Thank God for modern science! Only a few years ago, the words “You have cancer” would have been my death sentence, but thanks to a newly discovered cure, I would be right as rain in no time flat. It was a small bottle, about the size of a shot glass, containing some black liquid. Once I drank that, my cancer would go away in 24 hours.
“But there is a side effect,” my doctor told me, “while the formula and your body fight off the tumor, you won’t have any fine or gross motor function.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Basically, it means your muscles won’t listen to your brain for 24 hours after you drink that cure. You will still have some involuntary functions like blinking and breathing, and you will still be able to swallow and even make a little noise, but no standing, no talking, no turning your head. Now, some patients choose to be put in a coma during that time. Is that something you want?”
“No, I have a roommate at home who can take care of me. Thanks, doc!”
 
Back at the house my roommate and I shared with… Charlotte, I kicked off my winter clothes and went to my room to change into some comfortable pajamas: if I was going to be paralyzed all day, I might as well be comfortable. When my roommate, a thin yet potbellied woman with a large afro, saw me in pajamas and holding the bottle, she, to my shock, breathed a sign of relief.
“At least the anticipation is over, right Galatea?” she asked, giving me a hug, “Don’t worry, I’ll be here all day and night to take care of you, just like we planned.”
“Thanks, luv. Apparently, it’s called ‘loss of motor function’.”
“I call it ‘getting a new doll to play with. Kidding!” she said once she saw my expression.
 
Once I was comfortable in my armchair, I drank the medicine and immediately went limp, the empty bottle falling from my useless hand.
“Oh, wow! That worked faster than I expected. How do you feel? How did it taste?” my roommate asked, picking up the bottle.
I tried to tell her I felt perfectly normal and the medicine tasted awful and needed some flavoring, but the only thing that came out was a groan. My mouth just wasn’t cooperating at all!  Curious, I experimented a bit and tried to clench my fist, only to find that I couldn’t so much as wiggle my fingers. I tried to kick my feet, but they were equally useless. I couldn’t bend my back or neck either, but nothing felt stiff or sore; more like my muscles decided “no thank you”. To my surprise I couldn’t even move my face to change expression: just a neutral look for all occasions. Really, all I could do was move my eyes, blink, breathe and groan. My roommate, bless her heart, turned on the TV so I could binge watch my favorite show and promised to give me a protein shake with a straw later. Then she went to answer a call.
  
“Hello? Yes… What? When?! No, I’ll be there.” She said before ending the call. “I’m so sorry, Galatea! There’s a family emergency and I have to go. I’ll be back in a few hours. You’ll be fine by yourself, right?”
I tried to tell her to shut up and go to her family, but of course, she didn’t understand what I was saying. Regardless, she grabbed her purse and ran out the door without another word. Part of me wondered if that delinquent brother of hers finally got arrested. Either way, I thought a quick prayer for her family then returned to my show.
 
That’s when Charlotte, my other roommate, walked in the door. Charlotte was pale and blonde, and had a mean streak a mile wide. She was also the kind of person who thought that of someone disagreed with her, they were stupid or evil and it was her duty to give them no rest until they agreed that she was right all along. In other words, a terrible roommate.
“Hey, bitch, my thing got cancelled so I’m back early. What’s for lunch? …Huh? Answer me!” she shouted, before noticing my pajamas and the empty medicine bottle on the table. That’s when she got a sadistic smile and pulled one of my braided pigtails. I grunted in discomfort.
“It really was cancer then, wasn’t it? You took the medicine and now you can’t move all day…oh, I’m going to have some fun with this.”
 
I knew I was in trouble with only Charlotte around, but I didn’t expect her to start so intensely so quickly! First, she stripped off all of my clothes and lay me back in the chair, which she pushed up to the window. Thankfully, that window didn’t face the street, but then she opened it and I felt the freezing winter air and snow all over my naked mocha skin! I grunted in protest but she simply changed the television to one of her loud, screaming political talk shows (she knew I hated politics) and went into the kitchen to serve herself lunch, leaving me helpless against the cold, which began to creep throughout my body. I shivered and shivered, but despite the window only being a foot away, I couldn’t close it, no matter how much I wanted to. Meanwhile, Charlotte didn’t return to the living room after preparing her lunch like I expected: she ate her whole damn lunch as I was exposed to zero degree weather!

Finally, I felt my chair return to its original spot, and saw Charlotte move my arms to the sides, away from my line of sight.
“Now, you enjoy your show while I warm you up.”
I was curious what she meant until I remembered that we had candles on the side tables! Sure enough, I soon got the feeling back in my fingertips only for the bite of cold to be replaced by the bite of heat! Hot! It was too hot! She had placed the candles in my palms! My grunts of pain summoned my tormentor back and apparently, she decided I had enough for now because she took the candles away and left me to watch her political garbage show, but not before pouring the hot was all over my breasts and privates.

For an hour and a half, she left me alone and while I hated what I was watching, at least I wasn’t being actively tortured. But my respite would come to an end as she came back with my laptop, which contained several important documents! I groaned for her to stop, but she simply shook her head and opened the laptop.
“I’m not going to smash the thing. I’m going to sell it. But first, I have to get rid of these old files. Let’s see… your resume? Gone. Your insurance documents? Gone. That trashy romance novel you were writing? I’m doing the world a favor by deleting that!”
She went on like that until she got bored and reset the entire laptop to factory default. Then she brought a drink to me. She held the straw mere centimeters from my unmoving lips, and I was so hungry! She would bring it close to my waiting mouth, then take a sip herself and back to me again. Then, realizing she still had to sell my laptop, poured the shake onto my head and placed earbuds in my ears, turning the “worst songs of each year” playlist on full blast before leaving my ears to suffer as shake dribbled down my face.
 
When she returned and removed my earbuds, Charlotte entertained herself by writing slutty things on my body, then dumping me on the floor so she could use my face as a footstool and then a regular stool. At last, I heard my cell phone ring, and I recognized the ringtone: my roommate was calling! Of course, I couldn’t answer it and so had to wonder what the voicemail was. She was certainly late coming home. In fact, she wasn’t home by the time Charlotte decided it was time for her to sleep…and for me not to. Before she went to bed, she placed nipple clamps on me and inserted a vibrating egg into me, so I would be teased and tormented throughout the night…and there was still another twelve hours to go….