Part 9
"I'm very worried about her, Catherine," Donna said with a desperate tone in her voice, "She's been very quiet recently, please let me know that everything is okay."
Despite wearing the mask, the smell of cleaning chemicals filled my nostrils, it was one of the only scents that managed to pass through the layers of latex. I had gotten used to the smell of my second skin at this point and something new was a blessing. Not often did Donna take us out of the property, I had not seen outside the walls since before I was locked in that cage, but Poppy's behaviour recently had got our owner worried. Since hearing the news of the upcoming trial, Poppy began to hide herself away from us. Not making an effort to be sociable with us and wanting to be alone was understandable at first, but this had been going on for a while now. We were sure at one point, the white cat would snap out of her mood and return to her normal behaviour. Even the sight of Catherine, the woman who looked after us when we were released from the suit; was not enough to alleviate the symptoms.
Donna was the most worried, being unable to talk to her pets was something that got in the way fairly often, leading to our owner having to guess what we were thinking, what we were saying and what was wrong with us. Usually, she did very well to understand what's going on with us, but Poppy's change of habits scared the young woman to the core. It scared her so much, she had to make an emergency appointment with the lovely Catherine, our owner had to drag us all away from her home and meet her in her special clinic almost an hour away from where we lived.
I wasn't too fussed, I relished being away from the property for a while.
The clinic was a very small building in the middle of a large town, specialising in the care of the inmates of 'Pet Correction'. Taking out the small room we were in, there was a tiny reception area, an even smaller canteen and a bathroom. There were no signs or anything on the front of the building to state that Catherine was even open, but I guessed it was all kept secret to avoid the public knowing about us. Though it didn't help with Donna walking us on leashes through the town.
"Let me take a look, Donnie," Catherine stated, kneeling on the floor and looking the white cat in the eyes. 'Donnie' was a nickname the nurse had for her friend, it was a sweet reminder that the two weren't just professional with each other, but there was genuine care between the two women.
As she focused on Poppy's beautiful irises, she got out a small torch and flashed it quickly to get a reaction out of her. She did this a few times before standing back up.
"Eyes look okay," she confirmed, placing the torch back into her pocket. She patted the exam table next to her as she asked, "Do you think you can get onto the table for me?"
Poppy looked up at the piece of furniture, but it did not hold her interest for long as her gaze fell back to the floor within minutes. Catherine waited a few seconds, seeing if the cat would change her mind, but it just caused the room to go into an uncomfortable silence.
"Okay, let me help," she said as she grabbed Poppy's torso from behind and lifted the young creature up.
It looked like much effort to get her away from her position. The white cat had no reaction to the sudden forced movement, looking almost helpless as the nurse used all the strength she could muster to lift the cat. It was almost comical to look at, Poppy's paws dangled in the air as she was pulled from the floor, seeming very cat-like as they too look helpless during this act, as their bodies are stretched to almost unrealistic levels. Something, I felt she emulated rather well.
"Let me help," Donna jumped forward and grabbed the cat's bottom half.
Between the two of them, they managed to get Poppy onto the table without any issues. Turning the pet over onto her back before Catherine began examining her further. Donna gave the nurse as much room as she needed, standing against the wall right next to where Cleo and I laid on the floor.
It was somewhat addictive watching Catherine work, she glided around the table grabbing a stethoscope off the side, the entire time looking the creature up and down, as if looking for any reasons she could be uncomfortable. The nurse stopped by the cat's head, placing her soft hands on either side of Poppy's mask, massaging the area where the ears should be. This kept going on for a few seconds before the hands moved further down, towards the next, then the shoulders before descending further to the sides of the body. As Catherine reached the ribs, the cat tensed up, placing her knees and hands up in the air as if to defend parts of her sensitive body.
"Ah, there we go," Catherine laughed, "I forgot Poppy is extremely ticklish. You don't seem in bad spirits now."
I noticed how red faced my friend got, the sudden shock of the hands on her sides caught her off guard and she could not hide the unexpected laughter that escaped her mask, muffled by the layer of latex that covered her face. She briefly looked round to everyone in the room, before turning her head away and hiding it from the crowd.
Catherine placed the stethoscope in her ears and placed the other end over Poppy's heart, the room went silent for a moment as the beats silently entered the nurse's ears.
"Well… what can I say, Donnie?" she stated as she took off the medical equipment and returned it to the side, "What you have here is a happy, healthy cat, I cannot see anything that states overwise."
"Thank you, I was just so worried about her," Donna sounded relieved for a moment, but almost immediately went back into stressing.
