"All right, I'll accept that for now," he replied. "Besides, you do look good in those boots, don't you?" Then, before I could do or say anything, he reached down and picked me up.The first thing I did was kick off those uncomfortable shoes and yank off the ridiculous miniskirt, tossing them aside like the useless things they were. I took a moment to glance at the rest of the Barbie clothes, but they all looked similarly uncomfortable, so I resolved to only wear them when Irwin forced me to.
That of course left only one thing I could use, so I pulled the leotard back on. It wasn't that bad, actually, without the bustier squeezing me all the time, and while it was less than I preferred to wear, it was at least functional.
The main problem was my feet. At ten inches high, a surface that would normally seem smooth was actually rather gritty. I knew if I walked around for long, I'd tear up my feet in no time. The plastic Barbie shoes were of course hopeless, so that left only the thigh boots that came with the casino uniform.
I looked at them dubiously, my toes still hurting from having to walk around in them for the last couple of hours, and the thought of putting them back on made me cringe. However, as I turned them over in my hands, I noticed that the soles were made of soft leather, so they looked like they might be reasonably flexible. That gave me an idea. I picked one of them up, pressed its back end against the table, and kicked downward hard. The thin stiletto heel gave a satisfying pop and bounced away, rolling off the edge of the table and dropping out of sight. I wasn't sorry to see that exquisite instrument of torture go, either.
I did the same with the other one, happy to get my revenge on those annoying heels at last. A small section remained, probably held on by nails or unusually strong glue, and this made the soles uneven, but I slipped the boots back on anyway. They were much more comfortable now, although not perfectly so, since they'd been designed with a high arch in mind. Still, they were better than anything else I had available.
I walked along the tabletop, trying to see exactly how it was I could explore this place without being able to get to the floor. Irwin didn't expect me to jump, did he? No, as it turned out, there was a custom-built ladder attached to the nearby wall. I easily stepped over to it and easily lowered myself to the floor.
Now I felt REALLY small! I'd experienced being on floor level back in the roulette training room, but that was a limited circumstance. Now, I was in a real, normal-sized basement, surrounded by giant furniture made for someone six times larger than myself.
I walked out onto the floor. From here, I could see that there were actually little doll-sized ladders leading up onto nearly everything. My captor had planned ahead very well. I could make my way onto the billiards table, reclining chair, computer desk, or any of the other places I might want to go without any trouble.
None of these things interested me at the moment, though. I was thinking only of escape. I headed over to the nearest wall and walked along, looking for cracks or weaknesses I could exploit, but of course there was nothing. I was in a basement, after all, and one that had apparently been well sealed.
On either side, though, I saw that up near the ceiling there were small windows set at ground level. Those were my most likely ticket out, despite the fact that they appeared to be barred. Unfortunately, climbing up the slick paneling would be difficult if not impossible, and it certainly wasn't something I could try with Irwin still in the house. I needed to wait until he left, and couldn't walk in on me suddenly. I was sure if he caught me, I'd be punished somehow, and worse than just having to disrobe in front of him.
I explored the rest of the basement for a while. In the back of my mind there still existed the faint hope that Mark might show up to rescue me, but that was rapidly fading. It had already been at least an hour, and surely he would have shown by now. No, I was probably going to be on my own for this one. My only hope lay in getting out of here and finding someone else to help me.
Eventually, I'd gone over the entire floor level of the basement without finding anything hopeful. There were, however, two doors that were securely padlocked. One of these probably led to the water heater, the other to a utility room, if I remembered the typical house layout. Therein lay a possibility, I thought. Clothes dryers had a vent to the outside, didn't they? Of course, I had to find a way to not only climb up to a doorknob four times higher than I could reach, but open a lock for which I didn't have the key.
Too bad it wasn't a combination lock, I grumbled. I'd have eventually figured one of those out. Still, I knew something about lockpicking, so if I could find a small piece of metal or something, I might be able to get through the door, assuming I could find a way up there.
I started scouring the floor, looking for something that could help me, but the place was pretty clean. My captor had done a good job of preparing this prison, and seemed to have left nothing to chance. And make no mistake about it, this was a prison. No matter what Irwin had done to pretty it up, or how much he thought it would be a home for me, I would always think of it as a gigantic cage.
I still wasn't done exploring, since I hadn't gone anywhere but floor level. First, I tried going up the stairs, which actually wasn't as hard as you might think. Sure, they were about as high as I was, but at my smaller size, I could jump a lot higher than you realize. Taking a couple of steps forward, it was easy just to vault up onto the next stair, landing on my feet. See, while my height was one-sixth normal, my mass was one-sixth cubed, so my muscles were able to overcome gravity a lot more easily. In fact, I wondered why I couldn't leap even higher.
