April walked down the aisle gazing at all the merchandise around her. Since she was a

child, April had always been fascinated with the selection of slaves at the Department

Store. Jacey's was a high end department store and the quality of the slaves was high.

Jacey's offered a wide selection of quality slaves from domestics and nannies to gardeners

and chefs. Slaves varied in price due to a number of factors such as age, health,

experience and training. These were luxury items that only the upper crust of society could

afford and April fantasized about what it would be like to own one.

As April walked down the aisle she found herself in the domestic section. The majority of

the domestics were women although around 10% were men. Each slave was dressed the

same. The women had on over sized white cotton short sleeve shirts that went down to

their knees. They were barefoot with their left leg hooked to the floor by a a metal chain.

This gave them enough movement to walk about two to three feet in any direction. The

outfits were plain and the slaves appearance was also plain. There was really no reason to

highlight the slaves appearance as each of these women were bound to a life of domestic

servitude. April seemed to be lost in her fantasy when she heard a familiar voice.

"April, is that you?"

April turned in the direction of the sound and saw her friend Jessica. Jessica and April

were classmates at United University. She was wearing a smart two piece gray skirt suit

with a light black pinstripe, nude pantyhose and cute 2 inch black pumps. The suit

complimented Jessica's 5'8" frame and athletic build. She wore her blond hair in a cute

French braid. "Hey Jessica, what's up? Why are you so dressed up?"

"Believe it or not, I got a job here."

April was surprised, "Really? How do you get a job at this store? You do not have any

experience selling slaves."

"Well I can't take too much credit," Jessica smiled. "My father has a friend at the

company and mentioned I was majoring in merchandising. He hooked me up with this

position."

"Wow that is really cool. How has it been going? I mean I have always been fascinated

with this section of the store. Since I was little girl I used to imagine what it would be like

to buy my own housemaid," April seemed to drift off in her fantasy again.

"The job is great. Its pretty easy. I get to work about an hour before we open and

familiarize myself with the merchandise. Then I come onto the floor and talk to potential

buyers. I make $8/hour plus a 10% commission. Given that the average slave sells for

around $5,000, there is a huge opportunity to make some great money."

"10% commission," April's eyes perked up. "That is some serious cash. Have you sold

any slaves yet?"

"No not yet. I have been here about a week. The other sales people mentioned that in a

good week you can sell one or two, but it is not that common. I mean a lot of the

merchandise is more expensive than a car. Those kinds of decisions take time to make."

"Yea, I would imagine so." April wandered around a couple of the slaves. "Do they talk

much? I mean it seems like they should be nervous or something. I know I would be."

"No not really. This is a high end store and most of the merchandise have years of

training. This includes a lot of mental training as well, and they pretty accept that this is

their lot in life. Still I am not sure how they remain so calm. I think it would be a bit scary

to be on display, but they are treated well. For every four hours they are standing we let

them rest for an hour. They receive three meals a day and the holding pen is quite nice."

This was all very fascinating to April and she again drifted off into her fantasy while

Jessica spoke, not really hearing the words coming out of her mouth. This was so very

different from anything she experienced in a typical day. Sure slavery was legal, but the

average citizen rarely experienced it first hand. Only the wealthy and upper middle class

could afford personal slaves. Clearly there were slaves all around her, but they tended to

do the low level service labor. It was almost if they were non existent. April rarely even

noticed them at the University.

"April, April, you still with me?"

April was startled from her dream by Jessica calling her name, "Uhm yes I am with you,

Jessica. Sorry I was just thinking about slavery. I mean there are slaves all around us and

I hardly even notice them. I wonder what it must be like to be one of them?"

Jessica paused for a moment. "Well I am not sure, seems kind of boring to me. They

just stand around all day, not terribly exciting."

"You are looking at it from your perspective, not theirs. Clearly it looks really boring, but

they must be terrified. I do not care how much you are trained to do this job, it must be

frightening for them knowing that they are only property and their sole purpose in life is to

please someone else."

"Maybe your right," Jessica said. Then suddenly she got a smile on her face. "Hey I

have an idea."

"What?" April looked Jessica a little suspiciously.

"Listen April, why don't we try a little experiment."

"What kind of experiment?"