"Was there anything recent that happened with Poppy?" The nurse asked, "Did she receive any news from her family? Did she get in a fight with Cleo or Nala?"
Both the black cat and I picked our heads up, staring directly at the nurse… almost insulted by the accusation of attacking the white cat. Whilst I had a few differences with Cleo in the beginning, I couldn't even imagine having a fight with Poppy, she was lovely and friendly. I would never allow any harm her way, I've even tried everything to bring her spirits up since she had been in this mood.
"Umm… her case is going back into court, new evidence has been put in that could prove her innocence… but that is all good news, Poppy should be extremely happy that she has a chance to go home early."
The nurse went silent. She clicked her tongue before resting her body up against the side table, "I've seen this a handful of times before," she started, staring intently between the pet beside her and the owner across the room, "Pet Correction hasn't been running long enough to give a concrete answer. You've given your girls a good life, you care for them as much as a family member would. All three of your girls are very happy and I'm sure when it's Nala's and Cleo's time to leave, they would probably act the same way."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying that you are doing your job almost too well, you've given your pets a safe and comfortable environment, you hate punishing them, but you are fair and will do so if needed. The pets know the good side of you and they know when they have done wrong. Getting to the point where they aren't even bothered wearing these suits nearly everyday for a month."
Donna's mouth widened, "Are you saying that Poppy does not want to leave?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"But… Poppy has a good life outside, she has a huge family that miss her."
She wasn't wrong. I know that I have done badly by Donna a few times before, each time ending in being punished fairly, but the amount I cared for the woman made me feel overly comfortable in her presence and I knew she cared for me even more than that. Whilst I missed Mama and Dad… I started to not miss my home life as much as when I first started. I was… happy being a pet.
"I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong," the nurse continued, "But everyone in this room is happy, even you Donnie. You've built a comfortable, loving life for your pets."
"Thank you," our owner seemed grateful for a moment but she still seemed concerned about the pet on the table, "I just thought she would be happy to go home."
Catherine began focusing once again on the white cat, placing her hands around the mask that covered the girl's face, "She is, trust me on that. We cannot change anything about her sentence, but I'll sure you'll make her time with you as wonderful as possible."
"Thank you."
"And you," Donna lightly slapped Poppy's backside, "If it is true that you might be leaving early, do not spend your time moping around, enjoy your time with Donna and your friends."
"Do you have any other tests you can do on her? I know you said she was sad… but I just want to make sure that there is nothing else it could be."
Catherine sighed, I could tell she was getting frustrated that Donna was not giving in, but this mood only lasted for a moment, "Sure, I can take her temperature, that should tell us if she is coming down with anything."
"Yes please!" Donna seemed very relieved that her friend was willing to go that bit further for her.
"As we cannot take off her mask, I will have to take her temperature anally, would that be okay?"
"Sure, sure!"
Poppy's head shot up immediately. A loud, trembling groan escaped from within her suit which transformed into a slow, droned out whimper as the nurse walked across the room to grab the thermometer.
Poppy was still as quiet on the ride home as she had been all week. The secret was out and we all knew she was being distant with us due to her upcoming trial. However, I completely understood her behaviour, I would be the same way. Whilst I wasn't completely happy being a pet 24/7, there was something so warm and comforting about being looked after by Donna, it was getting to the point that I was actually getting scared of being a human once again, full control of my day, having to cook myself meals and having to leave the safety of the house to go outside and meet strangers.
Being a pet for a month, that sounded pretty scary and I was not looking forward to it one bit.
Poppy sighed to herself once again, placing her head between her arms and trying to shut out the world around her. The nurse was right, though. If her time with us was limited, she should have enjoyed every moment she could have with Donna, Cleo and I. The last thing she would have wanted was to realise she wasted the last moments of her time with us sulking, rather than living it to the full.
It seemed that with Poppy's absence in our lives, Cleo and I became much closer. I did not realise it at first, but I began to notice that the black cat would always come up close to me when we were resting together, placing herself right behind me with our skin touching. She did it constantly when we were at home, when we were in Catherine's office, she allowed me to rest against her as we got comfortable by the wall and out of the way, and even now, as the car moved side to side with the uneven road underneath it, she laid behind me; this time with her head on my shoulder.
She was a proper mother cat.
"Awww c'mon, Poppy," Donna asked as she looked in the rearview mirror, staring directly at the anti-social cat, "Please perk yourself up, there is nothing we can do about it, I just want you to be the same Poppy you've always been… I've missed her."
Her head rose up slightly, before returning back down. It wasn't an exact answer, but it showed that the cat listened to the human's pleas.
