Intertwined

Chapter 21

Lauren's POV

I begin to wake up and as I do so I don't see the familiar surroundings of the bus. Suddenly, I remember everything that happened. Looking around, I see that I'm in a dimly lit room that is made out of brick. I think it's a basement. I'm not tied up, but rather have an anklet that is chained the wall. I see that they really did not give a shit when they kidnapped me. I have scratches and bruises along my arms and legs and they just threw me on a pile of blankets on the ground. Classy.

But at least they left my backpack with me. Off to the side I see my stuff so I stand up and carefully inch forward, trying to not make noise with the chains or hurt my ankle by being to sudden in my movements. The chains are pretty heavy to drag. I look down at my backpack to see that they had searched through my stuff. The only thing they took was my phone. I know what you're thinking. Didn't they take those thousands of dollars you had with you?

The answer is no. I don't just leave that in my bag anymore. I keep it tucked into my jeans and covered up with my shirt. At least these morons weren't perverts while I was unconscious and checked my body, then I would have been in deep shit. Its not like I need my phone anyways. Who am I gonna call? My family? Friends? Ha. No. I can figure this out for myself.

There's a sudden loud noise. It's the door. A tall, muscly man walks in. I take a few steps back as he keeps approaching me. He has something in his hand but I can't quite see it. He comes up real close to me, to the point that his face is merely inches away from mine. "Get dressed. Now." He says before shoving what he was holding into my stomach suddenly. He then walks out and slams the door behind him. I look down to see that it is a dress...a really short one.

I get dressed in it and then sit down. I can't help but feeling very exposed. The dress was super short and exposed my arms which had tons of cuts and scars scattered all over them. On my thighs you could see little red and white lines as well. All I wanted in this moment was to be able to hide under my baggy, reserved clothes to save myself from this humiliation.

The dude comes back in and immediately unlocks the anklet before grabbing my arm tightly and dragging me out of the basement and up some stairs. He leads me down a hallway before we arrive in another dim room, but this room was a lot bigger and there were a couple men sitting in chairs. There are two other women in short dresses and that looked horrible. And by horrible I mean that they looked like drug addicts. They actually seemed to enjoy what was happening. 

"Let the auction begin!" A man in a black suit says to the other men. They all stand and come over to us. two of them come over to me and begin to look me up and down before they start to touch me. I know that if I begin to resist and tell them to stop or fight them that I will probably be killed or hurt really badly so I just stand there stiffly as they touch me where I don't want to be touched. The men switch around between women before some of them go over to the two men watching the whole scene. "Alright men. Time for the actual auction." And with that the other few men that were still around us, women left to where they all were. The man that had brought me here grabbed me once again and dragged me back to the basement. As we walked to the door where I am being held, I see a couple more doors in the basement. I immediately make the connections in my head. Those are where other women are being held...

He puts the anklet on me again before leaving. I sit down against the wall and lean my head back against it, taking a deep breath. Come on Lauren. Everything will be fine. 

A couple minutes later the door opens once again to reveal two men standing there. One of them being the man that keeps coming in here and the other being one of the men that had been upstairs inspecting me. "Up! Get up!" the dude that keeps coming here yells. I quickly stand up, very much frightened. He unlocks my anklet and grabs my backpack, shoving it into my stomach, bringing me pain to my ribs. He grabs my arm and hands me over to the other man that I had seen upstairs. The man looked very foul. He dressed in a very untidy suit and his hair was a mess. It looked like he hadn't shaved his beard in weeks. His teeth were yellow, there was a smell of alcohol that filled the air around him, and his eyes were tired but I could see evil in them. He grabbed my arm just like the other dude had and pulled me up the stairs and out the door to his van. I'm thrown in the back and once again, chained by the ankle before the dude locks the door. Outside of the van I can hear talking.

"Great doing business with you once again Lloyd." One man said.

"Hopefully this one will be good and get me money. I only have one back at my place and she has a stupid brat. I tell you, she couldn't do anything right if it were for her life. She's lucky I haven't but I bullet between her and that stupid pest's eyes. Thanks for this. I'll keep in touch, yeah?" The other man answered. I'm assuming he's Lloyd.

"Yeah. Take care and don't forget to enjoy." The first dude said with a chuckle at the end.

"Trust me, I will." Lloyd said. The front of the van opened to reveal the man that had put me in the van. He looked back at me and let out a laugh. 

"You're all mine now. Just know, if you get any ideas about escaping or not listening to my orders, I will do things to you that will make you regret ever messing with me. If you do them more than once, I will kill you. Clear?" He said in a tight, stern voice. I nod.

All the pieces of the puzzle in my mind have finally clicked together. The men that abducted me are like dealers. But instead of drugs, they sell women. I have just been sold. I was kidnapped and sold so I can be a sex toy. But I don't think that's it. I've heard of this on the news. Women have been disappearing and some have appeared dead. The other day when the bus was stopped in Michigan I was in a cafe getting some coffee and there was a television on playing the news. The reporter was talking about all these women disappearing all over the north eastern states. She was saying how the police and FBI believe it is a case of human trafficking. They believe that these women are being sold into prostitution...