Thomas, Gloria, and Bruce sat at a somewhat small round table in the doll house's kitchen. Before Thomas and Gloria were plastic plates with meatloaf and spinach on them.

Thomas stared at his plate. He hated both meatloaf and spinach, but he hadn't had a hot meal in weeks and beggars can't be choosers, though he had to admit, the aroma was a bit inviting. Besides, it was not like him to refuse to eat food cooked by his host. That would be extremely rude.

Claudia walked to the table, and placed a basket of bread in the middle of it. She then sat down in her chair.

"Dig in," she said with a smile, one not unlike the sincere ones her daughter give.

Thomas watched as Gloria shoved a fork-full of spinach into her mouth. She was eating rather fast. Understandable, as she had been trapped here far longer than he had.

"There're several things that I still don't understand," Thomas said as he turned to Claudia.

"What is it?" Claudia asked.

"Well, for one... It's safe to assume that Melissa checks up on you often, right?"

"Yes. Once a day, usually in the morning."

"So, what about Bruce? Does he hide when you hear her coming down here?"

Claudia and Bruce briefly looked at each other.

"I'm sure that, by now, you have figured out that he and I are... seeing each other, right?" Claudia said, turning back to Thomas.

"Yeah, I guess," Thomas answered.

"Well, you might find this hard to believe, but Melissa knows that Bruce is down here with us."

"What?!" Thomas shot up from his seat in disbelief.

"That's right," Bruce said. "And calm down. You'll wake up the entire city. Including our wonderful hostess."

Thomas sat back into his seat. "Sorry..."

There were a few moments of slience afterwards. In that time, Thomas had started on his meal, though he ate at half the pace that Gloria did, who was nearly finished with her food.

"May I... have seconds?" Gloria asked.

"Sure, dear," Claudia answered, before taking Gloria's place and walking to the stove.

"I guess I should explain some other things as well," Bruce said. "Just the stuff that matters, not none of that pointless shit."

"I think that's a good idea," Claudia said as she placed more spinach on Gloria's plate.

"Right," Bruce said. "Now... I think I'll start on the day I was lured here, about 5 months ago..."

Thomas and Gloria both began listening to Bruce's tale.

~~~

I was beaten. Exhausted. That girl... Melissa, she had subjected me to some of the worst torture I have been through in my entire life.

Like nearly eneryone else, apparently, I had been lured here. We met at a dance club the night before, and she invited me to her house. She was cute enough, and she had a nice figure, though her tits and ass could have been a bit bigger.

Well, I'm sure you can figure out what happened when I came here.

After dodging her foot falls, being kicked around the room, and squeezed in her hands, I was in excruciating pain. Though being the athletic star that I am, even that was not enough to keep me down.

I saw an opening. Her back was turned, and I hid. Hid behind her dresser. Not only that, but there seemed to be some space under it as well. So I had crawled underneath it as well.

I heard her walking across the room. No doubt that she was frustrated that her "prize" had disappeared.

"Where are you?" she asked, her voice muffled out by the hard wood around me. "Come out. ...Come out now! I'm not playing!"

Yeah... like hell I'd get back out there. Not with that blood-thirsty giant lurking around. I stayed as quiet as possible, though I doubt that she could hear me anyway.

I waited... I don't even know how long, before I heard a heavy sigh.

"Fuck it," she said.

Then, mere minutes later, I heard some sounds... People screaming, loud stomps, and, the taunts of Melissa. At the time, I could only guess what was going on, but now I know. She had "replaced" me with some of those Homeless freaks. Can't say that I feel sorry for them.

As quickly as it began, it was over. I heard the final voice being snuffed out under her foot. And I heard her laugh. She said some other things, but I couldn't quite understand them, and then I heard the door open, and her footsteps fade. She was gone, but I was nowhere near confident enough to leave my safety spot.

So I waited. Waited for hours, as I could see the light shining in behind me graduately change from a whitish color to a more orangish tint. All the while, Melissa had came into the room a few more times, but the last time, I heard her talking again.

"Yeah, I'll be there... So it's going to be the six of us? Can we all fix in that car? ...Yeah, I guess we could use two cars..."

Probably talking on her phone. Either way, she left the room for the last time, and I heard the door below me open, and then close.

Finally, I was alone... Well, not technically, if you consider what was in her closet, but at least I didn't have to deal with her. I crawled out from under and behind the dresser and once again stood in the room.

I took a deep breath and darted for the open door. I don't know why she left the door open, but it worked to my advantage.

I was now in the hall, and I kept running. I eventually came to the balcony, and the stairs. I considered jumping down each stair to the floor, but if Melissa made a sudden return as I was going down, I'd be in deep trouble.

So I bypassed them and ran inside of the room at the end of the hall: The master bedroom. Now that I think about it, this room was well-kept, even though nobody was using it.

Of course, then came my next problem: Exactly what was I going to do now? I could have hid out there, but no doubt that Melissa cleaned that room every so often, so she'd eventually discover me. I thought over my predicament as I wandered around the room.

I stayed in there for a while, eventually sitting under the large bed. The twilight was fading, and it was getting dark outside. I knew that I couldn't sit there forever, especially once Melissa came back, so I got off my ass, and began to once again walk around the room, in hopes of some kind of clue as to what I could do next.

Soon, I found one. I didn't notice this before, but after doing a little searching, I found a hole in the wall behind the bed. It was small, barely visable by normal-sized people if they're not looking for it. It was just big enough for me to crawl through, and that's exactly what I did.