The car continued for a while, travelling down a long, country road with no turn offs or any change of direction. Inside the vehicle, the conversation completely dried up. Poppy and Donna had no words for each other and despite the loving connection I was having with the black cat; there was no way for us to even converse with each other. What would I have said to her if I had the chance? Why was she getting so close to me? It was an interesting question that I really wanted answered. …Was she interested in me again? We did have that promise we made to each other, that we would sexually please each other when one of us was out of the suit… and her day of freedom was coming up very soon.
Was she getting sexual again? I must admit, I started to feel the need for release. Never did I realise as a human that I needed pleasure so often, it was just part of life. Here, we went two weeks each without any sort of satisfaction. Or… perhaps I was overthinking it all, maybe Cleo was just getting close to me as friends. Poppy really hid herself away from us and because of that, neither of us got any attention from her. It could be that Cleo was missing that part of our lives, even if Poppy could have been a bit much sometimes.
Which one would I have preferred? It didn't matter what was going through her mind, but how was I reacting to it and what would I have wanted to happen? Even if Cleo was sexual… did I want that too? Was I getting excited for her day of release as it purely gave me an orgasm… or was it more that I enjoyed the human Cleo was the one who gave it to me.
This was the side of me I was getting confused with, as I never had feelings for any girls before in my life, but looking at the black cat… Now more than ever, I was getting excited just by looking at her. It was the way the outfit was tight around her body, around her breasts, hips and thighs. The way she moaned quietly as she stretched her limbs out, I even began staring at her large, shapely butt as she crawled around.
I had never before been attracted to a woman, but her body was an addiction to the eyes.
"Flowers!" Donna yelled, slowing the car down quickly with the brakes.
I fell more into the woman I was just thinking about, even Poppy had to brace herself to not slide backwards. It was a sudden movement that Donna reacted to without much thought, you'd think we would be used to it after living with her after this long.
"Flowers!" she repeated herself once the vehicle had stopped completely, "How about we get some flowers? Brighten the place up a bit and get the gloom out of the house?"
I tried to angle my head to look out of the window, it was difficult since our necks were safely chained to the vehicle. It was indeed a flower shop, just opened too. Right around the corner from where we lived. It was bright and attractive, despite the building having no indication that the shop sold flowers (Despite the sign), it was the large windows that gave you a view to the hundreds of blossoms and plants, being as attractive and bright as the building itself.
"Who's coming with me then?" she asked as she parked the car safely on the road.
Neither the black or white cat made any noise, I was sure that both wanted to get home as soon as possible. However, I was indeed interested in joining the woman in going into the shop. My first thoughts went to a random person seeing me in the suit, if only one person was behind the till, that was one person who had not seen a human pet before and would have hundreds of questions and that was if they were curious at all… they might have been disgusted by the sight of a woman walking on her hands and knees in latex whilst on a leash. That's if there is only one person, if it was a new shop… there could be dozens of people within those walls, each one having a different opinion on the sight of me coming in.
It was a constant worry every time I faced the outside world, but it was better than staying within the vehicle. I had not seen much of the outside world since my punishment of being placed into the cage, in fact this was the first time I had left the property since then. Also, I didn't mind some time away from the black cat. I cared about her and was more than glad that she liked me, but I was starting to feel closed in with her large body being constantly around me.
I raised my paw slowly as our owner looked around the car for volunteers to join her. A wide smile appeared on her face as her eyes glanced over the bottom of my bound hand, with the printed paw print being right in her face.
"Thank you, Nala."
Just like with the clinic, the overwhelming scent of hundreds of flowers had somehow penetrated my mask and overpowered the smell of latex that I had become accustomed to. It was a breath of fresh air, the colours of the inside of the building had matched the outside, giving the place a lovely, energetic atmosphere that seemingly fuelled my body with energy. It was an odd, yet welcoming sensation just coming into the property, every inch inside was covered in many different flowers and plants that were a sight to the eyes.
Donna stayed close to me, holding the leash as tight as she could as her senses were flooded by the shop's contents. So much so, I could not move forward an inch without feeling the tightening sensation around my neck.
"Be right with you!" A feminine, exhausted voice came from the back room, behind the counter.
"Oh… that's okay!" Donna reacted with the same volume as the woman before.
The woman's voice seemed to snap my owner back to reality. She pulled me further into the shop, dragging me directly to the counter, where the voice erupted from just moments before. I was not sure what Donna had planned, yes, she just wanted flowers to perk Poppy up and make the bungalow look more presentable, but I was sure she would prefer to look around at what was on offer, but it was clear that she was just waiting for the worker to emerge from the back and offer her some help.
