Chapter 1

And away she goes, against her will.

I stared at him from across the table. We ate a silent dinner. I wished he would just sweep off everything from this table and take me like he used to when we first met. I tried to rid these thoughts, but sometimes I guess they just slipped in.

Finally after an awkward and quiet meal ‘together’, I cleaned the table off and went to go to bed. I was sick of being ignored, and I’d rather of slept than stare at the man who I love and wished he would give me a second of his day.

I undressed and got into my sleepwear, which consisted solely of a teddy and some underwear. I may have been trying to be sensual, but once I got under the covers I realized even I wouldn’t be up for that tonight. I had practically blinked into sleep.

I woke up, probably a few hours later, because I heard noises outside the door. Ever since I was little I had believed that if I heard noises that I should lay absolutely still. If I moved, I would die. I had no idea where I got this idea but it seemed to stick with me. And maybe I was right, because as soon as I could hear the noises had come into the room, I felt my mouth covered by a warm hand. It griped my mouth firmly and strongly in order to keep me quiet long enough to wrap another hand around my throat.

If I screamed, I would lose any breath I had, so I had to rely on my nails and feet to get myself free. It was dark in the apartment, but I knew it well enough to know to grip onto the front door frame as they tried to drag me out.

I wished the man would let go of my throat so I could finally scream for Jonah. I wish Jonah wasn’t such a heavy sleeper so he’d wake at any movement. I wish that we hadn’t been so adamant toward each other before this happened…

“Please oh please hear my struggle…” I thought towards Jonah.

Through all these thoughts I had loosened my grip on the door frame and they were able to pry me from it. They dragged me into a large car, and slammed the door. The car whirred and sped off. The man who held his grip on my neck let go, and I took in a deep breath. It felt so nice to finally feel the air go down my throat, but before I could let out any noise another man punched me square in the face. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I went out without a second thought.

I woke up in a dark room. My mouth was covered by duct tape. I couldn’t find the energy to stand, so I looked around. It was a desolate, clammy, cramped space. There was a buzzing light fixture, as if I had been dropped into a corny horror movie from the 90’s. But I knew it was much, much worse than that.

I realized I was still in my nighty and my face turned red. Wherever I was, with whomever I was, someone who wasn’t my significant other had seen me in this indecent state. This didn’t sit right with me. That was the least of my problems, though.

The door slammed open and the light from the outside spilled in. It came from a long hallway that led into the room. Two men stepped in, and one looked familiar but was still intimidating. The other one was even scarier. The familiar one was one of the men that had taken me away. I was sure he was the one that punched me, but of course I didn’t say anything about it.

“This is it?” The unfamiliar man asked.

“Yea, it’s like she prepared for our little visit, as you can see.”

“Yeah, coincidence, I guess.” He said, looking me over.

I was petrified, but had to give them a disguise of toughness, and strength. If I cried, they would see me as weak. Breakable. I didn’t exactly know where I was, or why, or for what. Honestly, I didn’t know much at all but I wasn’t going to let them get to me.

I could hear Jonah’s voice in my head, telling me “Just be calm and quiet. Don’t be stubborn. I know you’ll be stubborn. They’ll hurt you. Shh just buckle under.” He thought every problem could be solved with by ‘buckling under’. Maybe, this was one of them but I wasn’t going to let that happen. I wasn’t going let myself become some sort of submissive slave. I will always fight.

The two men had been discussing but the blow to my head made me unable to keep my consciousness. I began to lay my head down on the cold, stone floor.

Then I was kicked. “Wake up, b***h! No sleeping here for you,” the man yelled.

I pushed myself up from the floor and propped up on one of my arms as best I could. Then, one of them grabbed my arm firmly and dragged me up. My legs were weak so it took most of my strength to get myself up, and to keep the stance. He led me out into a long, lit corridor.

There was a multitude of doors along the long hall. I heard sounds coming from each other. Different sounds. I wish I knew what was inside each one. Then I noticed one of the doors on the right was open. Before I could think why, I was shoved in. There were two other women in the room, looking as scared and exhausted as I felt. I’m sure they were worse off though…

The man leading me in ripped the duct tape from my lips. I moaned from the startling pain. He walked out of the small room and the doors hissed a loud “clunk” from the lock. When the man’s shadow left from underneath the door, I turned to look at the two other women in the room.

One looked like she hadn’t slept in years, which may very well have been true. Her long black hair swept over her face as she laid her head down on the lap of the other girl. She looked in her late thirties.

The other girl patted the woman’s hair as she fell asleep. Her own rosy hair was matted, and her clothes torn. Once the black haired woman was asleep, she looked to me. Her eyes were so torn and broken; it made her look 10 years older than I was sure she was.

After a few minutes of silent gaze, she realized I wasn’t going to speak up. She knew I was too scared.

“How long have you been here? I haven’t seen you before,” she asked. Her voice was hoarse, and tired. She looked like she was also in her thirties, but the pain in her eyes and the strain of her voice made it sound much older.

‘Um, a few hours. I think. I don’t know…” I looked to the floor. I wish I could be home. It was so cold here…

Her eyes widened, “Wow…You’re new. I’m so sorry.”

“Why? Why sorry? What is this place?” She wasn’t helped my nerves.

“I’ve been here for a little over a year.” Her voice trailed off as if to be drifting off into a past memory.

