Jason shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, anxiously awaiting his date. It was his first date in years and he was keen to make a good first impression. Still the lack of transparency he’d shown in his messages with this girl made him nervous. He didn’t tell her everything, despite her request for there to be no skeletons in any closets. But he couldn’t tell her, there was no need for her to know, it would only serve to ruin things.
He’d served his time, and there was no way he was going back. That life was behind him now. If you could call that ‘life’, having every freedom taken from you. No, Jason in the last year had become the epitome of a law-abiding citizen - he didn’t even jaywalk. He just wanted to forget that whole sorry chapter of his life and move on. Not that this philosophy stopped the nightmares at all, but he was sure time would heal whatever wounds he may have had.
And getting back dating again was a big part of that process. A year since his release, Jason had tried to score some dates on the app previously. The first girl he tried stopped responding after he was a little too open with her, after that he resolved to keep quiet about his time served. The second one he tried had seemed positive, but she stood him up on the arranged date. This time he knew she’d show up, they’d hit it off straight away, apparently he was her ‘type’.
Her name was Sasha and was a schoolteacher. From her messages to him, Jason found her to be sharp, witty and have a devilish sense of humour. He could also tell she wasn’t too tech savvy, all of her photos were just a little off. Her profile picture was a nice enough picture of her taking a selfie from high above, but every selfie she’d sent him was at an odd angle, or blurry or her finger was in the way of the lens. Jason wasn’t too concerned with her pictures though, he enjoyed the messages he received from her far greater. She told him some embarrassing episodes from her past and even a few sexual things in her effort to be as up front as possible. In return, Jason told her everything. Everything except what had happened a few years ago.
Jason was desperate back then, out of work for over a year and had developed a crippling drink problem. One thing led to another and he found himself in deep with the wrong sort of people. In order to alleviate some of the debt, Jason took part in an armed robbery of a convenience store. The guns weren’t loaded; they were just there for intimidation. Things were going fine until one of the customers tackled Jason to the ground. Jason’s partners bolted from the store and he never saw them again. The cops arrived soon after, arresting, and later charging him with armed robbery. The judge sentenced him to three years when he admitted guilt.
But that was the past; a mistake he’d never make again, so why would he bring it up, it’d just bring the mood down. He didn’t want the stigma attached to him, so he decided to keep it quiet. That time of his life was irrelevant, so didn’t need mentioning. At least that’s how Jason was justifying his decision to himself. His phone buzzing next to him interrupted his thoughts; Sasha had sent him a message telling him her taxi was pulling up. This was it, time to meet his first date in years.
It was as if the bottom had fallen out from his world when he got to see her in the flesh for the first time. It couldn’t be her, surely not. The woman he feared wasn’t called Sasha and certainly wasn’t a schoolteacher, but the resemblance couldn’t be denied. There coming towards him was the woman who had tortured him for three long, agonising, years. She had her hair down her shoulders in golden brown ringlets, and a teal cocktail dress hugged her figure perfectly, she’d be the girl of his dreams if it weren’t for his memories of her. For a split second, Jason thought of bolting, but his hopes were dashed when he made eye contact with her, though this time, the eyes he met were not full of contempt and cruelty, but with joy and excitement.
“Jason!” She squealed as she approached him, “You look amazing!”
Jason didn’t move. It was definitely her; the voice was exactly as he remembered it. “Sasha’s” face fell into a frown “Is something wrong?” She asked, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost”
Jason snapped out of it quickly and strained a smile back at her. “Sorry,” he stammered, “mind was elsewhere.” He got up and kissed his date on the cheek and they both sat down. She even wore the same perfume. Though that was not the smell that really came to mind when he laid his eyes on her again. She seemed oblivious to his terror and picked up the menu on the table, which gave Jason a chance to let down his façade. She couldn’t be here, surely not? He’d moved since being arrested, and he didn’t really know where he was while serving time, but he couldn’t be this unlucky. He had to stay calm, or else she’d get suspicious. She was probably already wondering why his first expression was one of recognition, but what could he say? Of course, he recognised her! He was her shoe for three years.
The damn Carmichael Act was the cause of all this. Jails were getting overcrowded and reoffending had started to get out of control. That’s when Senator Laura Carmichael came up with the inspired idea of getting a third party in to assist. And this third party were the inventors of the Humie. Humies were what transformed people were referred to as. The company; Troika Industries had just created the process of turning human bodies into inanimate objects and Senator Carmichael had been keen to use this in the punishment of crime. After Troika kindly gave her a pair to test out, the Senator was convinced that this was the way forward.
After much lobbying and persuading the Carmichael Act was brought into law. Now, certain criminals would not spend time in jail, but rather serve it as a Humie. Demand was huge, so much so that a waiting list was put in place for anyone wanting one. Given that a Humie could be transformed into any object of mass less than or equal to the original person’s weight (outside of currency and valuables, which the law prohibited and food - eating a Humie was found to be toxic.) and were essentially indestructible, it was common for them to be used as clothing, frequently as shoes.
Thanks to that Act, Jason’s three-year sentence was spent as the woman, sitting across from him’s, shoe. Not just a single shoe, but also any shoe she wanted. Name the type, he’d been it; sandal, high heel, boot, slipper, flat, sneaker the list goes on. All that time being mocked and humiliated by the woman who’d called herself Sasha. He never actually knew her name - that information was forbidden to him. She insisted on him referring to her as Mistress, and to his annoyance, he found that he did. There was a mental block when he tried to remember her name as if the data had been erased from his head, but he knew what it wasn’t. There were nights he’s try and figure it out by working out what it wasn’t, but found those nights were some of the worst.