"April this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out. We could dress you up as one of the

slaves and put you on display."

April interrupted, "Are you crazy?"

"Listen, it would be easy. I could get you prepared in the back and put you on display.

There are like five hours left before the store closes. We could put you on display until the

end of the day." Jessica was getting more and more excited by the idea.

Skeptical, April said, "Look it sounds exciting, but I do not want to be sold."

"You won't be sold April. We do not have specs on you and I will mention to any buyer

that you are on layaway and not able to be purchased, but you would still experience what

it felt like to be a slave. There is no risk. I mean in reality we only sell like a couple slaves

per day in the entire store. We could even pair this up for our sociology class. You know

we need to do an experiment. This would be a guaranteed A."

April's interest seemed to peak up a bit, "Your sure there is no risk. We are not going to

get into trouble."

"I promise there is no risk and we will not get into trouble. Everyone would just think

you are a slave. At the end of the day, we end the charade, you go home and we get an A

on our sociology paper."

"Ok, lets do this."

"Great come with me." April followed Jessica through a door that was set off to the side.

Once through the door, she noticed that the room was rather plain not like the display

area. The floor was tiled and there were a few couches and a vending machine off to the

side. As April got her barrings Jessica spoke, "This is our break room. We should not be

disturbed but we need to move quickly. I am not supposed to be on break for another two

hours. Wait here, I will be right back."

Jessica was only gone for a minute but it seemed like an eternity for April. She kept

going over things in her mind. Was she really going to do this? This was crazy? Slavery

was not a game. She felt the appeal but at the same time she also felt a bit guilty playing

around given that everyone on the floor outside was a slave. As her mind wandered,

Jessica walked back into the room. "Okay April, strip."

"What?" April asked startled by the request.

"Sorry April, we do not have much time and you need to get changed. Here put this

on." Jessica handed April one the over sized shirts that the slaves were wearing outside.

April hesitated for a moment but then began to slip out of her clothes. First she removed

her black skirt sliding it down her legs. This revealed her dark blue tights and the bottom of

her blue cotton blouse. Next came the blouse and April was standing in front of Jessica in

just her floral bra and panty set, blue tights and cute black maryjanes. Jessica did not look

away but instead stared intently, which made April blush a bit but she continued removing

her clothes next by slipping out of her shoes and then sliding her tights down her legs.

Once the tights were off, April reached for the shirt.

"Stop," Jessica said.

"What?" April looked confused.

"Here put these on." Jessica handed April a very plain white bra and panty set. "Slaves

would never be given such nice underwear. I am sorry but to pull this off you have to look

like a slave." April appeared rattled. She was fairly shy and not sure she wanted to strip

naked in front of Jessica. "Hey April, it is just us girls." This put April at ease and she

removed her bra and panties. Jessica smirked a bit as she realized that April was indeed a

real red head, her trimmed bush contrasting against her fair skin. April blushed again and

quickly put on the simple white bra and panty set. Once covered again, she relaxed for a

second before sliding on the white shift.

Jessica was equally shocked by the transformation. Other than a tad bit of makeup, April

looked just like any other slave on the merchandise floor. Jessica walked over to April and

handed her a face cleansing wipe. "Here you need to take off your makeup." April took the

wipe and carefully removed her blush and lipstick. With each wipe she felt a little bit more

of herself slipping away. Jessica walked over to April and put an earring into her ear. April

could feel something dangling down by her cheek.

Curious, April asked, "What did you did you place in my ear, Jessica? I thought slaves

were not supposed to wear jewelry."

"Its not jewelry April, its your price tag. I thought $10,000 was an appropriate amount.

Normally, slaves would also have a bar code stamped on their wrist, but since you are not in

our system that is not possible. This will also guarantee that you are not accidentally sold

since no one would be able to process you. Now follow me, we need to get you onto the

floor." April seemed to take this in for a second but her moment was interrupted by Jessica,

"Ok April, it is time to get you out on the floor. Follow me."

April followed Jessica out onto the main floor. The nice wood floor was cold against her

bare feet as she walked nervously onto the floor. Jessica led her into the middle of the

domestic section. Before April had time to relax, Jessica attached a chain to her leg which

was connected to a bolt in the floor. "Jessica, I am not so sure about this."