The wait for service was somewhat painful, still in the back of my mind, I was worried at how the shopkeeper would react to me. I was even trying to hide myself close to the counter so she wouldn't see me. To be fair, it seemed that a lot of people reacted to me positively in public, even going as far as to touch my suit and pet me, but there was always that doubt in the back of my mind that someone would react negatively.
"Nala, look!" Donna nudged me and pointed across the counter.
I inwardly groaned and peeked my head up, looking across towards where my owner had pointed. It was a simple bobblehead of a black cat, with a small body and a large head and green eyes. It stared back at me blankly, reminding me of the same cat I had spent so much time with.
She chuckled, still with her pointed finger out, "Don't you think it looks like Cleo?"
Exactly what I thought. If you took away the colour of the eyes, it was almost an exact image of the black cat, something of a caricature of the large woman.
"Hi there!" The woman emerged suddenly with the same volume as when she shouted from the back room, walking too fast for me to duck back down without her noticing me.
It was exactly what I didn't want, I felt so exposed with my body propped against the counter, my head clearly on show. However, it seemed that she did not see me at all as she approached my owner, her attention solely on the woman holding my leash.
"Well, aren't you a cute one," she smiled, "How can I help you today?"
The shopkeeper reminded me of when I first met Donna, she was wacky looking with a retro look that seemed to work for her. However, both women had completely different styles, it was just the initial first impression that reminded me of that moment. The woman behind the counter looked at Donna through thick, black glasses. Her dark, curly hair was put up in a messy bob, looking as if it could break at any moment and her hair would go everywhere. Behind the bland, brown apron was a tie-dyed vest that hugged her thin figure and showing off her pale sideboobs, a collection of tattoos on both arms were clearly on show, several were sexual in nature.
In this way, she seemed the opposite of Donna.
I turned my head around, noticing the lack of response of the woman holding my leash. The usually stoic Donna had her head to the floor, staring directly at her shoes which glistened in the bright light of the shop. It was odd to see her not able to maintain eye contact, it was something she did constantly. That wasn't even the strangest part of my owner's behaviour, not only was she staring directly down whilst interacting with the woman in front of her, her face had gone bright red, not pink, not even a little blushing around her cheeks, her entire head from her hairline to her chin had become a bright shade of red.
"You okay, darlin'?" the woman behind the counter continued, almost oblivious to Donna's embarrassment.
A few syllables managed to escape Donna, "I…I…"
I had never seen this side of her before, she was always happy, always polite and always knew what to say, but the silence that came from her was more deafening than anything else I could have thought of at that moment. However, it slowly occurred to me that she wasn't embarrassed by the lady in front of her, her muted state did not appear because she was scared or confused, despite Donna's weirdness, she was extremely comfortable around nearly everyone. I believed that what I was seeing was the sight of my owner attracted to someone else.
I had no doubt that Donna was a sexual person and got something from owning us pets, she was always more than happy to walk around naked, put on those pornographic cartoons that she loved so much and it wasn't rare to hear her use her vibrator in bed every now and then. This was new, this was an actual attraction to another human being.
Despite the unemotional mask that I was trapped under, my mouth was wide open, knowing that I was watching something completely new, something I had never seen the young woman do. As I looked from my owner, back across the counter, I was met with the face of the girl who currently held Donna's heart. Her wide, dark eyes stared directly into mine. I felt more vulnerable than ever.
"Oh… my… god!" The shopkeeper stuttered, her mouth as agate as mine was.
I could feel my heart beating heavily in my chest, there was nowhere to hide anymore, it wasn't as if I could have willed the young woman to not have seen me in the first place. Maybe… I could hide behind Donna, surely that would both protect me and force her to actually begin a conversation with the shopkeeper.
"That's absolutely adorable!" The girl with the glasses shouted at the top of her lungs.
I crawled backwards, startled by the sudden outburst of the new person. Despite being able to leave the counter from both sides, she instead jumped over it and landed just inches away from me, not wasting any time at all. She got onto her hands and knees to meet me at the same height, placing both of her hands around my cheeks and automatically squishing them together.
"Does she have a name?" The lady in front of me asked.
"N-Nala!" Donna finally managed to say something.
"Nala? That is an adorable name… just look at you!"
She continued squishing my face for a little longer before jumping up to examine the rest of my latex-clad body, my bound hands and feet, the tight material covering and showing off my curves, the collar locked around my neck and she even examined the hidden zip that covered my most vital areas.
"This is too cute, I'm about to explode" It was obvious the woman could not contain her excitement, not just from what she said, but how she couldn't keep still whilst taking in my form, "I'm sorry… she's just… Can I hug her?"
