chapter 2: homebound

12/17/24 Cleaveland, OH

Scarlett stepped out of her car and grabbed her gym bag. She hefted it over her shoulder and walked towards her townhouse picking up the mail on the way in. She forced her sore legs up the stairs and unlocked the withered white door to her house. She was 5'7" 130lbs and didn't have an ounce of fat on her body. Her long blond hair cascaded down to the middle of her back. She had a small firm butt and a somewhat shapely B cup chest. As she entered her apartment she floundered in the dark to hit the lights and nearly tripped over a magazine rack. Finally hitting the switch she collapsed onto her couch and sighed.

Flipping through her mail she saw something that caught her eye. A labeless piece of mail with elaborate script that read "Scarlett". She gasped and wondered if it was what she thought it might be. Carefully she got up and walked to her kitchen to open it under better light. Immediately she saw a sparkle of blue. Gasping and tearing it open she saw the ticket. A sapphire blue dream that sat in the envelope plain as day. The only thing scrawled on the front side was simply "Paradise" and on the backside "1/1/2025" Stifling a scream of excitement she leapt up in the air and couldn't help but fall over, tears of joy streaming down her face as she rolled on the floor. It was like winning the lottery. She had heard about this but didn't bother to consider herself a candidate. What were the odds?

Hours later when she had come to grips with things and stopped shaking she began to wonder if it was real. It was a prank, a scam, there had to be a catch. She stopped herself. How was she supposed to get there if it wasn't a joke? Where exactly was there? She realized that there was no further information and she might be dead in the water. Or was she? Only that date seemed to promise that something was to come. Only would the next few weeks let her know. She sighed and opened her freezer to do something she only saved for rare occasions. The coming weeks would be hell. Grabbing a bowl she got herself 5 scoops of chocolate ice cream and stopped, put it back in the container then took the whole tub to the couch. Her workout was hard enough to allow this much.

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1/1/25 Cleaveland, OH

Scarlett awoke to a knock at the door and rushed to get up. Today was the day. Quickly throwing on a few clothes to cover herself she hurried to her door and unlatched the lock with anticipation to find a man in a suit. He had a black cap on, white gloves and a small scruff of a beard.

"Scarlett?"

"T hat's me." She felt her heart in her throat.

"Do you have your ticket?"She rushed to her knick knack and broke it open to grab what she had stashed.

"Right here." The man hole punched her ticket, tossed it to the dirty wood floor and held out his hand.

"My name is Cole and I'll be your chauffeur and guide to your new home."

"What if I don't want to go?"

"I can't stop you, but I doubt you made a mess just for show" Cole gestured to the broken ceramic knick knack on the table. Scarlett smiled and realized he was right, it was nice to know that she had the freedom though.

"Yeah, you're right. Well when can we go?"

"Grab a bag of what you need and I'll take you to your flight"

"What time is the plane leaving?"

"Why, when you're ready miss." She ran like a child on christmas to go gather her things

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1/2/25 Limo, North CA

She was finally coming to grips with it. She had been selected to join the new world utopia. Nervous, scared, excited, anticipation. She felt everything at once but more than anything she was overwhelmed. The limo had snacks that she could not stop noshing on to keep her nerves down. She tried to relax but just wound up with her head whirring. The flight over had been equal torture. She barely slept at all despite how nice the private jet was. Finally though after some time in the car she heard the car horn honk twice as it rolled up to a gorgeous gate. She looked around her at the new city and saw a marvel of new technology. Cars driving themselves, no stoplights, housing as far as the eye could see and off in the distance a single large building. She jumped back and forth from window to window alarmed at everything she saw, drones carrying goods, a robot sweeping trash up, no advertising. It was so alien and wondrous that she had forgotten to breathe.

Sucking in a big gulp of air she flung herself against the back of the seat and started to laugh. Cole perked up and saw her in the mirror and hit a button on the dashboard to start the cars autopilot. Getting up he shimmied his way back and moved to sit by her.

