Julia's eyes slowly open. The first thing she usually sees when she wakes up is her tiny desk, with a barely functioning laptop on it. The view was vastly different now. Everything was so clean, the colors of the bedroom, a calming cream and a warm purple, made for beautiful scenery. The sunrays were greeting the woman joyfully, through the huge windows of the first floor.
Still having slept in the same clothes as yesterday, Julia stepped in the living room to find Sonja where she had left her. Sort of. The girl's night-time struggling had caused her chair to fall over to the side, along with her. The blanket had half-slipped from her body, leaving her to sleep for the rest of the night cold, on the floor. Julia's doppelganger awoke by the pulling of her chair back into an upwards position. She moaned in her gag, groggy from a bad night's sleep. Julia didn't bother with her muffled complaints. There were already starting to become white noise to her ears.
After checking that all the windows were closed and all entry-ways were locked, Julia tried to kill some time, with breakfast and then some TV. Sonja watched her use her house, staring daggers at her. The truth was, Julia was just putting off her decision, regarding what to do with the woman she had attacked and was keeping prisoner in her own home. Things were still very tangled in her mind.
Throughout the rest of the day, Julia could not trust the girl enough to leave her ungagged, never mind untied! Sonja complained she was cold, but her identical kidnapper didn't want to risk undoing her bonds over trivial things like this. She could crank up the AC. As for soundproofing her, Julia relented to using a less gross stuffing, opting for a couple of handkerchiefs she found on the woman's drawers.
She still kept them behind the girl's teeth with the same scarf.
In the afternoon, Julia left Sonja restrained by herself, taking a more relaxed tour of the house. After all, they were both barricaded inside, and you can only watch TV with a gagged flat mate for so long. Every room was prettier than the next, Julia was left speechless in every turn. The huge living room and kitchen were under three bedrooms, three more bathrooms, another lounge/playroom, and a even an indoor squash court and a hot tub/sauna room. There was also a large office/library area on the ground floor.
Julia especially stopped to marvel at the young woman's walk-in closet. It was the size of a big room, about as much as Julia's whole apartment. Julia walked among hundreds of dresses, tops, shirts, blouses, pants, shorts, skirts, everything perfectly organized on hangers. 4 or 5 large dressers were filled with either shoes or jewelry. Julia lowered her gaze to her own, petty outfit. "If someone drops by, i have to look the part", she thought. She stripped down butt-naked, not even her own underwear remaining. She felt like the dolls in these online dress-up games. A milk chocolate, blank canvas. With so many choices!
She picked up some black lace lingerie to put on. She'd never worn such things. Immediately she felt more attractive than she had felt in years. Her own underwear were plain and boring, worn out and cheap. There was never a budget for these types of things.
Then she spotted, among the sea of fashion surrounding her, a gorgeous, dark green, strapless dress. Mesmerized, she reached towards it. Its cut was tight and narrow, but miraculously, Julia slipped into it effortlessly. It fitted her like a personally-tailored glove. The fact that her measurements were the exact same as Sonja's, shouldn't have been a surprise. Julia removed her bra, to marvel the dress at its full beauty. Looking at herself in the full-body mirror, she was speechless. She looked amazing. Sexy. Powerful. Her self-esteem rocketing through the roof.
Julia quickly grabbed another dress, with an even snugger fit, a cream colored tube dress, with elaborate black lines moving all across it. She looked breathtaking. Julia felt like a million bucks, about as much as these items she wore cost. She felt good, "being" this person, after all the hardships she'd been through, if only for a little while. She had a sense of "inhabiting" this person, this life. She must have spent about an hour, trying on Sonja's clothes. It was so fun. In the end, she decided to pick something a little less "formal" for indoors. She went for a long-sleeved, white top with a crossing cleavage, along with a beige pair of pants, that ended above her ankles. The fabric felt so smooth, caressing her skin. The girl found some beige stilettos to match, and finally put on some jewelry. Dazzling, golden earrings and a simpler, but equally pricey necklace. Seeing her assailant in her very own clothing, didn't help improve the bound and gagged Sonja's already shitty mood.
The next day came by, with Julia still unsure of what to do with the trashed up, blonde human copy of hers, located in the living room. She was relaxing on the loooong couch, wearing a pair of Sonja's grey yoga pants with pink stripes on the side and matching bra-top, eating some chips, when she heard the doorbell ring. "Fuck', she exhaled, her eyes locking wide on the front door. The doorbell startled Sonja from her sleep-deprived dozing off. "HHHHHmmmmm, PLLLLLLLLLLLLLZZZZ, SSMMMMBBDDDDD!", she moaned as loudly as she could, but the handkerchief packed inside her mouth did its assigned job well.
"Shitshitshit...", Julia mumbled, as she rushed over towards Sonja. She picked up the chair from behind the girl, and started dragging it along the floor. The woman jerked around franticly, but remained firmly seated. With the doorbell ringing once more, Julia dragged Sonja into the nearest bathroom, locking the door behind her. She hastily opened the TV, just to add some noise to drown out any incriminating moans. Once she had "stashed" the girl, she run towards the front door.
"Hello Miss Sonja, oh, your new haircut looks great!", Julia opened the door to see the wide smile of a tiny, middle-aged, Asian woman, with greying hair, caught in a quick bun. She wore a light blue, cleaning lady's outfit. "Hi there...eehm, haircut? Oh yes! I'm trying something new", the girl took a second to realize she didn't fully look the part. Listen... where you supposed to come by, today?", Julia bit her lip in a fake confusion. "Well, Miss...", the woman seemed perplexed at the question. "...Don't i always come by Saturday morning?", she replied. "Hmmmm, YES, YES YOU DO", Julia raised the volume of her voice, in an attempt to further drown Sonja's desperate attempts, faintly audible from across the room. That noisy bitch..., Julia cursed in her head.
"...But today, you can't, unfortunately...I'm catching a flight...in a few minutes...and... i'll be gone all week!", Julia managed to come up with a lie. "Oh...i see", the polite woman remained puzzled. "Tell you what, you take the day off, and i'll tell you when i'll be needing you here, ok?", Julia informed the stunned woman with a big smile. She made sure to soften the blow, by placing a 100 dollar bill on the woman's palm, a kind courtesy of Sonja's wallet. "This is for your trouble today", the young woman explained with a wink.
Besides the initial "interrogating" discussion of the first day, Sonja was not in a particularly chatty mood. Discounting the fact that she was unable to speak for most of the time, she mostly traversed between angry and whiny, with a few breaks of pleading. That didn't stop Julia from acquiring possession of her phone, and after a short "convincing" period, granting access to it, and subsequently, all her social media, emails, and other personal info. She didn't have a clear plan devised, but if she was to impersonate this woman until she came up with one, she needed to get to know her better. To play the part.
Pictures of miss Garrett's closest acquaintances, her post history, her chats with all kinds of people. Julia responded to a couple of texts. One from a friend, the other from a man named Hassan. She looked at the picture of a handsome, finally dressed guy with a perfectly trimmed short beard, posing with confidence in the photo. He was Sonja's husband. The message read:
Hope everything is great there. Do you know when you'll be back?
Julia replied to Hassan’s message. The response was quick: