I stared at the inside of my locker outside my college gym's changing room, pretending to try and find something, desperately hoping Marissa would walk on by me after she got done terrorizing her latest victim. She had always been a bit of a bitch, but since a couple years ago, what with her dad leaving her mom for a girl just a year older than herself, she'd gotten much worse. I almost understood, I could hear the whispers when it first happened, the pity, the small snickers directed at her. By becoming the biggest threat in the school, she'd shut everyone up pretty fast. I wish I was that bold, that confident. I was only here on scholarship, I would never have been able to afford this place otherwise. I went to public school most of my childhood, and only got into this school because I had won a dumb essay contest in middle school and got into a fancy high school with a partnership with the university.
It was a nice school, it was clean and there were no fights, per-say, and it was essentially an 8 year track from high school through college if you could pay, but I had to work so, so hard to keep up the scholarship. Overall, I didn't belong here, and people like Marissa knew that. I was only here because of a contest years ago, and even though I had gone to the same high school as these girls, they never saw me as one of them. While Marissa got whispers and hidden laughter, I got called "rat" and "charity" to my face constantly. It wasn't a welcoming environment, but if I ever wanted to move out of my parent's tiny apartment and do something with my life, it was what I had to do.
I heard the sound of something snapping, and I peeked through the slits in the locker door. Marissa was leaning into the other girl's face, a broken pen in her hand.
"If I catch you trying to talk shit about me again, I will snap your fucking finger like I snapped this pen, do you understand?"
The girl nodded quickly, her eyes wide. I shuddered. Marissa would do it, too. She had already been caught putting glue in a girl's hair, pushing one down a flight of stairs, and another time she was found to have been making a classmate eat erasers to "clean her name off the bitches' tongue". And that was just since starting college. She was almost untouchable. The only thing she got in trouble for was the glue, and the school just called it "a prank taken too far". The stairs was explained away as her tripping by mistake, knocking into the other girl, and the erasers were "non toxic" and the girl "ate them herself" so there was no crime done, according to Marissa's family lawyer.
In my mind, I'd thought Marissa would level out after she got into college, away from all the high school drama, the petty stuff. After all, they always said "high school is nothing like the real world", but to Marissa, it didn't matter. With her money and influence over the school from her family, she could treat college as just another 4 years of high school, and once she graduated and joined her mother's tech company, I had little doubt that she'd just keep being herself there, too.
She pushed the other girl into the lockers, making them clang, and turned to walk away. I looked at her, our eyes meeting for a second. Her round face drawn in with her half lidded sneer, a look she almost always had, a look that said "you're not worth my time" without as many words. Her brown hair framed that cruel expression with a wave of layered curls, accenting her green eyes and making her look like a princess or dutchess who had just seen something disdainful. My throat closed, and I felt myself shrink back.
"What's wrong, Rat? You want me to give you attention too?" She said, her voice low and dangerous.
I smiled, trying to fake a kindness I didn't feel and I forced a laugh. "Oh, no, I was just getting my gym clothes, I'll be going now!"
I grabbed the clothes on top of the pile and walked away, my heart pounding. The other girl glared at me, angrily. I had abandoned her, and I knew it, but I couldn't have done anything anyway, and it's not like I could make any new friends at this point anyway...
I changed quickly and sent a text to my only friend in school, a girl named Henrietta who was here from Germany. Her family owned a company that sold blood around the world, and the other girls had taken to making fun of her accent, and calling her "Frau Bludsauger" as a reference to her family's business. The mutual bullying and ostracization we experienced drew us together, making me one of her only friends as well.
'Hey gril, srry im late, had a lady m sitch, omw in'
The reply was instantaneous
'Oh gods, are you ok?'
I shot back a confirmation I was, and headed into the gym proper. It was a good gym, it had rows of equipment, mostly focused on cardio, but there was some basic weight equipment as well, for toning and staying trim. Henri and I though, we stuck to the cardio. I jogged over to her sitting on a weight bench and gave her a quick hug.
"Hey girl, ready to pump it up?" I asked, cheerfully, trying to ignore the shakiness I'd felt from dealing with Marissa just a moment before.
"Ha, ja, of course. But are you really ok, Amber?" She asked, her german accent still slipping in despite years of trying to hide it.
I nodded and climbed onto a treadmill.
"It's ok, it wasn't me she was targeting, it was another girl, the one who's dad owns the bank on West Main? I don't know her name. I was just caught in the crossfire."
"Ok, sweet thing, if you say so, let's get pumped up then!"
