Caged - A pet-girl's story

Adopted

"Alex, why don't yo give your new sister a tour around the house?" Kate suggested in her carefree tone, after they were done eating. Both girls looked confused and then their gazes met with uncertainty and disgust. Of all the words in the world, "sister" was one neither one expected to hear regarding the other. 

Gipsy thought it was ridiculous. There was no way someone like her would ever be able to go to a regular school or anywhere out of the Vance estate as a real kid from that family would, even if they tried their best to include her and treat her like a human being with rights. Still, she felt grateful that the woman seemed to be trying her best to make her feel a part of the family and not just a pet, an object almost. 

Alex felt outraged. Gipsy was older than she was and probably had been better educated considering how little attention she paid at school and all the new terms the other girl knew. That made her feel uncomfortable. If she was going to get a sister, she would have expected one that was younger, not older. The idea of being the family's new baby disgusted her and she couldn't avoid making a face. "Gipsy is my friend." Alex protested making a face only a pampered, stubborn kid can master. 

Suddenly angry at her parents for no apparent reason. "If you wanted another kid to ignore while you work like maniacs, you should have applied to the government. I'm sure you're influential enough to get permission for another one if you put your minds to it." She spat before rising from her chair as if stung by a bee. Gipsy looked at her and then at each parent, wondering if she should stay or follow. The idea of being questioned or even worse consoled, by Mr. and Mrs. Vance like something like that would hurt her feelings horrified her but, if she followed Alex, she'd be proving she was after all the trained pet she had sworn she’d never become, even if she had to die fighting to avoid it. 

Alex left, stomping hard and with her jaw clenched. Gipsy wanted to follow her so badly. Even if that meant the girl could and probably would direct her anger at her, it was a better perspective than staying. The idea of being alone with those two adults who were all about freeing pets made her as uncomfortable as the people from The Company, who insisted on keeping them captive. 

“I’m sorry about that, child.” Kate apologized in a tense way that made Gipsy feel the awkwardness in the air as if it were something tangible, especially after the woman put a hand on her shoulder. She had to make a conscious effort not to shake it off, disgusted as she was with physical contact. “Alex has always had trouble with authority and doesn't understand how important and demanding our jobs are...” The woman tried to make up excuses for her daughter. 

“Alex is adopted, you know?” The father spoke for the first time, cleaning his glasses with a fluffy gray cloth to appear casual, but he was closely following the conversation. “No family with our status wanted to adopt her because of the brown hair and particular personality. You see, even as a toddler, that kid was different from any I have ever seen. She wasn't always smiling like other kids her age and she kept to herself in a corner, but there was something special in those green eyes of her, a spark of intelligence other toddlers didn't have.” George said slowly. He had stopped polishing his glasses and seemed to be lost in his own memories. 

“Of course none of that mattered to the Adoption Agency. They were about to send her to the Pet Academy and they would have if we hadn't taken her home with us that day.” The man made a pause, put on his glasses and looked at Gipsy as if it were for the first time. She looked back at him, still bewildered by his story. That explained Alex’s attitude, she thought. It would make sense for them to let her have it her way all the time knowing what her fate would have been if they hadn't stepped in to intervene. 

“You seem pretty intelligent yourself.” He decreed after he was done with the analysis. Gipsy was surprise to hear that. She hadn't had time to compose herself and show him a smarter, self sufficient look. Instead, he had seen her confused and with her mouth partially open and he thought she was intelligent. Either he was really as naïve as she always thought every owner was, or he was extremely perceptive.

Sitting in that chair, with a kind of freedom someone of her condition could only dream of, she felt trapped. All of the sudden, she felt the need to run away from that dining room as fast as possible and started hyperventilating. 

As a last conscious act, the blonde gave Kate her best pleading face, then looked in the general direction Alex had disappeared and back to her. “I don’t mean to be rude...” she began playing the shy girl again. If they were as pro-pet-liberation as Alex had claimed, her vulnerability mask, the one that often made thee security guards at the training grounds doubt, should have them eating from her hand in no time. “...especially after all you've done for me...”

“Of course, dear.You can go after her.” Alex’s mother said with a warm smile. Then she turned to her husband and made a scolding face that made him raise his eyebrows innocently. Apparently, the man didn't understand what he had done wrong to upset their unexpected guest. 

Gipsy’s gratitude showed in her eyes first. Then, a polite but awkward smile appeared in her lips and finally she said the words. “Thank you.” Before disappearing through the same door Alex had left.