The Gilded Cage
Lucy had been in her cage for a few years now, the pretty, decorative pet of the girl who owned her. For a while she had fought to keep her humanity and her dignity, but over time and with some very convincing training methods, she had been broken. She would sit in her cage until her mistress showed her off to her guests or came to pay her some attention. On cue she would then strut and flaunt herself, talking nonsense to impress the mistress when she was commanded to ‘sing’.
The one thing Lucy had never been able to work out was why her Mistress didn’t seem to understand anything she said. From Lucy’s perspective she could understand perfectly what was being said to her, her Mistress would often leave either the TV or the radio on for her when she would be away for a number of hours. She understood everything that was said on there as she couldn’t see any difference in the way she spoke compared to them.
It wasn’t just her Mistress who failed to understand, no-one seemed to know what she was saying to them when she tried to communicate. No matter who she spoke to they were either ignoring her, or simply didn’t understand what she was saying to them. It was as though she was speaking an entirely different language. The Mistress was always kind to her, but it was humiliating to be spoken to like a puppy or a hamster whenever she was paid attention to.
When she had first been bought from the pet shop she had pleaded and begged to be released crying desperately to be given back her freedom. Sometimes she would shout to the girl trying to get her attention or rattle the cage door trying to work the latch free, but whenever she became too noisy or became too angry with her plight, she was only ever met with a cloth being draped over her cage as her Mistress spoke in a cooing kind of way to her until she quietened down.
It had been three years now and she was well trained, well looked after and well loved.
Her Mistress’ name was Ceri. She was short, petite, with cropped light brown hair and pretty hazel eyes. She was always delicate when handling Lucy and had never even shown any real anger other than to give her a telling off when Lucy had attempted a few escapes. A little pat on the nose, or a smack on her rear with a finger-tip was all she used to discipline her. After her 'punishment' Ceri would simply place her back in the cage with a warm smile and drape the cloth back over it.
Ceri was a bit of a tomboy in her styles. She liked to wear boot-cut jeans and long sleeved shirts, sketchers and hoodies. Other than that she enjoyed being typically girly in her habits, still enjoying make up and girl's nights in. She’d had her little pet for around three years now, originally bought for her as an 18th birthday present by her mother. She always thought her incredibly cute and enjoyed hearing her little chirping when she encouraged her to speak or sing.
Sometimes, with enough encouragement, she could get her pet to do little dances for her and her friends to enjoy and in return, she would give her extra special treats like time out of the cage to explore her bedroom floor or bring her little bits of food from her plate at dinner time.
She always thought it was incredibly cute when she would let the little girl loose to run about her bedroom. She giggled seeing how the little girl would gaze about wide-eyed at her new perspective, climbing over books, CD's and loose clothes Ceri had left lying about the room. One time she was scrabbling up a pair of crumpled jeans, they had been left in a pile from where Ceri had slipped them off and simply stepped out of them. She’d left her socks in the bottoms of the legs and as Lucy had climbed the jeans she had over-balance at the top, tipping into the jeans themselves.
There were a series of flustered squeaks as Lucy struggled about trying to get free of the musky, smelly prison she had found herself in. When Ceri leaned over the top of her jeans from her bed to investigate, she couldn’t help but erupt into giggles watching her little pet struggle to free herself from her old sock. She placed a hand sheepishly over her mouth and blushed, embarrassed to find the situation so funny. She lifted the jeans away letting the sock and her little girl slide out of the jeans leg and onto the floor.
“Awww, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t really laugh, poor little Lucy!” Ceri said trying to stifle her giggling as she leaned down and removed the sock from the girl.
Lucy was deeply embarrassed and a little horrified about where she had found herself. She tumbled out of the end of the sock as her Mistress lifted it away and landed with a soft thump on the carpet, hearing her owner’s voice floating down to her amidst amused laughter. Ceri reached down to stroke her finger down her pet’s back, but as she stroked the back of Lucy's hair she spun round lashing out with her little hand to slap Ceri’s finger away.
Ceri withdrew her hand quickly as though she expected to be bitten. She was a little shocked at the sudden outburst, but once she had realised Lucy had only pawed at her she reached back down and wrapped her fingers around the small girl’s body. Lucy struggled for a moment unwilling to be manhandled in such a way, but as she looked up she could see her Mistress wasn’t happy.
Even though she was cross, Ceri had always had a hard time being firm with her little girl but she also knew any outbursts were supposed to be dealt with properly. With this in mind she did her best to look angry and held her firmly in her grip, bringing her up to her chest.
“NO! Bad Lucy!” She said sternly, a finger pointing at her right in front of her face as she spoke, making the little girl flinch away form it. She then patted the tip of her index finger firmly on top of the girl’s head.
Lucy didn’t know what was worse, the humiliating disciplinary or the fact that whenever she received a ‘telling off’ she seemed to genuinely feel bad for upsetting her owner. Ceri walked her back to her cage, her grip had loosened now she had given Lucy her punishment and she returned to a more casual demeanour. Half cupping her hand to her stomach she held the small girl against her body in case she might fall, Lucy simply instinctively lay against Ceri’s tummy letting the warmth of the large delicate hand that shielded her comfort her.
