Alvin looked up at the hole, that little hole was the only access he had to the outside world and as he squinted into the darkness, he could find no way to even climb his way out, the smooth walls of his prison left no chance.

 For now the bag was stationary, Alvin able to make out the dragging of feet across the floor and the occasional conversation although he wasn’t able to discern the exact words used. Since he was going to be Cassie’s prisoner for the next few hours, he decided to rummage through whatever was in the bag with him, learn more about his captor.

  Taking his first step into the dark, he bumped his knee against something jutting out. Giving his knee a little rub to ease the pain, he tried to drag it out but it wouldn’t move, he wasn’t strong enough.

 “ What the hell is this?” He asked himself, scratching his head. He groped around, feeling the object. It was rectangular and the size of a dinner table. He felt something raised, it seemed to be a button. Deciding to find out more, Alvin pressed down on it, needing to use his body weight just to push.

“ Gah!” He shouted as a white light flooded the space he was in. When his eyes had adjusted, Alvin saw it: he had stumbled upon Cassie’s phone. She used a Nokia-IBM model, the NIBM-4, the latest smartphone model from the company. Most Titans used their phones as the other brands rarely made phones scaled up for thems, the likes of Apple, Samsung and other major brands stuck to manufacturing phones for Amazons and normals.

 The phone itself was not remarkable but Cassie’s choice of picture for the lock screen was interesting. He couldn’t believe it but it had to be a picture of a younger Cassie in winter clothes. The girl in the picture looked shorter, with acne, her hair in pigtails and next to a woman he assumed was Cassie’s mother. She resembled an older version of Cassie and it seems Cassie inherited her beauty from her, she had similar face shape, cheekbones and while not as slim as Cassie was now, Alvin could tell she was a great beauty in her day. She and her mother had broad smiles on them.

 Alvin noticed a small man in Cassie’s hand, holding on to her thumb for support. Alvin could not make out his features but he knew Cassie had no siblings so he immediately assumed that the man was her father.

 “ Wow...puberty really did you a favour,” Alvin remarked as he stared at her pockmarked face and rather unremarkable body. If he had to guess, it would seem Cassie was about thirteen to fourteen years old.

  Alvin then noticed something odd, the background was something he did not expect a cheerleader to pose in front of. It was a large observatory, resembling a golf ball sans the indentations with a slit for a telescope to point out of.

Why would Cassie even enjoy that? She was a cheerleader, they were supposed to love manicures and pedicures, going to the mall, watching chick flicks and dating the jocks.

******

Alvin spent the next two hours searching in the dark, trying to learn more about the Titan that now decided his fate. It was difficult when his prison started to shake and sway more than a yacht in a freak storm. Alvin could hardly stand up and was forced to baby crawl his way around.

Apart from the phone, he found nothing that would divulge any further information on Cassie, no startling revelations although he did find a year’s supply of lip balm for him and his family, a pack of mints with each tablet the size of a hotdog and a purse he couldn’t open, the lock too heavy for him to lift.

After fifteen minutes of idleness, the zip began to open and Cassie peered inside as light flooded the once pitch dark handbag.

 “ Ah….you’re still here. Not that running would have helped you, I’d track you down the next day and bring you home with me.” She said to him rather curtly, she had no intention to show him any respect, not after what she thought he had done.

Cassie lowered her hand into the bag. Alvin didn’t resist, anything he did to fight would be irrelevant. He could outrun Amazons but against a Titan, he had little hope.

  “ At least you’re not struggling, most of the other boys struggled,” She said as she lifted him up, her hands acting like a crane.

 She deposited Alvin on the floor where she was sitting. She glowered at him but if she weren’t, she would have been a gorgeous girl simply wanting to spend time with Alvin. Alvin could smell her body wash, flowery with a hint of lavender. She wore a fitting white shirt that traced her curves well and a pair of loose shorts that fit her waist well. Cassie had let her down, a straight mane of blonde hair cascading past her shoulders. To put it simply, Alvin found her beauty breathtaking but her anger was what kept him on the edge.

 “ So...lets get your name before we start. JUST a name, you don’t talk unless I let you,” Cassie was firm and rather troubled by the sight of him.

“ Alvin,” he replied, looking her straight into the eye but trying not to shake too much, adopting the strategy he used with Wendy before, no expression of fear, face your maker without averting your eyes. This time he would have to think twice before saying anything like that to Cassie. She could probably take out Wendy and all of her friends with just her finger and they’d be powerless to even stop her.

“ That’s it? No last name Alvin or you too stupid to even remember?” Cassie spat out, spooking Alvin who realised how little a breathing room she was leaving him with.

