Save Me

1- Icy Fingers

There's a searing pain in my wrist, blood dripping down from the brand, and all I can do is sit in a freezing basement, trapped with the hope that soon Enzo will find me, like he promised.

Teeth chattering, I move my bruised bones gingerly and wrap myself up, trying to make myself even smaller. Icy cold fingers scratch up my arms and legs and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

The men, the brutes, stripped me down to nothing and examined every inch of my body, making careful notes as they went. It makes me even more terrified of what's to come, especially the internal examination they gave me, there is only one reason I can think of that would need them to do something like that, and it chills my bones.

Sitting naked crying staring at the cement walls, I pick at my red painted toenails as I desperately try to distract my mind from the pain and fear that is consuming me.

It doesn't work.

Hours pass and I drift in and out of consciousness feeling dazed and confused. Suddenly, the basement door is thrown open making me scream and scoot away until my back is trapped by the wall.

Two men walk in, their faces hidden, their eyes cruel. I begin to cry, pathetically, weakly, without hope, but I begin to cry.

"Please." I beg through my tears, "please don't hurt me."

"Hold her down." One order to the other.

"No!" I scream frantically, trying to stumble to my feet, "No! No!"

I'm grabbed from behind and slammed into the floor. My face collides with the concrete and blood and pain explodes through my jaw.

He sits on me, trapping my body against the floor as I thrash and writhe against him. It's only when he presses a grubby finger deep into my brand that I give up fighting. The agony makes my eyes blur, the world stop, my brain falter.

A needle is pressed into my neck.

A few seconds of pain later and it's ripped from my neck again and the pressure and weight on my back disappears.

"See you in two hours blondie." One of the men gloats, slapping my behind cruelly before the pair of them leave the room, laughing with each other.

I lay, shaking and weeping on the floor as a strange substance courses it's way through my veins. Blinking hard, I try to focus my vision but it doesn't work. A strange rushing feeling burns on my body and all I can do is close my eyes and accept it.

Curling up into a tiny ball, I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut, hoping against hope that this is all just a nightmare and in a few seconds I'll wake with a shock.

But I don't, and two hours later, when I've come down from the high they gave me, the men advance towards me ominously.

I resist, but with less strength than before and when the needle punctures my skin, all I can do is weep.

This continues hour after hour and each time I'm more and more relieved to see them. My entire feels like it's screaming for a fix as it crashes to the floor.

Hours could pass, days, maybe even weeks as I flit in and out of focus, my only marker of time is when whatever they are pumping me full of runs out.

I'm not stupid. I know what's happening here. It's an old trafficking trick, you get your victim addicted to some filthy drug and then you can control them with their need for a fix.

When the door slams open again, I flinch and cower into the corner as the bright light burns at my eyes.

"Grab her." The man who branded me orders.

The other does as he's directed, grabbing at my flesh. His hand closes around my ankle and he drags me towards him, scraping the off my back.

I scream and kick and plead but neither listens to me. A pale lilac lingerie set is harshly yanked onto my body as I flail but it hardly slows them down.

A sharp slap across my face brings tears to my eyes and a kick to my stomach forces the air from my body.

"Please." I beg, sobbing and weeping, "please, just let me go."

I am grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air. I kick and scream, choking and clawing at my throat as my breath vanishes from my body.

"That's enough!" The other man roars as my vision begins to blur, and I feel my body thrown to the floor.

Coughing and retching, I try to heave the air into my lungs but my airways burn and protest.

"You know the rules, some of the buyers like to mark them themselves."

Icy fingers slam across my brain as all hope of a better future or escape vanish from my mind.

I am dragged to my feet as I continue to stumble and cough, disorientation takes over me as the world tilts and rocks.

They pull me, thrashing and screaming, down dank and filthy corridor after dank and filthy corridor until my brain is left reeling with confusion.

Suddenly, the sobs and wails of other girls and women fill my ears and I am no longer alone in this nightmare.

Standing, shivering and almost naked in a small, cramped room, my eyes attempt to focus on something anything, but it's futile.

Above us, I can hear hundreds of footsteps and loud voices. Loud male voices, it chills my blood.

"Stay quiet," a woman hisses to us, "they pick the most difficult ones to go first."

Silence descends on the room with only a few sniffles and plaintive sobs coming from us, all of the women now terrified for our lives and our futures.

When the door opens and three men with huge guns, all sense of silence leaves the room and panic reigns.

We begin to scream, pushing and shoving, desperate for it all to be over. I am knocked by a larger woman by accident, and I find myself falling towards the men.

I brace myself for a bullet, or the floor or a fists but instead I find myself being caught with more gentleness than I've felt in days.

Scrabbling to back away, I push off the man's chest and to my surprise he lets me go.

"Her." Another voice orders, pointing at me, "she's first."