The cage was hung around 4 feet off the ground and was made of polished brass so that it had a shine like gold, the perfect little gilded cage for her delicate canary. Inside the cage was a small two-storey shelter a little like a hamster home that was stuffed with strips of fabric for bedding and placed around the cage were various ladders and ledges and a rubber ball. These were supposed to keep the small girl amused when her owner was too busy to let her out or to play with her.
After hearing the familiar sound of the cage door Lucy once again found herself in the warm grip of the soft hand that cradled her. She was lifted away from Ceri's body as though she was sat in a seat, the hand supporting her with the thumb loosely around her front to make sure she didn't slip. She was gently lifted into the cage and set down on its base. The finger that had previously punished her stroked gently along the back of her hair before the hand retreated back out of the cage and the door swung shut.
With her small girl safely shut away Ceri began to get ready for the evening ahead. She had plans to see a girl she had been dating for a short time now but tonight was going to be the first time she had invited her back home. She couldn't wait to get her back here, she had told her all about her little pet, promising to show her the small girl when she came over. Picking up her mobile phone Ceri went to leave her room and paused a second, turning back to the hanging cage.
“I'm going out for a little while, but i'll leave the TV or the radio on for you so you're not lonely” She said with a small smile
"Which one do you want? Do you want the TV?” She asked, pronouncing it slowly and pointing as though teaching her pet the words for the first time, though in reality she went through this process every time she asked.
“Or the radio?” She continued, pointing now to the radio on her desk.
Lucy stood against the bars, her hands clasping them as she took a deep breath and called out “The TV Please.” Ceri gave a small chuckle at the little chirp that came from the cage and smiled
“Ok sweetie, you can have the radio.” she said, believing the little chirps meant she had made her choice when she had heard the name of the thing she wanted.
She walked across the room listening to the excited chirps coming from the cage.
“Hey! Noo! I wanted the TV! Hey! Why don't you listen to me?” Lucy cried out, getting flustered and jumping up and down a little trying to get her attention as she watched Ceri cross to her bedside and click the radio on.
“Okay, okay, calm down Lucy!” Ceri said giggling “Awww, you're so cute when you get all excited.” She said moving up to the cage once more and pushing a finger through the side to tickle Lucy's stomach, causing her to squirm and back away from the bars.
Ceri's phone began to ring and she turned her attention away from Lucy to answer it, holding it to her ear with her shoulder as she picked up an open fronted hoodie and slipped it over one arm.
“Oh hi Em... Yeah, I'm just on my way out now actually... Ok... Ok, see you soon.”
With no further thought of Lucy she headed for her door, heading out and closing it behind her. The small girl let out a defeated sigh and slumped to the floor, she hoped she wouldn't be on her own for too long. She hated listening to this station.
Lucy was laid asleep in the hamster home when she heard the quiet thud of Ceri’s door closing and the light sound of her voice from across the room. She stirred from the strips of fabric in her little house and decided to go to greet her mistress. When it came down to it the thought of going to greet her owner like a trained puppy still annoyed her, disappointed with herself for letting go of so much of her humanity.
Yet at the same time she had come to enjoy, and even want, to see the warm smile Ceri would give when she was ‘good’ for her. As she worked to straighten her hair out she heard the radio click off and sighed a long sigh of relief as the grating voice of the talk show host finally left her head. She was about to climb out of the round hole that was the doorway to her home when she heard a second, heavier set of footfalls come across the room. She paused instinctively, waiting for some clue as to who it was.
“Why’d you leave the radio on?” asked a female voice Lucy didn’t recognise.
“Oh, it’s for Lucy.” answered Ceri moving to her bed and sitting down to remove her converse.
“Who’s Lucy?” came the voice again as once more the heavier footsteps came across the room towards the bed.
“You know who Lucy is! I’ve told you about her loads of times!” said Ceri, disbelief in her voice.
The heavy footsteps came towards Lucy and she felt her heart begin to beat faster. She had been shown to a number of Ceri’s friends but it was still a frightening experience to be fussed over and stared at by a stranger, an enormous stranger at that. Suddenly there came an almost deafening rattling noise and everything shook with bone-jarring vibrations. Lucy fell about inside the white plastic box, bouncing off of the walls a couple of times as the shocks began to make her feel dizzy.
"Hey! Don’t do that!” Ceri exclaimed as she came over and held the base of the cage to stop it swaying on its hook “you might scare her.”
Emma looked sceptically to Ceri but she didn’t seem to notice, she was more concerned with making sure her small girl was alright. Lucy heard Ceri come over to the cage and tell the new girl off for being rough, everything returning to normal as the swaying was suddenly halted and the banging ceased to echo around her. She shuffled forwards on her hands and knees, poking her head out of her door to look around.
Stood next to her mistress was a girl with dark red slightly curly hair that hung just over her shoulders, she had black make-up around her eyes that made them look bright and cat-like and dark red lipstick that matched her hair. She was in a black tank-top, a dark red denim skirt and heavy looking boots that came up to her calfs. She stood watching Lucy with a firm gaze, an almost calculating look in her eyes as they watched her like a predator.
"Aww there she is, there’s my little Lucy.” Said Ceri sweetly, suddenly breaking the ominous spell of the other girl’s eyes. She was talking more to Lucy than to Emma as she pushed her fingertip slightly through the cage bars, wiggling it up and down as though trying to entice the girl further out of her hideaway. Emma just stared at the girl as she warily crawled out into the open, her lip curling slightly into a sneer as she watched the display of affection between Ceri and her pet.
