A Debt To Pay

43

I turned instantly and bolted for the door, tugging as hard as I could on the metal. "It only opens from the outside," one of the girls behind me spoke softly.

I turned to see the silhouette of a small girl curled up on the edge of one of the beds. "Whats going to happen to me?" I asked her, my voice shaking.

She shuffled closer to the edge of the bed, moving to stand beneath the flickering light so I could see her face. She was a small girl with loose, shaggy blonde ringlets framing her little, heart shaped face. Big, beautiful blue eyes gazed back at me, flooded with sympathy and fear. "You are really new to this aren't you?" She asked.

I nodded, my hands shaking. With a sigh, she stepped a little closer. "You'll stay in here with us now until the auction, unless the men want to see you before then."

"And..." my lip quivered, "and what happens at the auction?" I was confident I already knew the answer since it was pretty much self explanatory but still, I waited with hope flooding my chest as I prayed she would say something that would calm my nerves.

"We will get ready and be presented to a crowd who will bid money. The highest bidder will pay and at the end of the night they take you home and you're theirs," she whispered, a pained edge to her voice.

"No," I cried, shaking my head. This could not be happening to me. I had finally gotten used to one monster, I couldn't be sold off to another. "No!"

"Hey new girl! Shut up," a voice hissed from the back corner of the room.

I turned to see a larger girl. She was a little taller than me and curvy in all the right places. Unlike me and the small blonde girl, she had a blanket wrapped around her naked body, perched on her own bed.

With a frown, I grit my teeth. "I'm sorry," I snapped over at her. "Is my distress bothering you."

"Actually yes," she spat back. "Crying and whining wont change your fate."

"Tasha!" The small girl to my left hissed, shaking her head. "Don't be cruel," she scolded.

"It's fine," I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. "She's right, but kicking them in the balls might."

Tasha laughed loudly, shaking her head at me. "You sound just like I did at first," she told me, "I was sure I would beat them and get out of here, eventually you will give up too."

"Why did you?" I asked her.

"I have been in this life for long enough to know that fighting back doesn't work. You just end up worse off." Her tone changed from harsh to weak and I frowned.

"How long is long enough?" I whispered.

"6 years," she huffed before shuffling to lay on her side.

My eyes widened and my throat ran dry. I couldn't imagine spending six years of my life bouncing between evil, cold hearted men that only wanted to use my body for his own pleasure and amusement.

"Well I'm not going to be here for that long," I muttered, shaking my head and dropping onto the only empty bed. The other in the right hand corner was occupied by a small sleeping frame buried beneath the sheets.

"Please don't anger them," the small blonde girl begged, her eyes wide and watery. "They will make you pay."

"How?" I scoffed. I had spent months in the home of Logan Sternato and I had been around the kind of men he associated himself with. How bad could they be?

"You are beaten and raped and stuck in this cold room, starving and freezing until you are on your death bed," Tasha snapped.

I swallowed the large lump in my throat. "Great," I muttered, moving to curl up on the uncomfortable, scratchy bed.

"I'm Josie, by the way," the blonde whispered, moving away and snuggling up in the corner of her own bed.

"Mia," I whispered back, tugging the thin sheet of material available

I buried my face in my arms, using them as a pillow. With a sigh, I closed my eyes and pictured my home. I thought about a time when my mother was alive and our family would sit around at Christmas time, a movie playing on the TV, fairy light strung up around us, the fire flickering in the darkness and a thick blanket enveloping us.

Tears pricked my eyes. Instead of being surrounded by my loving family, laughing aloud and pigging out on snacks, I was naked and shivering, far away from anyone I cared about.

The flickering bulb overhead faded until darkness blanketed the room. Silence resonated through the room as each girl drifted off for the night, preparing to wake to a day of torment.

****

For the next week, I woke up to the sound of metal creaking and shrunk into the bed, squinting as the light from the lamp illuminated the room. After a while, our door snapped open and one of the men that had taken me would leave a small tray on the floor that held four bowls of food. Before I could even move, the door would be slammed shut again and wouldn't open until the next morning.

Like clockwork, I awoke after a week of being trapped in this small room and the lamp flickered on above me. I could see the other three beds around me and each girl curled up in them. The other girl in the room was now sitting up and was 13 years old, tears drenching her face.

Every day, I watched as she ran a hand through her hair and swiped away her tears with the back of her hands. "Tasha," she would whisper gently, glancing between me and Josie. "Tasha."

I always watched in silence, keeping still so as not to alert her that I was awake. "What?" Tasha would groan into her pillow before turning to face the girl.

"I heard something," she whispered back the sounds of metal groaning continued to echo through the building. "They are coming."

Tasha groaned once again and pulled the girl towards her so they were both curled up in the small bed. "Sh," she whispered, tucking the blanket over her small body. "You'll be fine."

I rested my face back on my arm and squeezed my eyes closed, still hearing loud sounds from outside the room. I bit my lip and waited for our door to open, my stomach growling impatiently.

Finally, the door to the room was forced open and I peeked up to see Jace standing in the doorway. "Rise and shine," he called.