Page 21 of The Puppetmaster

But since you are here, I have to act on it. You don’t leave me any other choice.

I am so tempted to blurt out the truth.

“And now this?” she keeps going, only digging the hole deeper for herself. “Now you touch me, even though you claim that’s an absolute no-no while you’re on the hunt? Why? Are you just toying with me? Am I not a serious option but just a little plaything you use for your amusement, while you—”

“Shut up!”

She flinches at the volume of my voice, her lips still parted but no longer spitting words.

“You stop talking right now, little girl, or you’ll regret it,” I growl, closing in on her. She doesn’t move away, her head tilting back as her eyes stay locked on mine. “I touched you because youmademe touch you. And for that, you will be punished in due time, but not here, not now, not tonight. Understand?”

She bites her lower lip and nods. “I understand.”

“From now on, I talk and you listen,” I continue, waiting for her to nod in agreement. “I have seen and heard enough from you for tonight, but the hunt never closes on the same day. You know that, right?”

Alena looks confused for a moment, her pretty face painted in a blank expression as she subtly shakes her head. “I… I did not know that.”

“Fine, you do now. During the hunt, I only narrow it down to prospective candidates. As you may understand, I can’t test drive a couple dozen girls who all want to hang from my strings. But I know what I want, and I know how to find it.”

I pause, watching her process my words. There’s no reaction on her face that would tell me what she’s thinking, no emotion, no nonverbal clues. She just fixates on me intensely, her lips pressed together in a thin line and a subtle crease etched between her eyebrows as she waits for me to continue.

“That being said,” I go on, “I always have the same procedure, always ask my prospective girls to do the same thing if they are serious about becoming my puppets. It’s just one simple task, and whoever completes it to my satisfaction will become my next puppet. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” she replies instantly, grounded by determination. “And what task is that?”

Her lips are pressed together and her eyes glued to me as she listens intently, nodding along while I reveal what I expect of her.

Chapter 13

Alena

One thing is for certain: my life hasn’t been this nerve-racking in a very long time. It almost feels as if there were a cloak covering every aspect of my life, a cloak that protected me, that made me feel safe and sane—but it also covered the fire burning deep inside me.

I didn’t even realize it until now, as I breathe in the same air I’ve been breathing in for the past three years. A stuffy atmosphere, mixed with the occasional waft of perfume when one of the secretaries walks by or a whiff of Mr. Hammond’s overpowering aftershave.

It’s not noticeable out here in front of his office. I’m sitting with the written notice of my resignation resting in my lap as I wait for him to call me in, my tired eyes focused on the floor. I never noticed the odd pattern of the PVC floor coating in these hallways. It’s a symmetric pattern, colorful lines and shapes intertwining in a seemingly random order on top of a gray base. The pattern appears random and different on every square foot at first, but if one looks closely—and for long enough—it’s easy to tell that the pattern repeats itself, clearly showing where one floor panel ends and another begins.

I wonder what would have happened if someone didn’t pay attention to how the pattern evolves and connects at the border when they were installing the floor. Would it have gone unnoticed? Because, you know, there are people who wouldn’t see such a thing, and if they did, maybe they wouldn’t care and just leave it, hoping that their superiors wouldn’t say anything about it. There are people like that.

And then those of us who work here would have had to live with that irregularity on the floor, a blemish that was not easily fixable, so no one would do anything about it.

It would drivemenuts.

Thank God I don’t notice any such flaw within my vicinity. Soon I won’t have to care about these halls anyway because I will no longer work here. That reality is still hard to grasp.

Ever since I started working for Mr. Hammond, my life had turned into an unexciting routine, a clearly defined goal without being overly ambitious. Maybe I’d be somewhere else at this point if I had been more ambitious, if my purpose wasn’t simply to climb up the chain to the next position in this company, but to run a company of my own? Or something like that.

Would I want that? Is that something I should strive for after...?

After what? After this job? After my time as the Puppetmaster’s little toy? If he even decides to choose me. I still don’t know what his decision will be, and even if he chooses me, there’s no way of knowing how long I’ll be his and away from the world as I know it. How would I handle my disappearance? How long can I swing paying for my rent with just my savings? Puppets don’t get paid, even though they get to live in his house for free and won’t have to worry about any expenses while they are with him.

Maybe I should sublet my place? But what if he gets tired of me after just a couple of weeks? How can I sublet my apartment if I don’t have the slightest idea how long I’ll be gone?

I let out a deep sigh, sinking lower in my chair as I check the time again on my phone. Mr. Hammond is taking a phone call, or so he said, which is why he asked me to wait outside his office even though I showed up at the exact time of our appointment. I’m not even sure what to expect once he calls me in. Will he try to convince me to stay? What would it take for that to happen?

Would I be willing to give up the chance of becoming the Puppetmaster’s puppet if Mr. Hammond offered me a generous raise? Or better yet, a promotion?

I grimace at the thought of it, praying that I won’t be faced with having to make that decision. I know it should be easy. Any sane person would take the raise or promotion and not even consider giving herself to a stranger and trusting him to do whatever he pleases with her.

---