"Sure… sure."
The woman jumped down from behind me and hugged me tight, her tattooed arms squeezing against my breasts. She got so close that I could hear her breath travelling down my faux ears, she was excited to see me for some reason. I got that I was cute and about half of the people I had met since being bound were attracted to the sight of me, but this felt different, as if I were something she was looking for.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, jumping off my body, however, this did not last long and she went straight back to hugging me once more. I estimated about a whole minute went by before she left my body once more, apologising again and again and she stood up and corrected herself. The entire time, Donna just stood there staring at us.
"I'm Lauren," The lady finally introduced herself to my owner, placing her hand out to the muted girl.
"D-Donna," she returned the handshake.
"That's a cute name. Can I ask, why is she in that outfit?"
Donna tried to reply, but her voice broke almost immediately, causing her cheeks to burn red once more.
"I mean…I get it," Lauren continued while Donna stayed silent, "It's very hot and sexy, but it's not exactly what you would wear everyday… y'know?"
The shopkeeper had no idea.
"Actually, she wears it most of the time, I only take it off her one day a month," A sentence finally escaped my owner.
Lauren didn't answer, just stared directly at the flower-dressed, young woman who was still holding my leash.
"And she wears it out too, we go shopping with it on," she continued, "She's my pet, I look after three in total."
Lauren's mouth widened even further. It was strange, but nice to see. It seemed that Donna struggled to talk about herself, but when it came to talking about her pets, she had no issues in that department.
"So… why exactly?"
"Oh, it's a correctional program the girls signed up to."
I rolled my eyes, here we go again. Donna would let it slip that we were criminals and this was technically our prison and the person interested in us would get distant and probably even regret coming up to us in the first place.
My owner continued, "They get a reduced sentence if they sign up for this, Nala here was sentence to three years, but as she signed up for this experiment, she only has to serve a year with me."
"So… instead of going to jail, they get to spend their days locked in a latex outfit and treated like a pet?"
"Yeah, except for one day a month where they are let out and allowed to be human again, but they still have to wear the collar."
"That… is… amazing!" Lauren jumped back down and began rubbing her hands over my head and neck.
I was in bliss, her fingers felt like they were scratching an inch I've had for ages… it was almost beyond pleasure.
"Oh, Donna! You are so lucky!" The shopkeeper yelled once more, her hands were almost a blur over my entire body.
The two women began talking about everything, moving from why Donna and I even came into the shop to begin with. Whilst Lauren began with questions regarding Pet Correction, the conversation swiftly moved onto the personal lives of the two girls. Whilst Donna kept quiet about her life before looking after pets, Lauren talked all about her journey before opening this flower shop. She studied an Art course at University before moving in with her Mother and getting a job at a cafe. She worked there for almost five years as the relationship between them began to weaken and Lauren ended up moving out, spending all of her money to open this shop up, when the shop closes at the end of the day, she goes upstairs where she has a little room with a bed to rest in.
Whilst she made the room sound horrible and cramped, she made it sound hundreds of times better than living with her Mother.
I felt the minutes slowly tick by, wondering the entire time if Donna had forgotten about the two pets she had left in the car.
Donna walked past us, humming quietly to herself as she sniffed the newly purchased flowers. They were roses, typical of the type of person Donna was, but I assumed romance was going through her head. It was nice, kind of like a secret between our owner and I. Neither Cleo or Poppy knew about the interaction between her and the store keeper, not that the two pets minded some alone time in the car and it wasn't like Donna was deliberately hiding the eccentric woman from us, but at that moment; only us knew about her.
The day seemed to go by rather quickly. It wasn't long before we got back that the sun decided to fall down the sky, hiding behind the trees on the hill and causing a dark, orange sky to appear overhead. By the end, all three of us pets were absolutely exhausted, somehow… The interactions between Poppy and Donna were tiring for us all, it was like a constant battle going on through all of our heads. What happened to one of the girls, happened to all of us and we were each individually affected by the potential soon departure of the white cat.
The good news was, the roses seemed to have worked in raising Poppy's spirits. Since we got home, not once did she hide away or even move to a different room in which we were sitting. She even crawled up to Donna, trying her hardest to take in the scent of the flowers she was holding, despite the layers of latex, she seemed to have managed to take in the smell of the new purchase.
Even though Poppy's behaviour was the first thing on Donna's mind earlier, going as far as to take her to the nurse, it was clear that the woman's mind had slipped to the thoughts of the shopkeeper once more. Despite being able to form sentences the longer the interaction went on, Donna was as smitten as she was when they first started talking.
