Reham the shrunken down camel woman swept and cleaned for another hour just to make absolute sure that her captor wasn't going to be back for a while.
When she was certain she was safe, she collapsed into a corner of the living room and sobbed hysterically for nearly twenty minutes, putting her long snout into her hands and crying as hard as she possibly could. When at last she had exhausted or at least sated her anguish, she took stock of herself while she wiped the fur around her eyes.
She was, as this camel woman, physically more resiliant than she had been as a human. Somehow she had wound up stronger. Not in muscularity, because she was still lean, but in raw ability to survive. That, at least, was a blessing. She felt she would need the extra will to survive now.
Carefully, she stood up, and looked over her naked furry body. The fact that everything was so huge around her added to the strangeness of it all. She stood up next to the arm of a couch that was almost as tall as she was. She caressed her thick coat of fur, got used to her thick imprecise hands and her heavy dark nails. She found her notable lady parts tucked in between browned fur between her legs, flicked her tail experimentally, and found herself actually liking the change of form. Her camel self was strangely beautiful, strong, and alluring. She didn't mind being this way, if indeed, she was going to be like this forever.
Her heart sank as circumstances took her moment of fascination and happiness away. She remembered WHY she was a camel. Despair began to set in again. She collected the torn remnants of her clothing from the living room and tossed them away. For the moment, she kept her hijab and wrapped it carefully. Until she was told otherwise she would still embrace her faith.
Worriedly, she checked the time and started cleaning again. Now she was a slave, she didn't want to think of the consequences should she fail to complete her tasks.
The monotony of cleaning reminded her of her old life. Another country. The men bossing her around, treating her like filth. A lower form of life.
She paused against a wall and took the time to carefully measure herself with a ruler from the counter. At this size, as the camel, she was three feet and two inches tall. Just a little taller than half of her original height. She wondered if the camel woman stood taller than human Reham, wondering why she was so able to adapt to changing species all together. Out of everything, her new body was actually kind of cool. She climbed onto the countertop, put away dishes into the cupboard above, filled the sink kneeling next to it and put in a good job cleaning plates.
This proceeded well into the evening until it was clear master wasn't coming back for the rest of it. Every time she thought of the running, the feeling of her body growing warm and the crackle of her skin starting to burn made her shudder. She thought on the words he had used for the wish. Either the door or the window.
To think that morning she had been worried about her science marks.
When it dragged into the late evening, the camel finally gave up cleaning and clopped towards the bathroom. She was met with an untidy bachelor's living space and sighed heavily. She went to work, cleaning that too, and eventually made her way to the bedroom after a couple of hours.
At 1 in the morning, she was exhausted. She had feasibly cleaned everything she could, which, at her new size, was truly an achievement. The exhausted camel woman couldn't rest, though, terrified of what was to become of her.
The window. The door.
There was nothing else. She considered prying off the heat register and slipping down, but she was ironically too big.
She considered grabbing the phone on master's wall and calling for help, but who was going to help her? Her best friend from school? She couldn't leave or she'd be scorched away instantly. She thought of firing up master's laptop, but again, what was the point? He would find out sooner or later.
She needed to earn his trust. She needed to get outside of the apartment. Then, camel or not, she could escape. She touched nothing else, did nothing enjoyable.
She turned off all the lights, using a chair she had pulled around to reach higher than her three foot body, wrapping herself up in a throw blanket on the couch, and fell into a light nervous sleep. What was to become of her?