PART ONE

“H…H..Hi.” Sudhir stammered, standing before Priya in front of her house. He bowed down his head slightly and joined his hands, but kept his eyes raised so he could still see her incredibly beautiful face. There was no training oneself for a moment like this. What should one say when they see the Goddess? What is the appropriate greeting? Sudhir had spent hours staring into his mirror, puffing up his chest and saying with a bold voice- “Good afternoon, your highness!” and “I am here to worship you, the Goddess of Infinite Beauty. And submit to you in every possible way. If you would only have me.” Long sentence, so he repeated it several times with his voice, then in his head as he drove to her big house.

All that preparation was the equivalent of practicing swimming instructions on a bed. Reality was cold, scary and dangerous. Sudhir needed to go for it, make the attempt. That is the only way to learn.

“Who are you?” Priya asked, spreading a conspicuous frown on her face.

“Hello, Priya. I am Sudhir.” He blurted out. His mind screamed at him. ‘Hello? HELLO? Did you just greet the Goddess of Infinite Beauty with a ‘hello’? What the hell is wrong with you?’

“Sudhir?”

“Y…Yes.”

“How can I help you, Sudhir?” Priya asked, folding her hands.

The question threw him off-balance. How can a dominant woman ask such a question? His mind had played all possible scenarios in his head several times over and over again, every day and every night for the past five months, and not once did it play out like this. How can I help you? Madame, I am here to sacrifice my life in your service. Hmm, that was a pretty good thought. Say it. Say it, he told himself.

“S..slave.” Sudhir said. Only one word actually came out of his mouth.

“Oh!” Priya said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t care.” she said and shut the door close with a resounding slam.

Sudhir stared at the patterns in the wooden door, then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. Then one more. He raised his hands and shook them as hard as he could. He rang the doorbell again.

Priya opened it up after about a minute. “I said I don’t care.”

“Priya.” Sudhir said. “I have come all the way here from Hyderabad just to meet with you. Please give me the courtesy of one little interview. That’s all I ask. One interview.” He was pleading before the Goddess, but he was smiling inside. He’d finally said it right.

“Oh, alright!” Priya said, opening her door. She walked inside and made for the couch, then sat herself on it. “Close my door,” she commanded. Sudhir did.

He then stepped up to the couch. Her glorious mansion was but a blur in his eyes, for all he could see was the Mistress’s legs stretch out onto her glass topped tea-table. “Sit.” she said, pointing to the floor below her legs. Sudhir knelt down on the floor.

As he looked up to the Goddess, Priya examined him thoroughly. She caught his cheeks, turned his face left and right, but didn’t say a single word for several minutes at a stretch, maintaining her frown at the candidate’s face. She finally broke the silence. “How did you find out about me?”

“I read the stories written by one of your slaves on MistressPriya.com”

“Oh no!” Priya said. “Did that idiot put out my address on that website?” Priya asked.

“No, actually.” Sudhir said. “I went through every Priya in the phone-book and finally found you.”

“Okay.” Priya nodded. “Now Sudhir, take off all your clothes and keep them in one pile under my feet.”

Sudhir felt excited. This was his very first real order. He took off his shirt, pants, his vest and under-pants and knelt back down, stuffing his clothes under Priya’s feet.

“Why do you want to be my slave?” Priya asked.

“My supreme Goddess, I love the thought of handing over my life to one dominant, sadistic girl and living a life of servitude according to her whims.”

“You think your life would become great if you find such a girl?”

“Life would be very hard. But I would love every moment of it, Goddess.” Sudhir said, joining his hands.

“My slaves don’t have the right to happiness.” Priya said. “Nor do they have the right to eat or sleep or wear clothes. Sometimes, I don’t even let them breathe. How can that possibly make you happy?”

“The thought of accepting pain for your pleasure. That is the feeling that I’m willing to live for and die for. I would do anything for you, Mistress.”

“So, what makes you think I have an opening?”

“You don’t want more slaves?”

“No I don’t.” Priya said. “Besides, even if you turn out to be a great candidate, you would only get to be a foot slave, nothing more.”

“I am willing, Priya.” Sudhir said. “Please let me be your foot slave.”

“Do you know what the job is?”

“Yes Mistress. I would be responsible for keeping your feet clean by licking them or kissing them. And I would have to accept your kicks to my face whenever you feel like it.”

