Then he unlocked the front of the cage, swung it open, and gently placed Gertie inside her forever home. He locked it back up.

The hard part was getting the cage back up to the ceiling, since the already heavy cage was now even heavier, and he had to raise it instead of lowering it. He wished he had an automatic spooling system or at least a lever, but no, he basically just had to pull on the chain until the cage was high enough for the locking mechanism to spring shut.

But he got it up there, then took a few moments to admire his work.

The date rape drugs had to wear off on their own, but since Gertie had been chloroformed he could wake her up with smelling salts. He retrieved them, climbed back up the ladder, and waved them underneath Gertie's nose.

Her eyes popped open.

"Hi," he said.

Gertie looked like she was going to start screaming, but Ken placed his index finger to his lips and she didn't make a sound. She simply stared at him with wide-eyed terror. Then she began to cough as the reek of death hit her.

"This is where you're going to die," he informed her. "It's going to take a long time. I don't have much of anything else to say."

He climbed back down the ladder.

"Wait!" said Gertie. "Please, wait!"

"Oh, I bet you're wondering where your cousin is. Kimberly, right? She's right over there. There are a couple of cages between you two, so you won't be able to see her, but I think you'll believe me when I say that's for the best. People don't look good after they're dead and rotting."

Gertie let out a sob. Ken assumed she was crying more for herself than for her cousin's tragic demise, but he supposed it could be a little of both. He'd briefly considered giving her a spot right next to Kimberly's corpse, then decided that he didn't want to swap out the bodies. Kimberly might fall apart in the process.

"My friend is—"

"Your friend thinks that you're getting laid at this very moment. That would be way better, wouldn't it? Crouched on your hands and knees, getting it from behind? Sorry to say those days are over. All you get to do now is sit in your little cage and wait to die. No food. Not a crumb. If you'd minded your own business, maybe you would be having doggy-style sex with a hot waiter right now."

"Please! People will be looking for me!"

"I know. All of your roommates said the same thing. Nobody found them."

* * *