"Relax April. The store closes in 4 hours and I will be near by. Nothing is going to

happen to you." The words were reassuring to April and she relaxed a bit as Jessica walked

off, leaving her there like any other slave.

,

After a few minutes April began to relax. It was actually a fairly quiet evening and there

were not many people around. As she looked around, April realized that she was situated in

the middle of the domestic section of slaves. From her quick count there had to be nearly

100 females and maybe 20 males. It seemed like a lot of inventory to her, but as she

thought about the economy she realized that inventory was probably building up. Seeing

herself positioned in among so many slaves made her feel better. There was little to no

way anyone would even look at her today let alone buy her.

April actually felt like she could teach the store a bit about how to market to customers.

Every slave looked the same and from what she could tell they were not labeled. How was

anyone able to find what they want without looking at every option first. Perhaps that was

the point. In the end it did not matter, there was no way she could get a job working at

this store even if Jessica had managed to get one.

Standing there actually was pretty boring and April began to drift off, thinking about

things she needed to do that even and homework that she needed to finish. Her mind was

clearly wandering as Jessica came by with a customer. The sudden conversation startled

her. "We have a wide variety of domestics that can meet everyone of your needs from

cleaning to laundry and some that are even trained in personal service like styling your hair

and giving massages."

"Well that is great. I am looking for a maid a bit on the younger side, not too expensive

that has at least a basic understanding of cleaning and laundry. The rest she can learn on

the job." April could see that the woman talking was around 40. She looked very polished

in her dress. Her hair was auburn and came down to her shoulders. She was wearing a

nice black pencil skirt, ivory blouse with a gray sweater. Her shoes were black pumps with

a medium. Based on the large ring on her finger as well as the earrings she was wearing,

April could tell that this woman came from a lot of money.

Jessica brought the woman right over to April. April had a feeling that Jessica was

planning to do this all along to spice things up a bit. She stopped right next to the slave

next to April. The woman was probably around 30, dark hair and tan complexion. She was

fairly plain but looked like she was built to do a lot of labor. "Well this slave may be just

what you are looking for. She does not have a lot of training, but she is 28 years old. As

you can see, she is built for labor and has a lot work left in her."

The woman began inspecting the slave. She lifted her arm up and began feeling her

stomach before turning her around. The slave barely reacted as she was inspected like an

animal. "How much is she?"

Jessica moved to scan the slave's bar code. She seemed to be getting excited at the

possibility of closing her first sale. "$6,500. She also comes with a three year warranty."

The wealthy woman raised her eyebrow, "$6,500. She seems a bit plain and does not

have much training. That seems a bit high to me." Without even passing another glance at

the slave, the woman turned and moved to April, "What about this slave?" April was a bit

shocked that the woman expressed interest in her. Before she could react the woman was

lifting up her arms and feeling her muscle to see if she was in good shape. She turned April

around and felt her ass and looked at her smooth legs. "This slave looks to be in very good

shape. What are her specs?" Without waiting for Jessica to speak, she turned April around

again so that she was facing the woman and opened up her mouth. She began to inspect

April's teeth.

Jessica only hesitated for a moment, "Well let me see. Ah here she is. This is April, she

is a relatively new acquisition. She is 23 years old and we estimate that she could provide

up to 50 years service as a domestic."

The woman looked over at Jessica. "How much is this slave?"

"Let me see.... oh here we go, April is $10,000." Jessica was sure the woman would balk

at such a high price, but she still seemed interested.

"Its a bit high, would you take $8,000 for her?"

Jessica hesitated for a moment. She was not ready for the woman to actually offer

money for April. After all she did not have any formal training. For a brief moment the idea

of a $800 commission passed through her head, but then reality set back in. "Oh I am

sorry I just noticed. This slave has already been purchased, she is on layaway." Neither

Jessica or the woman noticed, but April let out a sigh of relief. All of this was fun, but she

was very worried that she could end up as this woman's property. April really did not think

there was a chance that anyone would consider her amongst all of these slaves and here

she was a few steps away from being purchased.

"I am happy to pay $9,000 if that gets her taken off of layaway." April was getting

nervous. She did not like where this was going or how this woman was looking at her. She

considered speaking up, but she knew that both her and Jessica would get into a lot of

trouble if the truth came out.

