Chapter 2: Welcome To Uday's

A bright ray of sun fell through a window and lit Anna's face, slowly waking her up. It seemed to take her ages to just become aware of it... What a headache! It felt every bit like a serious hangover. Athletes don't make a habit of drinking much or staying up late, and *when* it happens the effects are usually substantial...

She turned her head a little to get the bright sun out of her eyes, and slowly tried to open them. The big blur in front only cleared up very very slowly, and with a lot of blinking.

A long winded moan escaped from the Russian's lips while she stretched her arms. Not only her head, but her whole body seemed to hurt. When she managed to sit up, yawned, and rubbed with her left hand over the painful spot on her butt, the feeling of bare skin caught her attention. That's when she finally realized that she was not wearing her night gown, but still a running jacket and pants. And the pants and panties were dragged down!

"What the f... ??"

More wasn't needed to speed up her heartbeat and let her green eyes open wide. A sudden feeling of panic took possession of her. This was NOT the kind of state in which a girl likes to wake up! Not that Anna didn't fancy showing some skin from time to time, or that she was prudish (hell, NO!). But combined with the painful muscles, the headache and the fact that she couldn't for the life of it remember what had happened the night before, it rang her female alarm bell.

"Think, Anna... THINK!! What happened last night?"

Every symptom was pointing clearly to a 'date-rape'. But surely, this couldn't happen (or rather: happen AGAIN... ) to a girl like her who had everything under control?

"Who was I with? Was Enrique there? If only that black hole inside my poor hurting head would open up a bit..."

She quickly raised and pulled up the pants. With her heart beating in her throat, she checked herself out... Thankfully, the 'most important' part of her body did not seem to hurt particularly. The fog around her mind was still not cleared up though. Like when you wake up during a nightmare. An uncontrollable crisscross of thoughts whirled through her head, until she got to step one in the international guide for amnesia patients:

"Where are you, anyway?"Only now, Anna noticed that she wasn't in her own room. Her bed was standing in a small corner surrounded by four bare walls. It had much the feeling of a cellar. There was one small window, the one where the sunray fell through, and it was too high to reach. It seemed like she had spent the whole night on top of the covers. Like someone laid her down while she was asleep (or unconscious?) and just left her. The whole situation left Anna completely disoriented. In fact, she kept questioning whether she was already awake now, or still dreaming a bad dream!

Walking a bit shaky still, she left the secluded corner and entered what turned out to be the actual room, of which the corner with the bed was just a part.

If possible at all, what she saw made the mystery even bigger and weirder! Things looked strangely familiar here. On the one hand because the whole flat breathed a distinctly Arabian atmosphere. Anna noticed the arabesques, Arabian ornaments, white walls everywhere with the typical beige tint, furniture in traditional Middle Eastern style... It was familiar in the sense that it slowly reactivated her short term memories of the Dubai visit. But mostly the familiarity was caused by some of the other items put on display here. A familiarity which, paradoxically, alienated her and even freaked her out!

What made Anna's head spin, was that the room also seemed to attempt a cheap imitation of her own one, back at home. Starting with an exact match of the type and number of pieces of furniture. The pastel colourscheme was clearly chosen to match her taste. There was a PC, just like at home, and the desk that stood against one of the walls even had family pictures on top! The walls themselves featured a few posters and smaller pictures. They included some of her own posters, and pictures of dolphins. There was a top-of-the-line stereo... with a couple of Enrique-CD's positioned to catch her attention.

"What... ???"

The Russian couldn't make head or tail of it. It was kinda spooky, even... She had never had lucid dreams like this before, she thought! But all the objects felt pretty real when she reluctantly touched them.

Behind the desk, a big mirror decorated the wall. It gave Anna the opportunity to check herself out. (which, apart from the messed-up hair, turned out to be "ok", considering the hangover) Then there was another secluded area next to the small bedroom, and a fitness bench, which not only looked totally out of place, but also brand new.

Overall, the room was actually quite vivacious, with bright sunlight falling through the rather big windows. It would have helped to give Anna a comfortable feeling... if they wouldn't have had grim bars in front of them.

