“God, why didn’t he just come to me?” said Richard, shaking his head.
A Slave
When Lacy awoke, her head was pounding. She peered around her drowsily, but had no idea where she was. The light was dim, maybe from candles, though she couldn’t make out the source from where she lay. The room smelled of decay and body odour. She tried to move and realized that, while she could change position, her left arm was securely tied with a chain to a pair of heavy concrete blocks. She lay on a filthy mattress in the middle of a large auditorium-like space. When she looked more closely she could see that there were many others around her in the same predicament.
“What is this place?” she called out.
“Shhh,” came a reply from nearby. Then a whisper: “Don’t talk now. They’re coming. Talk later.”
She raised her head. Three men were walking through the room’s only door. The center man appeared to be the leader. The two surrounding him guided him through the room, commenting on various people lying on the floor. As her eyes grew more accustomed to the light, she could see that all of the captives were women.
The trio approached more closely, and she overheard one of the underlings say, “Yeah, another one from the Asian refugee boats. Doesn’t speak any English. Not a bad body and face. Should be okay.”
Finally the three men walked up to where Lacy lay. The leader was an unshaven, paunchy, little man, with a few strands of his greasy black hair combed ludicrously over his bald head. He stared down at her as if she were the main course at a banquet. She recognized the two men beside him as Frank and Jun, the two thugs that had kidnapped her. Frank sported a bandage on his nose, and he touched it as he scowled at her. She cringed, and tried to back away, but the chain held her in place.
“Here’s a nice one,” The leader said, unabashedly leering at her.
“We found her in the city,” Frank said. “Yeah, she’s a cut above the usual trash we get in here. We should make a bundle on her – she’s got the ‘sweet young virgin’ look the Johns all love.”
The leader scanned Lacy up and down, licking his lips and rubbing his stubbled chin.
“Wavy corn silk hair…” he leaned down and twirled a lock of Lacy’s hair in his fingers, “pale white milky skin…” He traced a dirty fingernail down Lacy’s right arm. She shuddered and tried to pull away.
“And just a sweet little frosting of freckles,” The leader’s speech was tinged with drool as he continued to stare at her.
“We should see if we can dig her up a school-girl outfit,” said Frank. “They’d go wild!” All three men laughed uproariously.
“Let me go!” Lacy yelled, pulling on her chain. “You can’t keep me here!”
“Is that right sweetie?” laughed Jun. “Oh – our mistake – I guess we’d better let you go, then.” Again they all laughed.
The leader crouched down to inspect Lacy more closely.
“Watch this one, Boris,” warned Frank. “She looks harmless, but she’s a wildcat.”
Boris reached a hand out toward one of Lacy’s breasts. She threw out her free arm to stop him, and he grabbed her wrist and twisted it back until she thought it would break. She was almost overpowered by the stench of his breath.
“You’re right,” drooled Boris. “She could be one of our star assets once she’s been properly broken in.”
As if to demonstrate who was in charge, he maintained his grip on her free hand, reached out with his other hand, and squeezed her left breast so hard she yelped in pain. She tried to kick at him, but he jumped out of reach. This brought renewed hails of laughter.
“Good work, boys,” said Boris. “For once you guys showed some resourcefulness. Keep an eye on this one.”
The three continued on to the next new victim.
When the men had moved some distance away, the voice that had answered Lacy earlier spoke once again, in a whisper,
“What’s your name?” it said.
“My name’s Lacy,” Lacy answered. She twisted around searching for the source of the voice. Another girl was lying on the mattress to her right. She was Asian, and quite beautiful, though her long, black hair was unkempt and she looked underfed. She was chained to a set of blocks identical to those that held Lacy.
“My name is Mei-Lien,” the girl said.
“What is this place?” asked Lacy.
“You don’t know?” said Mei-Lien. “This is a whore-house, and we’re whores – all of us – you too.”
“Whores?” said Lacy.
“You don’t know what a whore is?” said Mei-Lien.
Lacy shook her head, embarrassed.
“Where have you been all your life!” said Mei-Lien. “They force you to be with men – to have sex with them. When you’re not with a man they keep you here. They only feed you enough to keep you alive and attractive enough for men to pay for.”
Lacy was stunned. She hesitated for a few seconds, trying to grasp what the other girl had told her.
“H…How long have you been here?” she finally asked, swallowing hard.
“About three months, I think,” said Mei-Lien. “It’s hard to tell here. We came from Asia about a year ago. It was a terrible journey on a rusty old boat. Many died on the way. When we finally arrived, we had nowhere to go and we had to sleep on the street. One night I was out searching for food, and those two caught me and brought me here.”
She nodded in the direction of Frank and Jun. The three men came back in their direction, and Mei-Lien, whispered “Shhh”, once again. They passed in front of Lacy, and once again Boris shot her a leering glance. She cringed.
When they had left the room, Mei-Lien continued, “Some of the girls are allowed to walk around freely – once they’ve shown that they won’t try to run away. Nobody likes them because they collaborate with our torturers. Those girls come by here every hour or so. If you need to go to the bathroom, you have to tell them.”
