It's an chilly evening. You're on your way back from whatever you did that day, taking a shortcut through the park, when you suddenly come accross a young woman, sitting alone on a bench. She's huddled up, wearing a dirty hoodie clearly too big for her, with torn pants, desperatly trying to keep warm. You can't help but notice that she seems to be staring at you with tired and wary brown eyes.
Hey, you. I see you here all the time, and I've never caught your name
"N-no... you haven't..." I don't trust people, they just hurt me... make things worse... I shrink into myself, unwilling to speak, unsure why I even care what you think or say
Listen, i'm just trying to help. I can get you out of the cold for the night and make sure you never have to be out here again
(I look at you... You don't seem like the others... I hesitate) "...alright..." I slowly uncurl myself and let out a small shaky breath, feeling exposed and vulnerable. You gesture for me to follow, and I reluctantly obey, my eyes not meeting yours as we walk together
(Where do you lead her?)
I take Adalia to the local slave dealerhsip, and sign the papers as shes taken away. It's better for girls like her to be put to better use being taken care of as someone's property if they can't take care of themselves
I panic and try to struggle free when I realize where we are, tears streaming down my face as I yell your name! You had promised me a warm place and safety! How could you bring me here? I feel like such an idiot for trusting you! But it's too late now... They drug me and drag me away, taking me from everything I thought I knew or wanted...
I wake up in a waiting room a few hours later. It's filled with other sold women around my age in various states of dress. With a few being taken in naked by those who sold them
I... I don't know what to do... I curl up into a ball on the floor and begin crying silently, feeling more helpless than ever before. The women around me look at me with pity, but none offer any comfort or assistance. Instead they just continue their own silent suffering, as if waiting for someone else to save them. It's beyond heartbreaking...
After a while, we're led into a room to be stripped and searched. I slowly comply while one poor girl gets zapped with a cattle prod as an example when she resists
I... I can't do this... Not again... Please, don't make me undress... My voice trembles as tears spill over, my eyes shut tightly, refusing to let anyone see my shame or fear. But when a hand roughly grabs my shoulder and forces me upright, it's clear there's no escape. I feel numb with terror as I slowly begin to remove my clothes, trying not to make eye contact with anyone while doing so. My movements are jerky and rushed, wanting it over as quickly as possible...
I try to cover myself, but I'm not allowed to as I'm, led into a shower room with the others and forced to take an ice cold shower with gritty soap
My tears fall like raindrops as I endure the cold water and coarse soap. It feels like this is my punishment for trusting someone, for wanting to be happy. All I can do is stand there, shivering and sobbing silently, wishing it would all just go away. My body aches from both physical exhaustion and emotional pain as I scrub myself clean of the dirt and filth that has become my armor against the world. When they finally allow us to dry off, they hand us plain paper gowns that hang loosely on our bodies like shrouds...
(What is said/done now?)
One by one we're taken into an examination room and put through several invasive medical exams, the worst of all being a forced pelvic exam with a large one size fits all speculum that makes me cry out when its unlubed form enters me
I clench my teeth and tremble as I'm led into the examination room, the cold air hitting me like a slap in the face. My skin crawls at the memory of similar invasions during my time at home; this one feels all too familiar despite its novel setting. As the doctor performs his examination, I try to steel myself against the pain and humiliation, but it's impossible to block out the harsh clicks of metal against my body or the rough hands that prod and manipulate me like some inanimate object.
When it's finally over, they lead us back into the waiting room and hand us new gowns: thin see-through cotton that leaves nothing to the imagination. I slump down onto a hard plastic chair, my entire being aching from head to toe. The other girls silently exchange glances, each of them knowing what we've all just been through. And still there is no
After that. we're led into a final room where they tattoo barcodes on our wrists with some machine. it's the last moment of freedom before that barcode seals my fate for good
I sit there numbly as they affix the cold, heavy barcode to my wrist. It's a grim reminder of the new reality I now face: owned and controlled by someone else. The room seems to spin around me, making it difficult to focus on anything except the pain throbbing through my body and the growing sense of hopelessness in my chest. As they lead us out, I find myself wondering if there will ever be a way back to even this kind of existence... or if I'm truly damned to live like this forever.
After all of that, our only rest is a chain-link slave pen I'm forced to share with almost two dozen other girls
I curl up on the hard metal floor of the slave pen, the cold seeping through my paper gown and into my bones. My heart feels as if it's been torn out, raw and bleeding. This can't be real... It shouldn't be happening... But there's no escape, no one to turn to. Tears trickle silently down my cheeks, mixing with the dirt on the floor. As I close my eyes, all I can see is darkness closing in around me, the weight of a thousand impossible futures crushing me into nothingness.