She stepped onto the machine next to me and we started off, matching each other's pace. We had an unspoken contest going, to see who could out pace and outlast the other each time. If I raised the speed on my treadmill, she'd bump up hers, if she raised her incline, I'd do mine too. Last woman standing won, and the looser had to buy the winner a smoothie. We never had actually said it out loud, but it was still our thing, and we never started without the other.
I flicked on the TV in front of us as we ran, and watched the news as I jogged, focusing on the reports of local crime, the stocks, the upcoming election, and apparently the spread of the compression energy particles to our town. They had gotten into the water supply in a small Russian town years ago from a lab catastrophe, and had been spreading ever since. They only affected about 1-3% of the population, but if you had the genetic mutation that allowed them to 'latch on' to your body mass as an energy source, it'd eat you away until you were out of usable genetic material. For some people that meant they'd lose an arm or a head, or have lopsided, twisted bodies. For others, they'd just get smaller. In some cases, it'd cause a catalyst trigger that could compress you and your surroundings all at once as the particles 'ate' all the mass around the victim, burning through their body quickly. It was dangerous, and people died a lot because of it.
If they were in our town's water supply already... That could be... fun. I fantasized about Marissa getting infected, and losing chunks of her body, or better yet, loosing so much mass that she wasn't considered human anymore... It was rare, it only happened to about 1/5 of the affected, but if you lost more than 90% of your body mass, the government considered you a "class B citizen", so if you died accidentally or if your family couldn't take care of you, there wouldn't be any legal repercussions. It was the result of a big lawsuit that happened when a powerful business owner accidentally killed his wife after she was infected, and his legal team got creative with the manslaughter charges.
If you were killed outright, the law would get involved, but it was basically the same as killing an animal at that point. If she was a class B citizen, and I found her... I could do whatever I wanted with her, she'd lose her power, I'd be the school hero, even. I shivered at the idea in excitement, maybe she'd even just... disappear... plenty of the 1-3% had "ideal compression makeup" and just compressed away into nothing, their entire body just vanishing into particles of compression energy.
"Uhm, darling?" Henri's voice jolted me out of my fantasy. "You've been... in the clouds for quite a while, what is up?"
I grinned, sheepishly. "Well, I was just imagining if Marissa was a genetic match for the compression particles, and... how things would change for us if she was..."
Henri's eyes widened. "Ohhh no, no, no, do NOT wish evil on someone, Amber, even if it is her, and please do not say such things out loud! It is far too dangerous..."
"Well, it's not EVIL, per say, it happens to a lot of people..."
"It is pretty evil... It is like saying... You wish her to get cancer, it's not even as common as that, and it can be much much worse..."
I blushed and nodded, feeling icky inside. "Oh, yeah... When you put it like that... My grandfather died of cancer, I hadn't thought of it like that, I guess."
"Ja, well, I understand you're just feeling hurt, we will ignore it from now. But now... I think it is time for smoothies, do you agree?"
I glanced down at my machine and realize I had been running at the base setting for the full session. I looked over at Henri's, and saw she was jogging along at quite a brisk pace. I sighed.
"Yeah, ok. I'll buy today, my treat."
She clapped in victory as we turned off our treadmills and headed to the showers.
"I think I will get... blueberry and banana today!" She thought out loud, in a teasing voice "I really earned the extra sugar today!"
I smiled lightly, the mild ribbing was nice, it made me feel closer to her, like we really could trust each other against the world.
~~~
I walked into my apartment, and found my parents sitting on the sofa watching the news. My mother looked over at me and pointed over at the TV.
"Yeah, I was talking about it with Henri, it's kinda scary, but interesting, too, isn't it? We could lose neighbors and stuff..."
My dad cut in "Well, I'm just saying, we need to be proactive about this, I heard you can turn in class Bs to the government for a lot of money, if we can find one... Just keep an eye out at school, ok?"
"Oh, uhh, ok Appa, sure." I said. I highly doubted I'd actually sell any I found, if I found one... I was keeping them. Even if it wasn't Marissa, the status bump, the class of having your own class B... I'd be upgraded from "Rat" to Amber in no time. My dad could get over it. I fixed myself a plate of rice and mandu in the kitchen, and headed upstairs to study.
I munched on the dumplings, the crunchy veggies mixing with the soft tofu and mushrooms and doughy outside to make a delicious, healthy snack. I appreciated my parents being willing to make concessions to my diet, even if they weren't vegetarians themselves, they still made an effort to cook the same meals they always had, but without meat, just for me. My parents were a bit rough and a bit pushy when it came to my studies, but they made sure I had what I needed to succeed. My studies were going pretty well tonight, I had made very decent progress on my paper for my world religions class, and I think my flash card drills were starting to stick for my physics test next weekend.
