Birdcage Ch. 01

'Dinner' was served on a rusted metal tray, thrust under the bars. It had several different compartments, however only one had held any actual food. Even then 'food' was probably an overstatement; the brown slop tasted like it might have just been brown bread and water blended. She took one mouthful and lay the tray back down.

"You're going to want to finish that" a voice echoed out from the cell across from hers.

"If you're not going to, slide it over. Waste not want not"

The voice was female, with a European accent of some kind, although Joni couldn't tell for sure. It was melodic and kind.

"...seriously, finish it...you're here as a body and a face, and if the body starts to look like shit, they won't keep you long. You'll go to some pimp in Russia for £100. I've seen it. Eat up and look after yourself."

Joni looked down at the brown mess again, and felt pretty sure that it wasn't the hearty nutritious meal that her neighbour thought it was.

"Thank you...I'm Joni." She leaned forwards and squinted in the hopes of seeing her neighbour, making a friend or an ally here.

"Not for long pretty thing. I'm 13775. You might get another name if you get high enough up, but right now you're on level 1. You'll be a number by the morning."

Joni's head was scrambled with all of this information. She crawled forwards to sit against the cell door and pressed her face between the bars.

"You seem to know a lot...what do you mean levels?"

The girl followed her lead and moved forwards to sit at the cell doorway. They were 6 feet apart now, and Joni could just make out the small dark pixie like face opposite her. Angular features and high cheekbones.

"Well I've been up and down the levels a lot. You're level 1 but if you do well, you follow orders...you go up. There's 12. If you push back or don't make them money...you come down the levels." The pixie paused to brush her fingers through her dark matted hair, but Joni stayed silent in the hope that she'd continue to impart her secrets.

"Of course, none of that really fucking matters, because you're a virgin. I heard them saying it on the way in. At some point you'll be plucked from your cosy little cage and sold to the highest bidder. Virgins always sell."

Joni released a breath she hadn't realised she was holding and began biting the skin around fingernails.

"And what then?"

"What the fuck do you mean? Then whatever they want to do with you, you don't come back after that. If you're lucky you'll be a fucktoy for some rich pervert for a few months until you're not so pretty, and then you'll be sold back here or to a brothel. They don't let us go, we hold too much information."

"...and if I'm not lucky?"

The girl laughed, it was shrill and joyless.

"Then you'll end up on some cheap snuff website getting your brains blown out."

'No.' Joni thought to herself. 'This isn't it. I've been fucked around my whole life, I deserve a fucking break!!'

A voice in the distance interrupted her train of thought to bark out in something sounding like Russian, which Joni assumed was 'shut the fuck up'.

She didn't speak to her informant again, she sat back into the cold corner of her cell and prayed to every deity she could think of.

The next day was a blur of pampering. If pampering is what you would call plucking a chicken before putting it in the oven.

Joni was thrown in a coffin-like concrete shower and doused with cold water. A small angry man in a tunic, who didn't speak English, had stripped her of her sack and scrubbed at her with rough cloths, barking at her in a harsh language until she took the cloth herself and washed from head to toe. Joni had bitten the inside of her cheek almost to bleeding, just to stop herself telling him to go fuck himself. The next stop on her conveyor belt of humiliation was a white tiled room in which she laid on a cracked vinyl bed and was spread bare by an older woman with curling grey hair, who waxed and plucked her to within an inch of her life. She then had a haircut, her nails filed and had a full scale and polish of her pearly white teeth. Joni couldn't help but be astounded by the extensive facilities, they had really thought of everything. She had never in her life been in such grim surroundings, yet so well preened. She was dressed in a slightly cleaner looking brown sack dress, handed a pair of plain flip flops and sent on her way once more.

The final stop was a shockingly clean clinic room that reminded Joni of her dentists. A large glossy white reclined chair dominated the room, with white leather straps at ankles and wrists. Everything else in the room was shining stainless steel. A short rotund man in a white coat sat waiting for her on a stool at the side of the chair.

"Come sit." He had a kind face, and made eye contact like nobody else that day had. She felt immediately comfortable with him, which in itself made her uncomfortable.

She sat back into the chair with quiet acceptance as she had with everything else that day, and awaited her next ordeal.

