The Puppeteer<br/><br/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;">It was getting a little bit tricky to watch all the action going on. Rai with his stupid lighter had caught his attention for a moment as well as the new asian girl. But then he drifted off to his new favourite red-head. She could really be the change in the mix by now. Unplanned guest were always some hope for a change to him, only that they had turned out mostly as disappointment so far. But maybe this red-haired lady could be the real thing for once.<br/><br/>"Master? Am I in some sort of slave house?" The Puppeteer chuckled. A nice idea, unfortunately he wasn't in this kind of business. His intentions were more subtle than such profanities. But would Jim be able to answer that question? So far the Doc had not been the big light too. "I'm not going to be forced to do anything am I?" Well, that was a good question. He usually preferred to stay in the back, have them develop their own ideas, but sometimes he had to push them forward. So yes, he was forcing them to do something, but not the kind of things the girl probably thought of. The Puppeteer sighed loudly, all good things are three, obviously all bad things too. He pressed the button for the loudspeaker for the third time this morning.<br/><br/>"Good morning, lady. I wouldn't call myself Master, more something like the supervisor, the engineer or the puppeteer, but some title me bastard, idiot or asshole, so feel free to call me however you like, I am not picky. I'm sorry for the rough treatment you got yesterday. That was an accident unfortunately, but I want to tell you that your dog is all well and taken care by some lovely persons. I am sorry, that I can't allow a dog in this house. Probably you have a lot of questions and I would answer some of them later, when our second new guest joined you. Although I wouldn't say that I am overly busy, I still prefer to tell things only once. <br/><br/>Until then I want to reassure you that you are not in a slave house and you are not a subject to any sexual harassment, drug tests or survival games. I would entitle it more a psychological study, but later more about that. Oh, you better swallow those painkillers, Lady. They are really painkillers and even I can see on that monitor that your head is killing you. And you will need your head to get out of this."<br/><br/>He switched off the loudspeaker and followed with one eye Jenny on her way into the cellar. He always followed his Jenny with one eye. "It really reminds me of someone... I went after him with a plate... I don't remember what I had on the plate, though... he was hungry as a wolf, the poor boy, but he didn't want to stop playing to eat. I handed him the plate and then... we..." Damn, that had been so close, but it stopped before she remembered it. It may have been a breakthrough if she remembered the puppets, jungle book and them practicing together. But she didn't. Still it was a small light on the horizon. Still far away, but it could be a starter. Maybe he would get Jenny back and if he got the answers to his questions one way, maybe...<br/><br/>He remembered that day as it was yesterday. All his memories were so livid, as if they were yesterday. It had been his memories that kept him alive, kept him sane, when they tried to break him. And he would give a lot if he could go back in time to that day, when Jenny entered the room with a plate full of sandwiches and forced him to eat them. He did it with one hand, while he moved the puppet with the other. He even had offered the puppet some of the sandwich and he had made it watch it carefully and deny it. It had been so funny, he had made up some dialogue between him and Balou about sandwiches and Jenny had laughed tears watching it. If he could go back to that time, he would change it all. He would refuse to play the show with his brother and would have insisted on Jenny instead and then the car wouldn't have run her over and...<br/><br/>But he couldn't go back in time to change things from happening. He had to find the answers now in this house. Because the answers had to be in this house, but those idiots preferred to wait for a wonder to happen or to plan some escapes that never worked. Stupid idiots....</div>