Captured and Sold

****WARNING**** Mature Content! This story contains mature language, violence, and mature content. Read at your own risk!

*Molly’s POV*

I heard the slightest sound of muffled cries in the background as I slowly came to. I rubbed my eyes, opening them wide as I looked around at my dark surroundings. I couldn’t see much as everything around me was black as night, but nothing seemed or sounded familiar. I knew I was no longer in bed. Instead, I was on a hard, cold cement floor. The smell of blood and sweat violated my nostrils, causing me to gag. I lifted myself into a seated position and tried to move further away from where I was positioned, but my arms jerked back in defiance. I looked down at my wrists, and they were bound by short chains, connected to a small metal loop against the wall.

I instantly panicked, trying to jerk my hands free, but there was no use. The restraints were strong. I looked around, trying to make out the surrounding figures, but it was too dark. I couldn’t see much, but I knew there were other people in this room with me. I could hear a collection of sniffling and crying all throughout the room, making me wonder how many people were there.

I looked down at myself and I could tell I was still in my blue night gown, but I was no longer in bed. Confusion and fear immediately built up throughout my body, causing my heart to race, wondering what had happened. I couldn’t seem to remember much of anything as to how I got here, but I knew I was in an unfamiliar place. I definitely wasn’t at home, but was I close by? Where could I be? I racked my brain trying to remember how I got here, but my mind was empty. Was I drugged? Is that why I can’t remember anything? And how did I get here? Was I taken in the middle of the night? The thoughts and questions clouded around my eyes, creating a headache and increasing my level of panic. All I knew was that I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to go back home. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I called for help, hoping someone close by could get me out of here or at least tell me what was going on. I was scared and confused and all I wanted to do was to go back home, back to my warm and familiar bed.

“HELP! Somebody help!” I yelled, unsure who I was even referring to or if help would even come. The surrounding cries got louder, chilling me right to my core. I could hear footsteps in the distance, hoping that help was arriving.

“Keep your voice down, or they will hear you!” a girl shouted in a mere whisper in my direction. I couldn’t tell who it was or where her voice was coming from, but I knew it was directed at me.

“Why? Where are we? What is happening!?” I shouted in a whisper, letting fear take over and drive my decisions. The more I pondered everything, the more terrified I became. Another girl, directly next to me, answered for her.

“We were all taken...“she managed to say in a low voice, low enough for only the people directly around her to hear. My heart raced as I tried to remember being taken in the middle of the night, but I couldn’t. My mind went blank, full of dark, empty space. The fact that we had to whisper when communicating only heightened my nerves even more. What was this place, and who were these people who took us?

The sound of footsteps grew louder until the door to the room opened, allowing light to shine in the room. I could momentarily see other women around me, all seated on the ground and chained to the wall like me.

“Ssshh,” the girl directly next to me quietly whispered, instructing me to stay quiet. I did as she said and sat there in silence while the man continued to stand there with the door open as he stared around the room. My entire body was shaking, hoping he wouldn’t figure out that I was the girl who was yelling for help only moments ago. Before long, he shut and locked the door, leaving us all in the dark, alone once more. I waited for a minute until I no longer heard footsteps right outside the door before letting out a sigh of relief.

“Are you crazy!? You’re going to get us killed!” The girl to my right shouted in a whisper almost directly in my ear.

“By who? Who are these people?” I asked. I was afraid of the answer, but I needed to know in order to figure out how to get out of this.

“S*x traffickers..” a girl to my left responded, matter-of-factly. I was instantly mortified, hearing the worst possible scenario come to fruition. No, no, no. How could this be!? I always kept a low profile. I never bothered anyone. I was confident my daily activities consisted of going to class, going to work, and then going home. I rarely went out and saw people. I was what most people would call a homebody. How could this happen to me?

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as my breathing became more audible. I tried to take a few deep breaths and calm myself, but it was no use. If it was true that I was taken by s*x traffickers, then my situation was much worse than I originally had thought.

“How do you know for sure?” I had to ask. It’s not like these people would admit what they are, so how did she know exactly?

“Because I’ve been here the longest...and I’ve seen a lot.” She didn’t go further into detail, and I was terrified to know more. My body began to shake as tears broke through my eyes and streamed down my face. I tugged my knees close to my chest, in a failed attempt to comfort myself as much as possible.

“How long have you been here?” I asked, my voice full of fear.