 “Summers, my name is Alvin Summers,” he replied quickly. He doubt she would even know and as her eyebrows bent and her face scrunched up in thought proved him correct.

 “ No, I don’t know an Alvin Summers. I’ve never even heard of Alvin Summers. Do you even go to FDR High or did you sneak in to jerk off at the sight my panties?” She jabbed her finger into his chest and as he was thrown back a few metres, Alvin knew that she barely put any effort into it.

 Alvin sat up, a little disoriented from the blow but he was able to stand. He felt his ribs, none of them were broken or even cracked in anyway, the pain fading to a dull ache quickly.

  “ I do go to FDR, I’m on the track and field team. I wear their uniform and everything, ask Madeline, she is on the team.”

 Cassie squinted and she was able to make out what was indeed FDR’s track and field uniform, causing her to roll her eyes at her own mistake.

 “ So what you’ve got a uniform, anyone can get that. As for your alibi, are you referring to Madeline Wong?”

  Alvin nodded and got another jab to the chest, this one weaker than the previous  but still enough to push him to the wooden floor.

 “ No gestures!” She yelled, her voice like a hurricane, all encompassing and deafening.

 “ Yes, Madeline Wong. The only Titan on the team,” Alvin quickly rose to his feet, refusing to stay down, he would explain himself and she’d let him go.

“ I do remember a Madeline, she’s chinese so you might be right. Okay Alvin Summers, its time for your punishment.” Alvin could not believe it, she was not even going to let him explain what happened.

 “ Wait! Aren’t you going to let me explain my-” Alvin was thrown back a few feet by Cassie’s index finger slamming into his chest and knocking the wind out of him. He was both terrified and amazed by what had happened, Camilla and Wendy needed to do a bit of work just to do that but Cassie had achieved it through minimal effort and with great control.

 “ No,” Cassie then picked out some bottles of nail polish  and placed it by Alvin.

 “ You did the crime, now you’ll do the time,” she chuckled to herself over making a little rhyme.

Alvin had an idea of what was going to happen as he looked at Cassie’s toes, her toenails painted black. However, Cassie didn’t explain it but she took out her camera and took a picture of him.

 “ What was that for?” He was puzzled by her move, made little to no sense. Cassie giggled to herself whilst putting her phone away, shoving it into her back pocket where it rested against her curvaceous bottom.

 “ A before picture.” She answered before turning her attention back to him.

 “ Before what? What are you going to do to me?” Alvin didn’t want photographic evidence but it seemed he would be heading down that path.

 “ A lesson, split up into little sub lessons. Your first one will be to paint my toenails...Oh, lets see what I have here?” Cassie found herself unsure of what to do next or more specifically, what colour would suit her nails best? She looked at the bottles of polish she had laid at her feet; fuschia, azure and then a clear polish.

Cassie looked back at her toes and gave them a wiggle, ignoring Alvin as she pondered the next colour she’d put on. Nothing came to mind and she looked back at the bottles, her eyes lingering the longest on fuschia.

 “ Paint them fuschia while I get some work done,” Cassie used an authoritative tone, the same one she used on every date that used her to get bragging rights or tried to get fresh her.

She  reached for a large tablet and turned it on. Alvin recognised it, it was a tablet given to every Titan when they were in school. All their notes and assignments were uploaded on to it. Cassie then took out a grey stylus the length of her palm  from one side of the tablet and proceeded to start on her work.

“ Better get started Alvin, If I’m done with this page and you haven’t even done one foot then you’ll be in for a world of hurt.More than just me flicking your chest, it’ll look like a walk in the park compared to what’ll follow.”

 Alvin needed no invitation, quickly unscrewing the bottle. It was taxing on him to lift the brush off the bottle and it was a challenge making sure he didn’t let it fall to the ground. Eventually he was able to grasp the end like a sword and moved to Cassie’s big toe on her left foot. .

 Cassie hadn’t bothered to check on him and while he did consider escaping, he highly doubted he would even get to the front door before she caught him. With that out, he began to paint her toe, treating it as if it were a master piece. He made sure all of his strokes were in one direction, he wanted to leave no room for Cassie to criticise him and most likely dole out more beatings with her finger.

 After some time Cassie decided to check on Alvin, see if he had messed up her toes like all the other boys did.

“ Stop,” she commanded him just as he was about to start on another toe.

 For Alvin, that was a relief. His arms were starting to burn after what felt like an hour of applying nail polish to toe nails the size of laptops and weighed as much as a several men.