“What is it, some kind of rat?” she asked mockingly.
Lucy’s mouth hung open with disbelief at how rude this girl was being, she sat in a kneeling position her legs tucked under her as she crossed her arms over her chest in a pout, looking away at the floor to avoid the look of distain the girl was giving her.
“Oh don’t be mean, you’ll hurt her feelings!” Ceri said giving Emma a playful slap on the shoulder, Emma just smiled mischievously and gave a small giggle
“I know, I know, I’m sorry” She said still smiling sweetly “Hey, shall we have that drink now?”
“Yeah ok, the wine’s in the fridge, I’ll just go grab it!” Ceri replied excitedly as she hurried past Emma and went to fetch the wine. Emma went to follow her but paused for a second taking one last look at the cage. Lucy noticed her looking and wondered for a moment what the girl was thinking, she didn’t like the look in her eyes but she knew she was safe with Ceri about. She shuffled about turning her back to Emma, then turned her head and poked her tongue out in a silent raspberry a the giant girl.
Emma watched the little thing shuffling about and gave a derisive huff of laughter
“Hurt her feelings, Ha! Stupid thing doesn’t even know what’s going on.” She said with a sneer and gave the cage one last heavy poke with a finger, grinning as she heard the startled squeak of the girl falling flat before walking off to find Ceri.
A few weeks went by and the atmosphere between Emma and Lucy never really thawed, Emma resented the attention Lucy got when in her opinion the small girl was nothing more than a budgie or a rodent. As far as she was concerned the pet should be kept in its cage when she was around because she came to see Ceri, not her stupid toy. In the same way Lucy resented Emma's obvious dislike for Ceri's affection towards her, and the girl's obvious attempts at belittling the value Ceri placed on having her around.
Ceri couldn't help notice the tense feelings between the two girls. She wanted both to be happy because she loved both of them equally and in their own ways, but sometimes it was difficult to try and build the bridges before one or the other did something to burn them before she could try! Sometimes Lucy wouldn't come out of her little home, other times Emma would make excuses about holding her or find a way to avoid being around while Ceri petted the small girl.
One evening Ceri had let Lucy run free on the coffee table, the two bigger girls curled up on the couch together, Emma had her feet on one corner of the table and Ceri lay across the length of the couch cuddled up against Emma while she browsed through a TV magazine.
“There's nothing on, just a couple of films but I hate watching films on TV, too many adverts...” Emma said with a dejected sigh.
“How about I go choose us a DVD or something?” Said Ceri helpfully as she moved to sit up.
“Yeah ok, nothing too heavy though, I just want to chill out to something I can stare at.” replied Emma as she closed the magazine and dropped it to the floor by the couch.
“I've already got something I like to stare at while I chill out” Came Ceri's voice in a slightly husky tone as she looked at Emma with a teasingly bite of her lower lip.
Emma knew what Ceri meant but she couldn't help but tease, it was in her nature to make light of most things as she leaned back again from dropping the magazine down and looked innocently at Ceri
“let me guess, your miniature poodle over there.” she exclaimed sarcastically with a nod in the direction of Lucy who jealously looked on at the two huge girls over her shoulder, trying not to make it obvious she too was watching what was going on.
“No silly! I meant you!” Ceri said with a pouty expression then grinned as she playfully smacked Emma on the shoulder before leaning in and kissing her lightly on the cheek. Getting back to her feet she happily trotted off out of the room to go and pick out a DVD, calling back as she went
“Don't let Lucy do anything naughty!” Then she was out of sight.
Lucy gave a pout of her own, grumbling to herself as she sat with her knees up to her chest, arms folded around them and her chin sunk firmly into the top of them
“Don't let lucy do anything naughty she says... Ha! What can I even do up here? Its not like i'm going to.... *Oooff*!”
Lucy's train of thought was abruptly cut off by something large, soft and warm prodding her firmly in the back, sending her sprawling onto her front. She scrambled to get to her feet but as she got up onto her hands and knees the same large soft object pushed her back onto her face, hurting her slightly as she banged her cheek off of the hard surface of the table. Lucy let out a little squeak as she fell for the third time and heard the distinctive giggle of Emma from behind her.
She was finally left for long enough to scurry across the table as she turned to see what was going on. She could see she hadn't been left alone, she was just out of reach and it had been Emma's socked foot that had been pushing her about on the table. Lucy was outraged and began to shout at Emma, but as she had just got herself worked up into a rant she was silenced by the huge girl sliding herself along on the couch to get to her prey once more.
Emma smiled to herself a devious grin, she was like a cat after a mouse, and this mouse had no-where to go. She placed her feet either side of the little cowering girl, tilting them so her soles faced Lucy like two long walls of warm, damp fabric. She began to move them closer to her little victim but rather than close them entirely around the girl she swiftly flicked her right foot, feeling it bat Lucy across the table into the sole of her other foot. Her grin became vicious as she giggled with glee hearing the small girl cry out in fear as she tried to find her feet again whilst holding onto her socked sole. She flicked her left foot, thumping it into Lucy's whole body and batting her back to the other side before slapping her away with her right foot again.