“Are you okay, you seem kind of shaken?” Sasha asked, a hint of worry in her eyes. She had no idea that man sitting opposite was her plaything for a whole three years. How could she know, she never saw him as a person, just a thing. If Jason could just snap out of it, he could actually have a good time tonight. He definitely didn’t want it to go any further, he doubted he could stand to have an actual relationship with the woman who tortured him, but for tonight, if he played his cards right, he could be in.
“Fine, sorry” Jason smiled, finally snapping himself out of his own thought train “I was just trying to think if I left the stove on.” It was a weak excuse, but Sasha seemed to buy it and she went back to browsing the menu.
“It all looks good, I think I’ll have lasagne,” She murmured. Jason hadn’t had the chance to actually look at the menu yet; he’d been so anxious about the date and had started fretting when he saw who his actual date was. He just agreed to have the same and the waiter went and took their orders to the kitchen.
Sasha excused herself as she went to the bathroom. As she walked away, Jason couldn’t help but look at the shoes she was wearing - a pair of teal strappy high heeled sandals which complemented her dress perfectly. Jason couldn’t help but think just over a year ago, it would be him under those feet; feet that seemed so huge to him back them, now looked so small and harmless. Vivid memories of being trapped underneath them, strapped to them, forced to taste and smell them overwhelmed Jason slightly, he scrunched his eyes closed and forced himself to think of something else. Sasha returned to see Jason with his face screwed up, shaking his head.
“Okay, something’s definitely up” She remarked, raising a solitary eyebrow at him. Jason looked up at her again, her expression a mix of concern and impatience. This was going terribly, he thought. He had to focus on getting through the date, and then he needn’t see her again.
“Sorry.” He began, “I’ve just had a really rough day.” He didn’t feel great about lying to her, but when the other option was to tell her that he was once where her sandals are now he knew it had to be done.
Sitting face to face with Sasha eased things a little. He was quite a bit taller than she was, so the perspective of seeing her as shorter than he, helped things along. As their food came, the couple talked amongst themselves. Everything Jason learned about Sasha was like a dagger to the heart, she was the perfect match for him, but he couldn’t pursue a relationship with her, even without considering his own hang-ups.
One thing he was warned about when he was being released was to avoid contact with his former ‘owner’. Anything deemed worthy of ‘revenge’ would be punished severely, so even if he wanted to, Jason couldn’t make this anything more than a simple date. Surely one date wouldn’t be considered extended contact. The main thing needling him were the details she gave him while they were still phone messaging, namely her name and occupation. While his resolve that he ruled out the name Sasha was weakening, after all he had no evidence that ruling out names was actually something he could do; he knew full well that she wasn’t a schoolteacher. She’d been a travel blogger, something that brought him no end of irritation, as he had to endure many different climates as her shoes. Jason decided he needed to get to the bottom of this.
“So how long have you been teaching?” Jason asked pointedly.
“Oh,” Sasha said at once, the change of direction in the conversation clearly startling her a little, she’d been under the impression they were discussing childhood pets, “Not long, a few months. I decided I needed a change of scenery so I retrained to be a teacher. Honestly, I haven’t done much teaching, more assisting while I get my qualifications.”
“So what did you used to do?” Jason asked, already knowing the answer.
“You’re going to say it’s not a real job” Sasha smiled, blushing. He didn’t remember her being so shy about her job when he knew her last, but then again there was a lot he didn’t know about her then.
“Oh go on” Jason insisted, a bit more forcefully than he anticipated.
“Fine” she sighed, her face beet red “I was a blogger. I used to write about holiday destinations. I would travel the world and write about places.” The last scrap of doubt that this woman wasn’t who Jason feared it was had disappeared, there was now no doubt that she was indeed his former ‘Mistress’.
After their meal was finished, Jason was a little relived and declined any offer of dessert. He was so mixed up, on the one hand, he hated this woman for everything she did to him for three years, but on the other hand, he was a Humie, being punished for a crime, what did he expect to be treated like? Now he knew the real Sasha she was kind, funny, smart, everything he liked in a woman. But he knew there was no hope as contact with a former owner was forbidden. Either way his hands were tied, he’d just have to let her down gently.
“If you’re not hungry for any dessert,” Sasha purred seductively, “then how about a little nightcap round my place?” She flirtatiously winked at him and now Jason was in a pickle. Part of him just wanted to leave and get out of there as fast as possible, put this behind him. But another more primal part of him knew he’d had the best date he’d ever had and an invite back to the home of a gorgeous and brilliant woman who seemed into him. If one date was fine, then surely he could extend the definition to include the end of the evening.
“Sure” Jason replied, in his best suggestive voice.
“Great” Sasha grinned and whipped her phone out “I’ll order the cab now.” Jason pushed all doubts to the back of his mind and began to look forward to a great night with Sasha. He’d find a way to call it off tomorrow, but for now he wanted to get something for all the hardship, his mind had put him through this evening. He just hoped the ominous feeling of dread that was floating around him would pass once he saw that Sasha’s intentions were perfectly innocent. From here, it was hard to see what could go wrong.