This is the Beginning as Far as We Know

“What is it to you if I sell her?” A woman speaks on the other side of the wall, and my feet stop in their tracks. Was Emmie saying what I think she was?

Did she want to sell Rya after we made a deal that kept her from being touched. I had not spent all this time enduring hell for her to sell the girl anyway.

“She wants to sell me?” Rya whispers, her brown eyes glistening as she presses herself to the wall. Our skin almost the same colour from lack of sun.

A new voice speaks in a deep tone, “it’s nothing to me.”

Of course she’s talking to Jax, he was one of her few trusted friends. Or so they’ll claim.

“You have a contract with them” he continues, “and it would be in your best interest,” he lingers in the silence for a moment, “to abide by it.”

Her scoff is loud. “That contract means nothing outside of Nahtar.”

“Maybe not,” he says, “but it’s valid to the people you will answer to if you break it.”

“As long as they get their money, they won’t care about one girl.”

A tear falls down Rya’s cheek and I clench my fist as the rage builds in me.

Jax retorts, “they may not care about her, but the girl is a virgin and barely fourteen by the looks of them. You sell her, and there will be an all-out bidding war.

They will hear about it and when they realize who the girl’s Owner is, or was if it goes exactly like last time,” his anger is building but his tone is even. “They will take you down in creative ways. The boy makes more than enough, and you know it.”

Emmie doesn’t respond.

Rya and I hold our breath.

“Fine,” she says, “I’ll put in a request to change the contract.”

Jax takes a moment more before saying, “I don’t think this will end in your favour.”

Whatever is said next is too quiet, and soon the handle on the door turns and Rya jumps back to stand beside me. Hiding the tears from Jax as he looks at us from the doorway. His light skin blends in at his temple with his blond hair. He inhales, then he stalks off.

Emmie comes out, her bright multi-coloured hair framing her squarish pale face and falling down around her paler neck. Her cheeks are bright pink to match bits of her hair.

She grabs part of the blue nightgown and sweeps it over her shoulder and eyes us, the cold stare back on her face.

“Stay in here,” she says to Rya.

She locks the door with the two of us in the hallway. Then she storms off and I follow her.

We walk through the dimly lit hallways, it’s quiet now. Dinner is over and all the sessions have ended. Owners and Clients are in the lounge area attempting to drug each other, in their rooms sleeping something off, or like Emmie, dropping Seslas off to be healed.

When Emmie reaches the door, she stands to the side, and I open the door. When I’ve closed it behind me, I see the other kids are already here.

Everyone is hurt.

There are eight other kids, ten including me and Rya.

Ranging in ages, some like us don’t know their age. Rya, myself, and two other kids seem to be closer to 13-15. When I sit in the empty chair at the end, Erik turns to me. He’s one of the oldest kids here at 17.

His green eyes meet mine and we silently tell each other that we’re okay. His brown hair is messy, not quite reaching his eyes and there are a few bruises on his arms, and a cut across his cheek.

Most of the kids have several bruises some more severe injuries, but no one is moving enough to tell. My heart sinks at one girl who has blood on her thighs, barely covered by her grey shorts. She was new, she showed up a week ago and was bid on fast. But, since she’s alive, she’s not new to this.

The light in the room is turned off.

I hold my arm out and wait.

There are soft thuds on the ground and a large shadow enters the room.

The creature does its routine, and the occasional quiet gasp of a kid being healed is all we hear.

When the thuds are close to me, I extend my arm and get ready. Its teeth grip my wrist, and the usual pain follows. It’s not excruciating, but it sucks.

The pain follows up my arm, across my chest and I grit my teeth when it enters the rest of my body. My hand grips the chair and soon the pain fades back into my wrist. Then the pain is gone, and the thuds exit the room.

After another thirty seconds or so, the lights slowly come back on.

Now, there isn’t a bruise in sight, and the kids are sitting more comfortably. As usual, we all get up and exit the room, heading back to our Owners’ areas.