Lucy's body had become like a pinball to Emma, being beaten and thrown one way then the other, constantly barraged by the two huge feet either side of her, the soft hot feet slamming painfully into her whole body, sending jarring impacts through her and winding her each time. Catching her breath came only on instinct as she gagged on the odour that was beginning to fill her little space, only only thing worse than being beaten with the sweaty feet was the constant ringing of Emma stifled laughter as she tried not to alert Ceri to her little entertainment.
“Found one!” came Ceri's voice suddenly from down the hallway, which made Emma jump, having almost lost herself in the fun she was having.
“CERI! HEL...” Lucy had tried desperately to call for help as the beatings had stopped while Emma sat in surprise, but just as she had started to scream out her world was sunk into nightmare of heat, pressure and pain.
Emma heard the irritating little rat begin to scream out, realising she must have recognised Ceri's voice she acted on impulse needing to shut it up. She lifted one leg, flattening the little creature under her sole and pinning her to the table so she couldn't scream out any more. She could feel it wriggling around slightly tickling at her sole, she tried to think of what to do with her, Ceri would know something was wrong if she just left her alone, the little creep was nothing if not a tell-tale and though Ceri couldn't understand it she would eventually work out why it was so agitated.
Lucy was pinned flat to the hard surface of the table, the socked foot moulding over her body half flattening her soft frame. She whimpered and cried, completely trapped and helpless as she suffered the heat that was washing over her and the scent of Emma's feet. A droplet of water trickled down Lucy’s forehead, she could tell it wasn't from her however as she hadn't been under the foot long enough to begin to sweat herself. She struggled harder, trying desperately to do something, anything!
Suddenly the pressure above her increased and she let out a cry of pain and then choked as the acrid salty taste of Emma's sweat filled her mouth, the sock fabric pushing into her mouth under the pressure to sit on her tongue forcing her mouth to remain open. Lucy thought Emma had decided to kill her, but then suddenly the pressure pushed up her body and the table began to slide underneath her, or more so, she began to slide over the table! She screamed as best she could as the friction burned at her exposed skin until suddenly she was free-falling through the cold, clean air.
Emma knew what she had to do, shift the blame to the small girl. After-all it couldn't be that hard to believe she was as stupid as she looked, was it? She moved her foot across the surface of the table, hearing the muffled cries of the girl beneath her as there was a slight squeak of the girl's skin sliding across the polished surface of the table. She swept the girl off the edge of the table and waited a second to hear the satisfying slap of the little body hitting the carpet below.
Emma shuffled back across the couch and put her feet up along the length of the cushions, grabbing the magazine again and hurriedly opening it to a random page. She tried to settle to make it look as though she hadn't moved much since Ceri had left but she still nearly jumped when Ceri came back and let out a startled cry at seeing Lucy on the floor at the near end of the coffee table.
“Lucy, what on earth are you doing down there?” Said Ceri, genuine worry in her voice as she saw her little pet sprawled across the carpet, obviously in some discomfort.
Emma put on an interested expression as she let the magazine drop to the floor once more and leant forwards to see what was happening
“Maybe she tried to get off the table and come to you when she heard your voice?” Emma suggested trying to sound helpful, just barely able to keep the delighted smirk off of her face.
“You silly girl Lucy, you know you shouldn't try to get down from heights without me! I'd better put you in your cage for the night.” Ceri looked concerned as she spoke to Lucy, holding her gently in both hands as the small girl made groggy movements trying to get her bearings from the painful fall to the floor.
Ceri took her back to her cage and opened the door, lifting her up with her cupped in the centre of her palm. She lifted Lucy to her face and gave her a small kiss on the top of her head before reaching into the cage, tilting her palm to let the small girl slide off onto the base near her home. Lucy's bones ached, she was pretty sure nothing was broken but for the pain in her movements she may as well have broken every bone in her body. She was shaking with shock, her mind racing with the fear she had been put through.
Lucy had never been treated in such a malicious manner, sometimes she had been hurt accidentally, or Ceri had smacked her to punish her, but she had never been so terrified or so badly beaten. It made her realise just how much she had settled in to living the life of a girl's pet, she had forgotten the potential for harm that these giants possessed. Lucy crawled into her home filled with fabric strips, bedding herself down and trying to block out the world, she shivered, cried, and began to dream of getting her own back.
It was a couple of days before Lucy would let Ceri hold her or take her out again. Her experience had made her edgy around the giant girl despite knowing in the back of her mind that Ceri would never hurt her. Besides her nervousness, it took a while for the bruising and aches to fully disappear. She wasn't in the mood to be handled while she was in pain but she had come up with a plan to pay back the vicious bitch who had done this to her, and she had nearly worked up the courage to carry it out.
The next time Ceri had Lucy out around Emma, the small girl had to fight to control every instinct to curl up and hide from the giantess who had so wantonly attempted to hurt and humiliate her. Ceri hadn't let her down off of her hand and instead kept her cradled to her body for most of the day. Emma had started to become impatient however with the constant need to adjust her comfort between the two of them and finally sat back with an irritable sigh
“Do you need to keep that around you ALL the time today?” She said nodding in the direction of Lucy with an annoyed expression as she folded her arms across her chest.
Ceri looked to Emma with slight surprise then looked down to Lucy who had heard the heated comment and looked up to meet her owner's gaze.
