Sallas 2: The Gilded Cage

Chapter Description: Those interviews were far from the only thing the government want from Anna. It seems they want images and video of Anna and Ryan in EVERY possible situation.

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The drive to the park was relatively short. Jane was babbling excitedly but Anna could only fret at going out in the most humiliating of outfits. She had the mad idea that maybe she and Ryan could overpower the driver, steal the car and then drive away to safety but that was just a pipedream.

When they pulled up at the park, the fleet of vehicles took up practically every space. Anna was reluctant to step outside the car but as soon as she did, she saw Ryan being handed a toddler harness by Mr. Sawyer. On the other side of the car Jane was impatiently waiting with her arms raised as a similar restraint was attached to her.

“Sorry…” Ryan mumbled as he walked over with the device.

Anna lifted her arms and closed her eyes in embarrassment as the harness was wrapped around her waist and chest. Yet again she heard the clicks of the cameras going off, she had to resist the urge to march over and break them.

“Make sure it’s nice and tight, Ryan.” Mr. Sawyer called out, “We’ll use these shots to demonstrate proper equipment usage.”

Anna felt a jerk as Ryan pulled one the straps and the harness hugged her body tightly. There was a small click as a leash was attached to the back and then Jane was brought over so Ryan could hold her toddler leash as well. Anna felt more like a pet than a person.

“Alright, we just want you to act naturally.” Mr. Sawyer said as he stepped in front of them, “Just have a nice time whilst we film. We might step in to ask questions occasionally but otherwise you won’t even know we’re here. Ryan, after you.”

After a small amount of hesitation Ryan started walking forwards with the two women either side of him. Jane was skipping along happily whilst Anna remained slumped over and practically had to be dragged to keep up.

“Remember they want us to be a happy family…” Ryan muttered to Anna as he saw one of Mr. Sawyer’s crew shake his head after looking at some of the pictures he had just taken.

“Yeah? Do you want to wear all this and try smiling?” Anna replied sharply.

Regardless, she knew Ryan was right. She tried her best to smile and look at least a little more enthusiastic about what was going on. Her motivation was just imagining how miserable the Finishing School would be if she failed in her task. It wasn’t all faked happiness though. Anna looked across to Jane and felt a genuine pang of joy at how much her friend was enjoying this. She wondered how long it had been since Jane had been outside of a compound whether it was the dreaded place of corrections or the gated community.

The further the group got from the cars the more people Anna saw. They were heading for a large playground which looked busy, much to Anna’s chagrin. She saw people staring and could feel herself blushing with embarrassment, even amongst the women of Sallas she was dressed particularly childishly.

There was sadness too. Anna saw other women and girls, she saw the way they were treated and wished more than anything that she could help them. Worse than not helping she felt like she was actively harming them through the campaign she had become an unwilling participant of.

Anna had continued to hope that Ryan would lead the two women away from the playground but as he swung open the large metal gate she could only step inside. Anna didn’t think she had stepped foot in one of these since she had been a little girl. She remembered distinctly the people who adopted her taking her to one of these, but she refused to do anything, they hadn’t tried again. Most play parks around the world were set up solely for children, that wasn’t the case in Sallas. Whilst there were slides, swings and climbing equipment set up for kids there was also an entirely different set that was for adults. Anna could see women running around it and she wondered how many were completely brainwashed like Jane.

“I think they’re going to want you to play.” Ryan said quietly as he unhooked the leashes, “Just try to think of it as looking after Jane.”

Anna was going to retort angrily but Jane was already running off to the climbing frames. Reluctantly Anna hurried off after Jane and heard lots of clicks from cameras as she jogged towards the climbing frame as fast as her heavily diapered body could go. She was red faced by the time she reached the play equipment and not just because of the physical exertion.

“Follow me!” Jane called out as she climbed a slanted ramp on her hands and knees without a care in the world to the fact she was flashing her diapers to everyone.

Anna followed and after going through a portion of the metal frame she reached a slide that Jane had already gone down. She soon found that keeping up with her regressed friend was like trying to keep up with a small child, they were always one step ahead and she found herself chasing her for most of the morning. She wasn’t having any fun at all but as far as the cameras were concerned, she looked like she was running around and playing without a care in the world.

Several times during that morning both Anna and Jane had to return to Ryan for very public diaper changes. Anna bristled at that but had no choice but to submit. The cameras recorded every excruciating detail.

By the time they were taken home Anna was exhausted. As soon as their front door closed, she excused herself upstairs and laid down on the bed with a wet wash cloth over her forehead. She didn’t head back downstairs until dinnertime at which point Ryan informed her of some further unpleasantness.

“What is this?” Anna asked as she looked down at the phone screen and saw a photo of her getting changed in the park.

“It’s Sallagram.” Ryan said, “Swipe left. There’s more.”

