Shabby shrugged. “Because I told you to. You have my spit all over your face. Here’s your chance to wash it off.”
I looked down into the dirty, grey water of the bucket. “It’s cold,” I said. “I’ll be soaked.”
“You should have thought about that before attacking me.”
I lowered the bucket slightly as my arms were beginning to ache. “This is pointless,” I said. “Why do you want this?”
“You have my spit on your face,” she repeated. “You can wash it off.”
“But, not like this—”
“Listen, you idiot,” Shabby said while losing her patience. “This is how it’s going to go. Either, you do exactly as I fucking say, and follow my instructions to the letter, or, I’m not letting you out of here.” She then looked back towards the button. “Not being let out is the least of your worries, by the way, because right now, I’m thinking I’ll just let the lions deal with you. You’re so irritating, and you’re becoming nothing but a bother to me. I think it’s best I just get rid of you forever and do the world a favour. What do you say, huh?”
“Okay,” I said quietly, with the nature of her brash tone making me feel tiny and powerless. I lifted the bucket up above my head. Shabby was watching in amusement as I tilted and allowed what remained of the water to splash all over me. My hair was instantly soaked through, and my clothes were drenched. I dropped the bucket, startled by the coldness, and I shivered slightly while wiping my face. “Are you happy now?” I asked in frustration as I crossed my arms, trying to warm myself. “What was the point in that?”
Shabby snorted to herself, her eyes dancing up and down the entirety of my body as she delighted in seeing me sopping wet. She bit her tongue in the corner of her mouth, and I could tell as her eyes hovered on the bucket that she wasn’t finished with her mischief. “You know what, I have an even better idea. Place the bucket upside down,” she said, “and put it next to the bars.”
I let out a deep sigh, tired of all her shenanigans, and I lifted the bucket, before slamming it down with a loud, panging thud. Instantly, I jumped, startled as I heard one of the lions stir within the sleeping area, and I immediately regretted my outburst.
“Sounds like you’ve pissed them off,” Shabby said with a chuckle. “I’d recommend less of the theatrics going forwards.” She then adjusted her dungarees, lifting the leg of one, before she wiggled her sandaled foot through the bars. She placed it tauntingly upon the top of the bucket’s base, and I looked at her in confusion.
This time, I wasn’t compelled to grab her or anything, after it having been such a failure on the previous attempt, so I simply stared at her sandaled foot and wondered what the point of it all was.
“Kiss it,” she suddenly said, and I felt my face redden as I looked at her. She too had a bemused expression, almost as if she was embarrassed at suggesting such a thing. But, it was as if her curiosity at how far she could push me was quashing any thoughts of decency. She was simply demanding such a thing to see if I’d actually do it. “I want to see how desperate to escape you actually are.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said, but when she simply shrugged, I let out a gasp. “Please, just let me out already. You can’t keep me here all-night doing stuff like this to me.” My lips were quivering from my clothes being soaked, and I just wanted to get home, shower off and climb into my nice, warm bed. I’d already written off the rest of the night of work, and my only desire was to get as far away from Shabby as possible.
“Umm, actually, I think I can,” Shabby said with a smirk. “I imagine your stupid security guy is still sleeping off the large dosage I gave him. Did you see anyone coming to your rescue when you were screaming like a moron? No, because no one is coming to save you. It’s just you and me, and I’m intending to hold you to account for what you’ve put these animals through.”
“I haven’t put them through anything,” I said, and then I grimaced at her sandaled foot. “I certainly having subjected them to the kind of humiliation you’re inflicting on me.”
“Every day is a humiliation for these magnificent beasts,” Shabby said as the amusement drained from her. “Do you know how humiliating it must be for a lion to be locked in here? To be unable to hunt? To be fed by what it must think is a monkey?”
“As humiliating as it is for me to be locked in here by someone like you,” I said, while looking at her in utter disgust. The way she was dressed, the way she styled and carried herself. Everything about her was so annoying and all she did was irritate people like me who were just trying to get by in life.
“So, you do get it then,” she said while twisting her foot. “Kiss it.”
“I’m not kissing your stinking, disgusting foot, Shabby,” I said defiantly while right at the end of my tether. I blew some of the damp strands of hair out of my face, before I crossed my arms resolutely. “I’m soaking wet, for no reason. You’re the one that looks like you need a shower, and I’m not playing these stupid games anymore. Let me out, or there’s going to be hell to pay.”
