~~~

Section 3.1- Convict Durability

So, you’re finally ready to begin your session! The convict has arrived, you’ve made your introductions, and now it’s time for the fun part. Section 3 is dedicated to the “torture” element of the job, where you will learn all the necessary information to maximize pain for your shrunken convict, and maximize pleasure for you.

As a Chevalier, the word “gentle” should not be in your vocabulary. With that being said, you should know what the limits of durability are for your shrunken convicts. After all, what fun would it be to accidentally go too far and end the session before you’ve had a chance to dole out proper punishment?

You might expect that shrunken convicts (henceforth referred to as just convicts) are extremely fragile, due to their small size. This is true, but not to the degree that you probably imagine. The shrinking process, as a side effect, slightly increases the durability of all affected items. In the case of convicts, this manifests as tougher skin, stronger bones, and reinforced organs. This is all relative, of course, as those benefits are vastly outweighed by the increased relative weight and force of everything around them. If a convict was not small, but kept the durability increase, they would easily be able to survive being hit by a car. When your finger can strike with the force of a train, however, that durability is relatively meaningless.

What this means for you, essentially, is that you can treat them more roughly than you would with an insect, but that’s about it. They can survive a moderate flick, for example, and other injuries of a similar pressure. Additionally, they can be dropped from a surprisingly high height and sustain no permanent injuries, due to the effects of air resistance on their much smaller and lighter bodies. So, don’t worry! There’s plenty of room for you to get creative. If you’re still having trouble, and want a list of actions that are known to cause permanent injury but not death, refer to Section 3.4.

At the end of the day, though, don’t worry too much. The worst case scenario of being too rough with a convict is that your session ends a little early. This might be frustrating, and you might be bored afterwards, but simply take note and move on. You will have plenty more sessions in the future. In Section 3.2, you will be introduced to some of the schools of torture that you may choose to study as you continue your journey in becoming a master Chevalier.

~~~

“I have to say, Allie, your conditions are going to take some of the fun out of this. No death is one thing, but no permanent injuries, either? That rules out some of my favorite activities, you know.”

Allison and Cathy were staring down at Brian, who was slightly trembling. The session had just begun, and Cathy was contemplating the best course of action. Although Allison had agreed to participate, she was hoping that Cathy would be too distracted by her desire for Brian to actively try to include her in the session.

Keep her talking, maybe I can run down the clock, Allison thought.

“I know, Cathy, but these are the terms you agreed to. Forgive me for exercising caution around you, since I know how you are when it comes to convicts. For example, I remember that time you told me-”

“Oh well, there’s no time to complain,” interrupted Cathy, before leaning forward and flicking Brian.

Brian…! Allison thought, as he flew backwards at an alarming speed. He crashed into a remote, the force causing his head to fly back as he gasped in pain. Despite the speed at which he collided with it, the remote barely moved due to his decreased weight. Brian collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him.

Allison’s whole body was screaming in concern, but she managed to keep it contained. She knew that her performance during this session would determine if Cathy discovered the truth behind why Allison smuggled Brian out, so she was channeling all of her mental energy into her ability to play the part of a sadistic kidnapper. As a result, she only let out a small chuckle.

He’ll be fine, Allison thought, Cathy believes that I’ll let her play with him again if she follows my terms. She won’t do anything stupid.

Brian regained himself, and stood to his feet. Perhaps emboldened by Cathy’s first action, his face was strong and resolute, albeit still masking traces of fear. Allison realized that he was no longer concerned with acting out the role of the frightened, kidnapped child murderer. His only goal was to make it out of this session in one piece. Cathy noticed this change in expression as well.

“Not bad, little bug. You recovered pretty quickly. Don’t get comfortable, though!” she said, before darting out to pinch Brian’s leg between her fingers. She pulled her hand back, pulling his leg out from under him. The back of his head slammed into the table, before he was whisked into the sky. He couldn’t handle the intense movement, and he got slightly lightheaded. Soon, he found himself dangling in the air, upside down as Cathy pinched his left leg. From his perspective, he could see the enormous face of his tormenter, a slightly glazed look in her eyes as she stared at him hungrily.

