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The Harem on the Hill (Part XXIV)
🕑 Added 2020-06-25 17:48:48 +0000 UTC
You awake to your cell phone clattering to the floor. It was on vibrate and must have crawled its way off your sleek lacquer nightstand.
Groggy, you watch it shake and hum across the hardwood like a summer Cicada. Or perhaps a firefly, as every vibratory cycle is accompanied by a harsh glow that illuminates the pitch-black room.
You're loath to respond to its beacon. The phone is out of reach, the floor is frigid, and you were in the midst of the soundest sleep you can remember. Years worth of effort went into your tryst with Tina, more than some of your Fortune 500 companies, and the release was as explosive and draining as you could have hoped. For the first time in a long time, "what's next?" wasn't the prevailing thought on your pillow.
Plus, you know why the phone's all a tither and don't want to deal with it. The clock on the nightstand shows 3:15 AM. It's too early to be anything else.
Grudgingly, you throw off the covers and retrieve the bright buzzy nuisance. A check of the screen confirms your suspicions and, after donning a robe and a pair of slippers to shield your feet from the chill, you trudge to your office.
Tabitha's voice arrives before her image on the monitor.
"---me out of here!"
She's on a chair in the middle of the kitchen, screaming into a camera. Another camera--the one covering the entrance--is off-line, its carnage strewn across the floor beyond Tabitha's crimson face.
You pinch the bridge of your nose between your thumb and forefinger. Maybe you should have intervened sooner.
"I know who you are! You can't keep me forever."
Tabitha's batting .500 so far. A few points higher if you consider her piñata of the entrance cam.
"Calm down, Miss Reynolds."
Your booming voice startles her so much she nearly falls off the chair. She steadies herself before resuming her verbal assault.
"Let me out of here! I didn't sign any contract! I know my rights!"
Contract? Tabitha must still be deluded on Tina's 'reality show' diversion. You don't follow the genre but can't imagine kidnapping and captivity are a thing (much less taser-level shocks). Still, it's probably preferable to contemplating less seemly alternatives.
Which gets you to thinking--what approach should you take with her? You hoped your tact with Tina would help establish some sort of template, but if you've learned anything from Tina's capricious nature it's the folly of that reasoning.
How do you proceed?