Lacy finally grasped what had happened to her. She started to cry.
“You’ve got to get away if you can,” said Mei-Lien. “Nobody lasts long here. They’ve sent me out a hundred times already – with these filthy, stinking pigs of men. They’ll come for you, too – soon – very soon.”
That first night Lacy slept fitfully. She had a dream about Danny. In her dream, she lay next to him, and peered into his clear blue eyes, touched his taut, smooth skin, ran her fingers through his golden hair.
Once again he kissed her – just as he had the night before they left. And he touched her – in ways she’d never considered before – ways that frightened her. Auntie Becky had hinted at the feelings that a man and a woman could experience, but had never gone into detail.
She awoke from the dream suddenly, only slowly becoming aware of what had disturbed her. As her eyes were finally able to focus in the dim light, she realized that she was being watched. It was Boris, crouched down beside her, staring and breathing heavily.
He looked as if he’d been trying to decide something, and her awakening had cemented his decision. He moved closer, whispering, “You really are a virgin, aren’t you, sweetie.”
Lacy cringed and tried to crawl backwards away from him, but was held in place by her chains.
Boris put out both his hands towards her. “It’s alright – we’re just going to have a little fun, you and me. Don’t be afraid. Didn’t they tell you? It’s part of my job to break in the new girls.”
“Get away from me!” Lacy screamed, so loudly that everyone in the room woke immediately.
But Boris had made his decision.
“So that’s how it’s gonna be,” he growled. “Well, that’s fine with me – better even!”
He grabbed at her shirt and tore the top open. The sight of her naked breasts inflamed him and he came at her with full force. Lacy was ready for his move. She delivered a solid punch to his face with her free hand, bloodying his nose and stunning him momentarily. In a few seconds he flew back in a rage. Lacy screamed as loudly as she could, and
clawed at his face, tearing off strips of skin.
Boris screamed in pain. He had forgotten about sex, and was now bent on killing her. He delivered a brutal punch to her right eye that nearly knocked her cold. He raised himself up for a final attack. Suddenly he was lifted bodily from the ground, as if by magic. His legs pumped uselessly beneath him like he was riding an invisible bicycle.
Looking more closely, she realized that he was being held up by the collar by a huge man she hadn’t seen before.
“Lights!” the man bellowed, and instantly additional light flooded the room.
“What the hell’s goin’ on here!” the man roared.
“Hugo…” said Boris, trembling. “Nothin’s goin’ on. We were just talkin’ and suddenly she starts screamin’ for no reason.”
“He attacked me!” shouted Lacy.
“She’s lying!” Boris yelled, still floating at the end of the other man’s arm.
“Shut up!” bellowed Hugo. Boris was immediately silent.
“You got any idea how much money we could make with this one?” The big man said. “It’s bad enough you wanna’ sample the merchandise, but now look what you did to her eye. Who’s gonna’ want her lookin’ like that?” Lacy reached her free hand up and felt her right eye. It was bleeding and painful, and she could already feel it beginning to swell. Hugo shook Boris like a rag doll.
“I’d throw you out the fuckin’ window right now,” the big man said, “but I need you to look after the girls.”
“Please don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me!” Boris whined pathetically.
Still holding Boris in midair, Hugo rotated him until they were face to face, and punched him in the head with such force that the smaller man flew several yards across the room, landing in a crumpled heap. He lay so still that at first Lacy thought he was dead, but in a few seconds he began to groan pitifully and writhed feebly on the ground.
“You touch another one of these girls, and I’ll rip your balls off and shove them down your throat!” the big man yelled. “You got that?”
“Yeah,” Boris whimpered almost inaudibly, still lying on the floor.
Hugo stomped away, leaving Boris where he lay.
Lacy kept her eyes on the injured Boris, just in case. He lay still for a few minutes, then finally managed to stand shakily, and eventually staggered past her and out of the room. He glared over at her as he passed, and she could see the pure hatred in his eyes.
“That was the big boss, Hugo,” whispered Mei-Lien. She examined Lacy’s eye, saying, “I think your eye’s going to look pretty bad. You’re lucky – maybe you won’t have to fuck anybody till it’s healed.”
“Great,” said Lacy, doing her best to re-attach the top of her shirt. She was too exhausted to care. She lay down and was immediately asleep.
When she awoke the next morning, her eye was throbbing with pain and so swollen she could barely see out of it. She spotted one of the ‘free’ girls walking around the room, and motioned her over.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said to the girl who, wearing a bored expression, unlocked her chain and took her arm. The girl led her toward the bathroom, which was through the main room’s only door and down a long corridor.
“What’s your name?” Lacy whispered to the girl as they walked.
“My name?” she answered. “’None of your fuckin’ business’ – that’s my name.”
Lacy didn’t attempt any further communication.
“Who is that girl?” She whispered to Mei-Lien after she got back to her place.
“That’s Serena,” said Mei-Lien.
“She’s not very friendly.”
“Oh… She hates everybody, that one. You should stay away from her. Nobody likes her.”