“Well she's only just let me start handling her again, I didn't want her t think she would get hurt any time she came out of her cage so I've been letting her stay with me.” Ceri's voice was slightly hurt as she tried to explain her reasons but she saw sense in what Emma had said, Lucy had been with her nearly all afternoon.
Ceri went to put Lucy back into her cage and the small girl realised what was going on. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath and steadying her nerves as best she could Lucy began to struggle in Ceri's hand, startling the bigger girl and making her stop to see what Lucy was so suddenly flustered about. Lucy's heart was pounding, she didn't know if she was really brave enough for this but she had begun and there was no other option but to go through with the plan now. She leaned across Ceri's hands as the girl tried to hold her steady so she didn't fall to the floor.
“What's gotten into you Lucy?” said Ceri, startled at the girls sudden strange behaviour.
She watched what her pet was doing for a moment before she realised there was an apparent purpose to her struggles. The small girl seemed to be leaning towards Emma, reaching towards her with both her little arms outstretched and her hands groping at the air as she tried to wriggle out of Ceri's grip. Ceri stared with almost disbelief at Emma for a moment before looking back down to Lucy. Finally she turned to face Emma, Lucy’s struggling changed direction to match to allow her to continue to try and scrabble towards the other girl.
“I... I think Lucy wants you to hold her” she said, her voice showing her surprise.
“What?” replied Emma with a slight start, pulling her hands firmly by her side “why would it want to be held by me?” she asked defensively.
“Oh don't be like that, you haven't like her since the day you met her, she wants to be friends, look!” Ceri held Lucy forwards and Lucy continued to make little reaching movements towards Emma, she cried out to be held but to the girls it simply seemed as though the little chirps and squeaks were simply her excitement at being given what she wanted.
Emma was apprehensive, she twitched her hands at first then slowly rose her arms, keeping a cautious gaze on the little girl in Ceri's hands. Something was wrong, she could tell, but she couldn't think what it could be that roused her suspicion. She had hoped to scare the little thing into coming no-where near her again after the way she had treated her but here it was trying to get her to hold it.
“Maybe the stupid thing is trying to make up for being so annoying” Emma thought to herself arrogantly.
She held her hands out flat, still tentative about the idea of holding the little pet. She had never held one of these things before, they were extremely rare and no-one really knew where they came from, all Emma needed to know was she didn't like them, but here she was readying herself to hold one. Ceri made a move forwards seeing Emma's nervousness at the situation, opening her palms flat and letting Lucy crawl to the front of her fingers.
“Now hold still” Ceri said softly “i'll let her jump from my hand onto yours, then you just cup them and hold her close to your chest so she doesn't fall.”
Emma simply nodded then held her hands slightly close under Ceri's. Lucy waited till the hands were over lapping. She shook slightly, but looking up she could see just as much tense anticipation on Emma's face as she was sure was showing on her own.
“That's a good girl, go on then.” came Ceri's cooing voice soothingly as she tilted her palms upwards to encourage Lucy.
Lucy gingerly stepped off Ceri's fingers and into Emma's waiting palms.
“Out of the frying pan, into the fire.” thought Lucy as she settled herself on Emma's hands.
Emma slowly brought the small girl towards her, eyes wide with a mixture of emotions as she felt the soft warm skin of the girl settled in her hands.
“This... This isn't so bad, I guess.” Emma thought as she looked down, awe, fear, excitement, it all rushed through her mind in a flood of feelings as she studied the small girl properly for the first time. Suspicion melted away quickly into the back of her thoughts as Lucy sat herself on her palm, nuzzling her hand and seemingly chirping happily up at her. Emma looked to Ceri who looked adoringly at the couple of girls getting along so nicely.
“That's right” Lucy said in a false happy tone “We're friends, you can trust me you massive bitch...” She smiled and stroked the palm of the giantess holding her, knowing they couldn't understand her regardless of what she said “come on, stroke me... I dare you” she continued, trying to keep up her false happiness.
“Aaawwww that's so cute!” exclaimed Ceri excitedly “see if she will let you stroke her while I get some pictures on my phone!” she said as she turned and headed over to her table to get her phone.
“Perfect..” Thought Lucy as Emma lifted one hand to move it above her and stroke a finger down her long hair, she saw Ceri turn away and with her heart thumping in her chest took a massive lungful of air.
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!*
The shrill scream rang through the room! Emma flinched, nearly dropping Lucy but managing to cup her against her stomach looking over the shelf of her breasts down at the screaming little girl with a mix of shock and fear, Ceri spun round with the same look of surprise as she tried to work out what was going on.
“Emma! What did you do to her??” asked Ceri sternly as she crossed back to the pair and reached for Lucy.
“W..what? I didn't.. I never even...” Emma stuttered but Ceri was already scooping her pet away from her hands and into her own, lying her palms flat to examine the small figure which lay writhing and screaming upon them, seemingly trying to clutch at its back in absolute agony.
“Why couldn't you just be nice to her, she was trying to be friends!” said Ceri scornfully as she held Lucy up to her chest, slightly bowing her head as if to cuddle her pet close as she cooed soothingly to her “I know you don't like Emma but you could have just said no to holding her.”
Emma stood speechless, feeling like a child as Ceri scalded her “but... bit I never, I didn't touch her...” she stuttered weakly.