“What is this place?” I asked again.

“This place is an abandoned storage center. We’ve been here for a few months. We move a lot, by the way. So don’t get too comfortable. Not that that’s an easy thing,” I had to agree. It was cold and gray. Seemed like an empty hole. She continued, “The men who are in charge here are the most notorious sex traffickers in the Eastern U.S. For some crazy reason, they haven’t gotten caught. There are around twenty, maybe thirty here. You’ll meet them when we go to showers. That should be soon…”

I had tuned out after she said “sex traffickers.” That word made my stomach and anything else in there that wasn’t nailed down just fall right out. I couldn’t even describe the immense fear, anger, sadness, and every other emotion in the book that I was feeling at that second.

I stared blankly at her, and she must of realized my over pouring emotions because she spoke up.

“I’m Sandra, and this is Nicolette,” she said, sounding so reassuring. It helped, slightly.

“I’m Raegan. I go by Rae.” It’s the only words I could get out of my quivering lips.

“That’s a pretty name. It matches your eyes. I’ve never seen eyes so blue. I’m sure you get that a lot.” She looked at me with something that seemed like a smile. A smile was so foreign to me at this point in time.

“Thank you. And yes, I do.” I was stiff as stone.

“Those eyes will get you far in this… business.” She scoffed when the word ‘business’ left her mouth. “Beauty gets your far. I know that’s not something to be proud about, but you do want to get out of this place. You want to be young, and beautiful. There’s a bigger chance of getting snatched up.”

“Snatched up?” I asked, dreadfully.

“Yea, this place is like… Like an orphanage I guess?” Odd way to put that. Oh well. “You want to be ‘adopted’, per say. From my experience, anywhere is better from here. And you, oh! You! You’ll be the prized hen. I’m sure you’ll be taken away at the next presenting.”

The way she talked so gleefully about it. It really helped me feel better, but I almost felt like I shouldn’t feel good in a place like this. How could she? How was she able to be in this sort of place and have the strength to smile?

“Why is it so bad to be here?” I asked.

“Well, the men who own us, they’re tough. And strict. They’re going to try and break you. They’re going to try and hurt you in places you never thought. At least when you’re bought you can relax. It’s usually only one man that owns you then. Here, they all do. And they take advantage of you… Often.”

All this information hit me so fast. Then, a man came smacking on the door shouting “Showers! Get up!” It woke me from my thoughts if only for a second. I was thankful for that.

Sandra woke Nicolette up and they both began to stand. I followed. Sandra linked her arm with mine and looked to me with a reassuring smile, and I felt just a little bit of weight lift off my shoulders.

“Hey, at least I got someone here. I’m not alone. I think.” I thought to myself.

We walked out the thick metal door and out into an even colder hallway. Down a flight of stairs, and through another hallway we went until we got into a room filled with what seemed to be homemade showers. It was just pipes with holes in them. There were about twenty other women in the room.

“Clothes off!” one of the men standing by the door shouted. There were ten men standing in unison. Some I saw had guns. I was sure to be very cautious.

Every girl in the room took off their ratted clothes like it was customary. It probably was. Hesitantly, I followed. I felt ashamed letting them see me like this, but I had no choice. I didn’t want to die. A woman who looked like she had been beaten ten times past twenty walked around our feet and grabbed our clothes that had fallen on the floor. She took them to a big pile in the corner. Was I going to get them back at the end of all of this?

Before I could figure out an answer, the water turned on. It was ice cold, and my whole body shook in startled fear. I looked around and the other women were washing themselves. I did as well. I longed to be home again. I wanted my warm shower.

I wanted Jonah.

When it was over, I shook. My whole body turned blue from the ice water. The door the ten men stood in front was then opened, and we were led out. On our way, we were handed back our clothes, except I was given someone else’s.

“Excuse me? These aren’t mine…” I told one of the men.

He looked at me like I was just a wall. There was no empathy for the naked, cold woman in front of him.

“So?” He asked.

“Where are my clothes…? I want my clothes…” A girl walking past me turned immediately and glared me down. I looked at her, so puzzled. Did I say something wrong?

Then, the man slapped me so hard I fell to the ground beneath me. My face throbbed. “Put the clothes on, b***h. Or else you get none at all.”

I listened. They were a big bigger than my own size, but I was thankful for that. At least they weren’t too small. I was given a ratty t-shirt and loose sweat pants. They were both dirty, and had many holes in them.

When we were in the next room, the ten men stood in front of all of us. We were told to sit, and we did. I found Sandra and Nicolette. I needed to be near someone who I knew was at least my friend. The closest thing I could call a friend in here.

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© 2012 ThoughtsFromInsanity

Author's Note

Enjoy! Thank you so much for reading!
Any criticism is good!

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Reviews

Natasha

I agree with what's been said already and I'm looking forward to reading more.

Posted 12 Years Ago

Jason van Dongen

You have written an excellent story. I like that you have used sentences and paragraphs of various lengths, and have chosen to keep most of them short. It really keeps the pace of the story moving quickly. You also seem to have removed any unnecessary words and have wisely steered away from long descriptive passages, choosing rather to focus on action and dialogue. This adds to the sense that your story is unfolding quickly, as you would expect of a story of this nature...

Really, really well done...