Fire and Fury

Becca sat in the apartment, watching the minutes tick by on the microwave's clock. She nervously tapped her foot against the floor until she couldn't take it anymore and started pacing.

"He said he'd be home soon...that was 45 minutes ago," she reasoned. "Maybe he got stuck in traffic...although then he'd've taken the backway home."

She checked the accident logs. Nothing. She checked the police logs. Nothing. She tried calling his phone. Straight to voicemail.

In this panic, she remembered how the two of them first met. It was her junior year of high school. Turner was dating some skank named Paige, and even though she'd been with like half of the school at that point, he seemed to be blind to that. It was one of his critical flaws; he was too quick to fall in love and prioritized maintaining relationships above everything else. They shared a few mutual friends, but seldom talked. That was, until, one rainy day.

It was the night before prom; his senior, and her junior. Paige and him had just gone through a messy argument, right after school. One that ended with Paige throwing his trombone against the wall. He was a proud jazz player, even making it to the state level, and the destruction of one of his most important things in life was the straw that broke the camel's back. A shouting match between the two of them ensued, and after Paige threw some punches and left, he was a mess.

Becca was the one who found Turner crying in the corner of the instrument closet, beaten and bruised. He tried to compose himself when he saw her walk in, but as soon as she walked over to him and pulled him in for a comforting hug, there was no turning back.

She had always had her eye on Turner. He wasn't everyone's typical high school crush, but he was Becca's. Innocent, somewhat naïve, and trusting, but smart and witty at the same time. For most people, seeing someone they adore in a broken state causes them to turn the other way, but for Becca, she knew he was only human.

After several minutes, Becca finally worked up the courage to say something to him.

"Who did this to you?" she simply said. It wasn't what she intended to say, but her blood was boiling at this point, and she wanted to get **** on whomever it was that caused this.

The next day, on prom night, the two of them de facto went together, with Becca not having a date prior, and Turner's date having been, well...

In the proceeding days, their bond only continued to grow, and as Turner was getting ready to leave for college, Becca realized how much she needed him in her life as more than just a friend. The timing wasn't ideal, but Becca knew she had to act and tell him how she felt. He, of course, responded positively. It didn't even cross her mind that she may just be a rebound, and after five years, she was positive that she was truly the one for him. The only thing that kept the two of them from getting engaged was her expressing that she wanted to finish college first.

"Shit...it's been almost an hour, I should file a missing persons case, right...?" her voice trailed off as fear mounted.

She sat down on the couch and got her phone to dial 911, but then she began to feel disoriented, like she was losing her grip on reality.

"It's...it's just a panic attack," she said, "but this one is natural. I just have to calm down and call..."

That was the last thing she said before her eyelids closed and she felt herself falling.

"Welcome to Harem Hotel", a robotic voice said. Becca shook awake as she found herself in a place dissimilar to the small apartment's living area where she had been sitting beforehand.

"...the fuck is this?" she said timidly.

The room was very plain. All four walls were colored an off-white color, as was the ceiling. The floor at least was a bit different, seeming to be white linoleum. There was a small folding table in the middle of the room. Sitting on it was a piece of paper with very small print.

"Oh, c'mon, really?" she said with a chuckle, trying to keep herself from breaking down in tears. "You really couldn't have made the font size larger? Whatever, I'll try my best to read this."

She walked over to the table and picked up the piece of paper sitting on it.

Welcome to Harem Hotel!
Please read the rules attached and exit the room once finished!
Your host, Kendra

This was...sketchy. Who the fuck was Kendra? What the fuck was Harem Hotel? She had three theories floating around. One, she had been kidnapped and this was some sort of front. Two, she was dead and this was some sort of purgatory. Three, she was being pranked by some of her friends in some hyper-elaborate way.

She flipped the page and was bombarded by a massive list of rules. None of them really made sense though, and neither did the name. Something about a TV show, sexual transformations, and a resort? It sounded like one of those porn stories online.

"I don't know if anyone is listening, but I will absolutely not be joining anyone's harem!" she said with passion. "I have a boyfriend, you know! Take away as many victory points or whatever as you want, but I'm not budging!"

Her statement echoed around in the empty room, but was soon replaced by silence. She tried opening the door at the end of the room. It was locked, and when she pulled a little harder on it, a robotic voice in the room shocked her and said "Please accept the rules at the bottom of the page."

"Hello? Can you hear me? I'm not gonna be in some pervert's harem!" Becca's anger mounted. Again, she was answered by silence.

"Fuck whoever's in charge of this," she said, gritting her teeth and checking the box at the bottom.

"Thank you for signing, and enjoy your time on Harem Hotel", the robotic voice sounded again, and the door clicked, signifying that it was unlocked.

"Yeah, and fuck you too, robot lady," she said, ready to punch it. She jerked open the door and stormed down the ornate hallway.

"Oh, so outside the room it's all lavish and something, but you have to sign your soul away in order to get out of the room that looks like a place where the police interrogate you?" she lashed out. "What kind of psycho runs this anyways?"

Exiting the first door she saw at the other end of the hallway, she ended up outside in some sort of courtyard area. She saw a pool, fancy stone paths running every which way, and a little lounge/gazebo area, where...Turner was!

Becca ran over to him with a smile plastered on her face, but slowed down once she saw another woman with him. She thought she was pretty herself, with her orange curly hair, hazel eyes, and freckles dotting her face, but this other woman was truly a knockout.

"Welcome to the show, Becca," the lady said. "I'm your host, Kendra. Please take a seat over on that couch." She gestured to a very large couch that could probably seat 10 people.

"I want some answers first," Becca said, staring down Kendra. "How the hell did you get me here? What the fuck is Turner doing here? What is this 'Harem Hotel' you speak of? And finally, can you just leave our lives alone and let us go back to Virginia?"

"I'm sorry, no can do," Kendra said, shaking her head and standing up to be about half a foot taller than Becca. "Your boyfriend here was chosen by a very strict and demanding selection process, and you're one of the people who're closest to him, so naturally, you're a shoe-in to be part of his harem. I'll answer all the rest of your questions at the end to avoid repeating myself. Now please sit down."

"Becca, I-", Turner jumped up to go talk to her.

"No, you have to go sit back down in your seat too," Kendra said, pushing him back. "That would be showing favoritism. That's not fair to any of our other contestants, or frankly Becca herself, because the audience tends to not enjoy people that the harem master picks as his favorite."

Turner begrudgingly sat back down again as Becca took her seat on the large couch, staring daggers at Kendra.

"I'm sorry, Becca, I didn't ask for any of this," Turner said with great resignation in his voice.

"Don't worry about it, Turner," Becca said, while still glaring at Kendra. "We'll find some way out of this, whether or not this tramp decides to help us."

"I'd be careful who I call a tramp, sugar," Kendra warned. "I am the person in charge of your fate on this show. Your challenges, your transformations, and frankly, whether or not you can get home."

"What do you mean, whether or not I get home?" Becca interrogated.

"Let's not get into that right now," Kendra said dismissively, which seemed to piss Becca off even more. "Next up, we have someone else who Turner here has been quite close with."

"Oh god, please, anybody but her," Becca interjected.