-Dealt-

Chapter 1

We have all had that feeling of being cheated, ripped off. You enter a bargain or buy a product and it turns out to be a waste of money and trust, or you lose something special - maybe even all three of them. What do you feel? Annoyed? Well imagine that, but a hundred times worse, say you lose something extra special; something irreplaceable. Like your daughter. 

Or say; instead of losing something, you’re the one who is lost.

Chapter 1

The blaring screech of truck tires faded, leaving a dense cloud of dust and like that, I was alone.

 I could feel the sun as it scorched my bare feet and it was so dry that a single tear crept out my eye even though I felt as if I was drowning with them. It was nothing in comparison to the chaos I was facing inside. Everything seemed to linger into slow motion and through the dust I could just about glimpse the blur of a rickety old truck making its way down the stretched dirt track in the distance.  I then practically collapsed to the ground as I tried to sit on the dirt.

There was a splattering of wrinkled cliffs below the cherry red expanse of sky and a few brave trees sprouted to and fro with huge leafy umbrellas. Apart from that, I was alone, in a vast bowl of dirt and heat. I had four fellow tribe members and a muddy hovel to keep me company. I knew I would get through it though, I had to. I miserably picked at my cracked soles and reassured myself that this was all for the best. I had chosen to send Sasha overseas for her benefit and she would live a better life, well that’s what I thought back then. It certainly helped me through things, imagining my daughter thriving in a foreign country I never really doubted the reality of it all. I was completely ignorant to what I had done. This is the story of my life. Actually, no, not my life, the story of how I unknowingly traded my daughter’s. How she was dealt, and this deal was not destined to end well.