Chapter 1
(Probably)
Nicolas opened the door to the Pet shelter. He always got goosebumps from the cages filled with broken people: Pets. But this time he needed to see his friend urgently.
"Liam?" He called out.
Some of the Pets huddled towards the back of their cages, some went limp, and some didn't react.
A brown-haired man approached him with a smile.
"Hey Nick! Haven't seen you around lately. Liam's out of town but if its important, I can forward a message."
"Ben! Yeah, I've got a lot of work to do. Can you tell Liam to call me when he can?"
"Sure thing man."
The two men stopped to watch as a plumb man dragged in a small, black-haired girl on a leash. A Pet. Ben put on his customer's smile and went to greet him. Nicolas couldn't seem to take his gaze off of the girl. He'd never seen a Pet this terrified. She was shaking on her knees, staring at the ground, breath hitching.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben gesturing for him to go over.
"Hey Nick? Can you take it with you for a few days. A week or two at most. We don't have enough room for it here." Ben asked.
His cold mask was getting sloppy so he quickly agreed, not really listening, concentrating on keeping his face emotionless as they exchanged papers. He took the girl's leash from the man's chubby fingers and walked out the door, pulling her with him.
At first he almost had to drag her but after the third corner, she walked exactly one step behind him on his left hand side. Like a good Pet should.
As they arrived home, Nicolas quickly took the girl's collar off, along with the leash. Angry red marks greeted him and he fought to remain expressionless.
"My name is Nicolas. What's yours?" He asked.
"You can call me anything, Master." She whispered.
"Call me by my name." He ordered.
"Yes, Master Nicolas." She flinched.
He fished out the papers from his pocket and scanned them, looking for a name. Nope. No name.
"Alright then. I'll call you Mekra. Is that okay?"
The girl seemed to lighten as she nodded, still looking at the floor. Nico sighed. That seemed to frighten her though so he ordered her up. She was short. Like, really short, and thin. She only barely came up to his shoulders. Her black hair hung loose just below her shoulder blades in a tangled mess.
"Alright follow me, I'll show you around."
The girl obediently followed her new master around the house, nodding every time he showed her a room. Finally, they arrived at the bathroom.
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"I want you to clean yourself up. I'm going shopping so I'll be back soon." Master told his pet.
It nodded. Is this a threat? "I'll be back soon" Master had said. Master left and pet still stood there like the stupid thing it was. "Clean yourself up." Master's words echoed in its head. But- surely Master didn't mean the bathroom. But Master hadn't shown pet its place. Pet decided to risk it. It wouldn't have time to find where it can clean itself anyway and Master would be mad.
Pet turned the shower to cold, not wanting to waste Master's warm water. It hurried as much as it could, washing its hair and body with only water. After it was finished, pet looked around for something to dry itself with. Not Master's towel of course. That would result in a good beating. Finding nothing safe, pet decided to wait until it dried. It had been in a similar situation before so it can endure it again.
A knock at the door had pet leaping out, almost slipping on its wet feet, scrambling to open the door and kneel at Master's feet.
"Ah I see you washed your hair too. Good. Here, I bought you a towel. Dry yourself and meet me in the kitchen, okay?"
Why did Master ask pet? Pet nodded on instinct. Something dry landed in front of it, and it flinched away, silently cursing at itself. It was a pale red towel but it was the first thing pet has ever owned. Pet couldn't really process it. It can't own something! Its just a pet. Pets can't own anything! Master nudged the towel towards pet with his foot and pet took the towel, scrambling to dry itself as Master left.
The towel was soft. The softest thing pet has touched in a very long time. And it was pet's? Yes! No, it can't be. Its just a trick. Master wants to punish pet later for using Master's things? Pet's thoughts were interrupted by Master suddenly appearing in front of it with a big shirt. He stuffed the shirt into Pet's hands, ordering it to put it on. But pets aren't supposed to wear clothes! Especially not Master's clothes!
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The girl slowly reached out with a shaking hand.
Come on. Just take it already!
She slowly pulled it over her head, glancing up at the tall man.
"Good. I have lunch ready. Come on." He told her.
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And here is my first attempt at posting my writing lol
