second, and as the settings go up to 10 and I can hold it for about 20 seconds before endangering your health permanently, you will not wish to break any of my rules or go against my commands. I do not enjoy hurting you like this, but if you do not behave, I do not hesitate from using this often."