~~~

"So..." Thomas said. "What'd you do then?"

"Why don't you let me finish?" Bruce sternly responded. "Anyway, I made my way down to the lowest level, as, at the time, I figured that there would be a way outside, and I could go from there. But I found out that it led here in the basement. And that's when I discovered these ladies."

"Yes," Claudia said. "I, at least, was shocked beyond belief when we found him outside of this house's door. I immediately took him in, and he told me what she did to him. I couldn't believe that my daughter could be so... cruel..." She sigh sorrowfully.

"Yeah, I didn't believe it either," Thomas said after taking a bite from his meatloaf. "At school, she was pretty popular, sociative, and friendly. I don't think anyone would have thought that it was all a facade."

"What is going on with my daughter...?" Claudia's covered her face with her right palm.

Gloria swallowed the spinach that had been on the fork she was holding. "So... what happened afterwards?"

"What do you mean, dear?" Claudia responded.

"Well, I doubt that Melissa would have been too happy to find one of her 'toys' here..."

"Oh, that... Yes... She wasn't happy at all..."

~~~

You see... within a few weeks, after Bruce had made his way down here, he and I had bonded. Though he would hide in the wall until Melissa came down to check up on us, and then, after she left, he would come back here to spend some time with me.

Unfortunately, one morning, we made a mistake.

The night before, Bruce and I had gotten... close. And we were still in bed when Melissa came down here.

The sound of her walking down the stairs woke us, and in that instant, we knew that we were caught.

Bruce had just woken up as well, and was about to get out of the bed, but the ceiling shook, and then lifted off. And you know who was there, kneeling above us.

"Good morni- What the fuck is this?!" Her smile had quickly faded, and she now had an angry look on her face.

"Melissa!" I said, and quickly tried to cover my bare chest with the bedsheets. "I can explain!"

"Zip it." She reached into the room and pulled Bruce out of the house.

I admit, I blushed at the sight of his naked body flailing in her grasp, but that quickly faded when I realized what she was going to do to him.

"No, wait! Please don't!" I pleaded.

"What are you doing down here, in bed with my mother?" she asked Bruce, who was struggling to free himself.

"Don't do it!! Please!!"

"I should just kill you right here and now."

"Nooo!!!" I screamed as I saw her drop Bruce to the floor. I immediately got up from my bed and rushed downstairs and out of the house, only covered with the bedsheet I was using before.

I expected the worst. I expected to see Bruce as a flattened, bloody corpse on the basement floor. Instead, he was still alive, though all of his body except his head and arms were pinned under Melissa's foot. That look on her face... That malicious look... It seemed that she would crush him at any second.

"Stop it, Melissa!!" I pleaded again.

"Tell me something." Her angered face was now beating down on me. "Did you sleep with him, or were you two just getting comfortable?"

I didn't answer. I just looked down in shame, as it was pretty obvious that she already knew the answer.

Melissa simply shook her head and pressed down harder on Bruce's body. He began to scream in agony. I rushed to him, paying no mind to the bedsheet that had fallen off of me, grabbed his hand, and began to pull. I didn't know what I hoped to accomplish. Melissa was so much stronger than the both of us put together.

"Melissa, stop! Please, I beg of you!!" I was running out of strength. I feared that I would end up only with Bruce's arm.

"Why should I?" Melissa asked.

"Because I need him!!" I responded, still pulling on Bruce's arm. "He and Rebecca are the only two things keeping me from going insane down here!!"

"...So?"

"Can't you just grant your mother this one request?! I won't ask for anything else!! I promise!!"

Melissa stared at me for several seconds as I kept pulling on Bruce's arm. Suddenly, her foot lifted, and, due to the strength I was using to pull on Bruce, I ended up falling back on the floor, and pulling Bruce with me.

Bruce was breathing heavily. I held his head to my chest as I looked up at my daughter. She had a look of disappointment on her face, and she had her hands on her hips.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" She said, before turning around and leaving the basement.

