Worthless (Camren)

"20 bucks"

The girl didn't make eye contact, but Lauren could see that her eyes were a warm brown color. SHe seemed to be holding back tears and Lauren wondered if she looked frightening to the girl.

"Ah yeah," the other trader had found what he was looking for in his stack of papers "okay, so this one's 17 years old, had 6 previous owners, she's a diseased one. Blood work came back positive for Syphilis, so we were gonna put her out of her misery."

Lauren frowned. "Syphilis?!" She asked "That's easily treatable if not curable!"

"SHe ain't worth the antibiotics", said the second trader. "Anyway, if you want her you can have her for 20 bucks."

"Deal!" She said, probably a little too loudly, but Lauren didn't really care anymore, she wanted to get away from this place and these men as fast as she could.

"Very well then, now how about we head over to the "NEW" section?" The short man suggested and waved for the other man to drag the slave girl to her feet.

"Yes, yes, of course." Lauren nodded and tried not to look behind her at the girl who was struggling to stay upright as the tall trader half dragged and half carried her behind Lauren.
Lauren followed the shorter man and his stack of paper. When they reached the "NEW" section he took the lead and directed them towards the girl Normani was still standing in front of.

The African-American seemed to have coaxed the girl into looking up and was affectionately running her thumb over the blonde's cheek. When she saw Lauren approach and shake her head at her, she quickly dropped her hand and the blonde lowered her gaze again.

"Is that the one you had your eyes on?" The short man asked and started going through his papers again.

"Yes, my friend and I would like to hear more about her." Lauren said, placing a hand on the small of Normani's back. The tall man who had been the slave girl caught up to them, Normani raised her eyebrows.

"Who's that?" She asked in a slightly confused tone.

"I made another purchase, don't worry it'll all fit into the car", she said in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone. Normani smiled a very fake smile for the traders and said "I'm sure it will."

The second trader dumped the girl on the ground carelessly and joined his colleague to help him look for the blonde on their list. Lauren bit back an outraged comment about damaging her property, but the boy wasn't yet hers. Technically, they could still do whatever they pleased with her. So she kept smiling and waited and, after what seemed like ages, they finally found the girl on the list.

"Alright, 17 years old, virgin, asthma problem, naturally blonde hair, so she's not worth quite as much as a girl like her would usually go for. 10.000 bucks in total."

"She's not..." Normani started to protest.

"...worth that much!" Lauren cut in sharply, shooting Normani a look that made her fall silent instantly.

"8.000", Lauren offered.

"We can't give her away that cheap, 9.500," was the short man's counterproposal.

"9.000, take it or leave it," Lauren insisted.

"You drive a hard bargain, Miss", the short man chuckled. Then looked over his shoulder and sighed. "Alright, since you're taking that off our hands as well... she's yours for 9.000."

"Great." Lauren said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

The trader waved two of the guards over to them. "You two help the nice couple load their purchase in their car!" he ordered. "Let me walk with you so we can stop by the front desk to get the paperwork done."

One of the guards slung the girl off the ground and over his shoulder, as though he was used to carrying damaged slaves around on a daily basis, while the second guard took Normani's girl by the arm rather gently and guided her along behind her new mistress and Lauren.
The paperwork and payment was over and done with quickly. Two ladies who worked at front desk asked them whether or not they wanted their slaves tied up for the journey. Lauren answered yes, which made Normani frown at her in confusion, but Lauren knew it was suspicious if they didn't agree. Binding a slave's hands and feet was customary during travels, not tying them up was considered a safety risk.

Finally they left the sordid market behind and made their way to Laurens's Navigator, with the guards now carrying both their slaves over their shoulders, since their feet were bound.

Lauren opened the Navigator's trunk and the guards dumped the slaves in it. Lauren had never been so thankful that her car was that big, at least both of them could sit up next to each other with their knees pulled up to their chins without hurting themselves.

SHe tipped the guards well and climbed in the driver's seat just as Normani slammed the passenger's door shut.

"I can't believe..." she sobbed, but Lauren interrupted her one last time.

"Not yet Normani, we have to get out of here first, please." SHe sped out the parking lot and onto the road home as fast as she thought she could go without being suspicious. She heard very soft snivelling sounds coming from Normani but she couldn't deal with it yet. After about three minutes of driving, she pulled into a deserted parking lot, it was a good place to stop. There was no one around, no houses, no pedestrians, just an empty drive in cinema parking lot.

Lauren stumbled out of the car and threw up her lunch in a nearby bush.