Matron takes me into an empty classroom, starting up the projector. 'Right. First, here's the introduction video for the company. This ones geared at customers - I'll show you the one aimed at people like you in a second.'
The projector starts up with a quiet buzz. A grey haired man with a small moustache is standing in front of a plain blue background. He coughs once, and begins to speak.
'Greetings! I suppose you're wondering what exactly this company is for, and why you ended up on our website! Well, without disclosing too much information, I'll say this: there are links to our page on most porn or escort hiring sites. If you didn't come from there, I don't know how you found us, hahaha!'
His laugh is deep and cheerful, but at the same time it strikes a wrong note in me. It sounds too forced.
'From here, you can hire a young lady to do anything you desire! And when we say anything, we mean... Anything. We can either bring her to you, in which case you'll have to use your own supplies, or you can come to us. We have specially built rooms with anything you could possibly need, and it won't cost you much to hire one for an hour, hahaha!'
I gulp. Young girls... I think I know where this is heading. I'm a young girl. Isobel was a young girl.
Oh my god, I'm a prostitute.
'Of course, there are men in the same buildings who can also be hired! You can have up to three young people catering to your every need at one time!'
'You can see photos of each available companion on another page.'
'Well, I do hope you decide to make use of our services! Goodbye, and-' here he winks, '-have fun!'
Matron puts another disk in. The same man, and the same background.
'Hello, new recruit. I'm here to tell you the rules. These rules must always be obeyed. Failure to do so will result in punishment beyond anything you could be imagining right now.'
'Rule One: Do anything the buyer requires. And when I say anything, I mean anything. If he wants to hang you upside down from chains and climb up you, you let him. If he wants to tie you to metal rods and fuck you backwards, you let him. There is only one time when this rule can be broken; if the buyer is damaging you. You'll be injected with a special tracker that can sense pain and fear in your blood. If the buyer is beating you too badly, we'll come in and stop it.'
'Rule Two: Don't try to escape. I'm going to show you a few seconds of footage in the hopes that it'll deter you.'
The screen goes black, the shows a radar scanner with a flashing white dot. It switches to a jerky black and white film, like from a head-cam. A girl is running, her skirts flying behind her. She stumbles, falls, clambers to her feet. Her movements are jerky with fear.
I see the smooth metal in the bottom of the film. I gasp. The gun is raised, jerking as a shot is fired. The girl falls, but doesn't get up this time.
The film cuts to a picture of her body lying twisted in the grass, blood dried along the front of her dress.
'Now that that's over with, we can move to rule three, the final and most important: Have fun.'