"My name is Doctor J, and you are..." he paused to flick through a small Manila file he had tucked under his arm. Joni noted his American accent and squeezed her eyes shut momentarily.

"14004." He tilted his head and gave Joni a sad smile, his eyebrows knitting up in pity. His eyes darted to her cheek where Joni knew a bruise was forming from the day before.

"So my dear, my job is to keep you safe and keep our customers safe. I'll do some bloods to check for communicable diseases, although your medical record suggests you're squeaky clean...we'll start you on some hormones to prevent pregnancy, then we'll do... oh no hang on...we will briefly check your hymen is intact and we will install a very small discreet tracking system, again for your safety as much as ours." He snapped the folder shut and placed it on a tray behind him.

"Do you have any questions?"

It was the first time that Joni had been asked something. The first time that day that anyone had addressed her directly outside of barking orders.

She shook her head and looked towards her newly manicured feet. Her decision had been to stay quiet, play the game. Her conversation with her pixie friend the night before had instilled not only fear but determination. Play the game. Plan an escape. Leave. Easy in theory. Silence had served her well in the past. Let them underestimate you.

"Ok well...let's begin." The Doctor grunted.

Having bloods taken, the hormone shot, and even the small injectable tracker put into her upper arm, felt almost routine. Like being at a normal doctors; poked and prodded and wishing it would end. The doctor made occasional polite small talk, asking if she was ok with needles and squeezing her arm reassuringly once he was finished. The internal exam, although intrusive and uncomfortable, felt familiar. She'd had them before at the gynaecologist and if it wasn't for the guard stood at the open door to the clinic she could have been transported back there.

"Yes, there we go. It's partial, which you would expect at your age but it's definitely present."

The doctor sat back, took his gloves off to tick a box in her file, and Joni breathed a sign of relief that it was over.

"You done?" Joni's eyes darted up at the familiar voice to see Michael stood in the doorway. His suit replaced by a tight fitted black t-shirt and dark jeans. His smile was pulled into a grotesque sneer and Joni pulled her legs up and together instinctively.

"Yep, all finished I think. Do you need her anywhere else today?" The doctor didn't look at Michael but kept his eyes on Joni.

"We're staying here. Why don't you go take a break."

The doctor closed his eyes and sighed.

"Michael, I've got work to do, let's be done with this."

"Move. Shall I go and let Pri know you're being uncooperative again?"

Doctor J sighed once more and leaned forward to put his hand on Joni's. He nodded at her in a way that she couldn't decipher, and then he was gone.

The room felt smaller, colder, and more clinical in the doctors absence, or perhaps Michaels presence.

"Hello again little bird, did you miss me?...I have some friends today."

From the doorway behind, walked in another huge guard, they all seemed to be carbon copies of each other Joni mused. Following him was another man, much smaller. In his late forties she thought, and well-dressed in a shirt and expensive looking jeans. His eyes lit up when he saw Joni, like a child at Christmas and he fiddled his fingers together anxiously.

"Wha.." Joni started to ask, but she was cut off by Michael and the guard taking an arm each. She squealed out in surprise, trying to pull her arms back towards her chest as they buckled them outwards into the arms of the chair with ease.

"Please...stop! Don't!"

The men paid her no attention as they did the same with her legs, pulling them towards the buckles at the end of the chair. She desperately tried to kick out and writhe her body free, but the men easily overpowered her.

"Please!! What is this?"

Michael didn't reply, but commenced in slicing the front of her dress with a pair of medical scissors from the tray behind. He then cranked a handle underneath the chair which moved the arm and leg restraints outwards, until she resembled a naked snow angel on the white leather chair. She had been naked for most of the day and subjected to a series of humiliating procedures, however with Michael here she felt truly helpless for the first time.

The door to the clinic was slammed shut by the guard and the gust of wind created felt icy cold against her damp folds.

"Please don't..." Joni begged. She wasn't entirely sure what was about to happen but was quite sure she wouldn't like it.

"If you speak again, I'll strike you." Michael spoke quietly, his sardonic grin plastered on his face as usual.

"This isn't strictly procedure, so if you tell anyone about this, I will ruin your pretty little face and make sure no man will ever want to buy it."

Joni closed her eyes tightly and gulped, her throat suddenly feeling tight.

Michael ran a hand up her clammy thigh, raising goosebumps in his wake.