Ceri turned away and headed to Lucy’s cage, all the time the small girl gave cries and moans, chopping and changing between clutching at Ceri as though trying to win an oscar for 'best death scene' and holding her back.
“Thats right! You tell her Ceri! Oh the pain! The pain!” Lucy cried up at her mistress trying to stifle the laughter that welled inside her seeing the look on Emma's face at being told off.
Ceri slipped Lucy into her cage and went into her room for a moment, bringing back a small tank top she had worn, bundling it up and pushing it into the side of the cage next to the hamster home
“there you go sweetie, I know you like to cuddle so you can cuddle into one of my tops while we are out” she said in a babying voice before closing the door and putting her finger through the bars, waving it up and down as she looked sorry for her little pet's pain.
Turning away from the cage she looked to Emma who stood looking sheepishly down at her feet.
“I'll get my shoes on and we can go out.” she said matter-of-factly before heading back into her room to find her converse.
Lucy waited till Ceri had left the room and leapt to her feet, she looked over to Emma but Emma was still looking for anywhere to put her eyes that wasn't in Ceri's direction. She turned to the bundled top Ceri had put in the cage and took the few steps over to it, stepping up onto the fabric it smelt of a mixture of Ceri's body, deodorant and the fruit scented lotion Ceri liked to use to keep her skin smooth. She climbed the mound of fabric and stood clutching one of the bars waving her free hand at Emma.
It wasn't long till she caught her eye and Emma looked over at her, confusion written across her face as she took a couple of paces towards the cage to see better. Lucy laughed and jumped down into the bundles of the shirt, sliding down the the base of the cage and standing upright to make sure Emma was still watching. Emma stood staring in disbelief as she watched the small girl get up to her feet at the bottom of the little hill of fabric and jog to the front of the cage.
“You little shit” Emma said quietly under her breath as she stood, still gazing at the spectacle unfold in front of her as it dawned on her exactly what had happened.
Suddenly the small girl cartwheeled, like she had seen Ceri get her to do on the table for her a few times when they had first started going out. Rage, pure and unfettered at having been tricked by a mere rodent blazed in Emma's eyes.
“Ceri, come and see this!” she called out, intent on having Ceri see for herself that her little pet had been faking as it danced and twirled about doing one of its routines in its cage.
“What is it?” asked Ceri as she came out of her room, her jacket in one hand as she was ready to leave.
“Look!” Emma said pointing to the cage, slightly exasperated at having been unfairly judged.
“Aww, isn't she cute.” said Ceri sweetly as she looked over to see Lucy tucked snugly up against her shirt, half wrapped in one of the folds. “They say you should leave your pet with something that smells of you if they are in distress, its helps them settle. Come on, we should get going before it gets too late.” she said moving past Emma, not noticing she was staring slightly open mouthed and almost red with anger at the display the small girl was putting on for her owner.
That night Emma lay restless in bed next to Ceri who slept soundlessly with her back to Emma. She had made up her mind over the course of the evening that the little rat needed to go, but how, she hadn't quite decided yet. She thought of poisoning it, but she wanted to be there when it happened, wanted to see it make its last irritating squeal. No. She wanted something personal, up close and personal.
She considered the surroundings, maybe dropping it into something, or under something? She gave a malicious silent chuckle to herself imagining how real the cries of pain would be as the thing died under an iron, or being pulled into a hoover. Then an idea started to from.
“hmm, crush her, that sounds fun... but I couldn't do it here, I have no-where to hide it, and I couldn't clean it up in time... unless I did it somewhere else, but then i'd have to take her somewhere and Ceri would know because the cage would be empty... what if I took the cage too... too obvious... unless it got stolen...?” Emma's mind raced and churned, turning the plan over endlessly until finally with her body tensing with excitement “That’s it!”
Climbing as softly out of bed as she could she took up her clothes and went into the living room where Lucy's cage hung. She slipped on her jeans and top, pulling her hoody over her head and snatching up her boots “I knew wearing heavy boots would have their uses some day.” she thought, grinning to herself as she laced them up. Standing she looked down at her boots to admire them and feel her heart pound with the thrill of what she was about to have underneath them.
Quietly Emma made her way around the dark room, the only light she dared let in was through the open curtains as the street lights flooded the area with a dim, sickly orange. She used a knife from the kitchen to slide under the latch on the window and work it loose as gingerly as she could so as not to make too much noise, then she slid the window up a little way. That was the robbery staged. Next she moved over the cage that hung silently in the shadow laced corner of the room. Slowly taking the cage from its hook Emma made her way over to the front door and headed out, again closing the latch as quietly as possibly behind her.
Lucy was awoken my a strange motion of her cage, the room was swaying side to side and she could feel herself being jostled about every now and then. She wondered what was going on, moving to the small round window in the side of her house she peered out. She was moving, but she couldn't tell why, or where she was going. Lucy had never seen the outside of Ceri's house that she could remember and she could tell who held the cage as they were on the opposite side of it to the direction her window faced.
The cage suddenly tilted violently and with a loud crash of metal rattling on something hard Lucy was thrown across her house and hit the wall, tumbling forward out of the entrance hole and onto the base of the cage. As she came to her senses the first thing she realised in the poor light was how cold it was. Her little naked body shivering in the chill air that surrounded her now that she was outdoors and she looked around to try and discover a reason for this unexpected night time journey, then, with a cruel laugh to punctuate her fears, she saw her.
