It Started As a Deal

Chapter 23: Void II ~ The Disappearances

"Can anybody hear me?/ I'm hidden underground/ Can anybody hear me?/ Am I talking to myself?" ~ Melanie Martinez, Tag You're It, Cry Baby.

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It has been about a good year now that we've been here in this dinky room with the weird man and people we don't know. A whole year since we were taken from our families, even if not all of us got along with them, and friends. A whole year since we've been cut out from the world with only old DVDs and VHS tapes being our sole connection. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had news, but for some reason, all of the news channels had been blocked from the TV.

We had a basic every day routine that we all followed more or less with barely any changes that happened. There's an alarm system embedded in speakers in the ceiling that blast out whistle noises at seven in the morning and won't shut off until everyone was awake. It was then that we were given a standard breakfast of toast and biscuits with jam and butter which is starting to grow old. After that we had free time like we were little kids where we either watched TV, played board games, or read books. Lunch time was at noon with normally some type of fast food being delivered to us, but we couldn't eat anything before then. And then once again we had free time until dinner came around seven in the evening which was always meat and potato stew. Lights out was at nine, and we had to be asleep before one of the strange men came to check on us at eleven. Then the day repeated over and over again and again with us doing the same exact things day after day night after night.

It was getting to be pretty boring and tiring because there was nothing new to do. A couple of the girls now just lay on their beds staring at the ceiling or just sat at the windowsill starring out with blank faces as if nothing was floating across their minds anymore. The only thing that did suck as of now was that the men for some reason must not believe periods exist because we have no cramp medicine and have to use rags as pads.

In the beginning when we first got here and he said we could leave if we wanted to, ten girls expressed that they wanted to leave and return home with Tiffany being among the ten. The only reason why the rest of us didn't leave was because we know how badly our families needed the money and couldn't risk halving it. I mean our families are so desperate for money that they sold us to be here in the first place right? Well at least that's my case anyway since my mom sold me for the money so that she could pay back the drug people so that the rest of our family wouldn't be killed. So that meant there was only twenty-five of us left after that happened.

But now there are only eighteen of us remaining meaning that seven. . . disappeared? left? Most of the girls believe that they decided to leave because they left at night which made them think they talked to whoever came in to check on us and left with them. No one really knew though because all of us were asleep at that time. Even with that though, a couple of us noticed a pattern since we knew them as much as we could in this situation.

It seems that only Bailey, Valarie, Faith, Lace, and I are the only ones who noticed it, so we've kept it to ourselves. The first thing we noticed was that when those seven girls vanished was that not a one of them was on their periods or sick. They were also those types of girls who are vain meaning they didn't eat all of their food so that they could watch their figure, and they took the longest in the showers and used all the bath products the most. The seven were also on the older side of the spectrum, we range from eleven to seventeen, and they also were more busty if that's the appropriate word for it. All of that combine helped us learn how to escape whatever fate they meet since we all suspected foul play.

So when we got our food, we ate everything and the other girls' leftovers even if it made us sick and want to throw up the extra food. We spent the less amount of time in the showers and used barely and shampoo, conditioners, and body scrubs. To hide the way our bodies looked in the chest area, we ripped parts of our bed sheets and wrapped it around breasts. Our age was something we couldn't hide, manipulate, or control, so we just hoped our other plans would work out.

I think he started to notice or suspect that there was a change among us not that there was only eighteen of us left and no longer the thirty-five we started off with. Boards went up over the windows blocking out the only natural sunlight. All the clothes that we were given had been take away and belonging such as stuffed animals or blankets that had been when us when taken were taken away from us. The TV, DVDs, and VHS tapes disappeared as did the board games leaving only books. We no longer got new bath necessities leading us to ration what we used. Only one meal was served to us now: lunch. And now more people kept coming in during the day to check on us.

And that was how we were told to all sit on our assigned patches of carpet as they removed eighteen patched. We sat silently with our legs crossed and our hands in our laps watching them work, but they soon left giving us and order to sit, don't move, and don't speak. This lead to us all focusing on the clock on the wall listening to the second hand tick.

The trap door in the floor then opened us as Jason Blackburn appeared looking seemingly drunk. He lumbered around the room looking at us and occasionally stopped to touch a girl's face or her body. I lock eyes with Faith as he groped the girl next to her and cringed. All of us shuddered as he passed by us even if he didn't touch us.

Finally, he came to a stop in an empty patch and looked back and forth between the girls surrounding it. I was one of those girls.

"Hhm who to pick?" he asked himself tapping a finger to his chin before speaking again, "Innie. . . meanie. . . Minnie. . . YOU." He points to the girl on my right and grabs her legs.

He starts dragging her to the opening in the floor and those in the way scramble to move. Nobody wants to be taken with her after seeing this change. The girl was screaming and kicking while pounding her fists on the ground as he dragged her.

"Somebody! Anybody! Help me!" she screamed out with her face no longer in sight and her hand gripping the edge. His hands reach out and yank her down, and the trap door slammed shut.

And that was when we realized just how much danger we were in and that we weren't going home.

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