~~~

"...And she just let Bruce stay down here?" Thomas asked.

"Obviously," Bruce responded.

"I mean... She just left it at that without another word?"

"Well, she still suspects him of being responsible for the disappearances of her captives," Claudia said. "A few days ago, she came down here and asked about a string she caught someone up there using. Bruce denied having anything to do with it, though."

Bruce laughed. "Those suspicions are entirely true."

"So, you're the one who put strings in the walls?" Thomas asked.

"Yes. Mainly to make it easier for me to get around here, but as more and more of you guys started being rescued, it became an easy way for you all to get in the kitchen and look for any scraps of food. Because you guys sure as hell weren't going to come down here."

"Yeah... How'd that work out for you?"

"What was that?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at Thomas' remark.

"Please, you two," Claudia scolded.

Gloria stood from her seat. "Thanks for the food, ma'am."

"No problem, dear." Claudia gave her a smile.

"...Is there a bathroom here?"

"Of course. Upstairs, first door to the right."

"Thank you." Gloria then walked out of the kitchen.

Bruce stood as well. "I'm going out for a smoke."

"Sure, dear," Claudia replied.

Thomas watched Bruce left the kitchen. He then looked down at his plate, and at the half of the meat loaf and spinach that still remained.

~~~

Gloria was washing her hands in the bathroom's sink. She could not help but marvel at such an advanced doll house. Aside from the material being plastic, this place had electricity, heat, and running water. Although she wondered what prevented the place from burning or melting. Must be some kind of super-plastic, she figured.

After drying off her hands, she made her way towards the door and opened it. She was mildly surprised to find Rebecca standing on the other side. She seemed tired, but at the same time discontent.

"Are you two going to be staying here, too?" Rebecca asked.

"No, I doubt it," Gloria responded.

"Good." Rebecca walked past Gloria, into the bathroom. "...You're Hispanic, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So, you speak Spanish?"

"That's rather presumptious, but yes, I do."

"Bueno." Rebecca suddenly switched her language to Spanish. "I don't trust that Bruce guy. I think he's using my mother."

"Really?"

"Yes. I mean, he's like, what, 20 years younger than she is. I don't think he has any feeling for her at all."

"Is that so?"

"Tell me... what does he do when he's with the rest of you?"

"Umm... Well, he doesn't do much of anything, actually. But he did get a few of the girls there to give him oral. Quite a few times, actually."

Rebecca exhaled through her nose. "I knew it. I wish I could get him out of here, but my mother has been blinded by... I don't even want to call it love."

"Yeah... she told us about how she begged Melissa to spare his life when she found him down here."

"I saw the whole thing from my room. Of course, this is a doll house, so I awoke as soon as I heard the roof lift off. Anyway, I almost cried when I saw my mother trying to save that guy. I really want her to get rid of him."

"...So, are you going to tell your mother about what I told you?"

"No. She wouldn't believe me, anyway. Mom can be so stubborn sometimes..." With that, Rebecca closed the bathroom door and locked it.

Gloria sighed. She felt as if she had said too much about Bruce. Though she did not reveal that, ever since she came here, it was only her who was pleasuring him.

She walked downstairs and into the living room, all the while thinking of another plan of action.