“I finally have Brian Bentley between my fingers…” she muttered, before lightly shaking him. With her other hand, she then grabbed one of his arms, before maneuvering so he was stretched out horizontally, his back facing the floor. She moved her hands lower, so he was right above her lap. Brian could barely see her face over her considerable bust. Suddenly, Cathy began to slowly pull his arm and leg in opposite directions. A tightness soon turned to pain, and his face contorted into an expression of anguish as the pain increased.

Allison had to interject.

“Cathy…” she started, trying to sound annoyed as opposed to concerned. “No permanent injuries, remember?”

Cathy stopped pulling.

“Oh please, Allie, you seriously need to trust me. I’ve done this hundreds of times, their little bodies can be pulled quite a bit before anything starts to tear,” she said with a sigh.

“I’m supposed to just take your word on that?” Allison asked exasperatedly, before immediately cursing her choice of words. Cathy grinned devilishly.

“Not at all. This is supposed to be a two-woman session, after all. Here, you grab his arms,” Cathy replied, before letting Brian’s arms dangle as she held him out.

Fuck! Allison thought. No, this is fine. This will prove that I’m willing to torture him, and I can always let go if it starts to go too far. I’m so sorry, Brian. You can do this.

With a small amount of trepidation, Allison reached out and grabbed Brian’s hands with her thumb and index finger. Once he was secure, Cathy started to move her hand so his body was stretched tight. Allison ever so slightly squeezed his hands a few times, hoping that it would reassure him that she was sorry for what was about to happen.

“Here, I’ll do the pulling,” Cathy said. “You just see what it feels like. Believe me, you’d be able to tell if something was breaking.”

With that, she resumed her pulling. Allison had to tighten her grip as the tension increased, hoping that she wasn’t causing any damage to his hands. Once again, Brian’s face twisted into an expression of pain, and Allison’s heart started to beat faster and faster. This was the first time that she was knowingly causing him pain, and it was taking all of her willpower not to react.

“See what I mean? Even with this much pressure, nothing is tearing or breaking. It’s pretty crazy,” Cathy said.

“Y-Yeah, that’s pretty impressive,” Allison said. “I think we can stop now.”

“No, no, not yet. He can still go a little more…” Cathy replied, biting her lower lip as she continued to pull. Brian began to weakly squirm in the two women’s grip, his body instinctively reacting to the intense pain. Then, after a moment, something happened that broke Allison’s heart. Brian screamed. It was a primal, screeching expression of pain, and Allison felt like the sound was assaulting her soul, eroding her ability to keep up the facade. 

Fuck, fuck! I can’t… this is too much… ! Fuck! Stop!

“E-Enough, Cathy,” Allison said, before releasing her grip on Brian’s hands. She knew that if she had let it go on for any longer, she wouldn’t have been able to hold in her anguish. With no opposing force countering it, Cathy’s hand went flying back, dragging Brian along with it before it came to a stop. Brian was once again dangling by his legs, eyes closed as he took heavy breaths. Cathy pouted.

“Oh please, right when it got good. Are we trying to torture him, or what?” she asked frustratedly. Allison quickly came up with a lie.

“Yes, but I want to be cautious with techniques I haven’t tried before. Screaming is usually a good indicator that we’re reaching the limit,” she said slowly, trying to stabilize her mental state.

“Well, whatever,” Cathy replied. “It’s fine for the first time, I guess. On to the next thing!”

With that, she lowered her hand until it was right next to her knees, and released her hold on Brian’s legs. With a small yelp, he plummeted to the ground below. He crashed into the floor with a cry of pain, his body resting just inches from Cathy’s open-toed shoe.

“C…!” Allison started, before immediately silencing herself.

It will look suspicious if I keep protesting. It’s fine, he’ll be fine. Shrunken convicts can easily survive falls like that. It’s just… I hate this so fucking much! How much time has passed? She thought, before slyly checking her phone.

Only a minute and a half?!

“Okay, little bug,” Cathy said with a small sigh, “since I’m not allowed to hurt you physically… I might as well fuck with you mentally. What to do…”

She brought a finger to her chin as Brian stood to his feet. Indeed, the fall had not seriously injured him. As Cathy was deep in thought, he looked up towards Allison. Unlike Cathy, she was barefoot, and her legs stretched into the sky. Far above him was Allison’s face, still wearing a false expression of mild amusement. She caught Brian’s gaze, and he tried to reassure her with his eyes that he was okay. Allison noticed this, and internally sighed in relief.

