Traffic

Chapter 4

The old fashioned wooden clock that sat on my dresser had barely ticked five a.m when Abbey and I were woken by banging on the door.
Three loud knocks and the door swung open, the room was flooded with light and Porn stache-whose name I had learned was Chuck- came strolling in twirling his set of Skeleton keys around his short fat finger.
"Rise and shine beauties," he stood at the end of Abbey's bed and yanked the blanket down to our feet. I shot up and blinked the sleep from my eyes.
"Sharing beds, while personally encouraged, is actually prohibited." He smirked, "but how can I be mad when it's so darn exciting"
His hands were sat loosely on his hips and he rocked back and forth with a wild grin on his face. I shuddered as the gross demeaning things I could tell he was imagine flashed in my mind.
Abbey slowly sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, trying to cover herself as much as possible. Obviously the greasy weirdo made her just as uncomfortable as he made me.
"It's your lucky day," Chuck oozed as he rocked back on his heels, "you two have been chosen for viewing. Get up, get dressed. You have ten minutes."
He smiled wide showing off his tobacco stained teeth and waltzed out of the room.
Abbey  grabbed my wrist and stared at me wide eyed.
"Charlie, what does he mean?" She whispered loudly, she was clearly panicking. So was I.
I shrugged and got up off the bed, crossing the room to my dresser. "Better get dressed." I tossed her a clean uniform.
I started to get dressed, although she was blinking back tears she followed suit and once we were both dressed and ready we had no choice but to sit and speculate on what was going to happen to us.
"I heard that you're thrown into a room with mirrors on all sides." Abbey rested at the end of her bed, shoulders squared and hands on her lap. "Like the walls are made of mirrors, but they can see you..."
I sighed and leaned against the wall so I was facing her.
"I heard it's like a stage and they auction you off; Like a silent auction!" I tried to laugh it off, but I knew she could tell I was scared.
Just as she was about to respond there came another sharp knock on the door.
It opened a crack and Chuck stuck his head though and eyed us up.
"Come on girls, your future awaits"
He opened the door all the way, bowed, and made a sweeping motion with his whole arm.
I grabbed Abbey's clammy hand and followed the gesture out the door, I avoided making eye contact with Chuck as he eyed me up and down. I had a sick feeling  in the pit of my stomach, I hoped Abbey couldn't feel my hand sweating and shaking, but I knew she could.

We walked through the corridors of our dorm building and out through the main doors. I hadn't been out here since I arrived, it was warm and bright and it felt like forever since I'd seen the sun. Abbey and I walked hand in hand behind Chuck, two of his goons hung back behind us so there was no chance of us running. We walked out into the main driveway where a dark blue Toyota minivan waited with its rear door slid open. The windows were heavily tinted but other than that it looked entirely normal from the outside.
We climbed into the back on the van followed by the goons, Chuck slammed the sliding door and shuffled into the drivers seat, he looked back over his shoulder and winked before throwing the van in gear and starting us on our way.
My stomach churned when he winked at me and I had to look away, he made me feel all kinds of uneasy, especially when he tried to be flirty.
"Charlie..." Abbey whispered softly, "what's going on? I'm scared."
I shushed her quietly and squeezed her delicate hand a little harder.
The van had been refurbished so it no longer had the usual seven seater set up. It had two vinyl padded bench seats, one at the very back that also served as a divider between the trunk and the cabin, and one that sat along the wall directly opposite the sliding door. The floor was lined with cheap threadbare carpet and the ceiling was lined with green felt that looked like it had been recycled off of a dirty old pool table. The whole interior was mismatched and looked like someone had gone to a junk store and paid less than fifteen dollars for the lot.
Abbey and I sat at the back while the two muscle heads sat opposite the door. I had never seen these two men before, one was tall, tan, chiseled, and looked as though he lived at the gym. The other was short and squat, similar tanned complexion but looked like he would rather a cheeseburger over ten reps any day. He looked kinder than the tall goon, but he kept eyeing us up. Slyly looking at us from his periphery. The other guy just stared straight ahead; I couldn't tell if he was actually watching out the window or just staring into space but either way his concentration was intense.

We drove for about fifteen minutes until we finally pulled up at our destination-a dark Victorian looking house with a lush green lawn. The driveway which we drove up was laid out in a nearly complete circle-one end for entry, the other for exit- which was set around a large section of the same manicured grass. In the centre of the lawn was a great big white marble fountain in the shape of a topless mermaid breaching up over a rock.
We rolled up to the massive red wooden doors and slowed to a halt. Chuck took the keys from the ignition and slipped out from behind the wheel. He didn't come to let us out as I expected, instead he skipped up the steps to the doors and rang the doorbell. I saw him stuff his hands in his pockets as the door opened. He was speaking to someone out of view and making gestures towards the van. A head poked out through the slightly open door and nodded. That must have been a go signal because all at once the two goons had slammed the sliding van door open and ushered us quickly out of the van and into the house where we were pushed through another doorway and down a long narrow hallway.

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We ended up being taken down to what I assumed was an underground level beneath the basement. The air felt recycled and smelled vaguely of cigar smoke. Abbey stood across from me in the holding room we were locked in. She was trembling.
I the room was tiny, maybe 12 feet on each side, one door in the corner and an air con vent in the adjacent corner on the ceiling. It wasn't functionjng though, either than or my nerves were stifling me.
We had been standing in here for what felt like hours and I could hear voices coming from outside the door.
"five and six got snapped up bro!" one mans voice was high and happy, "yeah, seven got sent back tho."
The slap of a high five then another voice spoke,
"Oooh, seven! Hope I'm on the reject room tonight" another high five and a round of giggles. A shiver ran down my spine.