Forced to Become

Ch 5 within

The man rushed us through the dimly lit area where the elevator let us out. Even the boy was protesting the man's haste.

"I want to look around," the boy demanded. "You never let me, Alpha..." he whined petulantly.

"Be silent!" the man snapped.

For a moment, it seemed the two might argue. The tension between them built. The moment passed when the boy sullenly answered, "Yes, Alpha."

Rules. It occurred to me the boy might be stuck here as well. What had he said? Always use Alpha's title? He always did. I could think of a half-dozen other names I wanted to call that man!

We went down a hall, walking in the dim light. Suddenly, I was shoved forward. I stumbled in fear, my stomach whamming against a railing. My body kept moving, tilting over the rail. For a moment, I thought I was going to fall to the depths below. The boy pulled me back by yanking on the leash. Choking and off-balanced, unable to use my hands, I fell onto my side, unable to catch my breath.

"You didn't have to push him like that Alpha," the boy said, protesting on my behalf. He leaned down, running his hand along the choker collar, loosening its tight grasp on me.

"I will do as I please." said the man. "Consider it your punishment for your earlier disrespect. Do not forget who is the alpha here."

"I haven't forgotten, Alpha," the boy answered, still sounding somewhat sullen.

When I heard that the man was willing to punish me because the boy displeased him, my fear increased even more. My hands were sweaty and my heart pounded, wondering how often the boy irritated the man.

We had a moment while the man allowed the driver to adjust his squirming burden. The man's hands were on the sack, and I heard a pained cry. I welcomed anything right now that kept the man's attention from me.

There was a faint light way up high that was barely illuminating the area beyond the railing I now rested against. I could see down through the railing past my knees.  We were up a few levels up from the bottom. The area below was mostly dark and very spooky looking. I could hear some faint rustling sounds coming from the depths below me, but no other noise. The overall silence and the total creepiness of that big open space triggered another spate of panic in me.

"There are stairs now, so go carefully," said the man, finally finished doing his thing to whoever was in the sack.

The boy put his arm around me to help guide me as we went down, adjusting whatever was on my head so I could see better, as long as I kept my head down.

We made it to a landing, then kept going down more stairs. Once we were down, the boy tried to brush stuff off the dirty, white tiles in front of me with his feet. I couldn't make out what all the debris was, but I was stepping on some dirt, leaves, and twigs with my bare feet, which hurt. None of it made any sense.

We didn't walk long after leaving the stairs behind before the boy brought me to a stop with a slight tug on the leash. I could hear them opening the locks on a door. I didn't hear any other noise anywhere, other than the wheezing breath that had been coming from whoever was in that sack. The continuing silence was oppressive.

The boy gave a happy laugh as he tugged me forward. I was quick to follow so I wouldn't choke or get punished.

I started to balk at crossing the big, wide threshold. Going across it seemed to be the final phase of my captivity, and I was being made to cross it of my own volition. There was no way to escape without the man's keys and I couldn't picture myself being able to get them from him. I only hesitated for a second, feeling the slight increase of pressure around my neck as the leash went taut.

My feet stumbled across that border between the imagined possibility of freedom and the surety of captivity. I felt the last visages of hope crumbling within me. Those fragments of hope turn to ash as the door closed behind us; the echo of its closing sealing my doom.