“Alright, let’s try this first,” Cathy said. She removed her foot from her shoe, and kicked it to the side. As Allison watched with increasing nervousness, Cathy slowly brought her foot over the one-inch man, and began to lower it. Seeing this, Brian quickly laid down on his back. 

“Smart bug…” Cathy cooed. “You definitely don’t want to be standing upright when a foot comes down on you.”

Just when it was about to make contact, Cathy moved her foot so only her big toe came down on Brian, covering his body from his shoulders to his feet. Only his neck and head were exposed, while everything else was buried under the unbearable weight of Cathy’s toe. Brian’s nose was assaulted by an overpowering mix of lavender-scented lotion and sweat, and his nose crinkled in response. He tried to move his neck so he could see what was going on, but his entire field of view was overtaken by Cathy’s big toe. All he could see was skin, so he simply waited for Cathy to provide further instructions.

“Kiss my toe, little one,” Cathy purred. Allison slightly flinched in shock.

“Kiss my toe, or else I’ll keep pressing down on your little bug-sized body. I won’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt,” she continued. At that, she began to press down harder. Brian could feel the pressure begin to increase, so he swallowed his pride and lightly kissed the all-encompassing salty flesh in front of him. To his surprise, though, the pressure did not relent.

“I didn’t say to stop,” Cathy said. “Keep going, and I’ll only stop once I feel like you’ve done a good enough job.”

Brian let out a frustrated sigh, and continued to kiss Cathy’s toe. As the pressure increased, he became slightly more frantic. Just when the pressure became nearly unbearable, Cathy lifted her foot. 

“Well done,” Cathy said slowly, “I feel nice and pampered.”

Brian closed his eyes in relief, glad that at least one more stage was over.

“Now, go and do the same for Allie.”

Allison’s eyes widened.

“What?” she asked, trying not to sound too scared. “Why me?”

Cathy gave a friendly smile.

“What, did you think I forgot about you?” she said. “I’m trying to teach you some of my secrets here. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn’t let you experience it yourself?”

Allison started to get nervous, before she quickly realized something.

Wait, this is actually good, she thought. Cathy won’t be able to tell if I’m actually increasing the pressure or not, so I can just pretend to do it. I don’t actually have to hurt him. But… I still have to put him under my… 

She put on a cunning smile.

“How thoughtful of you, Cathy. Alright, Brian, run over to my big, giant foot already.”

Brian rose to his feet, and began to move towards Allison. Not quite quickly enough for Cathy, though.

“Don’t waste our time, you little insect!” she exclaimed, before lightly kicking him. Brian went flying, and slammed into Allison’s foot. The sensation of Brian hitting her foot made Allison want to cry out, but she held it in. Brian bounced backwards a bit, and soon found himself lying on his back once more.

“There, he landed in the perfect position. Alright Allie, you know what to do,” Cathy said.

“Y-Yeah…” Allison said, unable to contain her nervous stutter. She steeled her resolve, and lowered her big toe onto Brian’s body. She made sure to do it as lightly as possible without raising Cathy’s suspicions.

I fucking hate this, she thought.

“Tell him what to do,” Cathy instructed, clearly enthralled by what was happening. Allison took a deep breath.

“Alright, little one, k-kiss my toe. If you don’t, I'll squish you under it. Just like this,” she said, before maneuvering her toe to look like she was increasing the pressure. In reality, though, she was not pressing down any harder than before, which clued Brian in to what she was doing. Playing along, he began to squirm in discomfort, causing Cathy to squeal in delight.

“Well done, Allie…” Cathy purred, biting her lower lip. “You heard her, kiss it!”

Knowing there was no way out of this one, Brian kissed Allison’s toe. She felt the smallest of sensations at the tip of her toe, and it made her want to cry. 

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, can’t do this.

After only a few moments, she raised her foot. Cathy made a questioning noise.

“I don’t like that one, Cathy. Feels gross,” Allison said truthfully. Cathy shrugged.

“Whatever you say, sister. That’s enough on the ground, then,” she said, before plucking Brian up off the ground and roughly depositing him on the table. He quickly rose to his feet and stretched a bit, restoring the blood flow to his extremities. He then looked back up towards Cathy. She pondered for a moment.