It was honestly nice to see her in this way. Whilst I knew she had a large amount of love for all three of her pets and even more to give, it was another thing to see her interact with someone who she genuinely had a crush on, something that was outside of work. I sincerely hoped I had witnessed the beginning of something special.
She hummed to herself as she glided across the room, finding a special place to sit the flowers down, a place that would be easy to spot and not in the way. The roses gave me as much comfort as her humming currently did. It felt like a new corner for Donna, with the white cat worried about her future with 'Pet Correction', the owner's mind raced with what the future could hold with this new woman in her life.
That is if I was reading Donna's expressions clearly. It was sometimes much more difficult to understand what the woman was thinking. It was obvious that meeting Lauren had an impact on her mood, but whether Donna wanted it to be more than friends was completely up to her. It would have been lovely to imagine that she would be wanting something more for her personal life.
It would be nice for her to have someone when we are all gone.
What? Why did I think that? I still had nearly a year left on my sentence, Cleo still had over a year. Poppy could still be facing the same length as me, or she could be let out a lot sooner than we think. We have a long time to go before Donna is free of us, but even when we leave… surely, she would become in charge of a new selection of pets? I guess, I just wanted her to find someone. She had so much love to share that I probably hoped she would find someone permanent to love her back, someone who can hold her fingers in theirs, someone who could kiss her on her lips and reply back to her words.
I sighed loudly. I took my place on the ground, resting my head on my paws.
Maybe… maybe I was overthinking everything. I guess the idea of Poppy leaving us early made my mind wonder.
I felt the familiar feeling of pressure on my side, I did not even need to look to see that it was Cleo making herself comfortable right next to me, joining me on the floor of the living room. Donna continued to walk around the living room after placing the roses down.
The heat coming from the large black cat was soothing, allowing me to get comfortable on the ground next to her. In unison, we stared at the woman as she continued to walk around the room, almost going in circles as the thoughts of the shopkeeper kept running through her head.
"Here it guys, it's what we've been waiting all night for!" Donna stated loudly, despite the late hour of the day, it was clear that this amount of time without sleep did nothing to hinder her spirits or energy.
It was early, very early. If I had been paying attention, I would have known the actual hour we stayed up until, but the comfort the black cat brought willed me to stay in place. If I had to guess, I would have said it was around two to three in the morning, judging by how long it had felt since the dark sky appeared.
The light from the TV enveloped the room, dancing around the walls each time the camera changed to a different position on screen. It was annoying to pay attention to, the heavy brightness in front of me caused my eyes to strain and become more tired, however, I did not want to fall asleep, this was an important moment in our lives.
"Here we go!" Donna screeched again, holding the white cat closer to her as the two cuddled on the sofa. Cleo and I took the floor.
On the television, the usual news segments went by and changed to a one on one interview between two men. The one on the left was the interviewer, a young-ish man who's grey hairs were just starting to show through despite his early age. His hair was combed to a respectable style and his thin body was hidden by a blue shirt with the top button undone and a brownish suit jacket covering it. The man looked past the camera with an intense emotion in his eye, his brow sitting heavily at the very top of his nose.
"Good evening, Mr Abbott," The man began, despite introducing the interviewee, his facial shape did not change in the slightest, "Thank you so much for joining us today, hope you are well?"
The camera finally changed to the person he was talking to. It was a man perhaps a few years younger than himself, his head completely clean shaven of any hair despite the indication he could have a full head of hair. The younger man was of Asian descent and spoke with a clear, American accent. He matched the man with the outfit, wearing a white shirt that was fully buttoned up with a dark blue suit jacket over it. He looked far more presentable than the man interviewing him and seemed to have a much calmer demeanour.
"Thank you so much for having me, it is an honour to be on your show" He replied, getting himself comfortable on his seat.
"Let's jump straight to the point, you are here to talk about your new project… 'Pet Correction', what can you tell me about it?"
The younger man smiled, wiping the bottom of his face as he began the process of talking about it in detail. It was weird seeing people on TV talk about what I was currently going through, it was going public.
"I will be happy to. I've started a correctional program, we have little over a hundred volunteers in the UK alone that are trying it out right now and we are hoping to bring it to the US and Canada within the next year or so, then other countries should follow shortly after. We are hoping to work alongside the courts to bring it in as a suitable punishment for young offenders who are likely to offend again and stop their behaviour before it gets any worse."
The interviewer's brow seemed to go down further as he asked the next question, "So what is so special about 'Pet Correction'? How does it differ from the companies that send young offenders to ranches in the countryside to work with horses, or simply give them community service?"
