Chapter 9

"What could be next?" I wondered, out loud, as I woke, sleep-eyed the next morning. According to my watch it was now Wednesday, and I had been trapped in this house/machine for almost five full days.

The day began as usual, with toilet duties and then washing and scrubbing. As expected, I was taken to the makeup station for some dramatic makeup and the long brunette wig. Then back to the dressing room for the corset, high-heels, stockings, underwear, and the sexy, revealing red dress (the same red dress I wore for my first meeting with the Mannequin, Jack).

The heels were yet a fraction of an inch higher, something like four and a half inches this time.

I stood admiring my reflection as I waited for the door to open.

And a door did open. Only, not the one I was expecting. Instead, it was the exit door back to the original corridor.

"OK, so fine," I told myself. "For some reason the house wants me to go back to the original mannequin, probably for some new kind of bizarre anal training..."

But that door was locked. In fact, all of the doors in the corridor were locked! I panicked for a second, thinking that something had gone wrong. I was trapped in the corridor with all these doors, but every one was locked, even the one to the dressing room that I had just left.

But then I had a thought. Walking up the stairs at the end of the hallway, I pushed open the door...

... and stepped into the kitchen of the house. I was free. The house was letting me go.

|DING DONG|

It was the doorbell! But I wasn't dressed as Jonathan, I was dressed as Jennifer! What was I going to do?

"|| TEST SCENARIO, BEGIN LEVEL 9: CATCH AND RELEASE ||"

"WHAT THE FUCK?" I looked around. Of course, the earpiece was still in my ear ... but I thought I was done??

|DING DONG|

Damnit, the doorbell. I walked to the front door and opened it.

"Excuse me, are you Jennifer?"

"Uh ... Yes?"

"Miss Jennifer McDonald?"

"Ummm ... I guess ... Sure ... Yes, that's me." Suddenly I became acutely aware of my voice being too low.

"Early morning, huh? Well, I don't blame ya. It takes me at least three cups of coffee before I remember my name."

"And you are... ?" I tried to pitch my voice a bit higher.

"Oh, sorry. Name's Marty. I'm your driver for today?"

"I didn't order a driver..."

"Well, the order came from a Mr. Hewitt... ?" He hesitated, wondering if I was going to cause him any trouble.

"But..."

"His instructions were very specific. We received them along with payment just yesterday. Here, they gave me a print-out of his E-mail."

He showed me the message and I glanced over it, not really looking.

Marty looked a bit worried, "I'm supposed to take you to the mall, first."

The mall? What the fuck was going on?

"OK, I'll be right there, OK?"

"Sure thing. I'll be waiting in the car." I looked out and saw his sedan parked in the driveway.

"Shit!" I closed the door. "What the fuck am I going to do? Think, think, think!"

Mr. Hewitt, a dead man, had called me a cab. Clearly, the house computer was connected to the internet and was arranging services for me.

"OK, first thing: I need to get my keys and my wallet." I walked to the kitchen, my heels going |Clack Clack| on the hardwood floors.

"Shit!" The door to the basement was locked. All my keys, my watch, my wallet, my clothes! Everything was down there.

I went back to the foyer and tried to steady my heart.

"|| Go to the living room. ||"

"Aaack!" I screamed, surprised. The house computer was still talking to me through my earpiece! I went to the living room.

"|| Open the left-most cabinet door. ||"

I walked to the built-in cabinets on the far side of the living room and opened the door. Inside I found plastic tray. I took the tray out and inspected the contents, which contained:

A small red leather purse (Coach), keys, lipstick, powder with mirror, portable eye shadow and blush, Tampon (!), an empty wallet, money (about 100$), a pack of tissues, a pair of clean underwear, and a rather heavy silver box about the size of a deck of cards.

I emptied the tray and put all of the items into the purse. Looking back at the tray I noticed one item I had missed. It was a card. I picked it up.

It was a driver's license with my picture on it, dressed in the nice "business-style" suit I had worn yesterday. The name said "Jennifer McDonald".