I finished my dinner and cracked open a sparking water. It was a low chance that'd I'd catch the compression particles, but from now on, canned or bottled water only, just to be safe. I switched off my computer and flopped down on my bed, scrolling my phone and watching old black and white shows until I fell asleep. Tomorrow, I would be on the hunt for anyone effected with the virus, but for now, I just wanted to be cozy.
~~~
With a cold chill, I looked around. Most of my bed was laying on the floor, and around me was towering massive chunks of dust, giant socks, random junk, and a storage container. I looked up, and saw the ceiling miles above me, fading into a fog and I choked out a scream. I had caught the compression virus... and it had taken most of my bed with me, I must have had a lot of usable genetic material. But how? I didn't even drink the water...
I looked back at my phone and went to go text Henri, and then I remembered... The showers, at school... I moaned, and flopped back onto what was left of my bed, looking at the jagged, half eaten bed frame towering around me. I needed help, and I needed it soon. I wasn't feeling sick or tingly, so I was guessing the infection had run its course, but I had to know if my parents were ok, or if they had gotten away unscathed. I sent my mom a message quickly.
'mom, plz help, i got infected, I need you to help me, I am in what's left of my bed, be careful'
After that, I sent one to Henri as well.
'omg, grl, I got the virus, I am so small, I need u to come over rn, emergency'
I lay back down and waited. If my parents were ok, they'd be here any minute. If not, I'd need to start the long trek to their room to check on them... After a few seconds, my bedroom door burst open, and my mom was suddenly standing in the doorway with a bathrobe over her pajamas. She looked around the room, her gaze falling on me after a second of looking, and her face crumpled into tears. She fell to her knees, wailing with sobs that I swear must have woken the neighbors.
"Oh gods, oh my dear daughter, why? Why could this happen?"
She moaned, tears pouring out of her face. My dad walked up behind her, looking confused. He saw me though, after a moment, in the wreckage of my bed, and his face fell too, folding up as he knelt next to my mom, hugging her. He didn't cry, he was too stoic for that, but I could see his heart breaking as he rubbed her back.
I shifted in my bed, looking around awkwardly. I wasn't dead, I was just small... I could still be their daughter, I might even be able to have a job, right? By my estimate, I had lost... a lot more than 90% of my height. 90% would put me at about 7 inches, and I was about half that, maybe a little more if my measure against the 'special toy' I kept under my bed was any indication. I flush red, oh god, my parents were going to see my special toy, uuugh... This just keeps getting worse... I felt a jolt, and looked up to see my mother, tears still pouring, holding me carefully in her hands, bed and all. I wave at her, and smile nervously.
"Hey, mom... I'm still ok, I'm just, you know, smaller! It's ok, no problem, swear to god, you'll hardly notice I got smaller, I-"
Her renewed crying cut me off.
"I can barely understand you... My own daughter, I can't even hear her..."
"W-well, mom, you know you need hearing aids, we've been saying that for ages, and-"
She kept crying, and carried me downstairs, ignoring my words. Dad followed behind, solemn and quiet. She set me on the kitchen table, and patted my head, her giant finger pressing just a bit too hard into my head. I shiver, I was so fragile now... I could be smashed flat by complete accident, or injured by a 1 foot drop. Chills go through me as I process it. I was... Stuck like this... I wasn't a human, I was a class B citizen, I was just and object, a thing to be-
My phone pinged, and I checked it automatically. It was a message from Henri.
'Holy no! Oh darling sweetie baby I will help you, I promise... You are my precious friend, no matter what. How did it work? Are you missing body parts?'
I smiled sadly, and texted back
'no, im in one piece, it was a stable infection, im just small, about like, 4 inches ig? I'm deff a class B now fr'
'Oh no... I am going to help, please be safe.'
I look up from my phone and see my father on the home phone, nodding to the receiver.
"Yes, that's right, the whole bed.... I don't know, hand sized? About as long as my palm... Ok, I understand... Yes, of course. I'll see you then."
He hung up and looked at my mother sadly.
"They say she needs to be registered as a class B so she can be insured and legally protected, otherwise, she could be taken or hurt by anyone, with no recourse available... They'll be here soon to do it, we should... Get dressed..."
My mother nodded, and walked to her room sniffling and rubbing her eyes. My father looked down at me with a great sadness on his face.