“Allie, how much time has passed?” she asked. Without showing Cathy the screen, Allison checked her phone.

Only four fucking minutes?!

“Six minutes, Cathy,” Allison replied calmly, her tone not betraying the lie.

“Seriously?” Cathy asked incredulously. Allison shrugged.

“Time flies,” she replied flatly. Cathy groaned in frustration, before her face lit up in an idea.

“Say…” she started, her tone slow and sultry. “Why should we have all the fun? Don’t you think bug-boy here deserves some relief?”

Both Allison and Brian raised an eyebrow simultaneously.

“Relief? For him?” Allison asked with a smirk. “Kinda goes against the whole point, doesn’t it?”

Sorry, Brian, but I really can’t advocate for you right now, she thought.

Cathy giggled.

“It might be relief, but it’s certainly not a reward. Let me help you out,” she said, before lowering her face towards Brian slightly.

“Little Brian…?”  she started. Brian looked up at her with nervous anticipation.

“Jerk off for us.”

Allison’s eyes widened.

She wants him to… masturbate?! I don’t want to see that! Allison thought in disgust. 

“Oh, c-come on, Cathy…” she started, trying to avoid anything sexual. “Isn’t that kind of embarrassing?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s the whole point!” Cathy exclaimed. 

“I meant for me!” Allison countered. Cathy laughed.

“Oh, please, don’t be such a prude,” she said condescendingly.  

“Uh… that’s kind of an offensive wor-”

“Believe me,” Cathy interrupted, “this is one of the best ways to humiliate convicts. It’s pretty good for the ol’ self-esteem, too.”

Cathy winked, and turned back towards Brian.

“Well? Get on with it, little bug,” she said.

Shit, how am I ever going to look him in the eye again?! Allison thought, before vaguely remembering something.

Wait… 

“I said… jerk off for us, Brian,” Cathy repeated, slightly more forcefully. To her surprise, though, Brian simply stood there, awkwardly fidgeting before scratching his neck.

“Sounds like he wants to say something,” Allison said.

“Who gives a shit?” Cathy replied, her temper rising. “We gave him an order, so he needs to fucking do it.”

“Oh, of course,” Cathy said after a few more moments of uncomfortable silence. “He needs a little… help.”

This can’t be good, Allison thought. As if to confirm her fears, Cathy quickly took her shirt off, casting it to the side. Her breasts were now only covered by a lacy red bra, softly bouncing and jiggling with every small movement.

“C-Cathy, what the fuck!” Allison cried, before turning away in embarrassment. Cathy cackled at her bashful response.

“You’re much more squeamish than I would have thought, Allie!” she giggled. “Don’t be shy, we’re both girls here.”

Allison slowly turned back towards Cathy and Brian, trying her hardest not to stare at Cathy’s unexpectedly exposed breasts.

“Why?” Allison asked.

“Well, it was unfair of me to ask him to jerk off without any… material.” she said seductively. 

Oh, you have got to be shitting me.

At that, Cathy leaned in towards Brian, pushing her chest forward. Soon enough, Brian was faced with two enormous breasts, each one at least five times his height. He realized that each one weighed more than enough to smush him flat, and it would be all too easy to jump in between them only to never emerge. Cathy lightly bounced her chest, causing her breasts to wobble and jiggle, ripples of juicy breast flesh radiating all around Brian’s field of view. It was certainly one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. Unfortunately for Cathy, though, he was not exactly appreciating it in the way that she was intending.

She pulled back, and looked upon Brian once more, expecting to see a certain reaction in his nether regions. To her great shock, though, his physiology was completely unchanged. He wasn’t even blushing, his face only carrying an expression of mild surprise. He was completely unaffected by Cathy’s boob-show, and her brain short-fused.

At that, Allison suddenly remembered a conversation from their first day together.

“It’s kinda weird, but I don’t really get sexual urges. Never have.”

“Are you saying you’re… asexual?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I appreciate beauty, I just don’t get aroused by it. Kinda like how one might appreciate a painting.”

Allison snapped back to awareness, suddenly understanding Brian’s lack of a reaction. Despite herself, she smirked.

Oh, that’s fucking hilarious, she thought. Luckily, Cathy was too surprised to notice.

