You black out for a second, then wake up.

You shake your head, feeling like your attention lapsed for a second. You bring your hand up to your neck, but the collar is no longer there. You look around and remember that you're in the middle of the meeting. In a panic, you bring your hands up and put them on top of your head, raising your elbows as high as you can. You're distinctly aware of your breasts pushing out against your shirt, but custom is custom. You just hope no one noticed your faux pas.

"As you can see, Jen now honestly believes that it's expected of her that she keep her hands on her head for the duration of every meeting. Jen, why are your hands on your head?"

You look at him in confusion. "What do you mean? That's what I'm supposed to do... wait, are you telling me that collar did this to me?" Every part of you is telling you that it's absolutely essential to keep your hands on your head, but thinking about it you have no idea why. Not that you've been a business woman for very long, but the whole thing still seems highly unusual. Still, no matter how hard you try, you can't bring your hands off of your head.

"That's a very nice performance," says one of the executives, "but how can you show that you're not faking this?"

Brian smiles. "I'm sure you're all familiar with how... prideful our friend Jen is, yeah?" The men all nod. A few look angry. You vaguely wonder why everyone hates you.

"Jen, you're free to leave this meeting now. Thank you for your help."

You look at Brian, confused, wondering if you're off the hook. Figuring you'd better escape while you can, you drop to all fours and begin to crawl towards the door, behind one row of balding men.

"As you can see, when not in a meeting, Jen now finds it appropriate to crawl around the office instead of walking." You pause for a moment, realizing only very slowly that yes, it probably was unusual for you to be crawling around. You feel your face start to go red.

"I think we're all convinced," says the man at the head of the table as you attempt to make yourself as small as possible on the ground, unable to get up. "How soon can this be in affect?"

"All lower-level employees have had the necessary hardware installed in them via the collars. Including myself." You can't see him, but you swear you can hear Brian grimace as he says this. "Jen was the last one."

"Excellent. And how will updates be maintained?"

"The programming in the collars will activate every morning upon the employees' entering the workspace. An email will be sent out each morning detailing any changes or additional rules."

"Fantastic. The system will be put into place starting tomorrow, then. Good work, Brian. And Jen." You're an afterthought.

The men push in their chairs and file out of the room. You have to crawl out of the way to let them pass. None of the men so much as spare a glance at you as you walk past, and you're not sure whether you should be glad for that or not.

Once the men are out of the room, Brian starts to laugh. "Here, Jen, let me put you back to normal." Your mind skips forward a few beats, and you're standing up in front of Brian. You give your arms a few swings to confirm that they're not anywhere weird. Nothing seems very out of place. You sigh and look at Brian.

"Fuck you."

He raises his hands. "Hey, I needed some kind of a demonstration they would believe. It's your project as much as mine." He puts the control into the briefcase he brought in with him, which you notice also holds the collar. You scratch your head and try not to think about what just happened. You feel like you should be madder at Brian, but you can't seem to manage it. You just feel tired.

"Well, looks like it's time to go home. Thanks for your help." Brian smiles at you and puts his hands on your shoulders in a friendly way. You feel your face start to redden and your pulse quickens. It's over very quickly, but you're sure you never would've asked for that brief contact to end. Brian smiles at you and your brain stops functioning for a second. When you snap out of it, Brian is gone and you're standing alone in a room.

I'm tired. I should go home. Thinking this to yourself, you head out of the building, hop in your car and drive home. When you reach your apartment, you walk inside and start your ritual preparations before bed. You're driven forward by muscle memory, and it reminds you of how you 'knew' how to walk and drive to work earlier. Definitely the work of your sister.

As you change into sleepwear and head towards your bed, you vaguely wonder how you're going to get out of this. You wonder where your stepsister is, or if she even exists in this new world. You lay down in bed and as you begin to fall asleep your mind goes back to when Brian left, hands on your shoulders in a way that made you feel so sexy....

Did that fucker mess with you again?