 “ Thank you,” Alvin replied, his answer soft and weakened from fatigue. He used the brush as a stick to prop himself up, he’d let his hands get nail polish on it if he could rest for a couple of minutes.

 “ Wow….” Cassie exclaimed , putting down her tablet and stylus to take a closer look. Alvin had done a good job, most of them would just swipe the brush across without caring but Alvin had taken the effort to have the lines going in one direction, covering all angles. She  was impressed and chuckled to herself but realised she couldn’t let Alvin know how impressed she was so she ceased all of that.

 He had covered about four toes, her little toe was the last one for her left. Cassie chose to keep any comments to herself for now, she’d let Alvin finish the rest.

“ Carry on. I’ll check again,” she said while sounding  very emotionless and apathetic. Deep down, it was a different story altogether.

  Alvin enjoyed his rest but he had hoped she would have told him to as he could tell she was impressed by his work. He couldn’t fight back now so he resumed his work while Cassie did schoolwork, now typing away at an English question.

 **********

 “ Are you done? I’ve finished my homework so if you’re not done with my nails…” She gave a smirk, “...it’ll be your first remedial class.” She finished although her little smirk vanished when she saw Alvin had turned her bare nails fuschia. While she should have been pleased he had done some excellent work, she cursed at the opportunity missed thanks to him.

 “ You...did….well….” How had he done this? No boy had ever succeeded on their first try before.

 “ I just do my best and hope it works out,” Alvin replied loudly and proudly.

 “ Oh wipe that smile off your face, there’s still the next lesson.” Cassie grumbled, in her opinion he had no right to be so pleased about anything.

“ Please….why not let me go? I’m not worth your trouble, you seem like a smart girl and a real looker too, why waste that combination on a little guy like me?” Alvin pleaded with her, opting for flattery while also pushing his own image down.

 Cassie remained silent but scooped him up in her hand, pressing him against her thigh  and when she was sure he  wouldn’t fall to the ground, she brought him over to a table in her room. Alvin noticed two tables, each of them separated by a gap large enough for a Titan or two to stand in comfortably.

 The smaller and narrower one had a some plastic boxes on it and a laptop, leafy green in colour with the screen down. Alvin didn’t know what was inside but Cassie was heading to that one. No, she was moving to the larger of the two tables.

 That one held the most peculiar item in the room: a dollhouse. Alvin had seen dollhouses before, Wendy used to own one before throwing it out when outgrew it but this was the first time he had seen one made for a Titan.

 It was made out of plastic, like most items were for Titans and it resembled your stereotypical suburban home.

  White picket fences, a  smooth green plastic surface that was supposed to represent grass but the manufacturers just painted it on rather than go through the process of adding texture to it. The actual building was made of plastic like the rest but it was a large two storey house, painted an off white colour with mahogany window frames, a chimney that rose out of the roof, completing the rhombus shape of the house. Alvin snuck a peek and could what looked like actual rooms although he couldn’t be sure.

  Cassie released him and Alvin fell about five feet to the table. He turned and when he looked back at her, she gave an impish smile.

 “ Aren’t you a bit old for dolls?” Alvin rubbed his back, he was losing count of how many times it had been hit today.

“ You’re never too old and besides, I outgrew dolls a long time ago. I moved on to people. People who don’t respect me, people who take advantage of my looks and trust to hurt me,” She wavered at her last point, Alvin could have sworn she whimpered but it was gone in a flash.

 Cassie reached down to the dollhouse and opened it, swinging the house open without giving any sort of warning to Alvin. He dodged and saw what were almost scale models of a living room and kitchen on the ground floor and two bedrooms on the upper floor.

 He noticed a pile of clothes on the floor. There was a baby outfit, a housewife one and of course, the cliched businessman outfit meant for the father.

Then  Alvin felt a push from Cassie as she nudged him forward. “ Time for you to be a doll. Put on the baby outfit.” Cassie instructed.

Alvin got it now, Cassie meant to use people as dolls! This is what she did to all of her bad dates, all of the boys whom she perceived to have wronged her and now, it was his turn to experience it.

 “ I won’t , this is just degrading and I can’t believe you do this to people! You-” He wasn’t going to let her do this, this was the line he would never cross.

 Cassie slammed her fist in front of Alvin, startling him. She pulled up a chair and sat down, furious at his tone.

 “ Either you put it on or I tear your clothes off and you’ll be going home naked. Your choice. 5…” Cassie’s voice raised in anger, anger at Alvin’s lack of basic respect.

 Alvin looked at baby outfit, it was pink and obviously meant for a girl, what with a bonnet and one piece outfit.