“Well, that’s a first…” Cathy said softly. She quickly retrieved her shirt and put it back on. After a few moments of awkward silence, her expression transformed into one of anger. 

“What, does your dick not work?”

Brian looked down at his penis for a moment, as if he was inspecting it. Looking back up at Cathy, he shrugged. At that, Allison laughed out loud, before immediately covering her mouth with her hand. Cathy looked at Allison, and her face darkened even more. 

Fuck, Allison thought, she thinks she’s being made fun of. 

Looking angrier than Allison had ever seen her, Cathy looked back at Brian.

“You little…” she snarled, before suddenly reaching for Brian. Allison had a bad feeling about what was about to happen, so she decided to interject.

“Chill out, Cathy,” Allison started with a laugh, “he’s obviously not right in the head. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

Cathy stopped her hand

“You think?” she asked, a surprising amount of vulnerability in her voice.

Is she secretly super self-conscious? Allison wondered. Actually, it’s probably the wine. I never should have given her alcohol. I’ll add it to the list of ways I’ve fucked up today.

“Yes, yes, Cathy,” Allison said, patting her on the shoulder, “you’re very pretty. He’s obviously just crazy. I mean, come on, he’s a child murderer, right?”

Brian’s eyes widened.

“True…” Cathy said softly, her anger placated for the time being. At that moment, though, the two women noticed something strange about the one-inch man on the table.

He looked disturbed. His eyes were wide, and he was slightly trembling.

What the fuck? Allison thought. Cathy noticed this change as well. Her playful and sadistic attitude returned at this unexpected development.

“Oh, what do we have here?” she asked slowly, leaning in to get a better look at him. “Looks like something finally got to you, eh?”

She grinned  as she sensed an opportunity to torment him.

“I wonder what it was…” she said playfully, enunciating every syllable.

“Could it be… when I almost snatched you up?” she started. “Or perhaps… when we called you crazy?”

Her grin widened.

“Or maybe… was it when Allie called you a child murderer?” she asked.

Brian snapped to attention, his gaze piercing into Cathy’s blue eyes as his face twitched.

“I see…” Cathy said slowly, before leaning back into the sofa.

Wait, what? What’s going on? What the fuck? Allison thought frantically, a crushing wave of dread washing over her.

“Seems you found his weak point, Allie,” Cathy said. “He doesn’t like being reminded of what he did.”

Allison’s confusion only increased.

Huh? Why would that bother him? Why would he not like to be reminded of a crime he didn’t commit?

“Yes, he doesn’t like to be reminded of how he murdered a child,” Cathy said, really emphasizing her last word. “He doesn’t like to hear that he’s a terrible, disgusting, child murdering scumbag.”

Brian’s gaze intensified, his expression morphing into one of anger.

“Ha! Looks like the little one is all fired up,” Cathy said gleefully. “Go on, Allie, you try.”

“I don’t know, Cathy…” Allison said. Although she didn’t understand why, her instincts were screaming not to go down this road of torment. Cathy angrily sighed.

“For fuck’s sake, Allie, we finally discovered something that actually bothers the robot child murderer Brian Bentley, and now you don’t want to do it? Do you want to torture him or not?! Come on, do it, before your bullshit timer rings!” she exclaimed.

Despite her intense foreboding, Allison realized that she couldn’t afford to refuse if she was going to keep up her persona.

“Y-You heard her, little one,” she started. Brian’s gaze snapped to her direction. She felt an unbearable pressure radiating out from his miniscule green eyes.

“You’re disgusting. You murdered a child. A defenseless child,” she continued coldly.

Brian stumbled backwards, as if he had been shot.

Like a light had been switched, his intense anger morphed into a deep, refined sadness.

What the fuck is going on?

“Go on, Allie, keep going,” Cathy said feverishly, “he seems to only respond when you say it.”

No, no, no, no, no, no, this isn’t good.

“You… you’re really the worst of the worst, y-you know that?” Allison continued reluctantly. Cathy’s feverish gaze compelled her to keep going.

Whatever’s going on, he has to know that I don’t mean it, right? He has to know!

“You killed an innocent child for no reason.”

Brian closed his eyes, his face contorted into a grimace.

