The whole time I was in the bath, Mira was mere meters away, casually watching me with an amused expression. I refused to let her presence ruin the sole mildly comforting experience I have had in this world so far, so I pretended she wasn’t there for most of my bath.

I found myself closing my eyes again when I slid the underwear up my athletic legs, still refusing to properly look… ‘down there’. I wasn’t a virgin and I had seen vaginas before – but it was different when there was one attached to you. I had a similar conundrum to a much lesser extent with my breasts, but with those I could stomach the discomfort of seeing and touching them much more easily.

After I was dressed, I turned once again to Mira. She smiled wildly and clapped her hands together like an excited child.

“Aren’t you just the cutest!” She squealed, “So much better now all that unsightly filth is off of you. Come, I’ll take you to where you’ll be staying.” I truly couldn’t understand Mira’s personality. She came across as bubbly and amicable whenever she would talk directly to me – with the exception of her using the collar to make me strip – yet when she wasn’t occupied with me, an unnatural coldness swept across her face.

My concerns seemed to become more founded when she skipped towards the looming ten metre gates at the back of the room. Despite their size, Mira was easily able to push them open, revealing an impossible large warehouse-esque room. It was filled to the brim with cages of all shapes and sizes, some empty, but most containing beasts, each more grotesque than the last.

Wolves the size of cars lay in a cage to my right. On my left sat a creature that resembled a rhino whose legs had been replaced with hulking tentacles. We walked past the cages. A caterpillar with the proportions of a bus was curled in a ball in a cage directly underneath a burly cyclops. It’s eye followed our movements as we continued deeper.

I was growing dizzy from the absurd variety of fictional and non-fictional organisms that filled the room. Not looking where I was going, I almost walked into Mira’s back when she made an abrupt stop. In front of her was a cage large barely large enough to fit a bed; like all of the other cages, a small trough was welded to its side. The cage groaned as she opened its door.

“C’mon, in ya go!” Mira cheerily said, patting the floor of the cage. My stomach dropped as the puzzle pieces which had started to accumulate in my head finally fit together. Staring at the cage, I thought back on how Mira had spoken to me over the course of the last hour. The reason why she’d been treating me like a pampered pet – because that was all she saw me as: some cute animal that she could fawn over.

My legs felt heavy as I took a step towards the cage. I fingered at the collar around my neck, the sick feeling in my stomach getting stronger. The feeling of indignity that caused me to end my last life returned with gusto. Before I somehow made my situation even worse, I collected myself and stepped into the cage.

“Now, you be a good girl and big sis Mira will make sure you get all the best treats, okay?” She looked at me like with the same warmth as when she pat my head. The expression on my face remained unchanging. Nodding stoically, I looked deeply into her eyes. The rose-tinted glasses that she had forced on me shattered, and I finally saw the truth. Unadulterated madness flickered behind a façade of kindness and joy.

I remained standing lifelessly for an unknown period of time. I didn’t react as Mira shut the cage, nor as she waved goodbye. I didn’t react when a man came and dumped a serving of what can only be described as gruel into the trough. I didn’t react when the towering bird in the cage next to mine started screaming in my direction. My mind was empty, rendered useless from the sheer shock of it all.

It was only when I heard the sound of my cage being opened that I finally stirred back to life. My emotions coalesced into a fiery rage, only made worse when the man who unlocked the cage started barking commands at me.

“You will not do anything other than follow directly behind me until we reach the prep room. You will not harm me on our way there, and you will not speak.” The collar started to burn as he turned to walk away. Realising he had one of the silver orbs, I followed after him. The slight sound of dripping blood could be heard after each step I took, my nails dug deeply into the palms of my hands – the pain of which could not compare to the outrage in my core.

The moment he closed the door of the prep room, I was completely alone. The collar became docile once again. My footsteps resounded as I marched towards the nearest wall before slamming my fist into it as hard as I could, cracking the wall and shattering my hand.

“Who the fuck do they think they are?” I screamed, pulling my fist back. It healed almost instantly, but the pain only exhilarated me further. Again, and again, I punched the wall – each time my hand became mangled. At one point the bone from my forearm stuck out, almost giving me pause, but I did not care. I soaked the flames of my wrath with the delightful fuel of my agony, making it only burn stronger.