"Can I..touch her?" The third man spoke. Joni had forgotten he was here and her eyes snapped open again at the sound of his voice. She begged desperately in her head that michael would say no.

"Don't mark her." He warned.

Joni watched the man walk forwards and sit on a stool at her left, he clumsily rubbed his fingers up her cleft and Joni gasped loudly at the intrusion.

"Do you like that?" He spat out. Joni wanted to sob, wanted to curl into a ball and scream angry tears into her hands.

Michael leaned over Joni and held out his hand expectantly to the guard, who produced a bag from behind him. From it he unravelled a large wand massager, casually plugging it in as if it were a phone charger. She knew what it was immediately; she had watched a fair amount of porn in the past, usually whilst awkwardly masturbating with her electric toothbrush. She had seen wands used and had been desperate to try one. The irony wasn't lost on her.

The man to her left was still aggressively rubbing up and down her folds like he had never pleasured a women in his life, and despite her disgust, her body clenched instinctively. She felt his fingers start to slip through her wetness.

"Bitch is already soaked." He laughed.

"I'm sure this will do an even better job." Michael laughed with him, handing him the wand and moving away. He folded his arms and leaned back against the wall as if this was the most mundane thing.

"You've got 10 minutes, any more and they'll look for her. And you'll pay me in full as soon as we are done."

The man nodded his reply and rolled his stool closer to Joni, his hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat and a fine sheen had gathered on his top lip. Joni wanted to gag.

She pulled her knees as close as they could get together but the chair held them apart and she was helpless but to watch as he approached her with the toy. He buried it deep into her folds, and Joni writhed uncomfortably as it pressed down against her clit.

"Please...Sto..." Joni squeaked out, but the harsh whip of Michaels open hand interrupted her. He struck her firmly across the cheek, the same cheek as previously. As before her eyes watered and her ears rung, but her face throbbed more violently as he connected with her already fresh bruise.

Michael didn't make a sound, but sat slowly back into position again and smiled towards the other man. He however sat dumbstruck, as taken aback as Joni by the slap. Michael nodded for him to continue and he placed the wand back against her wetness.

Joni was still prodding the inside of her cheek with her tongue, assessing the damage, when he flipped the switch and turned on the vibration.

Joni couldn't help herself, the sensation seemed to reach down to her toes and she arched her back silently, biting her lip to keep quiet. The vibration was too intense, and bordered on painful.

"That's it..." The man egged her on.

He held the wand completely still and pressed firmly into her cleft, moving his other hand to lazily grope her left breast. Joni's breath hitched, a tension growing deep in her pelvis, as she tightened the muscles in her groin, trying desperately to stave off the pressure building there.

The man then began to flick his wrist back and forth, moving the wand gently up and down against her clit, which grew harder by the second. It would slip down and give Joni a moments rest and then flick back up again, her body bucking with each stroke.

"You're going to come for me virgin...If I could afford you...fuck. I would have you in a heart beat...break you in gently. Would you like that?" He spoke softly, his eyes fixed on the wand.

Joni choked on her breath now, the warmth deep in her growing with each stroke...along with her humiliation. The tears ran freely down the sides of her face and she could taste blood where she bit down on her lip.

She felt his hand pause for a moment and the vibration intensified, his pace quickening and his fingers tightly kneading at her nipple.

She gasped, unable to stay quiet any longer and pressed her chin to her chest, watching with glazed eyes as the toy rolled up and down her aching clit.

The room seemed to blur now, and Joni's head spun as the tightening in her loins grew to dizzy heights.

"Come on slut." The man spat out, turning his head to face her.

As she had been commanded to, the glass in Joni's head shattered and she arched up painfully, her body rocking against her orgasm. The wave hit her hard and fast, and was gone as soon as it had arrived, leaving her slumped down into the chair humiliated and spent. The tingling numbness in her pussy the only reminder of the pleasure.

She turned her head to the side and silently sobbed into the damp leather, praying desperately that the men would simply leave her there.

Joni didn't know what time it was when she found herself sat back in her cell, curled in her scratchy blanket, but the block was alive with whispers spoken through the bars, and the comings and going's of guards.

"J?" She heard a familiar voice murmur, and she recognised the pixies face framed between the bars opposite her.