"I am so sorry this happened to you, Kkoma... I hope you know we still love you, I wish I knew what we could do, but I don't know what the future looks like right now..."
He leaned in and carefully kissed the top of my head like he did when I was little. Or, younger, at least.
"I love you, darling, and we want the best for you, ok?"
I smiled back up at him.
"Ok, Appa, I love you too... Henri is coming over, I think, she said she'd be able to help?"
He nodded and gave a small smile. "I think that she would do anything to help you, Amber, I hope she can..."
He left me on the counter and went to his room to get dressed as well. Maybe I should get dressed, if I'm going to be registered, I want to look nice, right? I thought about my outfit, and then realized that none of my clothes could fit me anymore. All my nice dresses, my band tees, my cozy sweaters... Oh GODS, my boots... I'd never wear them again. I moan and flop backwards onto the pillow. This really was the worst... I'd have to get custom everything, clothes, shoes, even makeup. I couldn't afford all that... I wondered if there was a common doll about my size, maybe I could borrow clothes from one of them? I did some googling. It looked like some of barbie's little sister's clothes might fit, but most dolls my size wore plastic clothes, or didn't have replaceable clothes at all...
A knock on the door made me look up from my phone. Henri? My dad rushed out of the bedroom pulling on his tie and swung open the door. A tall man in a green uniform stood in front of him. Not Henri... He looked my dad up and down.
"Mr Park?"
My father nodded.
"Very good, where is the infected individual?"
"Ah, she's on the counter... in here..." He led the man into the kitchen and pointed at me. The man sat at the counter and pulled out a tablet.
"You are... Miss Amber Park, correct?"
"Yeah, that's me..." I replied, tucking my phone into my waistband.
"You're 20 years old?"
"Well, 21 in a month, but... yeah..."
"Ok, so of legal age... And your social security number?"
He asked me question after question, measuring me, waving a scanner over me, filling in boxes on his tablet, his face expressionless. My mother joined us after a while, and her and my father stood in silence as the man grilled me. Once he was done, he set the tablet down and looked at me.
"Miss Park, I have determined that you have lost about 94% of your mass, and therefore have been classified as a class B citizen. From this moment on, you will require guardianship of a qualified individual, and do not have rights such as voting, driving, or owning property."
My father cleared his throat. "Ah, sir, we are her guardians, we'll be taking care of her from now on, of course."
The man coldly looked at my father, pulling out paperwork from his jacket. "She is of adult age, so your guardianship does not apply."
"Well, we'll be taking guardianship, then..."
"Then I take it you've passed the class B citizen care and treatment test? And you have the money to pay the processing fees for the transfer, insurance, and required care items for her?"
My fathers eyes widened. "Ah, I can... I can get the license, and I'll pay whatever I need, I just need to get to the bank to get a loan, and-"
"Mr Park, it takes 12 hours at least to be qualified for ownership and guardianship of a class B, and the fees, insurance, and required deposits total about $25,000. I doubt a bank would give you a loan for that amount on short notice, so I recommend looking for other methods of getting the money. I would also advise you to move quickly. The government will, of course, give you a $10,000 finders fee, you can put that towards the $25,000 total... Now if you'll excuse me, I have to bring her to the station to be tagged and processed."
He snapped a glove onto his hand and picked me up off the bed, dropping me in a small mesh bag. I screamed, I was being taken away from my parents? This was unfair, unthinkable, the horror of my situation set in, I was being tagged? Processed? Put up for SALE? I claw against the mesh, trying to get free, trying to get my parents to grab me, to save me, please, please...
The door swung open, and a very red faced, very out of breath Henri ran in.
"Wait! Please!" She wheezed. I hadn't seen her this winded in... ever, even at the gym. She must have ran all the way here...
The man looked at her and pursed his lips.
"And you are?..."
"Her... Her best friend, I want to help, let me help..."
My father's eyes lit up "Yes! Henri, you can help! You have money, you can pay the $15,000! We can get her back!"
"Oh, oh my..." She said. "I have... $6000, is that not enough?..."
The man shook his head "No, you are still $9000 short, and you'd still need the license, too. And before all that, I need to process and tag her. Good day."
He turned and stepped quickly out of the doorway, my bag swinging wildly in his hand. I heard my mother start wailing again, and I heard Henri start to comfort her.
"No, it is fine, we will do a crowd fund! We will get the money very fast, it's ok, you'll-"
The door slammed, and cut them off. I fell back into the mesh and cried, feeling like the world was slipping away from me.
