Worthless (Camren)

"Worthless"

"Lo!" Normani called, raising her arm high above her head, so she could make out her location through the rows off slaves. "Get over here!"

She sighed and passed through the 50% OFF section to get to the "NEW MERCHANDISE" section, which was marked by a bright purple banner with silver letters that seemed overly bright and enthusiastic hanging above all those miserable slaves. Though Lauren had to admit the new slaves didn't look anywhere near as exhausted and bruised as the other slaves, they did however look just as terrified. Lauren shook her head in disdain and joined Normani who was looking at one of the slave girls as though Christmas had come early.

"She's perfect", Normani beamed. The girl was indeed beautiful with long blonde hair that fell down her shoulders in a gentle wave. She was taller than Normani and slightly undernourished, but she could see that she had been perfectly fit and healthy up until recently, because she could still see toned muscle from exercise. She must have been treated well, since she was a new slave, and since she seemed barely younger than Lauren and Normani, her parent's owners must have held on to her for longer than most owners did. SHe wondered what made them sell her now. The girl had yet to react to their scrutinizing glances.

"Are you sure you're done looking?" She asked Normani, who didn't even bother to take her eyes off the slave girl to tell her 'yes'.

"Alright, I'll see if I can find a trader." Lauren turned to leave, but on second thought turned back around and whispered "I was serious before, let me do the talking when I come back with a trader and meanwhile don't let anyone else look at her. Just... don't move."

"Whatever, Lo", Normani dismissed her. But Lauren knew as she walked away that she would do as she told her anyway.

It took Lauren a surprising amount of time to even set eyes on a slave trader. Sure, it was a busy day, but they were usually by a new customer's side within a minute. But other than the armed personnel that guarded the perimeter and would shoot any slave stupid enough to try and run away on sight the market seemed to be severely understaffed. The two traders she did pass were already busy bargaining with other potential buyers. SHe had no desire to wait in line so she kept moving.

She made her way through the 75% OFF and the 87,5% OFF section and noted with a shudder that the clientele got rougher and dirtier the further she wandered from the NEW slave section. The slaves in the 93,75% OFF section were some of the most pitiful creatures she had ever seen, each one of them seemed at the verge of collapse, with bones showing under sporadically cleaned pale skin. They were shivering more violently than the new slaves had, and when  she averted her gaze she saw that not all of them had been given shoes and the ones that had been given shoes didn't seem to have right sized ones. The traders must have run out of shoes. Lauren's heart went out to them. If she could, she would buy them all and give them a nice home and as much food as they could possibly want. She and her family could never afford that though, so she could do nothing but look away and focus on not showing the disgust she felt on her face. Showing compassion for the slaves would not go well in this place.

Lauren found three traders standing in a semi-circle in the very back of the market, they seemed deep in discussion. While Lauren wouldn't usually pass off an opportunity to rudely interrupt them just for the sake of making their day less comfortable, she couldn't help but be nosy about why they'd be back here and not tending to the needs of their customers. She pretended to be interested in the last slave in the long line she had just passed, while eavesdropping on the trio of men who were caught up in an animated discussion not seven feet away from Lauren.

"...no way I'm putting this up, it'll scare away the buyers." Said one of the men, Lauren heard a cluttering noise and glanced over her shoulders to see that one of the men had thrown a purple banner on the ground. "What self-respecting traders bother dragging along a diseased one? I say we off her and be done with it."

Lauren's heart sank. Miami had a few tight restrictions for slave markets. Traders were not allowed to kill slaves within Miami's city limits. This was in no way a rule to protect slaves; it was put in place to protect Miami's citizens from the smell of decomposing bodies that had not been properly disposed of.

"You know we can't do it while we're still within city limits, we could lose our licence." Another man said in a calm voice. He was wearing a suit and looked very put together, Lauren assumed he must be the owner of the market since the average trader was usually clad in simple black pants and shirts.

"Look at 'her! No one's gonna buy that, I wouldn't take her if I got her for free. That thing's completely worthless", said the third man.

"That doesn't change the law, I won't risk it. You can throw her off the bridge outside Marysville if you want but until then you'll have to put up with her," the man in the suit insisted and turned to leave. "No use wasting food on her any more though." He called back over his shoulder.

There was a quiet sob that caught Lauren's and the remaining two men's attention.