"Because we are looking at the actual behaviour of the offender and what we can do to stomp out the part of them that thinks it is okay to commit malicious acts," the younger man smiled as he said this, "For the last ten years I have been researching the best ways to change someone's behaviour without permanent damage or mental scarring. We have seen young people go to jail, does it help them? No, it doesn't. They get into bad habits inside prison that follow them into the real world when they are finally released and that does nothing but allow them to end up back in a cell, usually at the expense of someone dying or getting seriously hurt. We've seen people enter these camps that you talk about which help them for a short term but do nothing to help when they are finally released back into the real world. What I wanted was a quick solution that has a permanent effect on the offender, giving them a year… maybe two in our care and in return, you will get a new person who not only won't offend again, but will be completely unable to offend even if they wanted to."
"And how do you do this?"
"How do you train a dog? You can take a dog off the street and have it fully trained within a year. We take a young offender - someone who has a history of repeat convictions - and remove them from the public. We do not put them in jail, we give them a small home hidden from the world… and they wear… this…"
Behind the two men were two pictures that showed up on a screen. One was an actual picture of a person wearing a similar suit to what Poppy, Cleo and I wore and the other was an x-ray image of what the person looked underneath. The layer of latex covering the person looked much thicker than I thought it did, however the image tried to highlight both the hands that were bound in little balls and the gag that covered the person's face.
"What… what is this?" The interviewer asked, sounding very stunned.
"This is my own patented outfit that all my volunteers are wearing right now. Wearing this, the user cannot use their arms and legs and will have to walk on their hands and knees like a dog. The hands are bound within the front paws so the fingers are useless and the legs are locked in paws too, but it's the tightness of the material around the calves that is so interesting, they tighten around the leg when the wearer is standing which gets uncomfortable after a short time, this forces them to sit on their hands and knees for comfort".
The man continued, standing up to actually point at the picture on the wall, "The user is gagged 24/7, it allows them to breathe out of their nose and mouth without any interference and even allows them to eat and drink without taking the mask off. We have special canisters that slot in the small hole in the mouth and the user can eat or drink at their leisure."
"And you think this works?" Despite the interviewer clearly being blown away by what he was seeing, his facial expression did not change.
"Yes. We have workers for Pet Correction living with the volunteers. As the user is completely helpless, they require full cooperation with the workers, like a dog being dependant on their owner."
"How do you get these volunteers?"
"We talk to young people who are facing a jail sentence. We give them the option to either go ahead with their full sentence, or they can volunteer with us for a reduction on their time."
"And this works? You have proof that this is a viable way to rehabilitate criminals back into society?"
The interviewer somehow frowned even more, I was sure he wasn't believing a word the younger man was saying, but saying that left an uncomfortable silence between the two. The interviewer staring with intensive eyes and the interviewee just returning a large, unwavering grin.
"Well, let me show one of my first volunteers," Mr Abbot said.
The moment those words left his mouth, the two men turned towards a screen that was hidden away from the camera, as they did this, the screen itself changed to a mugshot of a young woman. She looked like she could have been pretty if she took care of herself more often. She probably was only a few years older than me, her eyes were dark and sunken in, her cheeks were very thin and her lips were cracked. Her hair was cut very short, sporting a selection of different colours, including black, blonde and blue tones.
The worst part of the mugshot was the stare she was giving to the camera, looking as if she was ready to fight the person behind it, that was if her hands were cuffed behind her. The screen changed from that to an interview between the young lady and a police officer, everytime the police officer tried to speak, the young woman would yell at him, telling him obscene things, threatening him with violence.
"This is Katie Tucker," Mr Abbott's voice could be heard along with the footage, "Before I met her, she was being sentenced to jail for multiple crimes, GBH, drug consumption, and being caught carrying weapons. She had already been in prison once and that did nothing to help her, in fact I would say it made her behaviour worse. She agreed to a reduced sentence as a volunteer for 'Pet Correction'; within two years in my care, I managed to turn her life around."
The screen returned back to the two men, with Mr Abbott turning back to the interviewer, somehow the smile on his face managed to grow even longer, "Would you like to meet the new Katie Tucker?"
The interviewer stared, with his mouth agate for a second, the screen behind the two gentlemen turning back into the mugshot and a simple photo of what looked like the young woman in the pet costume, her thin body was bound under a layer of black latex, dog ears covered the side of her face where cat ears stood on mine and a small snout was formed where her mouth would be. She gave a look to the camera that said she didn't want her photo taken at that time.
"Yeah, sure" The interviewer said, interrupting my examination of her pet form, "I would love to meet her."
"Here she is."