"The windows!"

Anna rushed towards the daylight, and with her hands clamped around the steel bars, she looked outside.

As far as the young woman's eyes reached, an endless landscape of sand dunes stretched itself out. Fading into a blur of fata morga like twirls near the horizon. Absolutely nothing else was to be seen! There were no birds singing, no wind was blowing through tree leaves. Just sand. And more sand. A yellow-orange frozen ocean. The tranquillity and unworldly perfection of it all, made it look like a surrealist painting. A dream, after all?

"What the water is to Alcatraz, the sand is to Al-Qae-Traz."

The sound of the sharp voice behind her startled Anna, and she quickly turned around.

"I see our young lady is already up and running!"

Through the only door in the room, a man had entered. He reminded Anna of some kind of pasha; a slim, tall figure wrapped in a heavy-looking long gown. On his head he was wearing a huge turban. He had black hair, tanned skin and a goat-beard. And didn't look particularly friendly, Anna thought... Nevertheless the mystery man made a deep bow for her.

Although more memories were coming back all the time, Anna's mind was still in the process of putting two-and-two together. Thus, she quickly decided to go for the 'confident' pose. The one she had used to intimidate opponents on the court (with mixed results... ). She put up her best arrogant expression, raised her chin and fearlessly faced the stranger.

"So, is anybody going to tell me what the hell is goi..."

Anna's voice broke off in mid-sentence when two big black men appeared from behind the 'pasha'.

Their appearance had a remarkable effect on her. The confidence in her posture melted like snow in the sun, and she backed off like an surrounded. Step by step she withdrew, until her back and hands were resting flat against the nearest wall. Her heaving chest indicated her wildly bouncing heart and rapid breathing.

The three men didn't say anything, but watched her with interest.

With her head slightly tilted down, Anna's frowned forehead accentuated the predatorish look of her eyebrows. It may have looked like she was going to attack them with a tiger-jump, but her eyes couldn't hide the fear deep beneath them. They were shooting around panicky, looking for an escape route.

The young Russian was trying to take on the human equivalent of the hedgehog pose, as all-too-vivid memories about a rather unhappy experience flooded her mind. The view of these two 'hairless gorillas' transported her back to her short, but memorable, stay at Shaq Palace. [Note from the author: read 'A Perfect Match' for better understanding]. A reminder that caused mixed feelings, to say the least! Undoubtedly it had been an important night in her sexual development. But certainly also an experience that had deeply confused Anna. Because although she knew full well what she was *expected* to think of it (being traumatized? Feeling guilty?), she had not found it entirely unpleasant. One thing was for sure though; she would not repeat anything similar voluntarily! So what worried her most about her current situation, was that the two black giants right in front of her gave the distinct impression that they cared just as little about Anna's personal opinion as Shaq and his friends had. Surely the precursor of some rough times for the Russian cockteaser.

The man with the turban grinned at the young woman's unease. Their first appearance never failed to intimidate the inmates!

"Please calm down Miss Kournikova, calm down," he finally broke the silence. "I can assure you there is absolutely no reason to fear for your safety."

Anna looked the man in the eyes, but was clearly not convinced to believe him right away.

"May I introduce myself to the lovely young lady? My name is Rashid."

Rashid indicated with his hands that the two guards should stay where they were, while he himself moved a bit closer to Anna. She sure would have liked to back off a bit further, but was blocked by the wall behind her.

"First and foremost, let me welcome you to our little exclusive community. I'm sure that, just like all the other guests, you have many questions at this moment. They will undoubtedly all be answered, over time. And time, sweetheart, we have in abundance. A new life, full of servitude and self-deployment has started for you today. A new and very satisfying chapter, after the emptiness of your superficial tennis life. over the next couple of days, you will become familiar with the house rules, willingly or unwillingly. may i suggest you leave your stubbornness to a minimum; it will greatly assist in making this a pleasurable experience for all involved."

Rashid paused, taking a few seconds to enjoy the total confusion that came over the new "guest."

"Good, good... I'm hopeful that our cooperation will go smoothly and without major problems."