Trafficked

Chapter 1

The plane descended gently, a silvery mechanical bird in the afternoon glare. The landing was smooth and safe. The aircraft taxied for a while on the glistening runway and finally stopped near a jumbo it that had arrived a few minutes before. On a tarmic a group of men dressed in uniform waited to remove the cargo from the aircraft.

A young woman, who had hardly said a word throughout the flight, stirred and pulled away gently at her seat belt but she did not unbuckle it yet. She frowned,thinking thinking that the time was inconsiderate, that flights ought to be arranged so that passengers reached their destination in the morning or evening and not in the middle of the day when the sun flaunted it's nakedness, shooting it's rays like a machine gun and driving people into houses and other shelters. She was painfully aware that her clothes would prove too warm for this weather.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the right clothes and would have to bear the discomfort at least for a while.

She turned to the window and stared out, her chest churning. A feeling of dread rose from the pit of her stomach, ploughed upward until it reached her throat and remained trapped there. In a panic, her eyes roved far and near. She could see a wide expanse of land carpeted by glorious green grass. She knew it was near the end of a rainy season.

Having been away for some time had not made her forget what she had left behind; besides, she had not stayed away long enough for her memory to become blurred

The sky was cloudless but not completely cloudless-typical of the rainy season when the clouds could darken at a moment's notice, as rain-bearing winds from the north east blew triumphantly across the land. She watched the men on the tarmac manoeuvring a vehicle pulling a big trolley like device in which they would probably put the luggage after it had been off-.loaded

"This is home" she thought. What a homecoming!

* * * * * * * * *
The passengers got up and began to remove their things from he luggage compartment. She, the young woman, and some fifteen girls- without passports, without identification- were the last to disembark.

They had been stowed away at the back of the plane during the journey. A foul smell had oozed out each time the toilet door was opened and she had striven hard not to be sick. She was graceful to be rid of the ordeal though she dreaded disembarking.

"This way, please" said a stewardess,her face bereft of the usual smile one found on the faces of an aircraft's crew. Perhaps she was still upset about the drama that had taken place before the plane flew out the airport.

The young women obeyed, without hesitation, without protest. She had hardly said a word to any of the other girls; none of them had spoken to her, either.
But they all moved together and did as they were told. You were worse off if you caused trouble, she told herself.

Before they left Heathrow, the pilot had insisted that the immigration officers from the home office remove two girls who were crying and shouting that they didn't want to leave. One of them had bellowed, "I'd rather die than return to that country".

They were a real nuisance and had made so much noise that the passengers got really angry.

"Good riddance!" One passenger had cried after the girls were taken away.

She had sat in her corner, observing the two girls disgraceful behavior with contempt. Did they realize what faced them back in there in that detention centre?.

She was sure they would be taken back to the 'prison' where all of them had been kept while waiting for deportation. If those two thought they would be allowed to stay, they were greatly mistaken. They would get the shock of their lives. The system would devise other means of getting rid of them.

'They didn't want us:they would never want us', she thought, grimacing. Illegal aliens were expendable.

She and fifteen humiliated young woman shuffled out of the aircraft,past crews who stood aside, watching them as if they were lepers or slaves disembarking from a disdainful expression on the face of one of the stewardess, and looked away quickly. The urge to abuse the stewardess verbally was strong,but she stifled it.

When she stood at the cabin door, she looked out and saw a group of people standing, some distance away, and thought they had been sent to arrest them, the deportees, who had brought shame to their country. Facing hem would be like swimming in a river full of crocodiles,she thought. She hesitated.

"Go down already!!" a stewardess said with a scornful voice

As she stepped into the gangway, she felt she was beginning a long walk back to the landscape of her beginning, with all it's jgged points and potholes. The difference was that the landscape seemed even more treacherous now.

* * * * * * * * * *

Betrayal of various hues had been her family's heart-rending portion for what seemed like eternity. The belief that life is bitter sweet experience is universal, but she could claim this truism for herself or her family. To them life had continually been bitter with no sweetness; only brandishing a puff adders deadly fang. She had watched her family's fortune dwindle all through her teenage years.

**In her thoughts**
 
"He that is down needs fear no fall!" Where did she her that from?

She remembered it was a popular hymn during her school days.

"Be patient, be happy; the joy of the Lord is your strength", a sunday-sxhool teacher told her once.

EASIER SAID THAN DONE!

Was it really possible to be happy and joyful when life is doled out of portions of poison to you without taking a break?

A/N:- HEY THIS IS THE FIRST CHAPTER
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