"Good first day?" She laughed, clearly seeing the haunted looked on Joni's pale bruised face.

Joni didn't reply, but turned to face the side, resting her burning cheek on the cool bars behind her.

"I'm just fucking with you, I don't mean nothing by it. Are you ok?" The pixie edged closer.

"No. How could you be ok in here?" Joni scoffed. She didn't need to hold back the tears now, she had no more left to cry today.

"You know...it sounds fucked up...but you can make a life here, a good life! You play by the rules, you get to a good level...things are good then. Nice little room to call your own. Steady hours, like a normal job...I know it sounds fucked up. Or you can get really lucky and they make you a hand."

Joni turned her head now.

"A hand?.." she asked, shuffling closer.

"Yer...if you get to a certain level but you're not a big seller, they give you the option to become a hand. Then you do the dirty work, keep the slaves fed and watered and washed. You can move up the ranks though, better jobs. I mean it's the goal really, and in return for your cooperation they don't fuck with you."

Joni's couldn't comprehend how big an operation this was. How it was kept hidden from the world.

"So where are the hands?"

"You've met them. The cooks, the cleaners, the beauticians, the doctors...some of the guards, although most of them are hired guns I think..." The pixie mused to herself.

"They were all us?" Joni asked.

"Yer...but you're a pretty little thing. Sorry. You'll sell." The pixie brushed her hair behind her ears and held out her hand through the bars, as far as she could stretch.

Joni paused for a moment, confused, and then copied her, thrusting her arm through the narrow gaps until they made contact. The pixie shook her hand once.

"Marnie." She smiled.

The cell block door clattered open, and the room fell silent. Joni and Marnie's hands snapped back into their cells. A tall, thin, suited man entered, flanked by 4 guards.

"Everyone up."

The group were led in twos, down the narrow corridors. Joni had lost sight of Marnie during the rounding up, and she has been paired with a terrified looking ginger girl who never looked up from the floor. She couldn't have been more than 16 and her shock of wild red curls stood out against her ivory skin. Joni was quietly thankful of her dull brown locks and dark green eyes, at least she could hide in this crowd.

As they walked, the corridors transformed; the dusty concrete replaced by lush carpets. The plain damp walls got a lick of paint, and then as they advanced, changed to glossy expensive looking wallpaper. The people they passed transformed too, and soon the click of high heels echoed around and men in crisp white shirts and velvet jackets seemed to be littering the halls, smoking thick cigars and looking the procession up and down as they passed. After 20 minutes walking silently through changing corridors and up various staircases, Joni felt like she was in a boutique hotel. Everything was in stylish shades of grey and beige, with glass side tables and velvety lounge chairs dotted around each intersection. The ceilings were higher, and had large light panels that gave the illusion of bright warming sunlight filtering down. The doors they passed had large brass numbers adorning them and small blinking keypads at the sides. Joni again was astonished by her surroundings, and the scale of this glorified brothel.

The line slowed as they reached their destination, which seemed to be a large set of wooden double doors. They filed into a huge ballroom, decorated in deep reds and golds. It was mostly bare of furniture save for a dark wooden plinth at one end, with several oxblood leather armchairs waiting empty. It felt simultaneously seedy and luxurious. The group were lined up across the width of the room, directly across from the plinth, and Joni watched as more and more people filtered in. On the plinth stood 5 men and 2 women, chatting amongst themselves, congenially as if at a party. They were all dressed in the requisite uniform of a crisp dark suit, even the women, who towered in patent red soled shoes, shoulder to shoulder with the men. Other groups surrounded the plinth, men and women alike, similarly buoyant, and Joni watched as staff darted around with trays of champagne glasses to pass out. She spotted Michael's unnerving smile in the crowd, talking to a beautiful asian woman with a sharp black bob. The walls as always were lined with stern guards watching on.

"Sorry I'm late." A deep voice cut through the chatter of the room. A dark haired figure skipped up towards the plinth and joined the 7 there to make 8. He was a beautiful and terrifying man, was Joni's first thought. His chestnut hair matched hers, short soft waves styled back away from his face. His eyes however were an icy blue, framed by thick lashes. His jaw and cheekbones were razor sharp, and reminded Joni of a poster of an old Superman film she'd had on her wall as a child.