Between SHADOWS and SUNRISE [Wattpad Creator Program]

||Chapter 1|| Woven Ties

Drafted on :- 26/7/24
Published on:- 28/9/24 [Saturday]
...

"In your arms,
I have found my sanctuary,
and even eternity pales
in comparison to the love
I feel for you."

...

In a dimly lit, abandoned warehouse, 15 children who were all under the age of 10 were huddled together on the cold, concrete floor.

Their small faces were streaked with dirt and fear and their eyes were wide with uncertainty. The room, once filled with the sounds of machinery was now echoed with their shallow breathing and the occasional sniffle.

The air was heavy, musty, and suffocating. Rusted metal bars, used to seal the few windows, barely let in any light, casting eerie shadows across the walls.

The gang members had thrown them in here without a second glance and secured the heavy metal door behind them with a padlock that clanged ominously.

A single flickering bulb swung overhead and casting a faint light that only deepened the sense of despair.

The children were too scared to speak as they clung to one another and seeking comfort in each other's presence.

Some whispered softly and was trying to calm the younger ones who sobbed quietly as their tiny hands were covering their faces.

In the far corner, a little girl who was barely seven, sat with her knees pulled to her chest and continuously staring at the door and waiting for someone to come- either rescue or something far worse.

"I want to go home," she thought and her vision blurred by the tears that wouldn't stop falling.

Her red-rimmed eyes stared at the cracked floor beneath her as she trembled as the weight of what was happening sank deeper into her small heart.

Tears slid down her pale cheeks, but no one could comfort her- not here.

All fifteen children had been abducted by local thugs who cared nothing for their cries or pleas. Children were handed over like property to higher gangsters.

The children had been herded like cattle and gathered together in this forsaken place.

There was no escape, no friendly faces, just the terrifying truth that they were soon to be sold and shipped off to another country like goods in a transaction.

Her heart pounded wildly as she was hoping against all odds that someone would come for them.

But in the silence, all she could hear was the muffled sobs of the others, trapped like her.

'Maha.... Dev', She took a deep, shaky breath and whispered the lord name.

The name of the Lord was her only hope, the only thing she could hold on to in this nightmare.

With trembling lips and a heart full of silent prayers as she closed her eyes and was trying to block out the reality of the cold, dark room and the muffled sobs of the other children.

She was a child but could understand the sinister plans of the gangsters who waited outside.

The tears didn't stop but in her mind, she clung to the image of safety, of her home, and of the divine strength she hoped would rescue them.