“That’s right,” Cathy interjected, “you killed that adorable kid for no reason, and now the whole fucking world hates you. Your own mother said she didn’t give a shit that you had been executed, did you know that? Miserable piece of shit,” she continued, the venom spilling out of her mouth. Now that she had discovered a seemingly effective method of torment, she was jumping on it.

“Alright Cathy, why don’t we try somethi-”

“Did you know that Timmy Osment’s funeral was one of the most watched television events in the last decade? Hundreds of millions of people cried because of what you did, you fucking child murderer.”

Brian continued to stand there with his eyes closed, trying and failing to take deep breaths. Allison began to internally panic as Cathy continued her sadistic rant.

“Meanwhile, you just got to sit there in prison, using up our tax money as you continued to waste oxygen. Honestly, they should have made an exception for the age requirement and shrunk you down immediately. That way we never would have had to see your disgusting face ever again. Why should you get to survive after you murdered a child?!” she continued, her voice rising in volume.

“Honestly, everybody thought that you had no emotions at all, you worthless robot. Every now and then the news would report on what you were like before you committed that horrific murder. Your mother said that you were always an expressionless freak. Turns out you’re actually quite expressive under the right circumstances, so I just have one question for you, bug,” Cathy said, before leaning in so her face was right before the helpless convict.

“Do you feel bad for what you did to Timmy? Hearing about it clearly upsets you, so does that mean you regret it? Is there any trace of a soul in that child murderer body? Are you guilty about it? Well, are you?! Are you fucking guilty?!” she shouted, the force of her voice causing Brian’s hair to flutter as Allison watched on in horror.

Brian slowly opened his eyes, his breathing having steadied. What Allison saw thoroughly disturbed her. Even Cathy seemed slightly taken aback.

Brian’s face was eerily neutral, drawing into question if he was aware of his surroundings in any capacity, let alone the fact that he was the size of a bug in the presence of two enormous women. His eyes were completely empty. What once were striking green might as well have been swirling pits of darkness.

That’s… exactly like… when we first met, Allison thought. Indeed, his expression at that moment was a perfect match for his expression when Brian had first arrived in Allison’s SPAR. Before she had known his innocence. Before she had decided to help him. Before she brought him home. Before they spent a long weekend together. Before they watched his favorite movies together. Before she had kissed him. Before she had fallen in love with him. It was as if all of their progress had been wiped away, and the charming young man named Brian that Allison was so fond of had been replaced with the infamous robot child murderer named Brian Bentley.

After a small eternity of eerie silence, Brian Bentley answered Cathy’s question, his voice neither high nor low pitched.

“No, I’m not.”

Cathy’s face darkened in anger.

“You really are cold blooded, aren’t you? You feel no guilt after murdering a child?!” she said, her voice rising near the end.

Brian Bentley did not respond.

Cathy sneered.

“Well, looks like he disassociated, Allie. That can happen if you push them too far,” she explained matter-of-factly. “That usually means it’s time to take it up a notch.”

Allison did not respond, as she was still shell-shocked by Brian’s expression.

“Let’s see…” Cathy started. “You murdered Timmy Osment by strangling him, right? How about I return the favor.”

At that, she extended her index finger forward, roughly shoving Brian Bentley onto his back. Then, she put her finger to his exposed throat, and began pressing down.

“Let’s see how you like it…” Cathy muttered, totally entranced by her sadistic actions.

She continued to increase the pressure on his neck. For a little while, Brian Bentley did not respond. He simply stared ahead, his expression unchanging. Once Cathy reached a certain point, though, his body began to react instinctively. He grasped her finger with both hands, and began to weakly flail about. Still, the pressure increased. Cathy was well beyond the point where she should have stopped if she wanted to honor Allison’s conditions, but she was too absorbed in the torture to care. Still, the pressure increased.

Allison snapped back to awareness. She heard a weak thumping sound coming from the direction of the table. Looking at the source of the noise, she saw a one-inch man, his neck pinned down by an enormous finger as he desperately thrashed around. Allison’s heart stopped as she realized what was going on.

“C-Cathy!” she shouted, before roughly grasping Cathy’s arm and tearing it away from Brian Bentley’s neck. His airway restored, he began to alternate between taking deep breaths and coughing his lungs out, his whole body exhausted from the enormous stress.

