“I can’t take this anymore; I’m going to stay with my mother…”

“You’re not going anywhere…”

Sam’s parents came to visit that Tuesday; he was pleased to see them and welcomed them in.

“Sorry, Vicki’s away at the moment, on business”, he said. “She sends her regards.”

“Sorry we missed her”, Sam’s mother said. “So, what’s new?”

The conversation went as normal; just catching up, really.

Eventually, his parents got up to go; his father’s expert eye, however, was caught by the new table in the centre of the room.

“Nice table”, he said. “Not seen it before.”

“No”, Sam said. “I made it in one of the classes I’ve been going to.”

“Oh!”, his father said, surprised. “You’re good. It’s quality work.”

“Thanks, dad”, Sam said.

His parents said goodbye and left. Smiling, Sam patted the table…

When Vicki didn’t come home when she said she would, Sam appeared to be concerned. Phone calls went unanswered; her firm hadn’t sent her away on business. Sam suddenly realised that Vicki had been missing for a week…

Phone calls were made to the police. A missing persons report was filled in. After a search, nothing was found.

Weeks later, still no Vicki. Then, an email was received on Sam’s personal account. An apology from Vicki, saying stop looking for her, she wasn’t coming back. She’d decided to take a step back from society, joining one of those ‘cults’ that had been in the news recently. Contact details were given for the cult; these were passed on to the police, and they confirmed that Vicki was there.

Sam was understandably shocked, but if it was what she really wanted, he’d not push her to come back. Vicki had always been a technology hating environmentalist, even before he met her, that was nothing new. This was just a little more extreme.

Sam’s parents wanted him to take it further; he talked them out of it. He didn’t want to go against Vicki’s wishes.

A few weeks later, everything was quietly dropped. Vicki was no longer listed as missing, and the case was considered closed.

Sam smiled…

Vicki was aware of everything that had happened. She had no choice. It was all being played into the headphones that she was wearing. She didn’t even know where she was. She’d woken up in pitch darkness, lying face up, completely paralysed, unable to move an inch.

She tried to call out; her mouth was sealed around some kind of pipe. She could also feel the blindfold covering her eyes pressing against her face, tucked under the headphones.

She’d tried to call out to Sam numerous times, as well as his parents; no-one seemed to hear her at all. Every now and again, however, she felt a faint draft between her legs…

There was a click.

Liquid food came down the pipe in her mouth, straight into her stomach. At the same time, other fittings gave her an enema and cleaned her out. That, effectively, was her excitement done for the day…!

The headphones relayed the call from the police, closing her missing persons case, saying about her joining a cult. To her amazement, she heard a recording of her own voice, supposedly talking to the police from the compound of the group that she had joined.

“It’s not true!”, she tried to say, but the pipe wouldn’t let her. She suspected that even if the pipe wasn’t there, she wouldn’t be able to talk anyway.

Vicki lost all track of time. How long had she been there? Also, why the hell couldn’t she move?

Suddenly, she felt a panel opening between her legs. Something started pressing on her vagina…

Oh god! Someone was having sex with her!

She prayed for someone to come, her husband, the police, anyone.

Her ‘attacker’ took his time. She bit down hard on the pipe in her mouth, moaning.

Suddenly, she felt warmth on her body. A large panel had opened above her. Then, her blindfold was lifted…

“Hi, love”, said Sam, looking down at her. “You’ll be pleased to know that sex with you is as good as ever, despite everything…”

Vicki looked around, then started whimpering…

She was in the middle of the front room, lying on, no in, something. She was firmly strapped down, not that she could ever go anywhere again. Her arms and legs were missing…

“Do you like it?”, Sam asked. “I made this special table just for you. There’s a cabinet that holds you firmly, a removable lid, and a sliding panel at the bottom so I can access your vagina for sex. I told you that you weren’t going anywhere…!”

Vicki’s eyes went wide with terror as Sam slid her blindfold back down. He then replaced the cover on the table and shut the door between Vicki’s legs. It looked just like a well-built table again…

The cult didn’t exist. All the contact between it and the police had been generated by a sophisticated AI system that Sam had designed. Sound samples recorded in conversation with his wife had given him enough so that he could make her voice say anything, and he had been able to write exactly like her for a long time.

Patting the table, Sam smiled as he went to bed. Inside it, Vicki just screamed, silently…