Outlawry

Chapter 26 - Ava//Retellings

Taco had me thrown into a room that was dark and dingy, just as much so as the one previous. Small slivers of light shined in through cracks in the curtains. I could tell that I wasn't alone. The room was full of sniffling and shuffles.

I looked around to see that there were about 10 other women in the room all sitting on the poorly maintained furniture. I stood up.

"Where am I?" I asked.

No one answered at first. A dirty, blonde girl, a few years younger than I was, took a step towards me. "How are you not black and blue yet?" she asked me in a shaky voice.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Did someone beat you?"

She nodded, pursing her lips to hold back tears. "Yes."

"Tell me."

"It's Taco. As soon as he deems you worthy to sell, he beats you so that you can't run away that easily."

"Then I suppose that Taco doesn't want to sell me."

Her light blue eyes glistened with tears as she looked up at me. "Then his purpose with you must be far darker than ours."

The words coursed through me like mercury, leaving me shivering. It seemed that wherever I turned, someone bad followed me. I had no hope. I had been kidnapped from my kidnappers. What were the odds that Gomez was going to come searching for me? I was out of his reach and no longer his problem, which is what he wanted in the first place, right? But what about Luther? Surely he would come looking for me. That is, if R.J. hadn't killed him when he shot his shoulder.

Either way, all that awaited me was torture. At least if I stayed here, I had people to connect to. I grabbed the girl's hand gently and led her to an empty sofa. I sat next to her and rested a hand on her boney shoulder.

"Tell me, what's your name, sweetheart?"

"My name is Sarah. What's yours?"

"My name is Ava. But, around here, I guess that they're going to call me The Ava Wave."

She rolled her swollen, bruised eyes. "Let me guess; R.J. came up with that one."

I looked down and smiled a bit at her passive aggressiveness despite the bleak circumstances. "Yeah, he did." I looked back up at her. "Sarah, how old are you?"

"I'm 14 years old. 15 next month."

It pained my heart to hear those words escape her lips. Pulled into human trafficking at the age of 14. What kind of a life is that? Not just for her, but for anyone? I looked around at the other women in the room, all huddled together, awaiting their doomed fates.

"How old are you?" she asked me.

"Me?" I asked, putting a hand on my chest. "I'm 17."

"So, you're almost an adult."

I nodded. "Yes. I'm still supposed to be in high school though." I pressed my lips together. I was supposed to be at class right then. I wandered how much the police were looking for me. Quite a bit, I supposed, from what Taco let on. But still. Gomez had driven an awfully long way away from home. But, if the police weren't such a threat, then why would Taco be taking the precautions not to traffic me right now? "I should really be there right now, in my English class."

"You definitely don't look like you're from around here," she commented. "How did R.J. and Sean find you?"

I reclined and set an arm on my knee. "Now that's a very long story."

Sarah looked around the room and let out a sigh. "I think we have time."

I smiled at her. She adjusted herself to make herself comfortable on the sofa. I took in a deep breath and began telling her everything that had happened in my life over the past two weeks.