The fact that she crawled everywhere in that cage was testament to the dimensions and to her state of mind. It wasn't designed for her to stand in it. At a push she would have been able to stand in a contorting squat. But it wasn't designed for that. Not for her to stand at all. It was designed for the purpose of keeping her low in mind. She wouldn't have been able to stand upright in it. Nowhere near it. It was designed for it to be more comfortable for her to crawl around. In effect it was designed with debilitation in mind. Designed with degradation in mind. Designed to enforce almost an animal like existence in this woman. Everything was designed to 'take away' from the woman who had had everything. Designed to subject her to a degrading way of life. She was still snivelling, still sobbing, still feeling deeply sorry for herself when she crawled onto that thin mattress. She shivered. There was a chill and she couldn't cover herself with anything because there was nothing. She curled up into a foetal position, that helped, a little. She was keeping herself warmer that way. And she was gently sobbing.

And then something made her stop. Something made her hold her breath. A noise. Something outside the room. Something inside the apartment but outside that room, outside that cell. A noise, voices. Two voices in the semi distance. One was Julia's voice. She would recognise that voice anywhere. But there was another voice, another familiar voice. Another woman's voice. For some reason that made her feel a little relieved. Another woman's voice. That kind of rekindled the hope again. Surely another woman wouldn't agree with the way she was being treated. The way she was being abused and imprisoned against her will. But then was it against her will? She hadn't been forced into that cage. She had crawled in under her own steam. Like she had walked the South Bank in that raincoat and heels under her own steam as well. That would have been the opportunity for her to have got help, or raise the alarm, but she hadn't. And she had let Julia attach those lethal little clips to her extremities. She hadn't been tied, or chained down and then clipped. In a way she was a non-consenting consenter.

Was any of this against her will? Or without her consent? Maybe she had to fight. Maybe she needed to put a little more into her own self-preservation. There was something inside her, telling her that. But what she did about it she didn't know. It was like some of her ability to work things out, and to solve problems, and to get herself out of trouble had been taken away. Had been snatched from her. And now all she had to do was hold out hope that this other female, whoever she was would see something and put an end to this. Again, in her dreams.

Yes, in her dreams. Glenda's heart had pounded when she heard the key in the room door. It was a strange weird thing what she did. She shrunk away, or back to the furthest point of the cage. Much like a frightened animal would, or might. Like she was cowering. She didn't know who was coming through the door. Or what the outcome of whoever was coming through the door would be. She curled up on that thin mattress and just peered through the bars. This wasn't Glenda - this was what was left of her, which wasn't much. This was almost like the shell of Glenda. The blank canvas. Just enough of the woman herself so that she knew what was happening to her. When Julia and the other woman came into the cell room, things took another turn for the worse. She immediately recognised the other woman. It was Celine - one of her competitors in the city. A striking, imposing, curvy red head.

Glenda had never liked Celine. The red head had always been way too 'in your face' for Glenda's liking. And she would be pretty sure that this woman disliked her in equal measure. Seeing this woman now standing outside the cage, looking through those bars at her was a shock in itself. There was this few seconds when nothing happened. When there was just this meeting of the eyes, nothing else. And then the smile of Celine. A wide lipstick smile that didn't tell Glenda that this woman was shocked to see her being kept in conditions like this. Or that she was concerned. In fact, if anything, Celine had known perfectly well what she was walking into in that room.

"Awww, Glenda, it looks as though life has caught up with you, finally. I can't say I'm sorry to see you behind bars." There was a gloating in Celine's voice. She had one of those posh accents - like an accentless accent that was both educated and intelligent. And her tone was an immediate put down to Glenda. The caged woman could feel the flush rise from her neck. And all of a sudden this other woman, this Celine, seeing her like this was an emotional, psychological shock. She wanted to fold her latex sheathed legs away but she couldn't. For some reason her legs, and what they looked like, what they represented when sheathed in suggestive, all sealing latex, were the bane of her life. And it was like Celine was reading her mind. She smiled again. "Nice legs Glenda. A woman like you needs to have her best assets accentuated. And you sure got good legs." Again there was that gloating. But that shock to Glenda's system, at seeing this woman, one of her competitors in business, in this place at this time was taking away from other things. Other more important things. Other potentially catastrophic things that were going on in that room at the same time.

Julia had stood back. She was in mental note taking mode. It was like she wanted to witness the whole of what the caged woman was going through. Like she didn't want to get broiled down in conversation, or wars of words. She just wants to see what Glenda did, and what effect what was happening was having on her. And it was like she didn't want to miss a single beat of what was happening. She had seen Glenda's eyes widen, opening through the bruising as she recognised Celine. Then the realisation that there was not going to be any rescue at this time. Then she watched the effects of Celine's words on Glenda. She could see that every word was like a stab into Glenda's psychology. Every word she spoke like a 'hurt' being applied. Not only the realisation of another woman somehow being involved in what she was going through, but that any kind of hope was simply disintegrating before her eyes.

But then there was the other puzzled look from Glenda. Her moving on the mattress a little, looking through the bars. Celine was holding a leash. On the leash was a huge dog. A mastiff, ridgeback cross. In her old life, Glenda would never have seen such a huge dog. She had never had anything to do with dogs. But she would have never seen such a massive animal on a leash. She would have been aware of great danes. Big gangly dogs. But mastiff, ridgeback cross. She wouldn't have known the breeds, or the cross breeds. She would have just known the size. Its sheer size through the bars of the cage. And the fact that it was straining at the leash just a little bit. The hairs on the ridge of its back slightly raised giving it more of an aggressive look and stance. It was looking right at her. Every few seconds, its massive huge tongue would slip out and across its chops. And then it was slobbering. It was looking at Glenda in the cage and it was straining at the leash, trying to get nearer to the cage. There would have been no other feeling for Glenda other than this dog was trying for some reason to get to her. That thought made her shudder and all the time Julia was making those mental notes. All the time she was watching and learning. It was a learning process as much for her as it was a debilitating process for Glenda to be going through.

"Obviously you two don't need to be introduced. But Glenda, I have been working with Celine for a number of months on the plans for your demise. I knew a long time ago that it was something that I wouldn't be able to do myself. That there would need to be others involved. Others who thought along the same lines about you that I did and do. It wasn't hard to get people on side. People have their own motives of course. But myself and Celine here have worked down to the minute detail of what is going to happen to you over the coming months, and years." Julia stopped speaking. She was letting the words sink in to the older, caged woman. Celine didn't say anything. It was her turn to be taking mental notes. Julia paused for a little bit but then she carried on. "Celine had very specific ideas about the way ahead for you. And I have to say, I agree with her entirely." Glenda was listening to the words being spoken, just as she always did. And those words were sinking in just as they always did. But there was this dog on a leash that was distracting her. It was like this slobbering dog had been entered into the mix deliberately to fuck with her head.