Ameilia looks up at her master with hope shining in her deep brown eyes. He gave her no more
than a fleeting glance. While to anyone else he might have seemed cold and indifferent, she
knew him better. With that one small glance she knew without a doubt that he wouldn’t change
his mind and that his decision would not change no matter how much she begged. She sank to
the floor in defeat and began to sob. She didn’t want to do this, she didn’t want him to do this.
But the decision has been made and there was nothing she could do, there was no safing out of
this one. He walked over to her slowly and, using the small key in his hand, unlocked and
removed her collar. She wailed and cried at the loss. She was in physical pain from the absence
of the weight around her neck. She held herself as she laid on his floor, a place she once felt to
be the one safe place in the world, and came to a decision. She brought her breathing under
control though she couldn’t stop the tears flooding her eyes. She stood in front of him and, for
the first time in what felt like forever, looked him in the eyes. That was a mistake, by looking into
his eyes she could no longer pretend that this was because of something horrible she had done
or even that he was merely done with her. She saw the sorrow and pain that she felt reflected in
the deep pools of his eyes. It only hurt her more. With one final deep breath she turned on her
heel and walked away from him. She made it to the car that he had ordered to come for her and
before she could open the door a new feeling of spite straightened her spine. She pulled her
hand away from the car door as if it had burned her. And with that final, small act of defiance,
she turned and walked down the road, leaving him and the last ten years of her life far behind.
