2. Bones

Iris

I cleaned the tears threatening to fall from my eyes as I watched godmother’s departing figure. Three huge,scarred men surrounded me to prevent me from escaping.

I wasn't going to go down without a fight. After watching me for a few seconds,one of them came forward to pull me. He gripped me harshly and I winced in pain,the other two followed us as I was dragged to the large building.

When I saw they let their guards down,I bit the arm of the man holding me with all my mighty and he let out a shriek as he cursed “Fuck!!”. The other two tried to grab me but I leapt through the space between their legs.

I started running as fast as I could,but luck was not on my side. I bumped into another huge, scarred man. He chuckled dryly as he said “Slaves can never change.”

He dragged my hair with so much force that I fear he might pull it from my scalp.

I screamed in pain,as if that wasn't enough he folded my hair on his palms and dragged me on the rough ground.

My whole body was burning in pain,as I could feel the stones and sands tearing at my skin. He dragged me till we reached the entrance of the building. The other man whom I had bitten earlier,charged towards me with rage in his eyes.

He lifted his hands obviously to slap me,but someone held his hands. I looked at the person,it was the woman with piercings all over her face claded in silk.

She slapped the man,I figured out they were probably guards guiding this place.

“Don't touch her face” she said.

“I’m sorry ma’am.” He said as he bowed before her.

“You're a feisty one but that would be quite taken care of after you spend a few days here.” She said facing me, with a sweet smile on her face.

As she stood close to me,I could see her features clearly. Despite the piercings all over her face,she was pretty. Her hair was blonde which she styled into a bob. She was quite tall and slender.

“Take her to the slave mansion.” She commanded.

“Yes ma’am.” The guard who I had bitten answered.

He grabbed by arm roughly as I followed him into the building.

Slave mansion? I wondered.

The building we entered looked more like a house, I wondered why they would keep slaves in somewhere as good looking as this. Well, I soon proven wrong as the guard took me further into the house till we reached a door.

The guard unlocked the door and pushed me in,I stood up from the ground looking at my surroundings. Fear crawled through my skin as looked around.

This place was quite dark and there were torches hung on the walls illuminating the building. The walls were built so high,to prevent any slaves from escaping. There was a long chain of cells on either sides.

This place was like a world of it own, despite it being connected to a house.

“Walk!” He barked. He followed me as I walked forward, I looked at the cells and saw young boys and girls, their neck bound in chains. I shivered as I knew I would soon be part of them.

We stopped by a door. He knocked and I heard a voice grunt “Come in.” He pushed the door open and I entered. A huge woman was perched in a seat, she squinted her already small eyes towards my direction.

“New slave, arrived today.” The guard said.

“Name?” She asked.

“Iris.” I muttered.

“Use your voice slave!!” The guard bellowed.

“I'm not a slave.” I muttered defiantly, I was already tired from all the events of today.

Just in some hours,my life had changed. I was now been called a slave, I would never accept that.

The guard chuckled dryly as he made to grab my neck.

“Let her be.” The huge woman said, calmly.

The guard gritted his teeth and glared at me. The huge woman stood from her sit and walked towards an iron box. She unlocked it and brought out a chain,she threw it at the guard who caught it effortlessly.

He took the chain and wrapped it on my neck, before locking it. The huge woman gave him a key and said “Cell 223.” He bowed and pulled me by the chain out of the room.

I felt pains on my neck,as dragged the chain with so much force. We reached a cell which he unlocked and pushed me inside before locking the cell three ways.

I groaned in pain as I managed to sit up and look around. I shifted my hands backwards and felt something,I looked and I saw a pile of bones and skulls lying on the ground.

I screamed, and shifted back immediately.

“Hey newbie keep it quiet please.” I heard voices muttering around me.

“Just when I was trying to get some sleep.” I heard a voice mutter. The cell I was kept in was the last in the row,I looked to the cell on my right.And through the dim light,I saw a small figure resting her head on a pile of bones.

“Hey.” I called. I got no response.

“Please answer me.” I begged.

The figure tched in irritation,shifted from her position and finally sat up facing me.

It was a girl, though skinny she looked quite younger than me, maybe fifteen I thought.

I looked into her eyes and my heart skipped a bit. She had brown eyes,which looked…dead,she was quite pale and it was like she was alive and dead at the same time. Her eyes held no emotions as she looked at me.

I ignored how she looked and proceeded to speak to her.

“I'm Iris, what's your name?” I asked.

She kept quiet for good three minutes as if thinking of her name before she muttered “Joella.”

“Nice name.” I said. She said nothing.

She made to lie back but I quickly called her back.

“Hey! Wait!” I called.

“How did you get here? Where you sold? And is there a way to escape?” I asked at once.

I saw her eyes flicker as she chuckled darkly, “Escape? Well some of the pile of bones in your cell belong to someone who tried to escape.”

I kept quiet after hearing this,to my surprise she continued.

“There's no escape here,what goes on here is like a circle. It gets to your turn,you get auctioned and sold to someone in the high society probably as a slave again or as a human toy.” She said,she didn't wait for me to reply before she went back to sleep.

As I say in the cell,the event of the day were playing in my head, I was sold by people I trusted. I cried my self to sleep.

The next few days were horrible,the way we were treated was terrifying. But for Joella’s help I survived even though she doesn't talk often.

One evening as I was preparing to go to sleep,I heard some noises.

The guards were coming to pick slaves for auction,they walked towards the direction of my cell and my heart skipped.

Joella’s cell was opened as she was dragged out, she looked at me and for the first time she gave me a smile.

My heart went cold as they took her away.