Naturally, I tried immediately to hide, ducking back into the bushes and remaining still so I didn't disturb any leaves or make any other sounds. There was a nice shadow there, behind the heavy brush, and since I was dressed mostly in black, I knew I'd be hard to see.
As soon as he came out, Irwin started looking around frantically, almost desperately. "Ashley?" he called out. "Are you still out here?"
Of course, I didn't answer. I suppose I knew it was inevitable that I'd be caught, but I didn't want to surrender even a moment of my hard-earned freedom. He went straight to the dryer vent and looked up underneath, as if to confirm for himself that this was how I'd escaped. Then he started poking around in the bushes nearby, calling out plaintively, "Are you still out here, Ashley? Please, don't be gone. I need you!"
He sounded so pathetic I almost stepped out and called to him right there, but I stopped myself. Instead, I waited where I was, hoping that he'd miss me somehow in the shadow. He continued to call out more and more desperately until I thought he was going to break down and cry.
Finally he came along the wall to where I was hiding, and spotted me almost immediately. "There you are!" he yelled, sounding extremely relieved even as my own heart sank into the ground. "Oh, Ashley, I was so afraid I'd lost you! Come out from back there!"
I shrugged and walked out from behind the bush, dropping the nail-covered boot heel behind me in the shadows. It would do me no good, after all, to resist at this point. All it would do was anger him. For the moment, at least, he was so happy to see me he'd forgotten I'd tried to escape.
As soon as I was within range he grabbed me and pressed me up against his chest, hugging me like I was a pet he'd just rescued from the pound. "I'm so glad you're safe!" he gushed. "Both the neighbors have dogs--if you'd tried to leave the yard, you could've been killed!"
I was going to tell him I'd noticed that, but he was crushing me in his grip, so I was happy just to be able to snatch the occasional breath. Besides which, I thought after a moment, perhaps it was best I didn't tell him just how far out into the yard I'd gotten.
Finally he released the pressure and carried me back into the house, then back down to the basement I'd come to think of as my prison. He sat down on the reclining chair and released me into his lap, where I sat down roughly and took several deep breaths, trying to recover my composure.
"Ashley," he said intently, "don't ever scare me like that again! When I came home and saw the utility door open, I thought someone might have broken in and taken you!"
I still didn't say anything. Although it was painfully obvious what I'd done, I wasn't going to admit anything yet.
"I just don't understand two things, though. First, how did you get the lock open?"
I sighed. Couldn't he figure that out from the bent paper clip near the door? Maybe he hadn't noticed that detail in his haste to come looking for me. "I picked it," I admitted resignedly. "I found a paper clip under the desk."
"Damn!" he swore. "I thought I'd cleaned under there!"
I shrugged. "I guess not. You know I didn't bring it in here with me, so I must have found it somewhere, right?"
This made him frown. "Well, I suppose I didn't think of everything after all," he realized. "I just don't understand one other thing. Why'd you do it, Ashley? Haven't I done everything I could to make you happy here? Don't you like me, after everything I've done?"
I looked up at him, giving him a pitying expression. "Look, it's not you, Irwin. I'm just not the kind of girl who likes being cooped up like this. No matter how nice you are to me, I'll never be happy as a prisoner."
"You're not a prisoner," he insisted. "You're my pet now. You should love me like any pet loves its master, and like I love you."
That made me cringe. "You just don't seem to understand," I said roughly. "I'm NOT a pet or a doll! I've tried to tell you this before. I'm a woman. Small, yes, but still a woman. A human being. Don't you understand what that means?"
"It's you who don't understand," he replied. "You gave up that life when you became a doll."
"No I didn't!" I replied angrily. "Can't you see, Irwin? I'll never accept this life. You have to let me go!"
"Never!" he snapped back. "I'm tired of talking now, Ashley. It's time for your punishment. After all, you tried to escape, and you might have gotten hurt, so the only way to teach you it's wrong is to punish you."
I gulped. This was the one thing I most feared. What was he going to do to me?
Of all the things that passed through my mind in that moment, the actual result was none of those that I'd expected. Irwin took me in his left hand, holding me tightly, and pressed me down to his leg face first. Then, keeping my arms and legs pinned, he proceeded to give me a spanking!
Yes, you heard me correctly. He actually spanked me! Since I couldn't see at the time, what with being held against his leg and all, I'm only guessing when I say he struck me with the side of a pencil or something similar. It certainly wasn't his other hand, as it was too small and solid for that. I screamed out in pain with each of the blows, but my voice was muffled by the thick fabric of his pants.
When he finally stopped, my face was red from crying, and I was whimpering like a little baby. Plus, it was embarrassing as hell. Me, a grown woman, spanked like a child! That's exactly how Irwin was treating me, I thought disgustedly.
No, not even with that much respect!
As he lifted me up and got to his feet, I got a glimpse of his face, and to my shock and surprise, he was crying, too.
There was nothing I could really say. I'd expected him to look upset or angry, so the emotion I saw in his face left me too surprised to do anything other than cringe as he picked me up again. He then carried me upstairs and shoved me into the cage I hadn't seen since my first day at his house. He slammed the door shut and locked it carefully, then left me alone with my pain.
I couldn't sit down for quite a while, so I paced in my cell. It didn't take long to get over the humiliation of being spanked, because after all, what could I have done? At my size, it did me no good to resist. Mostly, I was just glad my punishment hadn't been worse. Irwin could easily have tortured me far more painfully, or embarrassed me in any number of other ways. Despite the fact that I'd tried to escape, the worst thing he could think of was giving me some raps on the ass? It was hard to believe, really.
After a while I settled down and stopped walking around. Sitting was still too difficult, so I lay down on my stomach. I was upset about getting caught, primarily since if I'd simply been more patient and waited one more day, I could have started picking the lock the moment Irwin left, and had the entire afternoon to find a way out of the back yard.
Mostly, though, I was worried. You see, despite the heartache of being recaptured, I hadn't forgotten that I'd reconnected Irwin's network wiring in the junction box. As long as he didn't notice that little detail, I could try getting a message out using his computer.
This was Irwin the Engineer, though. It would be just like him to check for that.