Caged - A pet-girl's story

Missed opportunity

The movement pulled Alex out of her introspection and caught her attention. Her eyes fixed on the girl who was sitting in the cage, looking at her with fear and a certain amount of curiosity. She was prettier than any girl in her school and, to be honest, she was prettier than any girl she had ever seen. Her body was slender and small framed, which made her look somehow delicate. She looked like a porcelain doll with her pale skin and perfect features and her eyes... They weren't blue or green as she had guessed. They were gray.

Their eyes met and, for a moment, all Alex could think about was that her parents had been right. There was definitely something inhuman about caging people just because they were different instead of finding a way to cure them so they could be reinserted into society. The idea of being caged made her shiver again, despite the fact that it was a hot summer day.

Looking at this girl made her feel strange. There were so many different emotions inside her fighting for the first place it was confusing. She looked perfectly normal and it was hard to imagine that someone that beautiful could have a serious mental problem. Schizophrenia, maybe, she wondered as she noticed the daring look the girl had on her pretty face. She knew it was understandable for her to be suspicious of humans after having been mistreated her whole life and she decided to change that. That poor girl was a person, just like her and deserved to be treated humanly.

Alex smiled, determined to do anything she could to fix the girl's situation. After all, it was her fault that she had ended up in a tiny cage in the middle of her living room. It had been her who had pestered her parents and aunt Carla for years asking for a pet, but maybe, that had happened for a reason. She knew her school mates were deliberately cruel to their pets as were many other owners around the world. Maybe she was supposed to meet this girl to give her the life she deserved. She didn't enjoy having power over another human being like her 'friends' did. All Alex wanted was a real friend, someone she could talk to.

"Hi, I'm Alex," she greeted the girl with a smile. She wasn't smiling and was staring back with the deadly, savage look caged animals had when they felt threatened. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to be your friend," she let her know, trying to reassure her. The girl rolled her eyes. She looked rather scary with such a wild expression in her beautiful features.

"What's your name?" Alex asked next. Silence. The girl wouldn't answer. She just looked at her as if she wanted to kill her, but it didn't scare Alex at all. She completely understood the way she was probably feeling, all alone in an unknown place, in the hands of a complete stranger who was staring at her. "You don't wanna tell me your name?" She asked a little disappointed.

The girl licked her lower lip and seemed to think for a moment, then said "You're supposed to give me a name, genius" in the worst tone she could manage. Alex flinched for a moment, but recovered quickly, reminding herself that she was probably reacting like that because she was scared. "Oh, I see..." Alex replied blushing deeply. "Would you like some water?" She changed subjects. The girl looked at her for a moment considering the offer and then nodded. Alex nodded back and went to her night stand to get her a glass of water.

Alex knelt by the cage and realized the bars were too close together for the glass to pass, so she made a face and stood up again, looking around her room as if she were to find a solution to the problem just lying around. There was a paper envelope on her desk. The men from The Company had brought it along with the cage and she guessed it contained the pet's ownership documents. She left the glass on her desk and opened the envelope, looking for the key. She didn't find it at first, but then she emptied the contents of the envelope on her desk and a tiny metal key hit the wood. Alex smiled, then took the glass back to the cage and opened it.

"Here," she passed the glass through the small opening that was the cage's door and didn't close it afterwards. The girl looked surprised, as if she hadn't thought her owner would actually bring her water, or maybe it was the fact that she had left the door open. Alex was about to say something when her mother called her through the intercom. "I'm sorry. I'll be right back. Please make yourself comfortable," she said before she got up and disappeared through the trap door in the floor.

The girl sat there for a while, trying to understand what was going on. The girl in the cage next to hers had told her that she would be hit and abused but this girl seemed to be rather friendly towards her. Either that or she's really naïve, she told herself. Leaving an untamed pet alone, with her cage open and a glass of water was suicidal. After all, there was nothing stopping her from breaking the glass against the bars and using a shard to kill her owner as soon as she entered the room. Of course that would end up in her being shot for being too dangerous to be around humans but there was still a chance she could escape if she killed the entire family.

For years, she had mentally planned to kill her owner and escape as soon as possible. She had been really determined about that and had even planned several ways she could do so. However, now that the opportunity had presented itself, she didn't feel all that inclined to murder the first human that had ever been nice to her and run through an unknown place only to be hunt and killed like an animal. For that reason, Alex found her sitting inside her cage when she returned.

"Hey," Alex greeted her. "You still there?" She asked surprised. "Don't you wanna come out and stretch? You must be sore all over," she observed. The girl looked at her for a moment, then she looked at the empty glass on her hand, which she was gripping. She doubted for a moment before passing her hand through the open door and handing the glass to Alex, who took it back to her night stand and returned to her side. "Do you need help?" She asked since the girl was still inside the cage.

"I can do it myself," the girl announced. A moment later, she started crawling out of the cage with slow, clumsy movements that seemed unnatural given her perfectly harmonic body. Alex thought that she was probably really sore and cramping and that it would explain the way she moved. She wondered if her confinement might have atrophied her muscles, but discarded the idea at once. Nobody would want to buy a damaged pet, so they probably took her out to exercise at The Company.

When she finally made it out, Alex smiled and offered a hand to help her stand up. The girl looked at Alex for a moment before accepting her help and standing up for the first time in what felt like ages. "Come, you can use my favorite chair. It's super comfortable," she offered, but the blond shook her head to the sides. "I'd rather stand..." she said making Alex blush again. "Sure. No problem. I understand," Alex mumbled feeling rather idiotic.

For a moment they remained silent, but then Alex decided she had to do something to ease the tension from the atmosphere. "So, is there a name you like?" She asked to her surprise. In all her years at The Company, she had never heard of anyone whose master had let them choose their own name. Her shock was so big she didn't reply, so Alex misinterpreted it and talked again. "Did you have a name where you came from?" That seemed to bring her back to reality and put a side smile on her pretty face.

"I had a serial number, but I was called many names. Most of them would make your mother cringe," she replied the side smile still on her lips. Alex smiled as well and thought that the girl's looks didn't seem to match her attitude. "I see." They had dressed her in a plain but girly dress and let her hair grow down to her waist but she certainly had a rebellious attitude behind that doll-like face. She liked that. She had always found apathetic, shy girls rather annoying.

"Well, then. What would you like to be called now that you have a say at it?" The girl thought for a moment before replying. She had never had a say at anything before and a name was something she didn't want to choose randomly. "That's a tough one," she finally admitted. "I like Gipsy, but it's not really a name, is it?" Alex gave it some thought. "Hmm... I think it is... In England," was her answer. "I like it. I think it suits you," she agreed. Gipsy nodded.

"Would you like to try some of my clothes?" Alex asked. "I bet you don't wanna go around wearing what those people chose for you and you don't seem like the dress type to me." Gipsy smiled broadly and seemed relaxed for the first time since she got there.

Author's notes: I'm sorry updating took me a little longer than expected. My daughter has been really demanding lately and it makes it difficult for me to write. If you liked my story, please leave a comment so I can know what you think of it.