~~~

Thomas walked outside of the doll house. The basement looked like a vast field. Almost as if the house stood in a lonely sunny plain surrounded by grass. Of course, here, the "grass" was the carpeting, and the "sun" was the light above. Thomas walked to the side of the house, and found Bruce, with his back against the wall and smoking a cigarette.

Bruce turned to him. "You weren't supposed to come down here. This was my little secret."

"Listen," Thomas said. "The others were captured because they were tired of waiting for you to lead them out to freedom, so they tried to leave on their own."

"Yeah, I know." Bruce blew out smoke from his mouth. "That was actually a good thing."

"What?"

"Yeah. If you want something done, and no one else is doing it, you have to do it yourself."

Thomas was silent.

"You see... I actually had no plans to lead them to freedom."

"What?!" Thomas was stunned.

"That's right. Going out there would just be begging for death, and I have no plans to die anytime soon."

"...What do you think is going to happen if you stay here?"

"That's easy. Melissa can't keep her mother and sister shrunken forever. I'm sure that she'll eventually grow them back to normal. And, of course, Claudia will convince Melissa to grow me back, too."

"...You really believe that?"

"It's possible. If not, then I'll just spend the rest of my days here. At least Melissa gives us food. Decent food, not none of that shit you guys eat up there."

"You're unbelievable." Thomas shook his head in disappointment.

"Whatever. By the way, you two aren't staying down here. I don't mind Gloria staying here, but if Melissa found out, Claudia's going to have a hard time explaining that one."

"I didn't want to stay here, anyway. Mrs. Cruz seems like a sweet lady, and I don't want her to get into any more trouble. You, on the other hand... You're just a bad leader. And a liar."

Bruce chuckled. "No... Bush is a bad leader. I'm just a normal guy."

Thomas turned around and began to walk back towards the house's entrance.

"I'm not that big a liar, either," Bruce said.

"What do you mean?" Thomas asked.

"Think back to the day you came. That's all I'm sayin'." Bruce brought the cigarette to his mouth.

Thomas looked back at Bruce before turning the corner and walking back in the house.

He headed to the living room, where Gloria was sitting on the couch they were on before.

"So, I heard you talking with Bruce," Gloria said.

"Yeah... He's hopeless," Thomas responded. "He didn't actually want to do what he had promised and lead the Refugees out of here."

"I figured as much. He seems content on staying here, fraternizing with the enemy and not really giving a damn about us. Remember Rule #5?"

"Yeah." Thomas laughed. "He's definately a traitor."

"Please, you two." Claudia walked into the room. "I know that Bruce isn't perfect. No person is. But he's a sweet guy. I wouldn't have gotten by these past months without him and Rebecca."

"It's nice that you have support," Gloria said, "but you should watch your back."

"Why? Bruce would never do anything to harm me."

Thomas and Gloria looked at each other.

"So... will you two be staying here as well?"

"No," Thomas responded. "We don't want to inconvience you. Is that all right with you, Gloria?"

"Definately," Gloria responded. "We'll think something out."

"I see..." Claudia walked into the kitchen, and then came back out, holding two bags in hand.

"What are those?" Thomas asked.

"Some treats for you two. Mainly chips and bottled soda. You two can take these with you when you leave."

Thomas took the bags from her, and gave one to Gloria. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Cruz."

"Muchas gracias," Gloria said.

"No problem... Sorry, but I never got your names."

"I'm Thomas Kirkland."

"Gloria Orozco. ...Excuse me, but do you happen to have the time?"

Claudia briefly peeked into the kitchen. "It's nearly 2am."

Gloria stood from the couch. "In that case, we'll be going now."

"Are you sure?" Claudia asked. "You could stay another hour."

"No... We need to get back up there before morning."

"We do?" Thomas asked.

"Yes. Thank you for having us in your company, Mrs. Cruz."

"No problem, Gloria. And Thomas. Feel free to come down here any time you want."

"You got it," Thomas responded.

~~~

The two had left the doll house, and were making their way back towards the hole in the wall.

"Um... Why do we need to get back there before morning?" Thomas asked.

"Because I want to get enough sleep, and watch what Melissa's going to do. It's going to help me with my plan."

"'Plan'?"

"Yes. My plan for escape."