Life is dangerous

Chapter 1

I woke up feeling freezing cold from head to toe and realised in shock that I could not possibly be lying in my own bed. Eyes opening wide I took in my surroundings. I was in a smal basement like room, hanging from the ceiling by two metal cuffs ankered into each side of the room. I was entirely naked and my toes only just touched the ground.

I felt panic rising up within me as I hysterically tried to squeese my hands through the metal cuffs. The chains wrattled loudly and I could hear myself breathing heavily as tears rose in my eyes. My body felt sore and stiff from the awkward position and the penetrating cold. It made it difficult to imagine that this was just a bad dream, but I tried to convince myself of it either way. Closing my eyes tightly I started muttering the same sentence like a mantra. It's just a dream.

When I heard a door behind me open loudly I held my breath, trying to somehow shrink into the shadows and out of the sparse light coming in from outside the door. After a couple of seconds I heard steps coming closer, but instead of coming right for me they halted for another couple of seconds. I opened my eyes even though I wasn't sure if I really wanted to see anything at all. The loud footsteps then moved to my right, circling around to face me. The steps turned out to belong to a rather short man. In the darkness he seemed dark haired and dressed in a suit. I couldn't make out anything more about him though.

"Points for the Tattoo. Will make you easy to distinguish." He said, voice steady and business like.

"More for keeping quiet." With that he turned and left swiftly. I listened to his steps until the door closed and I was left alone in the dark only to listen to my own breathing again.

After some time I realised I was only getting dizzy and much colder from breathing heavily and closed my eyes in order to calm myself. There was no point in crazying myself with fear. And something made me feel like I would need all the strength I had later on. So I focused on breathing steadily and tried to relax my muscles to get some rest.

It didn't work for long though as my wrists and arms continued to ache. Points for trying my mind unconsciously copied from the man and I started to wonder what I'd even need "points" for. For a short second I wondered what faith had in store for me this time, but then stopped myself short. I could think of several things. I felt myself tensing as images popped up in my mind.

Shaking my head I forced myself to think of a distraction. Anything that would stop me from thinking. A song appeared in the back of my head and I latched onto it. First I tested the Sound of it by humming it, barely more than a whisper. When it didnt sound like I was choking I started singing the words just a little louder.

I quietly kept repeating the same part that I knew of the song for a while then searched for a new one. After repeating that until I couldnt hear it anymore I picked a new one. All the while hearing my voice echo from the plain walls. After some time of picking and repeating songs I couldnt think of other songs anymore and started with the first song again. As time passed torturously slowly I gave up singing and just hummed random tones.

I didn't know for how long I kept it up as I didn't have a feeling for time to begin with - not that anyone could have kept track of time for very long with no light and no other indications of how time passed. Eventually I got sick of hearing my voice reverberating from the walls.

After some more time passed the door finally opened again. This time the footsteps did come straight for me. A warm hand gripped my arm just beneath the manacle. The metal around my wrist left and my feet touched the ground as my weight shifted to the other side. Another cuff was latched around my wrist before the man turned to release my other arm from the manacle - even if it was only to have it replaced. I didn't dare to move until the man had secured my hands behind my back and gripped my shoulders making sure he touched me no where else. He made me turn towards the door and then led me out of it.

Turning to the right he lead me through a dimly lit corridor, then up a spiraling stairs. It was a long way up - or at least that is how it felt like to my half frozen body - making it feel like I had been deep underground and the light all of a sudden flodding the stairs at the top didn't make it any better. I closed my eyes in order for them to adjust to the light and was almost glad for the man behind me pushing me Forward. Almost.

The stairs led to an open door, the room behind it brightly lit and far too noisy for what I'd expected. Somewhere a loud voice echoed sounding almost cheerful in stark contrast to the fearful whimpering and rattling. I was steered towards the noise and realised that it was made by many girls, just as naked as me and probably just as scared. There were many standing or crouching in a clear line, some tried to cover themselves while others still fought with their restraints.

I was brought in line and the cuff of my right arm was released in order to attach it to a metal chain already connecting all girls in front of me. I realised for the first time that I was shaking, even though the air was warmer now. When the man had secured me he left without a word and I turned to look after him. I took in the large room. It seemed to be a corridor with several closed doors. Other than the masses of girls and doors, there wasnt much to look at. I seemed to be last in a long line leading to the largest door of the corridor.

I took a look at the girls in front of me wondering as to why we were all naked when the large door opened. We all seemed to try and back away in the same instant, but then another man took a hold of the chain and all of us were pulled ahead. The large door led to a typical stage where the chirpy voice I'd heard before became louder and I could finally understand what it said.

"... find just what you came for. Here they are." The man said and I recognised the voice from down in the basement like room. I was too far back to see much yet, but I expected at least a dozen people watching - there could be no other reason for a stage like that.

Walking through the door and seeing a couple of hundred people was not just unexpected. It was positively frightening and I quickly looked down on the floor so I didn't have to see the hungry looks on some of the faces. Blindly, I followed the line in front of me coming to a stop in a half circle.

"Now before I show you each of them I want to repeat myself again. Don't make the mistake of picking the first one simply because you are hungry." A chuckling errupted from the crowd. "Look at all of them and only then make your pick."

I looked at the man talking a couple of meters away from me ignoring the eyes watching me. He wore a navy blue suit, a dark red shirt and a green tie. It looked a bit missmatched, but his aditude completely made up for it. He seemed to be Born to entertain.

It took him ages to introduce each girl, calling them either by a number or a nickname and mentioning something Special - never minding if it could have been seen as a negative aspect.

"And last, but surely not least. Cat!" I was draged to the front by the cuff still around my left wrist.

"The name coming from the tattoo on her left shoulder!" He turned me around to show off the Tattoo I had gotten after my first cat died. The cowd mumbled seemingly agreeing with his choice.

"She's certainly the most quiet one I've come across in all my years as she has not made one Sound so far. Maybe she will do you the honour of letting you hear her hopefully pretty voice. Cat, is there something you would like to share with us?" He asked holding the microphone close to my mouth so everyone would hear. Panicked I stammered the first thing that came to mind.

"Im... Impressive... talking... skills." The words came out shakily, but the room chuckled anyway.

"Thank you sweety. Very pleasant indeed. I'm sure now lots of people will rush to get their hands on you." Again, the crowd seemed to agree with his amused words, though that didn't make me feel less scared. I had gathered that all these girls including me were going to be sold shortly Rendering us slaves to whom ever would buy us.