That day, Frank, Jun, Boris, or combinations of those three, led a series of disgusting looking men through the area where Lacy and the others were being held. Lacy couldn’t hear much of what was said, but it appeared that the guide, or guides, would point out various girls and list off their ‘features’ along with a price. Several times they brought a ‘John’ over to Lacy, hoping that he might be interested in spite of her battered face. Mercifully, none of them were interested.
She spent the day lying low and trying not to be noticed. She prayed that none of the Johns would find her mutilated face attractive, and slept as much as possible in a desperate attempt to overcome the crushing terror.
The captives were brought some stale bread and water in the morning, and nothing else until early evening, when they were finally given a tasteless, but hot and welcome stew that looked like it might even have meat in it. It smelled bad, but she attacked it ravenously. After dinner the traffic of Johns picked up but, possibly in answer to her prayers, none of them chose her.
That evening, she managed to catch Serena’s eye, and gestured that she needed the bathroom. This time she made no attempt at conversation, and just followed silently as the girl led her to the bathroom door and waited outside. She stole a glance at Serena as they walked. She was young and still beautiful, with long chestnut hair and deep brown eyes, but her face was hard and seemed to mask some deep anger and pain.
Lacy endured the disgusting toilet, made an attempt to wash her hands, and peered into the fragments of what was left of the mirror at her disfigured face. Most of the right side was a deep purple colour, and so swollen that her right eye was almost shut. The overall purple shade was generously interspersed with sickly blotches of yellow. She examined the hideous mess thankfully and smiled.
She was about to leave when she heard loud shouts coming from outside. She snuck up to the bathroom door and peered down the hallway. A drunk man in filthy clothes was arguing with Frank, who was trying to drag him away.
“You’re gettin’ the fuck outta’ here!” yelled Frank. “Those girls are our merchandise. You beat on one of them, that hurts our business.”
“I didn’t touch her, the bitch!” slobbered the drunk.
“She says you did,” said Frank. “And she’s got the black eye to prove it. We’ve already got one girl out of commission, we don’t need any more.”
Frank had the man’s left arm pinned behind his back, and was pushing him from behind toward a door that Lacy assumed was the exit.
“Get that lying whore in here!” yelled the drunk. “I’ll show her what we do to little liars!”
“Shut the hell up!” yelled Frank, and he punched the drunk in the back of the head, driving him forward.
“Hey!” The drunk yelled, and somehow used the momentum to yank his arm out of Frank’s grip. He stood facing Frank, with his back to both Lacy and Serena.
He shouted: “I paid for a good time, and all I get is this snotty bitch that won’t do anything I want!”
The drunk staggered backward several steps, and for a second looked as if he was about to fall over, but he finally regained enough control to remain standing. Frank made to move toward him, but the man found his balance and began to move backward more quickly.
He was rapidly approaching the bathroom door where Lacy was hiding. She backed into the shadows. She glanced in the other direction. Serena was standing at the far side of the door. The drunk was headed directly for her.
He paused just before the bathroom door, only a couple of yards in front of Serena, and bent down almost double. At first Lacy thought he was in the process of collapsing dead-drunk, but instead, he lifted his pant-leg and pulled a tiny gun from his boot. He continued to stagger backward, now pointing the gun at Frank.
“You fuckin’ pricks,” he slobbered. “Tryin’ to rip me off… I’m gonna do the world a favour and put ya’ outta yer misery!”
Frank saw the gun and backed away. The drunk staggered backward, more through drunkenness than intent, and half-walked, half-stumbled into Serena.
He jumped forward in shock; he hadn’t noticed her standing there. He turned and stared at her blearily. Serena was paralyzed with fear. The collision seemed to snap the drunk out of his stupor.
Rushing forward with unexpected quickness, he grabbed Serena by the hair, swung around behind her and jammed the gun under her chin.
“You assholes think you can fuck with me!” He screamed. “Get me another woman or I’ll blow her head off!”
The drunk pushed Serena forward, the gun still pressed under her chin. They passed the doorway of the bathroom, so that Lacy was now behind them, no more than a few feet away.
Frank laughed. “You gotta be jokin’, man. Go ahead. There’s plenty more where that one came from.”
The drunk was silent for a second, confused at Frank’s remark.
Finally he yelled, “You think I’m kiddin’?” then fired a shot into the ceiling and hauled down on Serena’s hair, forcing her to her knees. He pointed the gun barrel down on the top of her head, about to execute her.
Lacy was terrified. She backed further into the shadows, but she hadn’t seen a mop standing against the wall. When she bumped against it, the handle fell and landed with a clang on the metal sink. The drunk wheeled around in panic, waving his gun dangerously, searching for a target.
By the time he spotted Lacy she was already on the move. She leapt out, grabbed his gun arm with both hands, and hauled down and back with all her might. The drunk screamed as his shoulder separated. The gun fired into the opposite wall then flung from his hand and fell clattering to the floor. He released Serena’s hair and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
Lacy grabbed Serena by the hand and ran with her away from the injured man. For the first time she noticed Hugo standing outside one of the nearby rooms. Frank rushed forward and grabbed the gun still lying on the floor. He ran over to the prone drunk, and without the slightest hesitation fired a bullet into the man’s skull. Lacy screamed.
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