“You have it all memorized.” Priya said. “But before I consider you for this job, I want some collateral.”

“Why, Priya?”

“Well, I am spending my precious time considering you for this job. So I want you to give me something of value that I can keep, irrespective of whether I accept you or reject you.”

Sudhir looked around. “My clothes, under your feet.”

“Hmm!” Priya said. “I kick you out, you would be out on the streets naked. That would be good fun, but I want something with more value.”

“Priya, my wallet and car keys are in my pants’ pocket.”

“That is good.” Priya said. “It makes sense. I should get a new car just for considering you as my foot slave. Which car are you giving me?” She smiled.

“It’s a Tata Safari, my Goddess. Quite a new one, too. You can have it just for considering me.” Sudhir gulped.

“But, how will you ever go home? No clothes, no money and no car.”

“I am determined to succeed, Priya.” Sudhir said. “I will end up as one of your foot slaves. No matter what it takes.”

“Is that so?” Priya stood up and pointed to the foot of her couch. “Submit your head there.” Sudhir placed his head where she pointed. Priya then placed her foot on his back and closed her eyes. She moved her foot around his back a bit. “I sense a lot of bottled up anger in you, Sudhir.”

“What?” Sudhir raised his voice, then calmed himself down. “I mean, how is that possible?”

“I’ve had thousands of men under these beautiful feet. I would know.” Priya said. “Plus, you are one overconfident son of a bitch.” Sudhir began to cry, the tears flew out of his eyes with no sign of ever stopping. Things weren’t looking good for him at all. His mind began running amok. What if he didn’t succeed? How could he possibly go home without his things?

“I have made my decision.” Priya said. “You are not good enough to be my foot slave,” she declared.

“Please, Priya.” Sudhir begged.

“No.” Priya said, grabbing her candidate by his ear. She dragged him to her front door and made him sit on all fours at her doorstep. “I said you are not good enough to be my slave. Now get out of my life!” Priya kicked his buttocks as hard as she could, thrusting him towards her front gate.

Sudhir looked around. A few people walked by her house, began to laugh at him. He tried to curl his body into a ball, but that didn’t help one bit. He saw his car. His beautiful black SUV now belonged to the Goddess. He contemplated catching the city bus, bus there was no wallet, and no pants to put them in, either. He quickly headed for the neighbor’s house. There was a newspaper lying in front of the house. He picked up the paper and covered up his body, at least some of it with the paper. Then, he headed for the group of people laughing at him and got down on his knees, held out his hands and cried. “Spare change, Sir?”

PART TWO

A few days since the interview.

Priya’s doorbell rang. “Delivery for Priya,” a young man’s voice called out.

Priya tossed aside her books and answered the door. “Yes?”

“We have a cake for you ma’am. I’m delivering on behalf of the Daily bread, the big bakery down the street.” The delivery man said.

“Oh cool,” Priya said. “But who sent me this?”

“The sender chose to remain anonymous ma’am.”

“Is that even allowed?” Priya asked. The man nodded. “As long as you get paid, you don’t care, huh?” He didn’t say a word. “Anyway, where do I sign?”

“Here, ma’am.” The guy said, showing a delivery slip on his clipboard.

Priya signed it and took the cake box onto her table. She opened up the box to take a look inside- there lie a rich, creamy chocolate mousse. It was even cut into small pieces for her convenience. She picked up a small piece from the side and put it into her mouth. The taste was just sensational. She picked up another piece and nearly put it into her mouth, when she realized that her door wasn’t closed.

Priya stepped towards the door, but suddenly felt her knees going weak. Her vision began to blur; so much that she could barely see where her door was. She wobbled, but caught the wooden door and began to move it so the bright sunlight was shut out. In the process, she saw a figure inside her house. “Hey, get out!” she said.

The figure made its way towards the door and pushed it open. Priya swooned and fell down to the floor. The figure came into her house and stood over her. It then took off the black mask.

“Sudhir?” Priya asked, barely able to keep her eyes open.

“Yes.” The man said, gathering Priya’s body off the floor.

“You drugged me. Those cakes were drugged!” Priya said.

“I’m sorry. But it needed to be done.” Sudhir said, picking up his car keys from the top of her refrigerator, then heading for his black SUV.

Priya tried to scream, but only a quiet “uhhh” came out. Her head got dizzier, as she found herself in the man’s arms, unable to resist in any way. She felt her body thrown into the backseat of the car, then the doors shut down on her. Then there was complete darkness.