 “ 4…..3….” There was little time to lose and Alvin didn’t want to have to explain to what would be a very amused Wendy and far from amused Patricia why he had come home in a onesie made for infants.

 “ 2...Oh good. You’re putting it on,” Cassie stopped the countdown, her threat had worked.

“ God...this is…” He couldn’t finish, as the rough outfit passed over his body and rested on his shoulders, he felt as if he had a hit his nadir. Nothing else would compare to this. He wanted to cry but he wouldn’t give Cassie that satisfaction. He thought she was better than this, how she was a selfless altruistic person who cared but she was far worse than Wendy!

 “ Here,” he answered rather glumly, holding up his arms by his side to show it to Cassie. Cassie couldn’t care less about how Alvin felt, she was too caught up in her revenge mission.

“ Good….Now go into the kitchen and you should find a bottle of milk.Go get and…” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone, Alvin knew where this was going. “ And…lets have some fun!”  Alvin expected her to take a snapshot of this moment but Cassie just placed the phone on the table.

 He skulked off into the artificial kitchen and it wasn’t hard for him to find the bottle. Once he stepped out of the house, the real torture began.

 Cassie treated Alvin as a baby, shoving him into a cot that was too small, cradling him and singing lullabies to him. Shoving him against her breast and taunting him with giving him what he wanted( ‘ You wanted it, now have all of it!’ ), patting his back hard to simulate clearing his airways and some he just blanked out of, unable to remember the exact details.

“ Alvin….” Cassie cooed in a sinister manner. Alvin faced her, wondering at which point did he lose all of his dignity, each act he was subjected to was worse than the last one.

Cassie waved her phone in front of him, “ One more picture and it’s all done. All you have to do is to put the bottle in your mouth and we’ll take that shot. Then you may go.” Cassie stated.

Alvin did as ordered and the monolithic phone rose up in front, Cassie wasting no time in taking the picture. He heard the click of the camera within  and once she lowered the phone, Alvin tossed the bottle aside, his morale at an all time low.

 “ Thank you Cassie,” he said, catching her by surprise.

 “What for?” She quizzed him, her session throwing a twist she did not expect.

“ For making me realise how worthless I truly am. For finally being the one to show how weak, pathetic and insignificant I am. Ever since my dad died eight years ago, my step mother made me-” Alvin’s weak and apathetic voice grew stronger as a fervor gripped him.

“ Okay, you don’t have to tell me your life-” Cassie was shocked by Alvin suddenly yelling at her. She was starting to regret her decision to take him home.

 “ - her slave. Her own Cinderella to cook and clean for her and that Amazon bitch Wendy who takes great delight in beating me, humiliating me. How do you think we met! She tried to give me one of our regular beats ups with her friends and I thought it would be wise to run! Stupid stupid me, having a great idea!” Alvin was growing delirious as the seconds went by, now Cassie was afraid of him. Perverts she could handle but insanity was something she was truly unprepared and ill equipped to handle. She began to back away from him but Alvin didn’t bother to stop, he merely continued.

 “ Then they catch me, tie me up and then you come in and your friend thinks I’m some sicko so you pick me up, embarrass me even more and after all this, I’m guessing you’ll put that photo-”

“ Stop stop!” Cassie wailed at Alvin, “ Why didnt you tell me you were innocent!”

If I knew, I’d have let you go, she thought to herself. She looked closer at Alvin, wide eyed and now pondering the very real possibility that she had erred, erred badly. On hindsight, she should not have asked Alvin that question.

 “ I did! I did! I tried to tell you, to explain everything you fucked up bimbo!” His breathing was becoming laboured as he got himself in a frenzy, “ You never listened! You treated me like a rag doll and then this!” He pointed at the costume and the bottle.

 “ You made me a baby! A big fucking baby! Go ahead and put it on Instagram then people will know me, at least now Alvin Summers will finally be famous and it won’t even be his own achievement! At least….I have...Oh God…” Alvin could take it no more, his reserves of rage exhausted and now he felt only sorrow.

 Alvin sat on the floor and cried, no words came out, just tears and bawling.

“ Hey…” Cassie came closer, she felt terrible, what had she done? She sat down and leaned but her mind was a blank, she didn’t know what to do with Alvin, he was just sobbing with no end in sight.

 “ I-I’m sorry...I should have….” She stopped herself, none of her reasons sounded remotely logical or calming.

“ You stay here, I’ve got to make a call. Don’t move!” Cassie said, she was starting to panic, she needed advice. She quickly unlocked her phone and called the first person she could think of.