The camera cut once again to the other side of the studio, the lights centred at the bottom of a staircase where platformed heels could be seen stepping down onto the studio floor. The camera cut again to a shy woman walking up to the two men. A short, lavender dress hugged her small figure and shoulder-length brown hair moved side to side with each step, covering part of her well made-up face.
She looked glamorous, not too far to look fake but would have been enough to grab attention off someone. She seemed to slow down as she got within arms length of that Mr Abbott and even though there was a seat next to him for her to sit down on, she gracefully got onto her hands and knees and sat on the other side of him, placing her arms behind her back as if she was ready to serve.
She looked at the interviewer with a soft, welcoming smile, to which the older man covered the bottom of his mouth. It definitely looked like the woman from the photo and video from earlier, but now had much healthier skin and a far more submissive approach to others.
"So… this is…" The interviewer asked, placing his hand out to the kneeling woman.
"This is Katie Tucker," Mr Abbott smiled.
The young woman did not speak, just waited for a question, it was like she had to be spoken to in order to talk. The interviewer continued with the questions, "Wouldn't she like to take a seat on the chair?"
"It's completely up to her if she wants to," Mr Abbott's grin never faltered, he turned to the young woman next to him, "Katie? Would you like to take a seat on this chair?"
Katie looked over at the piece of furniture, it looked as if her eyes were filled with two emotions, disgust and fear. She looked down at the floor before shaking her head.
"I hope you are well?" The man across from her shot the question, ignoring what just happened.
"I am very well, thank you. I hope you are well too?" she said the entire sentence so politely, without adjusting her frame and even bowing slightly to show respect.
"I am well thanks… Sorry, this is odd to see, Katie looks so different now, like an entirely new person."
Mr Abbott cleared his throat before talking, "This is what 'Pet Correction' does, with only two years in my care, I was able to completely transform Ms Tucker into the person you see in front of you. I did not ask her to kneel there, she was more than welcome to sit in the chair. She did not even have to come in today, but was more than happy to show the audience a great example of what we do. I will admit that she has taken speech courses after her sentence, her entire change of behaviour is all my work."
"Are there any side effects?"
"I will admit there are some. Ms Tucker here has a bit of a selected memory from before she was sentenced. We see it in alot of our volunteers that they begin to forget smaller details of their past lives, but I believe it's a good price to pay for a complete behaviour overhaul. Ms Tucker doesn't wish to remember the crimes she did before and now, we have a criminal off the streets and a law-abiding citizen instead."
"What made you think this type of training was suitable for behaviour correction?"
"Well… I did extensive research into the benefits of dominant/submissive relationships. We asked…"
My brain began to unfocus. The world around me disappeared and whilst I could still see the television screen, it started to move further and further away from me. What sounded like static seemed to blow into my ears, getting harsher and harsher each second. I wanted to throw up, I wanted to pull off the damn suit that clung to my body, run outside into the cold night air and cool down.
I did not want this, I did not want to spend the next year being treated only as a pet, I did not want the old me to fade away to the back of my mind, replaced by a young woman who couldn't even look at a chair to sit on. Yes, she was not a criminal anymore, but any tiny amount of the woman she was before was completely gone, what was on screen was like an empty shell of the person before her, submissive and only doing what was told of her.
That was not the worst part, I still felt like the same independent girl I was before my sentence. The worst part was the element we both shared and that was the memory loss. I had begun to forget more and more about who I was, the whole reason I acted up and got locked in the cage was because I forgot the name of my friends, now I forgot what they looked like. This Katie could not remember much about her life before 'Pet Correction', what chance did I have? Who would I forget next? Would I still remember what my parents look like? Will I even remember my name?
I had to stop myself, I was getting upset once again. The painful part was there was nothing I could do about it, I had to carry on with this sentence and live the rest of the year as a pet. I didn't think about my name often because I was worried I was starting to forget that too. If I forget my own name I was given at birth, then there was no saying what else would fade away. I felt the warm body of Cleo push against me even closer, she must have noticed I was beginning to panic. Why wasn't she doing the same? She was here for longer than we are and that means she has more to lose… or, has she understood that she will forget who she was and just live life as it comes?
I had a headache. The calming touch of her skin against mine was helping return me to normality. The world came back to me and the screen returned back to its original position. The segment with Mr Abbott was over and the TV was only playing commercials. The sound of Donna snoring behind me confirmed that not even her could stay awake this late, even for something that involved all of us.
I willed my body to the floor, joining the black cat into a long rest before the sun inevitably rises. It might have been a late night news report, well past the time when everyone was awake, but it meant that 'Pet Correction' was out there now, it was public knowledge.
How that would change this, I did not know.