Them

Stone had cut their showers to every other day since they weren't doing anything but "lying around," yet allowed them to brush their teeth daily and to continue being untethered when they said they needed the bathroom. She warned them that excessive bathroom runs would get them back in diapers. One day, the guys came down to unchain them, and when Boris was allowed to remove his gag to brush his teeth, was when he spoke up after hearing the guys address Stone more than once as Sophia. “You know that’s Janelle Stone, and she’s going to kill you, don’t you? Get out while you guys still can. You’re young, you’ve got your whole life—” “Shut up!” one of the guys snapped. “I don’t care who she is or what kind of life ahead of me you think I have. The woman pays well, and that’s all I care about. Same goes for the others.” “Do you even know who Janelle Stone is?” Boris dared ask. “Do you even know what the words ‘shut the fuck up’ mean, bro? I’m not kidding. Now shut it and get on with your business.” He knew he shouldn’t have acted in rage without thinking first and that he was outnumbered. Even so, this guy, who was practically still a kid, was rude and disrespectful. It really pissed him off. He simply wasn’t used to being bullied, pushed around, and told what to do. For the first time in his life, as much as he hated to admit it, a part of him understood how Stone could get so frustrated with all the demands made of her. There were certain types of people in the world who just didn’t take well to being bossed around. He felt powerless, humiliated, and thoroughly pissed off. He really needed to come up with some kind of plan if he wanted to get out of there alive. He couldn’t believe they would let him and the detective live. They’d seen their faces. Why would they let them live? So if he was going to die in the end, he certainly wasn’t going to be cooperative until then. He sucker-punched one of the guys, catching him on the temple. The guy was stunned, not expecting it, but didn't go down. Boris went to take another shot at him when the guy, along with another one, restrained him. “As much as I’d love to beat your ass for this surprise little shot of yours,” said the guy he punched, “I’m going to let the lady of the house decide what your punishment shall be.” Boris quickly regretted throwing the punch as he was chained to the cot once again. He knew any so-called punishment coming from Stone would be less than pleasant. They called up to her by the bogus name they had been calling her, and she opened the cellar door a moment later. “What is it?” she called down in an annoyed tone, obviously not wanting to be disrupted from whatever she was doing. “Come down here, please,” said one of the guys. Stone’s heavy footsteps descended the stairs. “What’s up?” Showing her the bruise that was forming on his head, one of the guys said, “Look what one of your lovely customers did to me.” “Oh, I’m sorry about that,” Stone said without sympathy. “We’ll have to rectify that with a little karma, won’t we?” Stone asked the guys to go upstairs. Boris muttered fearfully and angrily through his gag. Gilbert stared silently at the ceiling above her. It was as if she had mentally checked out of the situation altogether. Stone walked between the two cots with Boris bucking and jerking against his restraints as he continued to mutter unintelligibly. Boris and Lauren’s clothes lay in a heap on the floor by the wall. Stone picked up Boris’s jeans and pulled the belt from its loops. She walked up to Boris and gazed down at him with a benevolent smile on her face. He looked at her with concern and confusion. Then she lifted the belt into view and dangled it in front of his face. This ignited another round of agitated muttering from Boris. Boris’s muttering turned to animal-like grunts, groans, and squeals as soon as she began smacking him from head to toe with it. When she was done, she smiled at the fact that there were literally tears running down the sides of his face. “Wow. I didn’t think the big tough guy in charge of everyone but himself was capable of tears.” Boris gave her a deadly glare. “Funny how you can always shed them when they’re for you.” Then, waving the belt mere inches from his face, she said, “Thou shalt not punch thy captors in the future. Understand? Understand, Mr. Hotshot Boss?” Boris nodded vigorously. Stone chuckled and then turned her attention behind her to Lauren. Lauren was now looking at them and breathing heavily. “So let me get this straight,” she asked her. “Seeing me wail on this guy you barely know can invoke such emotion in you, but seeing what I went through is like, so what, who cares, right?” Lauren looked at her with her own mix of fear and anger and joined Boris in the senseless garble. “You know I can’t understand a word you fuckers say, don’t you? Yeah, there’s a reason why you’re gagged, and it isn’t just to control your volume. It really sucks having the tables turned, doesn’t it? It’s such a nightmare being the one to be controlled instead of the other way around. I guess karma really is a real thing after all.” They watched as Stone retreated from their bedsides and ascended the stairs to the main floor. Then they both sighed with obvious relief. However, the psycho only returned a minute later, carrying something in a container. Whatever it was rattled around noisily. “Thought you two might be getting a little too toasty, and therefore I thought I would help cool you off.” The two of them began to breathe heavily once again. They dreaded what might come next as she stood there grinning evilly at them. Then the bitch dumped a bucket of ice cubes over their bodies, knowing they wouldn’t be able to shake off all of them, especially the ones dumped between their legs and up by their armpits. Janelle Stone laughed maniacally.