"I appreciate your interest in this slave, but I could get into serious trouble for selling a

slave that someone else already purchased." April relaxed more as Jessica spoke. Clearly

Jessica was not going to allow her to be sold.

The woman looked frustrated, thanked Jessica and walked away. Finally April got the

courage to speak, "Jessica that was a little too close. I know you were trying to give me a

thrill, but can you not do that again?"

"I am sorry April. Honestly I thought there was no way she would be interested in

buying you once she heard the price. I did not even try to do a hard sell on her. I promise

I will not bring anyone by here again. Are you at least having fun?"

April thought about that for a moment, "Honestly, it has been fairly interesting. I enjoy

watching people walk by looking at the slaves. I try to imagine what is going through their

head. I hate to admit it, but even though I was terrified a few minutes ago, that was also

really fun. I mean she was inspecting me like I was not even there."

Jessica smiled, "Well I should have sold you. With that commission, I could be buying

that new bracelet I have wanted."

"Well I hope I am worth more than $800 to you," April looked sad, but smiled as Jessica

started laughing.

"Alright, I promise that I will not bring anyone else over here. You can just sit back and

relax. Heck I could use a break myself. I think I am about due. I am going to head to the

break room, do you want anything?"

April thought about it for a few minutes. "No I think I am fine. How long is your break?"

"Just 30 minutes. You can sit back and observe. Things are getting pretty quiet now.

When I get back we will be at the home stretch and we can talk about where to go with our

project."

"Sounds good, see you soon." April watched Jessica walk off and exit back into the room

where all of this first began. For the first time since all of this began, April realized that the

display area was very quiet. There were lots of people around, but the majority of them

were slaves and none of the slaves were talking. She did notice the occasional customer or

window shopper. This was a really boring existence. April's mind began to wander and she

began thinking about some homework she had to do that evening. Her expression glazed

over as her mind began to plan out the rest of the evening.

April did not notice as a young woman approached her. The woman was slightly older

than Jessica, late 20s with brown hair and green eyes. She was a bit stocky but still

attractive in her smart navy blue skirt suit, nude stockings and black leather pumps. "Is

this the slave you were looking at earlier?"

"Yes that is the one." April was startled by the voice and saw the woman from earlier

with another woman who April could only assume was a sales person. "The other salesgirl

told me she was on layaway for another customer."

The salesgirl who's name was Beth grabbed April's wrist and went to scan her bar code

but there was nothing to scan. "This is strange," she said out loud. She grabbed April's

other wrist but could not find a bar code. Beth looked up and saw the price tag in April's

ear. "Well this says she is $10,000, but I cannot seem to find a bar code. I cannot find

anything at all that shows this slave is even in the system."

"Well the other girl told me she was on layaway. I would love to buy this slave. Is there

anything you can do. I am ready to pay $9,000 right now."

"Well I should probably go talk to Jessica. Perhaps she sold her earlier in the day. I

could get into trouble if I sell her again." April felt relieved that the girl the was not going to

be able to sell her. She looked at the door back to the break room hoping Jessica would

come out. How long had she been gone?

"Look I do not have all day. I need a new slave and I am ready to purchase this one

right now. I am happy to pay you $500 directly if you approve this sale."

Beth's jaw dropped as she heard these words. This woman was willing to give her $500

on top of the 10% commission for this slave. "Alright, deal. I am going to need to process

her though since she is missing some key identification." Beth pointed toward an area.

"Can you come with me to finalized the paperwork and processing?"

April's mind was a blur. Beth had unhooked her leg from the place she stood and was

leading her off the display floor toward a door off in the distance. The wealthy woman paid

no attention to her fear as she spoke with Beth. "It is nice to see that someone here thinks

about customer service. That other salesgirl was so difficult to deal with. I will be sure to

put in a good word with your manager."

"Ma'am, I am sorry you had a bad experience. Jessica is one of the newer salesgirls here

and was probably worried about breaking a rule. Our store always strives to give the best

possible service."

