Broken: Ryan's Story

Chapter One: The Broken Boy

"¡Eh, tú! Sin holgura!"
"Hey, you! No slacking!"
Ryan jumped, the sudden shock causing his fragile 6 year-old body to fall on the ground, dust from the dirt flying about and causing him to violently cough.
Ryan hated it here.
This was a place of suffering. Of forced labour. He shakily stood back up, willing his legs to approach the stack of heavy boxes he was tasked with moving. He didn't want to get punished. Not again. The punishments here were severe. Sometimes fatal. He'd often have nightmares because of the brutality alone. Not about dragons, or ghosts, or ghouls, oh no. Ryan's nightmares had different kinds of monsters. Besides, they weren't really nightmares to him. They were more like... flashbacks. Constant reminders of his stupidity. His inability to see his brothers for what they really were. And that was what led him to that fateful night.
The night he was sold into slavery.

The night they finally betrayed him.

Everything had changed after that. Ryan could still remember it as if it had only just happened.

"Es él, ¿no?"
"That's him, right?"
Ryan turned his head around when he heard grizzly voices behind him. "¿Hola?"
"Hello?"
He asked, turning his body around too. "Se ajusta a la descripción que nos dieron. Tómalo."
"He fits the description. Grab him."
He suddenly felt a pair of hands take hold of both his arms and lift him in the air. "¡O-Oye! ¡¿Qué estás haciendo?! ¡Bájame!"
"H-Hey! What are you doing?! Put me down!"
The people dug their nails into his arms until they drew blood, causing him to wince and whine. "Él no parece haber trabajado un día en su vida."
"He doesn't look like he's worked a day in his life."
"¡Mis hermanos van a ayudarme, ya veréis! Bruno! Lucas! Juan! Carlos!"
"My brothers are gonna help me, you'll see! Bruno! Lucas! Juan! Carlos!"
He screamed out, his legs kicking wildly. "Ryan." Ryan recognized the gravelly voice of Carlos. "Aquí."
"Here."
The men suddenly let him go. He took no notice of it, instantly running towards his brothers and hiding behind Juan's leg. "¡Estos hombres malvados estaban tratando de tomarme!"
"Those bad men were trying to take me!"
He pointed at the men, holding Juan's leg tightly. One of them held out their hand, revealing money. Quite a lot of it. "Trescientos euros, todo allí. Entregue el niño."
"Three hundred euros, all there. Give us the kid."
Lucas walked forward to collect the money, counting it. Ryan looked up at Bruno, slightly shaking. "Bruno? ¿Por qué estás allí? Vas a buscar ayuda, ¿verdad?"
"Bruno? Why aren't you doing anything? You're gonna get help, right?"
That's when Bruno grabbed his shirt collar and forced him forward like a dog on a leash. Ryan grunted from the sudden movement, confused. "Que eres-"
"What are you-"
The man originally holding the money grabbed Ryan and pulled him back. Ryan let out some sort of frightened squeak. "¡Déjame ir!"
"Let me go!"
The next thing he knew, his hands were bound together by rope and his legs were tied to them. "Un placer hacer negocios contigo."
"A pleasure doing business with you."
One of the men said with Ryan over his shoulder. Ryan suddenly realised how much danger he was in. "¡POR FAVOR NO DEJE QUE LOS HOMBRES MALOS ME TOMEN! ¡AYUADAME!"
"PLEASE DON'T LET THE BAD MEN TAKE ME! HELP ME!"
He began thrashing wildly in a futile attempt to gain freedom.
"JUAN! ¡POR FAVOR! ¡SOMOS HERMANOS! E-Estoy asustado..."
"JUAN! PLEASE! WE'RE BROTHERS! I-I'm scared..."
His brother turned his head way, clearly trying to ignore him. "Nunca fuiste uno de nosotros."
"You were never one of us."
Juan turned to look at him, his expression empty. "Nunca fuiste nuestro hermano."
"You were never our brother."
Ryan looked at him, his face full of fear, hurt, and pain. But most of all, it was simply broken. That would be the last time he ever saw them.