Not Your Kitten

Chapter 2

"Wake up, kitten," says a voice.

I crack open my eyes. Dudley stands over me. He smiles when he sees I'm conscious. "Sit up, look what Prince did for you."

I manage to pull myself into a sitting position. The serum from last night must have worn off.

My eyes find my legs, and I cry out. From the thigh down, both of my legs have been replaced with that of a lion. I knew it was happening, but I guess it didn't fully register until now.

My thighs are wrapped in bandages. I put pressure on one, and it stings.

I try to move my lion feet, and find that I can.

Dudley chuckles. "My sweet kitten. If you keep acting out, maybe I will get to make you a complete kitten after all!" He pulls out a sparkly pink collar from behind his back, and clasps it around my neck. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying my best to ignore the tickle of his cold fingers brushing against my throat. I can't disobey him again; who knows what he'll do next.

"Would kitten like to walk on her new legs?"

I shake my head, but Dudley ignores it. He lifts me off of the bed and helps me stand up. My lion knees buckle, but he catches me before I fall to the floor. I strain to stay upright, but the muscles in my new legs are weak.

"Our schedule today is going to be simple! We will go to the store and buy kitten supplies, and beautiful kitten clothes! Then, we will come home. Before supper, I will give you some pretty new skin on your thighs! Doesn't this sound fun?" Dudley grins.

I shiver. "Y-yes, Dudley. It sounds very fun."

He helps me get dressed, in a neon pink skirt, yellow tank top, and extra-big men's snow boots. The skirt covers up my burns, and the boots cover up most of the lion legs. What little fur that can be seen just looks like orange socks.

Dudley unlocks the front door, takes the keys from the counter, and locks it again once we step outside.

Our first stop is Jo-Ann's. Dudley picks out a roll of fluffy fabric, designed to look like lion fur. The cashier either doesn't notice my limp or doesn't care.

Tears come to my eyes, and I take a deep breath. "Please help me. He's holding me hostage," I say to the cashier. "My name is Lucy Lee, and-"

Dudley rolls his eyes and looks at me. "Penny, stop it. Now isn't the time for one of your games." He turns to the cashier. "Sorry about her. She's my sister. She was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia and psychosis a few years ago. She has delusions a lot. Her most recent one is that she's the YouTube star Lucy Lee."

The cashier reaches for his belt. "Can I see a doctor's note?"

Dudley gives a charming smile. "Sure." He pulls a forged doctor's note from his pocket and shows it to the cashier, who grudgingly nods.

"Okay... You can go," says the cashier. "And just between you and me, you don't look like a kidnapper. You're handsome and charming; you're going to go far in life."

Dudley flashes another grin, pays for the fabric, and gently leads me out of the store.

In the car, he turns to me and jabs a finger at my chest. "Don't ever try something like that again, do you hear me, kitten?" He's trying to stay calm, but I can hear a rush of anger creeping up behind his voice. "It hurts me that you would lie to that man like that. I'm not holding you hostage, kitten. You like being in your house; you've said that in many of your videos. I'm just helping you." Am I crazy, or are there tears in his eyes? "For that little act, I'm going to be performing another surgery on you when we get home."

I stare straight ahead and nod. I'm too numb to protest.

We go to Party City next, and Dudley buys me five different princess outfits - a pink glittery one, a purple sequined one, a blue rhinestoned one, a green ruffley one, and a yellow glossy one. Like in the previous store, the cashier doesn't acknowledge my limp. I don't blame them; it probably just looks like I have a sore ankle. No one would ever guess that some psycho replaced my legs with lion legs.

At home, Dudley takes off the bandages, revealing burnt and scarred skin. Bile rises up in my throat, but I push it down. He uses superglue to attach the fake fur to my thighs. And when he sticks me with a needle and tells me to close my eyes, that this is going to be a longer surgery than the one before, I comply.