Renting Ginny

“Move it!” Anina snarled, shoving a cloth in my face. My first thought was that it was chloroform, which wouldn’t have exactly allowed me to “move it,” but the only effect whatever it was had on me was to make me drowsy and more compliant than I normally would be in a situation like this. “Get going!” I walked obediently next to Anina, and then I realized what she’d given me. I didn’t know the name of it, but I knew that whatever it was had to be some kind of drug used for controlling people. I was totally walking alongside her against my will! My mind thought to run, to scream, to do something… but my body simply wouldn’t allow me to. The thing she’d had me inhale had completely taken over my senses! I was absolutely horrified at the thought of being drugged with any mind-controlling substance. Not being able to escape under normal circumstances was bad enough, but now I really wouldn’t be able to escape this lunatic! “I-I” “Shut up!” She had come in search of me on foot and not by car, so we kept walking. I wished desperately that my father would drive by and spot us, but the vehicle that had been approaching took a turn at the nearest cross street and we were heading in the other direction. We approached the front door of Anina’s condo. She slipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out her keys. Then she unlocked the door and shoved me inside. I thought she would kill me right then and there but instead, she ordered me into the bathroom. “Get your ass in the shower and wash that chlorine smell off of you! I want your hair thoroughly shampooed and your body scrubbed clean. You got it, slave?” “Yes, but I don’t like—” “Do it now! Your punishment for your latest act of disobedience is going to be bad enough.” I hurried into the bathroom as fast as my disoriented body would allow, out of my wet clothes and under the soothing spray of the shower. I lathered up as slowly as I could, wanting to stay there forever but knowing I couldn’t. I searched frantically in my mind for a solution to the hell I was in. How the hell would I ever escape this bitch now?! “Let’s go, Ginny,” Anina said just beyond the shower curtain. She had insisted on going into the bathroom too, so I couldn’t lock her out. Once the soap and shampoo were fully rinsed from my hair and body, I shakily pushed back the shower curtain and stepped out onto the fluffy bathmat. Anina tossed a towel at me and I dried myself off as she eyed me dreamily but with more than a hint of exhaustion in her eyes. It was nearly four in the morning now. She stepped over to a cabinet and pulled out a blow dryer. Without a word, she plugged it in by the sink and handed it to me. I took it from her and then when I thought my hair was dry enough, I reached to unplug the dryer. “You’re lucky it’s so damn late,” she said with a yawn. Yes, I was. “But tomorrow you’re going to pay dearly for this little stunt you pulled tonight.” That was exactly what I was afraid of. “Tomorrow you’re going to learn the real meaning of obeying your master and what it’s really like to be one’s slave.” “I think I’ve already got a great idea of that one, Anina,” I started to challenge. “Then why the hell did you run?” “I wasn’t running from you,” I lied. “I was running from the lack of freedom.” “Oh, I see,” Anina said with heavy sarcasm in her voice. “One doesn’t need chains in order to be an obedient slave, and if you’d just give me a chance, you’d find that out, Anina.” “Oh, bullshit, I would. Now get in that bed.” Was she going to let me sleep with her? “Now!” I scurried into bed. As much as I loathed the woman, I would rather sleep unchained next to her and in a real bed than be tied up in some dark, dank cellar on a smelly old cot. “Don’t you move,” she ordered, and then she left the room. A second later, I heard the sound of something metallic clanging together, approaching the bedroom. When she came into view, I could see she had two small wind chimes in each hand. She placed one on the inside knob of the bedroom door as well as the inside knob of the bathroom door. “There,” she said with satisfaction. “You make one more move for the rest of the night and I’ll know it a lot sooner than I did the last time around. I’m too tired to bother with explaining just how sorry you’ll be if and when that happens.” “What if I have to pee?” “Just shut up, Ginny, and go to bed.” She angrily kicked her shoes off and got undressed. I pulled the covers snugly around my naked body as she snapped off the light and slid into bed next to me. I cringed. I never thought I would be so disgusted by the thought of being close to someone as gorgeous as the mysterious and crazy Anina Hahn. Although not one of my problems had been solved, I was never gladder when her breathing became regular, letting me know she’d fallen asleep. It seemed the only time I was safe from her was when she was either asleep or at work. As tired as I was, however, I couldn’t fall asleep right away. My mind took me home and I thought of my parents, knowing how frantic with worry they must be at the moment. They no doubt thought I’d been abducted. But they knew where I worked. Certainly, they would report me as missing after so many days had gone by that I didn’t contact them, and especially after what happened tonight with the old man calling for a ride and then me being nowhere to be found. Then again, I had no way to know for sure if the strange old man really did call my parents or not. Anyone who could tell me they saw a couple of flying spiders kissing in their living room wasn’t exactly anyone I could trust. Neither was his hate-spewing wife. This didn’t change the fact that my family and friends had to be getting rather anxious by now. It wasn’t like me to go this long without being in touch and they knew it. This meant that they would get the police involved, right? Or would the cops just tell them it was my job to take off to other people’s homes even if they were perfect strangers, so relax, she's an adult, she’ll be back. But would I? Would I ever really see my friends and family again? Anina more than likely gave Emmy a false name and address. If she hadn’t, my parents would have had Emmy get the cops to me by now. My mind began to peel back through the hands of time. Back to when life was simple and carefree. I saw my mother pushing me on the swings as a child. My father teaching me to ride a bike. Birthday parties, holidays; it all made me smile and cry at the same time. The thought of never seeing them again made me so sad that it was almost physical. I should have gotten into any other line of work but this. I should have been smart enough to know that sooner or later, I just might be “rented” by the wrong person. Flipping burgers would be better than this crazy shit! I thought of my friend Shelma. Shelma loved learning languages. It was a lot of work for something that was just for fun, she had told me, but then she realized how handy it came in when she was able to read tweets in Spanish and then understand forum posts in Portuguese, and to be able to have cyber friends that spoke French. As lovely as it sounded, the cell phone that started playing a really pretty ringtone nearly sent me flying right off the bed. Same with Anina, who rose with a jolt, muttering a few swears along the way. She flicked on the bedside lamp, snatched the cell off her nightstand, looked at the Caller ID display, and moaned in annoyance. “Hello?... You know it’s three in the morning here, don’t you?” she growled. I assumed she was talking to someone in Germany. That hunch was confirmed when she began mixing German in with English and making me wish I’d learned German after all. “Nein, Nein,” she said, “the girl that’s with me now is coming back to Germany with me.” What?The hell I was! Who the hell did she think she was kidding? And what did she think she was, God? “I’m not going with you!” I shouted, hoping the caller would hear. “Call the cops and help me! She won’t let me go!” More rapid German, and then, “Yes, it’s just part of our game.” “No, it’s not!” “I’ll call you tomorrow. Auf Wiedersehen.” My heart raced painfully as she ended the call. But that was nothing compared to what came next.