“About two months.” I couldn’t detect any fear in her voice. She seemed strong-willed and unafraid. I only wished I could be more like her, but the fact of the matter was, I couldn’t stop the fear from rippling throughout my body. I was absolutely terrified. I was afraid of these men I knew nothing about, and I was even more scared of what would happen to me...

“What are they going to do with us?” I had to ask, begging for some sense of relief.

“They plan to sell us all at the auction tomorrow.” My stomach dropped. I felt like I was going to get sick all over the cold, dark cement floor. I could feel my face go pale at the thought. I was going to be sold? I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. I shook my head, trying to wake up from this horrible nightmare, but nothing seemed to change. This was reality. This was actually happening. I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down my face.

“How do you know?” Asked another girl.

“I heard them talking about it. Like I said before, I’ve been here for a while...I hear things.”

Our conversation abruptly ended when the lights flickered on in the room, causing me to squint my eyes at the violation to my senses. Once my eyes adjusted to the lights, I noticed we were in a large room with no windows, just large florescent lights hanging from the ceiling. I looked around to see there were around thirty other girls, all around my age, chained to their own respective spots against the wall. I desperately tried listening to what the men were saying, but none of it was in English. All the surrounding girls looked just as scared as I was, but we were all dead quiet aside from the silent cries.

A few men walked around the large room, pausing as they approached each one of us, one at a time. They were speaking in a foreign language the entire time. I was trying to identify the language, but it was one I didn’t recognize. They all looked tall and buff with dark hair and long, hard facial features.

The one in the middle looked to be in command of the other two. He was clean-shaven and clean-cut, with tattoos on his neck and down his arms. He spent a few minutes looking me up and down before smiling and saying something to the two men standing next to him.

I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but the looks they were giving me made me extremely uncomfortable. I immediately looked down at the floor and waited until they even stepped back and moved along. A wave of relief washed over me as they walked further away from me.

Once the men finished their rounds, they spoke to all of us in the same foreign language before stepping out and shutting and locking the door behind them. We were left alone, once again. I turned to the girl on my left, the one who gave me information earlier, my face full of confusion.

“You s-said you heard them talking earlier...but they don’t speak English. How do you know what they said?” I asked, interested to know the answer.

“Because…I also speak Russian.” My breath hitched as my heart raced once more just thinking about what she said. They were Russian. The amount of fear I felt only grew more intense, causing my hands to shake as I bit my lip nervously. I knew this was not good for me... I couldn’t believe this... How did I possibly get mixed up with Russian s*x traffickers?

“What did they say, Neva?” One of the other girls asked, directing her question to the same girl on my left. The one full of information. Neva. It was nice to finally put a face to a name.

“Do you really want to know?” Neva asked, glancing back and forth between me and the other girl. We both nodded incessantly, mutually agreeing that we needed to know. Even if it was bad, I had to know.

“They said that they would be taking us to the showers in about an hour to clean up. Then, in the morning, they are having some people come to help us get into our clothes for the auction.” I digested that information better than I thought I would, breathing slowly as to not create a panic attack. I looked down at the floor as I continued to hold my knees to my chest. It was then that I noticed a marking on my right wrist. A barcode was displayed across the underside of my right wrist, only confirming everything Neva was saying. She was right. These were s*x traffickers. My heart started beating faster, increasing my sense of panic. I was marked and would soon be claimed by someone else as their property. The thought made me absolutely sick.

“Do we all have these?” I asked Neva. She immediately nodded and showed me hers. A couple of the other girls directly surrounding me showed me theirs as well. This was my worst nightmare coming true.

I tried to think of my parents, my family and friends I had left behind, but I struggled to see their faces in my mind. I couldn’t remember who they were, what they looked like or what happened to them when I was taken. Were they safe or were they in trouble too? My chest was filled with dread of the unknown. I tried to recall my last memory and all I could come up with was a memory of me at school. I was sitting alone at lunch, working on homework. I shook my head in attempt to think of another memory, but I came up empty. Everything was blurry, the things I remembered were dismembered, coming to me in bits and pieces.

“Why don’t I remember anything?” I turned to Neva, hoping maybe she would know.

“Because you were drugged. We all were when we were first brought here. Whatever they give us is something that affects our memories. The same thing happened to me. It lasted for about a month before I started remembering everything... Trust me, it’s not always great to remember. I almost wish I hadn’t.” Neva shook her head, freeing herself from her thoughts. I could only imagine what she had been through. She’s been here two months, longer than anyone else here. I couldn’t help, but wonder why... If what she was saying was true, that they cycled through women quickly, then why wouldn’t they have sold her by now?