Chapter 2: Sold

[Erin]

The truck we’re in came into a grinding stop. I rolled into across the floor from the sudden cessation of momentum, bumping myself into someone.

I groaned when I hit my injured knee into a hard surface.

The metal door creaked open, dread crawling up inside me. This is it. Hell had opened up for me.

Rugged boots pounded on the floor, padding towards our huddled bodies.

We were picked up one by one, and excruciating pain tormented my left knee when a rough hand closed on my arm, yanking me up.

I yelp, but it was muffled by the gag on my mouth.

It was already daylight. I can tell by the small amount of light penetrating my blindfold.

“Boss! This one is injured.” Announced by the man that was holding me. Another pair of hands inspected my knee and then to my face. I tried to pull away and shrink from the touch, but they kept me tighter.

“Easy now, darling.” The man, with a gruff voice, cooed me. A shiver ran down my spine when his calloused hands scraped my face.

“She’s a pretty little thing. Be careful with it. We can still sell her. The wounds will heal. Let Kirstina do something about it.” I was scooped up next, then slump over his shoulders.

My body sways, making me lightheaded. After a while of walking, I was finally being put down to a hard surface.

Low whimpers and muffled voices echoed across the area. They must be the people I came here with, then someone cleared a throat, silencing us.

“Listen up.” A woman’s voice spoke sternly. She must be Kirstina.

“I will take off your gags and blindfolds. One of you shouts I will kill you in an instant. One of you tried to escape. I will kill you in an instant before you even made it outside. You defy me, guess what? I’ll kill you. You understand?” She threatened us, and no one dared to squeak. Her words were loud and clear.

My head nodded instinctively as if those words she said were directed to me. The wild beating of my heart never ceases to stop the moment I got here. Cold dread lingered at the back of my neck as if death itself is breathing down on it.

Someone moved behind me. I almost jump to my feet, the pain on my knee flared, startled up when someone took the blindfold, and the gagged were removed, my vision blurred from being shut for too long, and it takes some time for it to adjust with the light. A curly blonde, the slender woman stood at the center of an empty room. She wore a tight black latex suit that exposed too much of her cleavage, red knee boots with killer heels, and a whip in her hand.

She scans the room, and her eyes landed on me. Brows knitted, she walks towards my place with heels clicking at the cement floor. Squatting down, she inspected my injured knee. I wanted to recoil from her touch, but her threats kept echoing inside my brain, holding me frozen in place.

She disapprovingly looks at the inflamed wound, then shakes her head.

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You’re such a fine specimen. What a great loss if this wound won’t heal in time.” She hooks her fingers around my chin, lifting my head up, tilting my face from side to side. Inspecting for more injuries, and seemed to be satisfied when she found none.

“Alright. I’ll send someone to patch you up. You will be put on display for tonight’s auction.” She said, releasing her hold on me, then stood up and look at the rest of the girls in the room.

The girls had varied from different ages, but one person caught my attention. A young girl, definitely, too young to be here. Probably, in age, that ranges from eleven to thirteen years old.

Did they kidnap her too? Was she a payment too?

“Prep them for tonight.” Kirstina blurted an order, shifting my attention back to her. Men strolled back in the room, taking us to another place.

We were taken to a room with many sheer dresses hanged in display on a steel rack. A woman came to me and put some bandages on my knees. She also had injected anesthesia around my wound so I wouldn’t feel any pain.

A woman at my age came and changes our clothes into a close-to-nothing piece of fabric, helplessly clinging to our bodies.

I was only wearing a red lace panty and a stretchable garter strap in an X pattern across my breast, concealing only my areolas. Then layered with a thin white see-through lace that hung down barely reaches my thighs.

The coldness from the metal collar that was locked on my neck seeping to my skin, silver chains connected to the shackles on my wrists. The anesthesia travels on my body, making it numbed for a moment, and also helped me not to limp when I walk.

A firm tug on my chains brought me back to reality. That the life I had has come to an end.

Tears threatening spill from the corner of my eyes, but I up to keep it from falling. We were placed behind the bars of a huge metal cage with a thin red satin covering our appearances, but that didn’t hinder us from seeing where we’re going. We were like items in a pushcart from the grocery store. We are traveling down to a narrow hallway, all of us dressed in the same clothing, parading into our damnation. Like our own check-out counters.

With the murmuring crowd coming from the end of the corridor, the flash of light passed through the satin, temporarily blinding me as we stepped into the elevated platform at the middle.

The men push my caged the last part of the lineup. Kirstina checking on us one by one, a man in a black suit stood at the middle of an elevated podium, with a rubber mallet in his hand.

Except from the men and Kirstina, people seated on the tiers of chairs were wearing masks. Cardboard on their hands, talking in whispers to the person next to them. The man at the center speak up in excitement, and my stomach rolled in cold dread.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the 25th Annual Red Auction. Tonight, another lovely batch of items will be displayed. Some are sweet, innocent, feisty, and all in delectable selections. Of course, the item will be forwarded to the highest bidders.” He announced.

My eyes swipe towards the masked people whose eyes were glued in each caged. Shivers ran to my spine at the thought that I might be sold to one of them, and I prayed for my impending fate.