Even so, the trip to the top of the stairs was useless. I was way too big to fit under the door, and even if I could have reached the knob, the lock I'd heard click into place was on the other side. There was no getting out this way.
Another thought occurred to me. Sometimes things are stored behind basement stairs, so I went back down to see if I could find anything useful. Irwin had parked an exercise bike back there, but it was dusty, and I saw a couple of cobwebs as well. That made me retreat quickly. So far, the thought of meeting a giant insect or arachnid hadn't crossed my mind, but now it did, and I didn't like that idea at all. Hopefully, my captor would make sure he kept the bugs out of my prison for me. I was his precious pet, after all!
I'd have to deal with that if I escaped, though. Outside, I'd be sure to meet giant vermin, like Tiffany had in the babysitter movie. I made a mental note to make sure I fashioned some kind of weapon to take along, assuming I could find anything like that before I left.
I went back into the main part of the basement and started checking out the furniture. The table I'd come in on was mounted so that I could easily reach and pull out any of a number of books, which covered just about all possible interests. Classics of literature sat side by side with science fiction novels, poetry collections, and history texts. It looked like Irwin had tried to cover all the bases, to make sure there'd be something here I'd enjoy.
Hmm...well, if I had to take my pick, I'd go for the Count of Monte Cristo. At least it had an escape theme, I told myself.
I climbed down from there and visited the rest of the room. The billiards table was just what it appeared to be, and once I was up there among the huge balls and cue stick, I wondered just why this was here. I was way too small to enjoy the game myself. Did he expect me to stand on the table while he played? I thought of that massive cue ball heading my way, or being on the table during a "break," and shuddered.
From there I moved on to the giant reclining chair. The ladder leading up to this was made of tied strands of twine, and I found out why almost immediately. The chair was of the rocking type, sitting on a rotating wheel of some kind, and even my weight caused it to shift slightly as I climbed. If Irwin was seated in the chair, moving it around at all, the rope ladder would be the safest way to ascend.
Once I got up there, I found it was actually pretty comfortable. The surface was very plush and soft, even for me, and the remote control for the entertainment center was waiting in the middle of the seat. I played around with it for a bit, and found that the television had the full range of digisat channels, almost a thousand of them. And, because this was one of the larger flatscreens, I could break it up into multiple images at once. Why I would want to, though, I don't know. That was generally used for sports viewing, and I really didn't go for that stuff much.
Well, maybe being trapped in here for a while would make me try some new things, I thought grimly.
While I was standing on the chair flipping channels, the door opened and I heard Irwin's footsteps coming down the stairs. I was seized with an urgent impulse to run and hide, but of course that would be useless. He'd find me eventually, and I didn't want to upset him too much. I much preferred him when he wasn't angry, and of course, I had no intention of finding out what a real punishment would be like. Taking off my clothes in front of him had been bad enough, thank you very much!
Since the TV was on, he went right to where I was. "Ah," he said with a smile, "I see you're already making yourself comfortable, Ashley. Good for you."
"I'm all right," I admitted, looking up at him. He was just so damn huge! Every time I saw a normal-sized person from my vantage point, there was always that stab of fear as I remembered just how tiny I was. I was getting used to being small, but I was sure that feeling would never go away.
"I see you changed out of your dress," he said, looking disappointed.
"Sorry," I replied. "It was just too uncomfortable. And I couldn't walk in those shoes!"
"All right, I'll accept that for now," he replied. "Besides, you do look good in those boots, don't you?" Then, before I could do or say anything, he reached down and picked me up.
I gasped, but managed to avoid screaming. He was, as usual, gentle and careful about lifting me up into the air. He looked at me for a moment as I struggled involuntarily, then smiled when I stopped and pretended to accept my fate. Then, he took the remote in his other hand, sat down on the chair, and set me down on the armrest. "Here, I'll watch the evening news with you," he told me. "Then I have to get some sleep. I have a long day of work tomorrow, you know."
"A-all right," I replied, wondering what he was going to do to me as we watched. Would he play with me in his hand, like the toy he kept insisting I was? Visions of the things I'd read about on the SW story sites kept passing through my head, making me shiver with fear. But as it turned out, he didn't do anything except wrap his fingers around my tiny body, and occasionally talk to me about something that had come up in the broadcast.
After a while, I stopped trembling and settled back against his hand, trying to get comfortable. He responded by stroking my hair a few times, but didn't try anything else. He seemed completely content with just having me there to watch TV with, for which I was grateful.
Yep, I was a doll, all right. But at least, for now, I could rest easy knowing that's all he wanted from me.