~~~
I sat in the plexiglass box, shivering. I was still only in my pajamas; a pair of shorts and a big t-shirt, and the 'blanket' they had provided for me was nothing more than a microfiber cloth that my hair got caught in and that pulled at my skin uncomfortably. I reached down and twisted the ankle bracelet with the tracker in it around, trying to get used to the feeling of it on my leg, but it was just slightly too big and too clunky to be a fashion accessory. I understood, of course. Class Bs were as small as a half inch, and as tall as 7-8 inches, usually. The tags needed to be "one size fits a range". But... I seemed to be on the small side of this range, and the chunky piece of plastic on my leg was getting frustrating.
I had been processed hours ago, and I had been on display in this high end boutique for about 6 hours. It was the only place in town that was licensed in the maintenance, sale of, and care for class Bs. That said, I was the only one here, and I would be surprised if they had ever seen someone come through here before like me... I stood up and walked around the container. It was clean, and spotless, with a small "bed" and opaque area for using the bathroom, but it was far too small to be an apartment, even a studio. I hoped that my parents didn't keep me in here when they got me back. I'd love to live in my old dollhouse, actually, I think I still had it, in the back of my closet somewhere...
The door dinged open, and Henri walked into the shop, looking around before seeing me in the display case. She walked over to the clerk, and spoke for a few minutes before stepping over to me. The clerk pulled my little plastic container out of the case, and set it on the counter, leaving his hand on top of it as Henri leaned in to speak to me, her blonde hair and blue eyes filling the wall of the container.
"Amber! Your father applied for the license, and I've started a crowd fund! See? Here is what it looks like!"
Her voice was muffled, but I could still hear her, and I leaned in to see her phone screen as she held it up to the plastic. It was a crowdfunding campaign for $10,000, and it looked like about $3000 of it had been funded already. Maybe I wouldn't be here long after all, then...
"See?" She said, pointing to the numbers "I shared it all over the internet, and people are helping you! We got over $3000 in just a few hours, at this rate, we'll have the money by the time the shop opens tomorrow!"
"That's wonderful, Henri, thank you so much!" I yell, trying to be heard through the glass. She looked at me for a second, and nodded.
"Well, I can't hear you, love, but... I think you're saying you're happy!"
I nodded, and made a heart with my hands. She smiled, and made one back. She snapped a picture of me with her phone and showed it to me.
"This is ok? I want a picture of you to put on the page so people will donate more!"
The picture was... Not flattering. My hair was a mess and I was still in pajamas from last night, but... If it helped. I gave her a thumbs up.
"Well, kleine fee, I will see you on tomorrow! I will go and spread the word and get you lots more help! Please, sleep well, and I will do my best!"
I waved goodbye to her as the clerk put me back in the display case, and sat down on my bed. I wasn't really tired, but I was bored and I felt drained. If I was home I'd turn on something old and simple to watch, maybe I Dream of Jeannie, or The Dick Van Dyke show, but here, all there was to watch was the clerk as he cleaned up the store, locking up, and turning out the lights. I stared out the store window at the empty street through three layers of plastic or glass, and wondered if my parents would be able to make mandu for my size, or if I'd just have to eat massive dumplings instead... I lay down and tried and get comfortable on the mattress they gave me. I wish they'd just have let me keep what was left of my bed... I pulled out my phone and checked the battery. 46%... Wireless charging should still work, so that's not a problem, but... I didn't have a wireless charger on me, obviously. I sent goodnight texts to my mom and dad, and a thank you message to Henri, then powered it off for the night. I rolled over, and tried to get to sleep.
~~~
I awoke to the sound of thumping in the room, and I looked around to see the same clerk unlocking the shop, tallying the register, pulling out display jewelry, and preparing for the day. I popped my back and leaned against the wall, powering on my phone. 40%... how did it lose 5% while powered fully off?... Anyway, I checked my messages. A heart from my mother, of course. My father had sent a picture of the certificate of guardianship approval for a class B, and my heart soared, thank goodness... Henri had let me know that they had hit the $10,000 goal, and that they were waiting on the money to transfer to the account, then they'd go to the bank at 9:00 and let them know to expect a big transaction so the account wouldn't be locked, then they'd come right over. I looked at the time. 9:05, so... they should be here within twenty or thirty minutes, what a relief...