"A bit overwhelmed? It's okay, calm down and for this first day just get used to things. We're taking you to your new home now. It's a 2 bedroom modern house with a beautiful kitchen and some of the most amazing technology around. Don't worry about cost. Food and things here are free and resources are plentiful. I have a feeling you'll enjoy this." Minutes later the car pulled to a stop in front of a suburban house that was probably much too big for Scarletts needs.

Stepping inside she found a gorgeous living room connected to a stainless steel and granite kitchen. A large leather couch sat in front of a 60 inch flat screen tv with a fireplace under it. She gasped at how marvelous it was. A screen lit up at the kitchen on the countertop and raised itself to meet and follow her. She walked over to the granite counter and tapped on the center of it. In large bold letters it read "Enter food". She saw a scrolling list of every type of food she could imagine. She tapped on build a meal and stared at the large array of everything she could have. Fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, cookies, cake. Her mouth watered at cake as she thought about how sweet it would be.

Stopping herself though she looked at the healthy options and was much less enthused. Like a child going to school instead of disneyland. Sighing she tossed her arms up. "Screw it, I'm a gym bunny, I've worked for this. One night won't kill me...besides. I'm in paradise." She tapped on Fried chicken, onion rings, biscuits, mac and cheese, gravy and mashed potatoes. In an instant the food raised upwards from the counter center and displayed itself. The screen vocalized itself at this point and in a robotic female tone stated.

"Enjoy, Scarlett. Simply state another food option if you are still hungry and leave your dishes in the center of the island." Her eyes dilated as her stomach growled. Without another beat she dug in and began to scarf down food. Her white blouse became quickly stained with grease and gravy and cheese, her mouth covered in fatty foods she never would have dared tempt herself with and her manners quickly left as piggish wildness unleashed itself on the mountain of food before her. As she stuffed herself more and more her belly began to feel tight against her skirt. She stopped at the last biscuit and leaned back in the stool letting out a small belch. Clutching her belly she realized that the sun had began to set and she hadn't even seen the rest of the house. She smiled a little and got up only to wobble a little at how much she had eaten.

"Tomorrow I've got to work out."

"Scarlett based off your eating habits and food interests, could I possibly suggest a chocolate fountain?"

"Oh gosh, no I really couldn't, not tonight...um...what do I call you?"

"N.E.A. and I'll be your natural, everyday, assistant. Your bedroom is up the stairs for you. I've taken the liberty of warming the bed for you the temperature tonight looks like it'll be a bit chilly." Scarlett looked out the glass door into her backyard as she cleaned her face up from her mess. A hot tub, redwood deck, lounge chairs, picket fence, lush garden, pool. She could hardly believe it but this truly was paradise. Suddenly she heard a knock at the door.

"It would seem your neighbor Andrew has come over to greet you, would you like me to send him away for now?"

"Oh, uh no I can get it." Scarlett tried to wipe up her clothes as best she could, her buttons were still straining ever so slightly from her all too recent binge. As she approached the door she attempted to suck in her gut and puff her chest and smile. She opened the door and there was a smiling hunk of a man. She immediately felt embarrassed and a little disgraceful.

"Hi, I thought I'd come over to say hello. You're the new girl right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Um, that's me" Scarlett let out a nervous giggle and tried to cover herself with the door. She shook her hand out to shake his and tried to shy away a bit. He smiled and bowed very slightly.

"I just wanted to say hi and welcome. Don't be a stranger. I'm right next door if you need anything."

"That's very kind of you but I've had a long trip so maybe I can have you over some time soon for a proper meet and greet."

"I would love that. I'll say something to my N.E.A. to maybe schedule something. Oh and you have something on your shirt."

"Oh, uh I think I spilled something, it was nice to see you though! Goodnight." Scarlett closed the door as quickly as her manners would allow blushing like a tomato. She put her back against the door and slid down a couple inches in relief. Staring at her blouse she frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"No more of that." She grabbed her bag and headed up the stairs but not before catching a lingering glance at the countertop which had cleared off all of the dirty plates and now had a happy roomba like robot cleaning up the crumbs. She teared her gaze away and stepped up the stairs towards her bedroom.

This was real.