Anna swiped and indeed saw more photos of her day out. They had been carefully edited to hide her face if she was frowning or outright modified to make her smile. Interspersed with the photos were short video clips showing the same stuff. It seemed almost never ending.

“I don’t understand…” Anna said as she handed the phone back.

“Sallagram has been set up by the government as a social media network. Apparently, it mirrors one used outside of the country quite a bit. This is your account.” Ryan said.

“MY account!?” Anna exclaimed.

Anna took the phone again and saw the username in the corner: AnnaManningOfficial. It was next to a profile picture of her looking as infantile as ever and in the small About Me section it said…

“Proud woman of Sallas. Working for the men that make this country great.” Anna read breathlessly.

“Mr. Sawyer’s team must’ve set it up.” Ryan said, “Seems like they’ve adjusted the algorithm so that your stuff appears in everyone’s feeds.”

“H-How many…?” Anna whispered.

“It really doesn’t matter.” Ryan tried to say as he took his phone back, “What matters is…”

“How many people have seen these photos?” Anna asked in the voice that was so calm it was clear the owner of it was working very hard to keep from exploding.

“The profile has had…” Ryan hesitated, “Ninety million views. But…”

Anna wasn’t listening to anything else that was said. All she knew was that the photos of her, many of which had only been uploaded earlier that day, had already racked up a huge amount of attention. All those people, strangers from ever part of the country, had seen the embarrassing photos. She turned and left the room as if in a trance.

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The next few days were no better. Each day Anna, Ryan and Jane were picked up in the morning, taken somewhere and told to “act naturally” whilst they were filmed. Occasionally they were stopped to be asked a few questions when Anna would have to force herself to smile as she answered in a way that left her feeling completely humiliated. It seemed the more embarrassed an answer made her the happier Mr. Sawyer and his team were with it.

They were taken to the beach where Anna had to build sandcastles and run around with Jane as if she was a toddler. They were taken to an old castle where Jane was made to dress up in a childishly over-the-top princess costume as Ryan saved her. They were taken to a waterpark where Anna was put in special swim diapers sold by the government and a one-piece swimsuit in bright pink with mermaids all over it. She had to splash around in the children’s pools supervised by a man who talked to all the women as if they were toddlers.

At every location Anna would be expected to debase herself. Even when she wasn’t she found it would still happen just by virtue of her situation. Each day she would come home despondent and exhausted. On the other hand, Jane seemed to be having the time of her life playing in all these places and when she came home, she got straight into cleaning as if she had boundless energy. Anna felt completely dead to the world until the Friday morning, the last day of that miserable week, when Mr. Sawyer and his team showed up and announced that day’s destination.

“We’re going to the mall to get some candid shots of all of you together.” Mr. Sawyer said, “So hurry up and get ready everyone.”

Anna froze to the spot. It felt like all her emotions and thoughts had been stimulated at once, like her brain was overloading. The mall, presumably the one Thorn had mentioned, the place with the supposed proof that The Rose Resistance could be trusted. It had been so long since the phone call though, surely The Rose Resistance weren’t still monitoring it.

“OK.” Anna said as she recovered her faculties.

“OK?” Mr. Sawyer repeated with a frown, “Is that all you have to say?”

“What do you mean?” Anna asked.

“Every morning this week I have come here with your instructions, and you have moaned, pouted and dragged your feet every step of the way...” Mr. Sawyer said with suspicion.

Anna had to think fast. What Mr. Sawyer said was right, she had argued every step of the way for each of the other family outings.

“Well, you know how we girls like shopping.” Anna said with what she hoped was a genuine smile, “Excuse me, I need to go change.”

As Anna pushed past Mr. Sawyer and headed for the stairs she saw that her answer had half-satisfied him. Playing into men’s low opinions of women seemed a smart plan but the apparent docility was clearly making the government worker at least a little suspicious. Anna wasn’t thinking too much about that though, her heart was hammering, this would likely be her only chance to go to the mall. She had to make this count.

Less than fifteen minutes later the entourage was leaving the gated compound. Anna was sitting in an overgrown child seat; Jane was in a similar seat on the other side whilst Ryan was in between them. Not for the first time Anna wondered if she should’ve been more forthcoming with her husband. She hadn’t told him anything of the strange phone call or “mission” she was on. At this point it was far too late. She would have to just get it done and explain later.

Anna was dressed in a relatively modest, compared to her usual outfits, pink dress. It didn’t flare out at the bottom like some of the other ones, but it still left no doubt as to her position. The dress had a white apron on it that ran down the front and had the words “Daddy’s Good Girl” stencilled into it. Underneath, of course, was her diaper which was even thicker than usual as it had been bolstered by two unneeded stuffers. Leaving the house Anna had realised just how much all this bulk forced her to waddle.

