Caged - A pet-girl's story

Small Talk

Gipsy was sitting in a chair in front of a huge mirror in Alex's room, admiring her new haircut. It was very short as the tips of her hair barely reached her shoulders, but she liked it. She looked into the mirror and smiled at her reflection. It had been ages since her hair had been that short and she felt unusually happy about her image.

"Do you like it?" Alex asked from behind as she removed the fabric used to prevent Gipsy's clothes from getting all hairy. "I do." "I think it suit you," Alex admitted with a smile. "It makes you look more serious and mature." Gipsy smiled as well, looking into Alex's eyes through the mirror. "Good. That's what I was going for."

"So, what do you want to do now?" Alex asked when she finished sweeping the hair from the floor. Gipsy thought about it for a moment. That was the first time she got to choose what to do and she didn't even know what the options were. "I don't know. You were the one who wanted a friend," Gipsy said rather mockingly. "what would you like to do?"

Alex didn't know what to answer and a side smile curved Gipsy's lips. "See? It's not an easy question," she pointed out. Alex thought about it. Usually, her first idea would have been to get to know each other and just ask random questions about their respective lives, but she knew that wasn't a good idea given Gipsy's history. "I usually like to read..." she finally said, at a lack of a better answer. "But I guess that's not a very social activity." "It's not," Gipsy confirmed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Maybe you should consider getting more social hobbies if you want to make friends," she suggested with a playful smile. Alex didn't mind the way the girl talked to her, in fact, she found her sass amusing. "Or, you can always purchase a dozen slaves and have us fight for our lives."

"What does that mean?" Alex asked innocently. "Huh?" Gipsy seemed confused. "Slaves. What does it mean?" She asked again. For a moment, Gipsy thought that Alex was just being rude, but after seeing the sincere curiosity reflected in her eyes, she didn't get mad. "It means you own those people." "Like having a pet?" "Hmm... something like that. Slaves were usually used as workers, that way people avoided having to pay them like you would an employee," Gipsy explained in a gentle voice. For some reason, she had found Alex's innocence rather sweet. "I see."

"Did you really not know what a slave is?" Gipsy asked out of curiosity. Alex shook her head. "That's really sweet," the girl said with a warm smile, the first one since she arrived. In fact, that was her first warm smile in a very long time and she couldn't even remember when the previous one had occurred. Probably years before. She decided she liked Alex.

Alex stared at her pet with curiosity, wondering why she found that insignificant fact so amusing, completely unaware of her own innocence. "I guess they don't teach that word in school anymore. They probably don't want us becoming compassionate and ruining the pet business for The Company..." Alex thought out loud. Gipsy waited for her to elaborate, but the girl took that silence as a reprobative sign and continued talking out of nervousness. She was really afraid of saying something that would offend or hurt her guest. "I mean... that would make sense, wouldn't it?" Alex asked fidgeting with her fingers.

"It would." Gipsy nodded. "That would make sense. I'm not supposed to know that word either. I found it in an old dictionary back at The Company's training grounds... I guess you would call it school. Anyway... it was in an old dictionary, so I used it once in an essay," Gipsy continued talking, not sure why she was sharing the details of her life with that girl. "and the trainer was really furious. She asked me about the word and then burned the book so no one else could get infected with 'nasty ideas', then beat me and locked me up for a week to make an example out of me." She talked calmly, like one would usually do when sharing a normal anecdote.

Alex found it strange that she would talk casually about being beaten and locked up as punishment. She did remember where Gipsy came from, but still couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something definitely wrong about someone being used to that kind of treatment. According to her, no kid should have to be locked up or hit as a punishment, no matter what they did.

"That's just sick," she complained making a disgusted face. "They shouldn't allow people hit kids, no matter what," Alex said firmly. Gipsy could see the indignation in her eyes and thought that it was sweet of her. She realized that Alex was indeed very innocent and it was cute to see her wearing her boyish clothes and then get mad and teary-eyed over a subject that was considered to be normal in the society she lived in.

"They hurt you... why are you smiling?" Alex questioned her with a childish pout in her lips. Gipsy laughed for a moment. "I'm a pet-girl, Alex. What did you expect? Flowers and candy?" Her words were ironic, but her voice was friendly and understanding. "I know, but still..." Alex complained with her fists still clenched in frustration, as if she were ready to go fight those who mistreated pet-kids.

"Don't worry. They didn't hurt me much. I was too pretty for them to ruin their chances of selling me at a high price as a result of a physical punishment," Gipsy said with a proud smile. "I guess that looking like a helpless girl does have a couple of advantages after all," she admitted full of confidence.

Alex suddenly understood why she had such a rebellious attitude: she was too pretty for them to ruin, so they just let her do whatever she wanted because they couldn't really punish her without ruining her market value. "I guess it does," Alex admitted as she arrived to the same conclusion.

"Can I ask you a question?" Gipsy said out of the blue. "Yeah, sure. Shoot away." "How old are you Alex?" The question surprised her, but she answered anyway. "I'm fourteen." Gipsy thought that it explained her innocence.

"What about you?" Alex asked next. She guessed that Gipsy was about her age. Even after the hair cut and makeover, she couldn't have been older than her. Whenever she wasn't angry or being sarcastic, she looked so delicate and child-like.

"I' seventeen," Gipsy replied proudly. "No way! Really!?" Alex exclaimed amazed. "I know. I look like a kid, right?" she asked with a huge grin. "It can be convenient sometimes." "I bet!" "The people from The Company wanted me to lie about my age," Gipsy said making a disgusted face. "I guess they could sell you for a better price if you did," Alex said. "It all comes down to money with them, doesn't it?" Gipsy smiled at her warmly and nodded.

In that moment, Alex's mom's voice sounded through the intercom. "Hey girls. Dinner's ready!" She said in a cheerful voice that scared Alex. She was sure her mother would ground her for plotting with her aunt to get a pet, and having her act so nice made her nervous. Like having a monster waiting for the best moment to attack. Alex was sure that her mom would pick the most inconvenient moment to scold her and hoped she could just get done with it rather than dealing with the suspense.