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“It’s a good thing you chose to become my dog,” Kavya said, clasping Manoj’s cheeks in her hands. “I don’t imply that you’re doing well or any such thing. But the thought of you ever becoming my boyfriend makes me laugh. The thought of you succeeding someday as my dog, doesn’t sound nearly as impossible. You just have a very long way to go.”
“Thank you, Kavya.” Manoj said, leaping to her feet and worshiping them. “I will do everything in my power to become a good dog for you.”
“And I bless you in that endeavor.” Kavya said. “Here, show me your face so I can spit on you.” Manoj looked up to her and closed his eyes as she gathered up a ball of saliva in her mouth and spat on his face. “There you go- that’s your blessing.”
“Thank you so much, Goddess.” Manoj crawled back to kneel next to me, with thick viscous saliva spreading into a film over his bruised face.
“That was one good blessing.” Priya said, observing her apprentice dealing with the defeated man. “You know, I have lots of rules about how rejects and slaves and other inferior beings like these two should behave in front of us. Your slave isn’t obeying any of those.”
“What are your rules?” Kavya asked.
“Look at how my slave keeps his head down below the level of my knees.” Priya pointed to me. “Your slave doesn’t.”
Your head below my knee level!
“So rude of you!” Kavya shouted at Manoj. “How dare you keep your head so high?”
“That’s not even the worst part.” Priya said. “My slaves aren’t allowed to talk to me. Not even ‘thank you’.”
“Grrr…” Kavya said, shifting over to the other side and delivering a hard kick to Manoj’s head. “Stupid dog. When will you stop being disrespectful to me?”
“And you,” Priya kicked my shoulder. “You’re a loser. Why can’t you teach him how to be a loser?”
The brutal kicks began to rain one after the other, piercing our shameful naked bodies until we were both on the floor tasting the dusty matted floor with our tongues. “You know what? Both of you are sentenced to one hundred whip cracks from us.”
A hundred lashes from her whip, for not being a good sample slave to Priya and her friend.
“Keep your ugly heads on the floor,” Priya said, “and spread out those hands.” Manoj and I obeyed despite the burning pain. “Because we are going to offer you a way to decrease the sentence.” Priya stepped over my body and planted her legs on both sides. “You are both going to do push-ups for us, right here. We may even sit on your backs while you do that. The more push-ups you do, the fewer whip cracks you both would have to suffer. Each push-up exempts you from two beatings. Is that understood?”
I nodded, and so did the other slave. “Good, then. Start now, slaves.” A look at the sharp whip in her hands filled me with fear. I pushed the ground away from myself, then bent my elbows. “One,” she counted. I went on with the push-ups until I reached 25. My hands began to twist and flail on the path as it had exerted every molecule in them to their very highest limit. Just then, the cold whip touched my skin. I went for a couple more before dropping to the ground exhausted.
The other slave had done worse than me, I was sure, but I had no chance of looking that way or keeping my eyes open. “Useless slaves.” Kavya said, sitting down on Manoj and raising the whip. “Eat this, you reject!” She unleashed her power on him, cutting into his back and making him flinch under, helpless and exhausted. Priya’s weapon landed on my back with even more crushing force and proximity, vibrating my very existence with the unbearable, cold whip. The girls went on whipping us, without keeping a count of how many push-ups we did complete. That was simply a ploy to decrease our resistance to the thing they were doing then, whipping us until they saw our blood and felt happy.
The whip cracks began to roll their way into my spine, and my crushed soul could do nothing in resistance but smile. The Goddess must have her way, even if I died from the pain.
“Look at my slave,” Kavya said, pointing at Manoj. “He looks entirely dead to me.”
“Hey, you!” Priya said, kicking my head up. “Go check his pulse.” I stretched out my hand in the other slave’s direction and just reached his neck. I nodded, there was a pulse.
“He’s probably just passed out.” Kavya said.
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