I was awoken by the sounds of my brother’s screams and knew that his sanity had finally cracked after years of captivity. I tried my best to calm him down but he didn’t even recognise me.
I heard the telltale sounds of our captor moving around upstairs and redoubled my efforts to get my brother to be silent. My brother’s fate was sealed when the basement door opened and our captor started coming down the stairs.
I shrunk back in my cage as he began making his way towards us. He stopped in front of my brother’s cage and unlocked it. I was forced to watch as he dragged my brother’s screaming body out. He then drew a knife out of his pocket and quickly slit his throat. My brother’s screams were replaced by gurgling and then he went silent for the final time.
Our captor then gazed around the room at the cages that contained the rest of my family. He had a smug little smile on his lips that I had hated since the first day he had found us. We had hidden away for our own safety for years until he had discovered us. He had promised to keep us safe but then imprisoned us.
He chooses one of us every night and brings us upstairs to amuse his guests. He uses our bodies and doesn’t care how much pain he inflicts on us. There will probably become a time when my own mind breaks.
Our captor looks around the room once more and his gaze lingers on my cage for a few seconds. His smile gets even wider and I know that he has decided to use me for his guest’s entertainment tonight. He is probably taking a perverse pleasure in knowing that I just witnessed my own brother dying. He walks upstairs and I don’t make a sound until the basement door once again closes.
I gaze around at the rest of my family who sit silently in their cages. None of them even acknowledge my brother’s bloodsoaked corpse lying on the ground beside them.
A few hours pass before our captor reappears with some water and soap. He opens my cage and tells me to clean myself for the show. I immediately comply and feel his eyes on my body as I wash off all the dirt and grime.
He seems pleased with the results and carries me upstairs. I stifle a scream as he forces his hand inside of me. I am then led out on stage to the thunderous applause of his guests. He then uses my body for the next hour while his guests laugh and cheer at everything he does.
After the show he carries me downstairs and places me tenderly back in my cage and gives me a tablet to use as a congratulations for a show well done. This is one of the few rewards we get as he knows that no one will ever believe our story if we ask for help.
I have always wondered if his guests know how big of a part that me and my family have played in his success. Most of them could never have assumed that a ventriloquist would use sentient creatures as their dummies.