While it rang, she left the room and closed the door, not wanting Alvin to listen in on her conversation.

************

 “ Don’t talk on your phone!” said someone in the cinema. Jamila was with Nadya, her fellow cheerleader watching a movie although she felt like a third wheel since Nadya had brought a date, this boy named Mark. With his chiselled features and packing a six pack, he was one of Nadya’s types.

 Nadya happened to be the type for a lot of boys, bluest of blue eyes, long dark hair that she never tied up in any way, tall and curvy, almost as curvy as an Amazon and with the right proportions too.

This being a Titan cinema, only Titans were allowed although the smaller sizes could buy a ticket to as proof of admission. Nadya had chosen not to let Mark even buy one, keeping him snuggled in her bra. Mark had no problems with it,

Jamila looked around in the semi-lit cinema, the only light coming from the screen, showing a romantic comedy starring Charlotte Lang, the plot was flimsy and the acting mediocre at best, the film mostly riding on Charlotte’s star power.

 “ I’m not even on it yet!” she said to herself as she fished the phone out from her pocket. Nadya looked at her annoyed by it, shooting her an icy stare with her cerulean eyes  for interrupting the movie.

“ What? It’s Cassie, it might be important! This movie is a turd fest, I don’t even know why you’d be upset over it.” She whispered indignantly.

 “ Just go outside and answer it for God’s sake!”Nadya snatched the phone off her and swiped it before returning it to Jamila, shoving it into her hand.

 “ Okay okay!” Jamila got up and quickly moved outside, actually glad to have a reason not to watch it.

 “ What happened?” Mark asked, sticking his whole body out of her bra, Nadya’s tank top exposing quite a bit of her chest.

 “ Get back in!” Nadya pushed him back into her cleavage, “ I don’t want to get caught!” She chided Mark for stepping out of his hiding spot.

**********

 “ You’ve got to help me!” Cassie said, growing more agitated and stressed at what she had done.

 “ What happened? Did you give that pervert the good old Cassie Gissel treatment?” Jamila chuckled as she anticipated viewing those pictures on her phone.

“ No!” Cassie shouted, catching Jamila off guard, the latter’s ears ringing.

“ I mean yes! The thing is, he’s innocent and now he’s in some sort of breakdown! What the hell do I do to calm him down!”

“ Okay…” Jamila was also at a loss for words, neither of the two had ever dealt with this.

“ Maybe just let him cry himself out, watch him and let him do that. Once that’s over, you can apologise to him, make it up to him in ways I’ll let you settle but you could flash him your boobs.”

“ It’ll do but I’m not showing him those. Unless it...no...definitely no flashing! Okay, sorry for interrupting your movie. Nadya sounded pissed,” Cassie had heard everything from the moment Nadya answered Jamila’s phone until the latter left the theater.

 “ No problem, I better get back inside and be a third wheel for Nadya, she brought a date this time,” Jamila complained to Cassie, it wasn’t the first time Nadya had shown up him unannounced with a boy when it was meant to be a girl’s night out.

 “ Ok, great! We’ll talk tomorrow!” Cassie hung up quickly and rushed back into the room. Alvin was still on the table crying and it at least comforted her to know that he hadn’t committed suicide.

 “ Alvin...please...let me apologise. I’ll make it up to you. Look, I’ll even delete the picture, no uploading it.” Cassie did as she said, holding the phone in front of his face and deleting the offensive picture. Alvin watched and his heart lifted as it left but he was still distraught.

“ What can you do to make it better?” He asked in between sobs, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of the costume.

 “ I...I...could listen to you. You could explain everything to me. I’ll do my best to help you.” Cassie was improvising, she had no clue how to fix this.

“ You already did, you removed the last vestiges of my dignity and now I’m free,” Alvin retorted.

 “ No...I’ll give it back. You’re a person, please let me in! Let me help you.”

In his head, Alvin wanted to kill Cassie, he wanted to make her suffer for everything she did to him but a small voice inside, the voice of reasoning within him also mentioned that she wasn’t truly at fault. She had overreacted and treated him unfairly but the true cause was his step sister, the devil in human form.

 The steady flow of tears began to slow before stopping and Alvin looked into Cassie’s eyes, all that hatred for him replaced by guilt and grief for what she had done to him.

 “ Ok...I’ll let you in. I’ll explain everything,” Alvin accepted her offer.

 “Wonderful, I’ll let you say what you need,” Cassie thanked her lucky stars, she wouldn’t have to do anything drastic to protect him from himself. There was no way of knowing what he would have done and if something horrible had happened to him, she would have been at a loss to do anything about it.