Copper-Masked Sunrise

Chapter 1: Josette

"Sit down!"

"Yes, master."

"Master? I like that, nice touch."

"I'm pleased. I only want to make you happy."

"Undress for me."

"How much?"

"All of it."

"Of course." She took her clothes off, not carelessly but with little thought, going through the motions rather than trying to be especially sexual. He looked her up and down for a moment, almost indifferently.

"Good girl."

"What do you want me to do?"

"You know what I want."

"I want to be sure."

"Just get on with it!"

"Yes, master. Sorry." She leaned in and got to work.

When he was finished, he turned and walked away without a word. She watched him go, her expression blank until he closed the door behind him. She waited for the sound of the key in the lock, then dressed herself and stood up. Her clothes were elaborate, although they hadn't endured the test of the last few days too well. The black dress she wore had had most of its decorative features either torn off entirely or damaged in someway. The dust that the room seemed to generate in infinite volumes clung to it, staining it a bleached brown. Shiny, broken trails of blood were visible, snaking their way down the fabric and carving tiny rivers in the grime. In short, Josette was a mess, and she knew it. But right now, that didn't bother her. Her sole focus was her escape.

She now turned her attention to this very task. Pulling her dress a little higher to enable her to walk more freely, she headed to the back door. She knew it was locked, but she was attempting to pick the lock with a few scraps of metal she had found on the floor. She had already decided that TV shows made it look easier than it was in reality, and had atone point almost given up hope entirely, but the thought of being stuck in this room for life didn't appeal at all. She kept her captor happy, fearing he would treat her far worse if she didn't comply, and spent any time she was alone formulating plans or testing theories about escape routes. In truth, the room was something of a fortress to which she knew the weak link was the door her captor used. But for that to be usable, he had to be in the room with her.

The lock, which had resisted her efforts for three days, suddenly gave and she wrenched the door open with glee. The creak was barely audible even to her so she was confident that her captor didn't know she was outside. She closed the door behind her and looked at her surroundings. She didn't know where she was but she could see a broken fence panel which she was normally never allowed near when let out to relieve herself. She made for that, climbing over it as quietly as she could. The house behind her remained silent – she had to assume for now that she was unseen. But she wasn't taking any chances.

She managed to climb another couple of fences before stopping for breath. It occurred to her that there was a good chance that her captor would just go looking for another girl rather than chasing after her – she had heard him talking about another one through the door one time. He had known how to kidnap her, and had talked about using the two women together. That, at least, couldn't happen any more. Not with her, anyway. Now, trying to stop herself shuddering, she tore her mind away from her captor and started testing the side of the garden that  led away from the row of houses, rather than continuing to go garden to garden. This was the first section of fence she had seen without hedges the other side climbing even higher. She hauled herself up, snagging her dress on a loose nail and leaving a chunk of black fabric bobbing in the wind. She reached down and wrenched it off its hook, letting the wind carry it back towards the house she had escaped from. She hoped it would get stuck on the other side of that garden, suggesting she hadn't taken the obvious escape route at all, but she didn't let herself rely on luck. It hadn't been her ally since she arrived here, and she doubted it would change allegiances so readily. She sighed, jumped down from the fence, and disappeared.