PART THREE

Several hours passed before Priya was able to wake up. She tried to open her eyes, but it was much too hard. She wanted to bring her hands to her eyes and rub them. How hard could that be? She tried to move her right hand. There was some rough surface against it, blocking all movement. She opened her eyes to see what it was- it was a thick, tight rope strung across a black wooden surface. She looked to her other hand. It was similarly bound to the table. She tried to move her legs, but they were bound too.

Priya opened her eyes and saw straight before her. It was Sudhir, standing before her with a gun in his hand. “Try to move, and I’ll shoot,” he said.

“Where am I?” Priya asked, looking around. She was in a tiny room with white walls, and some of the paint was worn off. Large cobwebs infested the ceiling and the room had just one light, an extremely dim one at that.

“In my friend’s warehouse.” Sudhir said, placing the gun on a table. “I’m sorry that it had to play out this way.”

“What do you mean?” Priya asked.

“I came to your house that day, remember? I asked to be your lowly foot slave.”

“I remember.” Priya said. “And I said no.”

“Yes.” Sudhir said, banging his hand against the table. “How could you say no? What pleasure do you get from denying me the job?”

“I don’t get any kind of pleasure.” Priya said, trying again to free her hands. “I could sense that you were a bad person from the moment I saw you.”

“Is that so?” Sudhir asked.

“Yes. And look at you. Drugging me and bringing me to a warehouse. Tying me up with ropes. You basically kidnapped me. You are a horrible human being.” Priya said. “Evil.”

“I know, damn it!” Sudhir said, banging the table again. “I know that I am bad. But what did I ask for, from you? I wanted to kiss your feet. I wanted you to kick me in the face. Because I am bad. You wouldn’t even let me have that in my life.” Priya glared into his eyes. “What? Do I need to be a saint in my life to be accepted as your slave?”

“No.” Priya said. “But you are plain dangerous. That is why I rejected you.”

Sudhir bowed down. He then looked straight into Priya’s eyes and stepped forward. “I can kiss your lips if I want,” he said. She cringed and turned to her left, then her right. “I can kiss your breasts,” he said, bringing his lips before her chest. Priya dropped back her head, completely helpless.

“But I won’t do any of that.” Sudhir said, stepping away. Priya relaxed a bit, her heart pumping harder than ever. “I am going to kiss your feet. That’s all I ever wanted to do in my life.”

“Go ahead.” Priya said. “It’s not like I have a choice here.”

“Not so fast.” Sudhir said, getting down on one knee. “I want you to give me your permission.”

“I just did.” Priya said. “You forced it out of me.”

“I don’t want you to feel that way.” Sudhir said. “I want you to tell me that I have earned it.”

“You haven’t.” Priya said. Sudhir moved his hands towards the gun on his table. “Oh, alright!” she said. “You have earned the right to kiss my foot.”

“That doesn’t sound convincing enough.” Sudhir said, shrugging.

“Sudhir. You are good enough to kiss the bottom of my left foot. I give you the permission.”

“That’s better.” Sudhir said, grabbing her left foot. He closed his eyes, prayed and kissed the dust in her feet. He then fell down and began to weep tears of joy. “That… that was it. That was everything. Thank you, Priya.”

“You can thank me by untying me.” Priya said.

“Oh, yes!” Sudhir said, jumping up with a new sense of purpose in his life. He slowly took off the ropes that bound Priya to the wooden stand. Priya shook her hands free while Sudhir bowed down before her, on his knees. “Thank you so much, Goddess.”

“You filthy swine.” Priya said.

“I am sorry about everything, Priya.” Sudhir said. “But like I’ve always said, I’m willing to do anything for you.”

Priya leaned back against the stand. “You’re willing to do anything?”

“Yes!”

“Pick up the gun.” Priya ordered. Sudhir obeyed instantly. “I think you are an evil man. The world is unsafe because of people like you.”

“But I just wanted to kiss your feet, Priya.” Sudhir said.

“You were willing to kidnap me just to have your way.” Priya said. “I don’t think I want the likes of you to be alive.”

“Tell me what to do, Priya.” Sudhir said, falling down like a sack.

“Hold the gun to your head.” Priya said. Sudhir cocked his gun and held it above his ear. “Now pull the trigger.”