“So you little rodent, not so smart without your precious owner to show off in front of are you?” Emma said with a sneer as she gazed down at the tiny woman, kicking the side of the cage hard with her boot.
The cage rattled across the floor and hit the wall of the alley way she had brought the cage into. She had planned to get rid of the evidence of the little creature by killing it then throwing her and the cage into the dumpster that lay a little way down the alley. She delighted in the terrified little squeals that came from the cage as it came to a halt, the little thing inside lying flat against the base for a moment before curling into a ball and making its high pitched chirping noises.
Emma noticed the large dent her boot had left in the side of the cage and a new idea formed as to how she was going to get rid of her little problem. She grinned viciously as she took a step towards the cage and began to kick it back into the middle of the alley again, into the light so she could see what she was doing, and relish the fear on the small girl's face. She stood towering over the cage for a moment until wit ha smirk spread across her lips she lifted one boot off of the floor, hovering it over the cage before bringing it slowly down to rest on the top.
Lucy began to scream in fear, her body driven by adrenaline to ignore the thumping pain in her head and shoulders form where she had been slammed against the bars of the cage as Emma had kicked it. She got herself to her feet and ran to where the cage had been dented, the side Emma was looking down on her from, her little hands gripped the bars and she tried desperately to get them to part for her, to escape from under the boot of the giantess that seemed determined to end her here and now. Squealing and pleading up at Emma for forgiveness, for mercy! But it didn't come.
Emma pushed her weight onto the top of the cage seeing the little girl trying to free herself, she knew she couldn't savour the thrill of this for long in case it got out. She would never find her in the darkness of the alley and it could slip away amongst the other rodents, or be eaten by them she mused happily. She shifted her balance onto the foot that rested on the cage and quickly got the results she wanted, the dent had weakened the cage enough to let it buckle under her weight, the bars suddenly thrust inwards, pitching Lucy back across the cage and almost crushing her under the metal.
“Please! Please Emma i'm sorry please! Stop this!” Lucy screamed up at the girl who seemed to be taking immeasurable delight in what she was about to accomplish.
The bars folded in around Lucy as she lay on her back writhing and struggling to find some kind of exit, some way out from the mass of twisted bars, she hated herself for being unable to bend a single bar when it seemed so easy for her mistress to push them out of the way with a mere finger when she would try and stroke her through the side of the cage. A cruel laughed floated down to her from above cutting through the sound of creaking metal when suddenly the rubber sole of the boot that had threatened Lucy lifted away for a moment.
Emma gazed down seeing the girl trapped among the tangle of the cage “This is amazing... it feels so good!” she thought to herself, lost in the joy of the moment, all of her hatred of this pathetic creature flowing out of her as she stomped her boot back down onto the cage, hearing the tiny girl scream out another pitiful long wail of terror. The boot came back down at blinding speed crushing the bars down until they pinned Lucy’s body under them, the metal digging painfully into her body but thankfully not piercing it. Lucy couldn't move, the rubber of the boot was a mere inch form her body as it twisted one way then the next and ground down on the cage, pushing the bars deeper into her skin.
The boot rained dirt and grit down from its sole as it dislodged against the cage, the laughter echoing constantly around her as she began to cry, realising she would never see her mistress again, never be loved or held any more, she cried with all her soul and preyed her mistress would come to save her as the boot lifted for the third time.
“Bye bye, pest” Emma said with glee as she suspected this would be the last she saw or heard from the tiny girl again, her boot came down once more, this time the cries from the cage ceased and became choked gargled chirps of pain and anguish. She was a little surprised it was still alive but really she didn't care, it was all the sweeter that she could draw this out just a little longer. The bars pressed painfully into Lucy’s stomach, they just missed crushing her ribs completely but they dug firmly into her midsection, one of her legs was twisted to the side, the curve of a bar stabbing painfully into the muscle and keeping it pinned in place.
Lucy’s world was one of red with the pain she was experiencing, metal pushed her head flat to the cage floor, the rubber of Emma's boot tread almost grinding against her skin as the giantess once more scraped the boot back and forth over the top of her, the smell of rubber and soil filled her lungs as far as she could draw breath with the cage pinning her completely now. Emma went to lean her weight forwards, the final act she thought as she waited for the chirps to be silenced, replaced with the wet, gooey crunch of the girls body being broken down under the metal, but it never came.
Emma began to feel dizzy, her vision clouded, turning hazy as the world around her rocked back and forth as though she was on a boat. She began to feel sick, like she was free-falling and her limbs were going numb. She stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, sitting upright as she tried to shake the feeling from her mind. Her eyes rolled in her head for a moment until suddenly, with the blood pounding in her ears, the air coursing like raging waterfall around her it all came to a climax, and was gone.
The alley was still dark, but it seemed darker than before. The ground she sat on felt almost like a field of rocks and gravel, she looked up and saw a strange shining golden building of some kind some distance ahead of her, but it was dwarfed by two of the biggest sky-scrapers she had ever seen either side of it. Then she stopped for a moment and took a look around her. That wasn't some kind of building she could see, it had bars and spokes protruding from the top of it, and no door around its smooth rounded gold edges. The skyscrapers seemed to be constructed of bricks made of enormous single slabs, just a little shorter than she would be if she were standing.