The trio continued to walk toward the door. April looked back hoping that Jessica would

come out and notice she was gone, but as she saw the clock, she realized that Jessica would

not be out for another 10 minutes. Her mind raced. She needed to get out of this situation

and she needed to get out of it fast. Still she was terrified about speaking up. April had no

idea what the penalty was for impersonating a slave, but she guessed it was fairly stiff. She

was also certain that Jessica would lose her job. As her mind went back and forth about

what to do, April began to rationalize a solution. Certainly, prepping and selling her would

take more than 10 minutes. That would give Jessica enough time to come out, notice she

was gone and find her before the transaction was completed.

April felt even more unnerved as they passed through the door and it closed behind her.

As the door closed, the woman asked, "How long will this take?"

"Probably around 15 to 20 minutes. We have to enter your information and get this girl

into the system so we can track the sale." April let out a sigh of relief, knowing that was

plenty of time for Jessica to find her.

"Well I am in a bit of a hurry. I have my frequent shopper card if that helps."

"That makes a huge difference. I will just need to get her processed and we can close

out the transaction." April look horrified as they walked into an office that appeared to be

attached to a warehouse. The salesgirl walked April over by the desk and pulled up a

screen on her computer. "Ok, let me just get her into the system." Without hesitation,

Beth grabbed April's arm and applied a metal instrument. April felt a shock and as Beth

pulled the instrument away, April could see a black bar code on the underside of her left

forearm. Her arm was marked like she was property. April could not believe this was

happening. As she stared at her arm, the girl began to type in April's stats into the

computer including the agreed upon sales price.

April needed to speak up. She had to stop this before it went too far, but the fear she

was feeling had her almost paralyzed. As you struggled to come up with a solution, the

salegirl looked at the woman and asked, "Will that be cash or charge?"

"Charge please." The woman pulled out her American Express platinum card and handed

it to Beth. This was surreal. April new she needed to speak up, but she was not even sure

April or the woman would believe her. Where was Jessica? Certainly her break must be

over by now. Beads of sweat began to form on April's head as she struggled to keep herself

from shaking. She nervously watched Beth swipe the card and print out a copy of the

receipt for the woman to sign. The gravity of the situation was definitely beginning to sink

in. This woman had just purchased her. She was property and this complete stranger had

bought her for $9,500.

Unable to speak, April did not notice that another person had entered the room. It was

Henry from the warehouse. She only became aware of his presence when April spoke to

him. "Henry can you take this merchandise into the room to be process?"

"Sure can. Do you want her boxed up and shipped or would you prefer to take her with

you."

The woman contemplated this for a minute. "I will take her with me. Can you put her in

my car?"

Always happy to oblige, Henry said, "Of course Ma'am. Just pull your car around back

and I will get her in." Without saying a word, Henry grabbed April by the arm and pulled

her out of the office. He was used to dealing with well trained slaves and certainly was not

expecting any trouble from her. They entered a big warehouse which looked like any other

kind of warehouse. There were a few people working moving crates around and packing

items for shipment. At the far end of the room there was a shipping door, the kind

designed to back a truck or car into.

Henry led April up to another table and told her to stay. He then walked away to a

cabinet. April watched him as she stood frozen in place. She wanted to run. She wanted

to scream, but try as she might she could not root herself out of this place. The fear was

growing inside her to the point that she could not even look at Henry for fear that she would

breakdown. Instead, April stared down at the plain wood table and breathed slowly in order

to calm herself down. All of sudden, April felt a cold metal wrap around her neck and a

clicking noise.

"There we go little girl. I don't expect you will give this woman much trouble, but this

collar should keep you in order." April reached up to touch the collar, realizing that Henry

had put it on her neck. Just as she was going to speak up she felt a prick in her arm. She

turned quickly only to see Henry pulling a syringe out of her arm.

"What was that for...." April felt her eyes getting heavy as she looked up at Henry.

"There we go little girl. Just let yourself go to sleep. It makes things a lot easier." Just

as April passed out into Henry's arms he saw the woman backing her car up into the

warehouse. He easily picked up April and walked toward the car. "Where would you like

me to put her Ma'am?" Without even responding the woman popped the trunk and Henry

set April into it. He closed the trunk over her and tapped on the metal to let the woman

know she was good to go. As she started to drive away, Henry waved goodbye. He really

loved this job.