“Kiss it,” Shabby said again, completely ignoring everything I’d just said. “Kiss it, or I’m pushing this button.”
I let out a deep sigh. “You know what?” I asked as I took a lazy step towards her. “I’m going to call your bluff on that one. I don’t believe you. You’re all talk and no substance. You’re not going to push it, because you know the trouble it’ll get you in if anything happens to me. You’ll be locked away, for years, for way longer than any of these animals you apparently care so much about. You’ll be the one pissing and shitting in a cage.” I shrugged. “So, go on, push the button. I don’t believe anymore that you have the guts to actually do it.”
Shabby’s posture straightened. “Interesting,” she said, and then she wiggled her leg back through the bars. “You want to test me, do you, bitch?” She scooted over towards the button, and gripped the key still inserted in the lock. Without even hesitating, she twisted it further; the warning light beginning to flash. She reached out and placed her finger on the button, before she looked over at me. “You realise you’re about to die in a few seconds, right? Just because you’re so full of yourself that you can’t admit when you’re beaten. You’re about to die in the worst way possible because you wouldn’t kiss my foot. You’re about to be eaten alive and the last thing you’re going to hear is me telling you that you deserve it.”
Though I was terrified, and my butt was already going through muscle spasms, I tried to put on a front and call her bluff. “I don’t believe you,” I said, my voice blatantly shaky. “I think you’re the one that’s full of it.”
Shabby cocked her head slightly, then narrowed her eyes. They almost looked sultry through the shroud of her green fringe, and despite her being a total tom-boy, there was something about her confidence that terrified me at that moment. “Let’s find out then, shall we?” she said, and then while I looked on, she hit the button without a second thought.
I almost fell over as I flinched from the loud ringing bell, and then the mechanical gate beside me whirred into life. I looked on, barely processing what I was seeing as it began to rise, and the gap beneath gradually became bigger and bigger. “What the fuck?” I called out in panic. “What the fuck have you done?”
The gate was still rising as I frantically dashed over towards her and began pulling on the bars, desperately looking for some way to escape. “Turn it off,” I said as my heart was pounding against my chest and my head was throbbing so much that I felt like I was gonna faint. “Please, turn it off.” I looked back over my shoulder as the gate continued to slowly creep up, inches at a time.
Shabby was just standing there, watching me, and whereas I was almost grief stricken by the stress I was under, she was totally cool. She didn’t seem at all bothered that I was about to be eaten alive. If anything, she seemed curious, as if she was indeed observing me in a zoo and experimenting with human behaviour.
I darted my eyes around, looking for anything to use to escape. The key and button were out of reach, and I looked over Shabby’s entire person, trying to think of anything that could help me get out, but there was nothing. I noticed the mop, and I scooped it up, leaning against the bars as I poked it through and tried to press the button with the wooden end.
Shabby snorted as I struggled, and then she easily grabbed the mop and yanked it from my grip. “Nice try,” she said with a roll of her eyes, and then she tossed the mop out of reach.
“No,” I whimpered, and I looked outside for anything else. When my eyes dropped to her sandaled feet, I knew there was only one option. One option left for my desperation, frantic self. “I’ll do it,” I said while hysterically nodding my head. “I’ll kiss your foot. I swear. I’ll do it. I swear.” I looked back again as the pressure was hitting me so hard. The more I watched the gate rising, the greater my head was beginning to throb as it all became too much. All sorts of horrific images were flashing through my head, most of which involved me being torn to pieces. I dropped to my knees, while clutching the bars of the cage. “Please,” I whimpered as the tears of panic began to flow. “I’ll do it. I’ll do it.” I looked up at her as I pleaded, and Shabby was just standing there with her arms crossed, completely emotionless, her expression not offering an hint of her thoughts. “Please,” I said a final time. “I’ll kiss your foot.” I didn’t even care that the foot belonged to Shabby, who had been irritating me for months, because all that mattered was doing what was needed to survive.
But then, her muted face shifted as the corner of her mouth curled into a smirk. She lifted her foot, then wiggled it back through the bars, placing her sandal triumphantly upon the base of the upturned bucket once more.
I looked up at her bemused. “Close the gate,” I said desperately. “I’ll do it, but close the gate.”
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