“Oh god.... oh god no.” Emma breathed as the realisation sunk in. She scrambled to her feet and looked around her, everything was huge now, or more to the point, she was tiny!
She couldn't have been more than 4 inches tall by her understanding, and as she thought about it she realised that would have put her at two inches shorter than Ceri's little pet. A heavy boulder of terror and helplessness filled the pit of her stomach as she began to wonder how she had gotten so small until something drifted across the air to her. Tiny cries, please of mercy, begging for help, begging for her mistress to help her.
“That... that must be Lucy!” Emma said to herself in some amazement, still struggling to come to terms with what was going on “I can.... understand her now?” she thought with some sense of confusion.
“Mistress, please! I'm down here, help me please, Ceri!” Lucy’s voice continued to call in the distance as Emma made a slow but steady connection in her mind
“If she is calling to Ceri, then that must mean... oh no, oh please no!” Emma's thoughts were swiftly interrupted as the heavy, rhythmic pounding of footsteps approached her from behind. She turned slowly to see the dirt white strip of rubber that lead up to the chequered blue and white canvass of a pair of converse before her eyes trailed up the once slender looking leg of her girlfriend.
Ceri gazed down at Emma, her eyes fiery with anger and disappointment as she stood with her hands on her hips, her converse flexed slightly up and down at the toes as though she were tapping her toes in frustration.
“how could you Emma?” her voice boomed down, instantly silencing all thought and action Emma could have attempted as she froze with fear “How could you try and hurt Lucy, hurt ME like this? You are so childish, so jealous, so... so much of a bitch!” she said lifting her foot and slamming it down right next to Emma, not even showing a hint of difference to the fact she sent the small girl sprawling.
As the shoe landed an almost deafening bang rattled through Emma's entire body, the shockwave of air threw Emma aside as she tumbled across the ground, the sharp gravel cutting into her hands and knees as she tried to steady herself. She looked up, tears and fear in her wide eyes as her voice crackled for a moment and she tried to shout up to her once sweet and gentle girlfriend
“Ceri, I didn't want to hurt you, I would never hurt you I swear, I just wanted us to be together, not be together with that... that THING!” she cried up, her anger once again showing through for Lucy who she still blamed for everything that had gone wrong, but she was in for a bigger shock than anything that had come to her so far. Ceri simply stared down at her, her face hard and unchanged until she spoke down to Emma once more.
“Squeak at me all you want Emma, I can't understand you any more, no one can, only other people who have been reduced. But don't worry, I don't want you any more, but i'm not heartless. I wont leave you to fend for yourself the way you are.” Ceri's face softened, but not to her usual kind demeanour Emma had hoped to see, but to one of sadness, then there was a low scraping sound of Ceri's foot moving across the floor and suddenly Emma couldn't see anything of Ceri except for the dirty white sole of her shoe.
Emma panicked, her legs felt as though they had turned to lead in her horror as she scrambled onto her front and tried to crawl away from the descending rubber sky above her. All the time she crawled she begged and pleaded but the space was getting smaller and smaller until she felt her legs being pinned. She let out a screech of terror as her hands scrabbled at the sharp gravel beneath her, she felt her legs pressed into the ground, her muscles pushed painfully down as her bones creaked. The shoe continued its relentless roll up her body, pressing into her lower back now as at least her legs gave way under the pressure.
Ceri looked down without emotion, as though she were stepping on a paper cup or an autumn leaf as it crackled underfoot. She heard the anguished squeaks of her former lover getting more and more high pitched as she leaned her weight forwards, rocking onto the ball of her back foot to add more pressure to the one which crushed the diminutive girl under it. Finally the long drawn out cry of the tiny girl was replaced by a gargle and the gentle pops and cracks of her body as a soft, squishy red puddle began to spread around the sole of Ceri's shoe.
Emma had been completely flattened, like a steam roller pressing its way up over her body the shoe had given little mercy to her tiny form. Ceri could feel the small lump of what was left of Emma pressing slightly into her foot through the thin rubber sole, she flexed her toes and rocked once more onto the ball of her foot, another series of cracks and wet pops sounded and the lump disappeared beneath her, spread like jam underneath her.
Ceri leaned back once more, a soft sucking noise accompanying her foot lifting slightly off the floor as she gave a small sigh. It had to be done, she mused to herself before pressing her foot flat to the floor again to hear the amusing squelchy noise the mess under her shoe made. She allowed herself a small smile of appreciation before scraping her foot back and dragging her sole across the ground to clean off the gooey paste.
She walked calmly over to the cage which lay mangled on the floor, finding Lucy among the wreckage she easily pulled a few of the bars to the side and lifted her little pet out. Lucy breathed heavily as she lay bruised and sore in Ceri's soft warm hands. Ceri pulled a couple of other bars up out fo the way as she braced the edge of the cage with her foot and tugged her shirt free as well, wrapping little Lucy into the fabric to keep her warm and cuddling her to her chest.
“Its ok Lucy, i'm here now, lets go home and get you cleaned up shall we?” Ceri said sweetly as she cuddled the bundle close.
Lucy still sobbed slightly, but she had never been so happy to be with her mistress in her life, a hot, soft pair of lips pressed against half of her head and she knew she was safe once more as she snuggled into the t-shirt that smelled comfortingly of her owner.
The end.