“You alright?” Ryan muttered quietly to Anna.

Anna nodded. She felt sick. She didn’t have a plan, but she knew she had to go to the place Thorn had mentioned just to see if anything was there. It had been a little while and there had been no contact, it was very possible whatever offer was on the table had been withdrawn. Anna had to find out though. She couldn’t go through the rest of her life wondering if she missed an opportunity to potentially escape the country.

The Sallas National Mall was on the outskirts of Kingston, and it was massive. Anna had remembered hearing all about it on the news as she grew up and they were building it. The cost was never fully revealed but it was meant to have everything you could ever dream of under one roof. It was paid for by the government and was as much a vanity project as anything else, it was designed to be seen and marvelled at, Anna doubted it would actually turn a profit for a very long time, if ever.

The building was now looming in the distance and getting closer. Anna stretched in her child seat to see the massive wall of glass that was its front. The traffic started getting denser as they got nearer to it and Anna started to feel tense. It was one thing just thinking about coming here for the resistance, but it was quite another to be actually doing it. She felt like she was panicking though her exterior betrayed none of the inner turmoil she was experiencing.

“It’s going to be just like the other trips.” Mr. Sawyer twisted around from the front of the car, “You guys just go about your day and shop whilst we take photos, etc.”

Anna was still digesting Mr. Sawyer’s words when she saw something that made her gasp. She covered her mouth with her hand as she saw a giant billboard to the side of the road. Her eyes watered as the car got closer.

“Oh, I didn’t mention that did I?” Mr. Sawyer said offhandedly, “Well, surprise, I suppose.”

Straddling the road on two huge steel poles was a gargantuan billboard that, as they got closer, blocked out the sun. Anna was looking up into her own smiling face along with Ryan and Jane. The three of them looked like the perfect family as they were sat on their couch at home. It must’ve been taken on the first day of the interminable interview. In big bold letters above and below the image the billboard read: “Welcome to Sallas National Mall. Endorsed by the Manning Family.”

Had it been anyone else on the billboard it would’ve been somewhat unremarkable. But it wasn’t someone else. It was Anna and her family. This was one of the first signs she’d had that had face was truly going to be plastered everywhere.

“This is just the start.” Mr. Sawyer said proudly as the car passed under the billboard.

Anna was red in the face from embarrassment. People were going to see that, they already were seeing it, and they would think she was overjoyed to live in Sallas. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. In her mind’s eye she suddenly saw hundreds, if not thousands, of such billboards springing up. She thought all about the women who would look up at her smiling face and see nothing but a traitor…

“Are you alright?” Ryan whispered.

Anna shook her head. She wasn’t alright and that seemed like a very stupid question. She was going to be the mascot for this horrendously patriarchal society, seen by millions at home and abroad as the perfect Sallasian woman, a girl who was happy with her place and endorsed everything the men did to her. She was worse than the women who blindly followed the men’s lead because they knew no better, she was worse than the women who actually agreed with all this bullshit. She felt like she had to get out, that she had to run and hide somewhere.

“It’s OK.” Ryan said as he took her and, “We can get through this.”

Anna swallowed back her emotions and took a deep breath. She knew she was going to be used like this but to see it so suddenly was a different matter. She just simply hadn’t been prepared for it. As she got over the initial shock it all worked to help focus her mind a little bit. The billboard represented her reality and if she wanted to get out of it, she would need Thorn and the Rose Resistance. She had to get whatever had been left for her.

The convoy of cars pulled into the colossal car park. Rather than taking up any of the normal spaces they drove towards the entrance where a security guard was sitting in a booth. The lead car stopped and there was some talking before the barrier opened and the line of vehicles drove down a slope underneath the mall. The sound of tyres squealing on the floor echoed around the enclosed space, it seemed to be a special car lot specifically for VIPs.

“We have a route laid out for you but feel free to buy anything you like the look of. We’re picking up the bill.” Mr. Sawyer said with a big smile.

Anna was released from her child seat at the same time as Jane and looked around nervously. She hated being seen like this in public. She tried to smooth down her dress, but it was pointless, as soon as she moved her hands away it sprang back up to make the bottom of her diaper peek out. She sighed in defeat.

A stroller was produced from the trunk of one of the cars but thankfully it was for Jane. Anna needed her mobility if she wanted any chance of following Rose’s instructions. It made sense to have Anna walking beside Ryan anyway; she was meant to be the model wife whilst Jane was showing a more regressed aspect of femininity in Sallas.

Anna and Ryan joined hands with the stroller in front of them for some photos before they all made their way towards a set of elevators. There were so many people with them that they needed to use both of the available elevators and even then, it was a squeeze. Anna was pushed into the corner by a cameraman and his equipment and more than once she though she felt his hand on her posterior and she doubted it was an accident.

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