I powered my phone off again, and did my best to fold up the microfiber cloth and put it on my bed. I caught my reflection on the wall and ran my fingers through my hair to smooth it out, but it was still frazzled and static-y from the microfiber. I paced my little chamber, glancing at the door every so often to see if I could see them yet, but nothing so far. I took a breath, and focused on my breathing, trying to calm down, then, the door jingled. I spun around, looking for them, but my heart stopped instantly as soon as I turned. I whipped out my phone and started powering it up, shaking like a leaf. It couldn't be, it was just a coincidence, right?
Marissa stood there, a few feet away, looking at her phone, scanning the room. Suddenly, she saw me, and her eyes flicked back and forth from her phone to me a couple times, before she slipped it into her purse, and walked up to the counter. My heart had started again and it was thrumming in my chest like a rainstorm. My phone finally turned on, and my fingers flew as I texted Henri
'GET HERE NOW EMERGENCY'
A second passed, and then her response popped up
'On our way. What happened?'
'shes here shes trying to get me please get here please'
'Who is?'
Then after a second, she understood.
'Oh, oh gods, please be calm kleine fee, I am coming fast. the counter man said he would hold you'
I stared up at the two giants above me. The clerk was shaking his head, and pointing at me, and Marissa was staring at him with her half lidded stare, showing him a document and her credit card. He shook his head again, and pointed to me one more time. She stared at him for a moment, then pulled off her jacket, and tossed it on the counter, on top of her purse. From under the glass, I could see her sliding out a stack of money from her purse. She grabbed the young man's hand and slid it under the coat, pushing the stack of money into his hand. He froze. Then he looked at me. Then back to her, and nodded, and slid the money off the counter and into his pocket out of view of the cameras. I screamed and fell to my knees, this wasn't fair, this was cheating, this was my life he was bartering away. I banged on the sides of my plexiglass, screaming that my family would pay double if he'd only wait, but my voice wasn't reaching.
Marissa signed the paperwork quickly, and filled out some sort of order sheet, checking boxes down the line in rapid succession as she tapped her foot on the floor, looking bored. She handed over her card and he swiped it. A second later, she pulled out her phone, tapped away for a moment, and then nodded at him. He swiped again, and the green checkmark popped up on the screen. Even rich people could get transaction alerts, it seemed...
He pointed at me, then at the list, and she shook her head, pointing at the door. I didn't know what they were discussing, but I didn't care. I felt sick, I gagged, and I slid to my knees in the enclosure. This couldn't be real, right? No one could be this cruel... She had to know it was me, she must have seen the crowd funding link and rushed here to snag me up early. I curled up into a ball as the man opened the display case and pulled out my tiny prison by the handle, passing it over the counter to her.
"Well, I don't feel great about this, but if she's that important to you, I'm sure the family will understand." I heard him say.
She ignored him.
"You said around three, right?"
I nod, and rush out the door.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, should be about then, yes."
"Ok, tell them to bring it all up when they get there, our man will show them the way."
She grabbed my case, and without looking at me, turned, and walked out of the building. I gagged again, the little room shaking and rocking not helping my feeling of sickness. Marissa turned the corner to where her car was still idling, and came face to face with Henri and my parents. Henri looked at me with a mixture of horror and disbelief, her face going white, her eyes wide, the paleness making her look like a ghost, even in the sunlight. Marissa flexed the hand holding me slightly and I stood up and slammed against the wall.
"Drew, home." She said, calmly. The driver nodded, and pulled off. I lay in the seat, shaking. I had just lost my whole family, I had just been sold to the worst person I knew, I wasn't a human anymore, just a glorified lap dog for this stuck up violent rich kid. I lay unmoving, letting the chills of despair and realization wash over me. I heard a buzzing and I jumped. It was coming from her pocket, she dug out her phone and checked the screen. She sighed and answered.
"Hello, mother....
"Yes, that was me.
"...
"No, mother, it's my money, I can do-
"Ok.
"Right. Yes.
"I bought a new pet. A class B.
"I told you this spring, mother, when I got my license.
"...Ok, yes. No, it should be reasonable after this, it's just a one time cost.
"Yes, mother, very trendy. Every girl in school will be jealous of me.
"No, a girl. Someone I knew from school.
"...A bit, yes. She's too small to tell, now, though.
"Ok, mother, I'll do that. You'll be back next Friday, not this coming one, right?
"Ok, I'll see you then."
She hung up and shoved her phone under her leg. A 'new pet'... She really did see me as less than human... Her eyes flicked to me for a split second, and I saw the hint of a smile flicker across her resting bitch face, and I felt cold.
She faced forward, and didn't speak or look at me for the rest of the ride.