Pretty Fixture (Edited)

Printer-friendly version
Pretty Fixture

My name is Anastasia Johnson, Annie for short. I was a high school Junior with 4.0+ grades and babysitting two children, twin girls, age 8 years old, the evening that this happened. Their parents arrived home earlier than usual and with them came the husband’s brother, Blake. I was rushed and as soon as they paid me, I was in my little car and on the way home.

A few days later, Mrs Edwards called me to tell me that her husband’s brother wanted me to call him, that he had a business offer for me. She knew that I was saving money for college. I did call him, and he asked if I could come to his estate golf club for a meeting. It was early June, and I would be starting my last year of High School in the fall. I could have graduated early but liked school, so I didn’t. I already had acceptance letters from lots of colleges, but wanted to stay in Stanford, California and attend their college to be close to home, at least at first.

I knew that my parents had paid to have my genetics tampered with, and only the Doctor doing the tampering knew how much he did. Both my parents were scientists, but actually knew little outside their own disciplines. Mom was a Biologist and my Father was a Theoretical Physicist. My parents could have paid my way, but I wanted to earn my own money and do it all myself. I was sort of a bookish tom boy and had no plans to even date at all as is common among ‘brainiacs’. I got a shot that shut off my ability to get pregnant, but that was just a precaution in case something happened. I’d never dressed up though did have both pants, dresses, and skirts. I hated bras for my moderately sized breasts, so just wore bralettes or self-adhesive nipple shields. I did not know that the egg that made me had been fertilized XY but was changed to XX at my parents’ wishes.

I knew that I had a tracker in me and that when I slept at night, a coil in my mattress kept it charged. Without the charging, it would work for several days. I did not know that there was a paid team that followed me and had strict instructions to never make their presence known. In the year “2525” criminality was greatly reduced but my parents did not take chances and did their best to ensure that I was protected.

I met Mister Edwards in a vacant corner of the cafeteria at the club at 2:00 PM. We chatted for a few moments and then he got right into his proposal. He knew that I was very bright and quite pretty. That day I wore an ankle length short sleeve dress. His proposal was that I be a “pretty fixture” at his club for he hoped 20 hours a week attended at my own discretion. There were no requirements that I mix with anyone, and I would use my own judgment about what I wore. The renumeration was much greater than babysitting and included a very generous clothing allowance at several prestigious stores.

I was naive when I started working for him, though I wondered if there was something I was not seeing. He was happily married with grown children and did not take advantage of the vulnerable. I did not know that he was being subtly manipulated by the original Genetic Doctor. Still a virgin, my superior intelligence excluded boys for now. Mister Edwards had informed the various stores that I would be appearing there and that they were to ‘dress me up’. I continued to live at home and deliveries for me were quickly unpacked by the maid and put away in my suite of rooms. My tomboy clothes quietly disappeared to separate storage though I would not let her throw them out.

Feeling some responsibility for my image at the club, my first day was heeled colourful platform shoes, mini skirt and crop top. I usually kept my blonde hair in a single, hip length, braid and had grown very adept at braiding it after I shampooed it. I tried to be there about 4 hours a day with my daily hours varying. Anyone who was inappropriate around me risked expulsion. The management was absolutely supportive. I liked the easy money but was clueless that others saw me as beautiful.
XXX
As my shift at the club ended, someone slipped a hallucinogen akin to Rohypnol into my glass of water and I still don’t remember anything after that. I wakened to hearing the voice of a woman from something like an ear bud in my ear. She said that if I did exactly as instructed, I would live otherwise something on my body would kill me. She didn’t elaborate except to warn me that my speaking without being prompted would cause the same thing.
I didn’t know that the Doctor that did my genetic work secretly harboured a grudge against my father and was willing to wait until he could inflict the most pain on my father. My father and I were very close, so anything happening to me would be most painful for him. Initially, he had been told not to try to contact me or I would be killed. And I was told that if I disobeyed it would lead to my death. So the vengeful Doctor had done a great deal to make our lives miserable. We had both been told early on to not involve the police. Neither of us knew if they were as ruthless as they purported to be.
Later, we would find out that the supposed explosive devices around my neck and waist were completely harmless despite the fact that the fastenings were too fiddly for me to remove alone. His plan fell apart when he was visited by the FBI and FDA for suspicion of fraudulent diagnoses and unneeded drug prescriptions, which he charged exorbitant amounts for. This was a pleasant coincidence. In their legal searches (Warranted) his plot was discovered. It took a while and in the meantime, he was arrested trying to flee the country. He was held without bail despite the impassioned testimony of his attorney.
I was nearly 30 years old by the time his trial concluded. It is common that criminal trials take years and years by the time they get through all the appeals. He was given a very long term in prison. We are watching to see if he gets out before hia term is up. The press is full of stories where criminals who were supposed to be languishing in stir, somehow got out much earlier.

We and our Attorneys are watching.

up
44 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

Please Expand

joannebarbarella's picture

Gwen, the story cries out for more detail. The bare bones are sufficiently intriguing.

Gosh, I already expanded it from 800 to 1300 words.

I'll try harder. I spent my whole working life writing technical reports... and they want brevity. OK, I'll try to be more descriptive and some such.

Not bad

I enjoyed it.

Screen Writer

Very early on in my writing, I was told that I would make a natural screen writer. I do not know what the difference is.