“Allie, what the fuck?!” Cathy shouted, enraged that her torture had been cut short. Allison quickly grasped her phone, before showing Cathy the screen.

“T-Time! Time is up! You promised!” she exclaimed. Indeed, the timer on her phone was reading zero. Cathy quickly turned off her anger and replaced it with a sickly-sweet pleading tone.

“Oh, come on, Allie, do we really-”

“Yes!” Allison cried, “We made a deal, and you already broke it by nearly choking my toy to death. There’s no way in hell I’m letting this continue.”

At that, she scooped up the limp man from the table and curled her fingers around him protectively. Careful not to jostle him around so much, she got up and dashed to her room. Along the way, she frantically whispered to the unseen figure enclosed in her palms.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it, I promise I didn’t mean it, please forgive me, I should have stopped her, I’m so sorry, please forgive me, I didn’t mean it…”

Soon, she found herself in her room, gently laying Brian Bentley down on her nightstand.

“I… I n-need to… get her out of here… I’ll come b-back right away,” she whispered, before sprinting back out into the hallway. She couldn’t bear to look at his face. When she returned to the living room, she saw Cathy reclined into the sofa with her legs crossed, a look of mild annoyance on her face as she drained the rest of her wine. Allison desperately tried to keep her true anger hidden, only expressing an air of annoyance that her toy was almost broken.

“I’m so~ sorry~” Cathy drawled. “I got a little carried away there, Allie. What did you think overall, though? Pretty fun session, right?”

I want to rip her face off.

“Yeah, it was pretty fun. We really, uh… got to him.”

Cathy gave a shit-eating grin.

“Told you! Anyway, now that that’s over, let’s go out to dinner! I’m famished.”

At that moment, though, Allison’s phone chimed. She looked at the screen.

About fucking time, she thought.

“We’re not going to dinner, Cathy. Your cab is here,” she said firmly.

“My… cab?” Cathy asked questioningly, her head lightly swaying.

“Yes, your cab. Remember, you asked me to call you a cab after you had your second glass of wine?” Allison continued.

“I did…?”

“You don’t remember? Yeah, you’ve definitely had enough to drink. He’s right outside, time to go,” Allison replied, before roughly grabbing Cathy by the arm and pulling her to her feet.

“But Allie, I don’t want to-”

“I know, I know, but you have to go home now, drink some water, eat some food, go to bed, all that jazz. See you later, Cathy!” Allison exclaimed, before practically shoving Cathy out the door and slamming it. She pressed her back to the door, letting out an enormous sigh as she heard Cathy drunkenly stumble away towards the waiting cab.

“Those were the longest seven minutes of my life,” she declared to the empty room. “The power of gaslighting never fails.”

If you recall, Allison had fiddled with her phone prior to the session. While under the guise of checking an email, she had actually ordered a cab through an app. She figured that Cathy would be more willing to leave if she believed that she had asked for the cab and drunkenly forgot it. Allison simply needed to do some small gaslighting, a skill that she had learned as a result of her previous relationship. As for the timer, Allison had shown Cathy the screen before she started it, letting Cathy think that the timer was then counting down from ten minutes. In reality, though, Allison had actually reset the timer, setting it to zero. That way, in case of an emergency, she could show Cathy the timer and simply claim that the time passed quickly. In a pure coincidence, these two safety precautions paid off in close proximity, and Allison had finally achieved her goal of getting Cathy out of the apartment.

The weight of the evening caught up to her at once, and Allison brought one hand to her mouth. A few tears raced down her face, before she abruptly stopped herself from giving into her sadness. She slapped her face a few times.

No, Allie, no. This isn’t about me. I need to be there for Brian, she thought. Giving herself a resolved nod, she began to walk towards the hallway. Suddenly, though, she stopped in her tracks, as if she had stepped in cement.

How am I supposed to face him? She thought. This is all my fault… What could I possibly say to fix this? 

Despite her fears and overwhelming guilt, she found the strength to continue forward. Turning down the hallway, she watched as her door got bigger and bigger in her field of view. Soon, she was standing right outside, her hand grasping the doorknob.

I’m going to make this right, she thought. No matter what, I am not going to let all this work have been for nothing.

With that declaration, she pushed forward, ready to face the innocent man within.