Fighting My Way Out

Restrained

I could hear the voices of guests above me, milling about the first floor of the house. And while I was mostly unconscious when I arrived, I could remember what the house smelled like when I was first brought in: bread, perfume, and something musty like rotting flesh. There in the basement it was damp, moldy, and the air offended my nose. It had been that way for three days and I wasn't sure if I was going to survive that ordeal. The police always said after seventy-two hours the chance of finding a missing person dropped off a cliff. I could kick myself for not sharing the information about my birth parents with my adopted parents; I thought I was an adult and didn't need to tell my parents everything I was doing. And I didn't think I would actually meet them face-to-face, so I didn't think I needed to tell my parents and worry them unnecessarily. Instead, I opted to driving off in hopes of just getting a glimpse at them; I had no way of knowing they would take me. I had no idea they would corner me in a restaurant, drug me, and smuggle me back to their house. And I also had no indication they weren't who they said they were, having had forged documents that didn't show up when I was able to track my birth parents' names. The agency my adopted mom worked at only had the one address, but I could tell those people upstairs couldn't possibly have been my birth family. But the question I kept asking myself was why would they have wanted to hold me prisoner; to what end were they doing this?

The voices above me rang out in laughter, but I knew I couldn't call out for help. The company sounded like people "Jill" and "Allen" knew, so calling for help would have been futile if I had no allies above me. Although, I couldn't know if someone up there would help me unless I alerted them to my presence, but if they weren't willing to help I would just screw myself into a possible punishment. Thus far, the "Wrights" had left me alone in the dimly lit basement; they had merely left me handcuffed to a chain attached to the wall. I had spent the first several hours of my captivity searching in vain for something to pick the lock on the handcuff; but I knew even if I found something I might not have been able to unlock the ring around my wrist. Plus, if I managed to escape the cuff, then what? I thought perhaps I should continue to think about it.

The door to the basement opened, making me jump and scuttle back against the wall. Down the stairs descended Jill, Allen, and a new couple, they all had smiling faces. But it was the kind of smile no one would find comforting, least of all me.

"Please," I was able to croak out of my dry, sore throat.

"Hush, now," said Jill in a falsely kind voice, "can't you see we're entertainin'?"

"Is this a new specimen?" asked the new man, coming closer to inspect me.

Allen's smile grew. "Yes it is. And can you believe it, she came to us. Found us in town and we all had a bite to eat. Wasn't too hard to drug her and bring her back to the house. Says she's some daughter we gave away long ago, but I guess it was probly the people we stole them I.D.'s from a few years back."

I had tears in my eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Allen knelt down to my level, still smiling a sinister smile that made my skin crawl.

"This is how we make a livin', by gettin' people off the streets and sellin' 'em to bidders lookin' for, let's just say, help."

I didn't fully understand what that meant in that moment, but I knew the kind of help those buyers were looking for wasn't something I was interested in participating. Vomit was trying to force its way up my throat as I bit back a sob. I knew I had to get out of that house. And at that moment I didn't care how or what it might have taken.

"Now," said Allen, straightening back up, "who wants a first look?"

Allen forced me to my feet, yanking the thin, flimsy robe from my body. The hand with the handcuff held a dangling sleeve, that hand was the only part of me covered, the rest entirely exposed. After a couple days of not bathing, I was starting to stink, but that didn't put off the people looking to buy me.

The new guest woman stepped forward, coming closer to me. There was nowhere else I could go but to press closer to the cold wall at my back in poor attempt at staying as far from the woman as possible. But the woman paid no mind to that as she reached out and stroked the sides of my full breasts with interest. She seemed to find them satisfactory as she then rubbed down my body, squeezing at parts. She then wrenched my head around to look her in the face as she inspects how far I could open my jaw; she found that satisfactory as well.

"Hmm," said the woman, turning my head side to side, "she's dirty and seems to have an attitude problem. But her body is full and agile. We could clean her up and make her presentable to clients."

"Oh I wouldn't worry 'bout that attitude," said Jill. "We'll work that right outta her."

The woman raised her eyebrows in interest of that proposition.

"Where did you say she was from?" asked the man to Allen.

Allen shrugged. "Dunno, didn't ask. Don't matter, though, she's young and healthy, good for lots of things, I reckon."

I looked into the woman's eyes, pleading. I knew deep down it was useless to plea with my captors, especially ones who were interested in buying me.

"Please, let me go."

I was rewarded by a slap in the face as stars danced in my vision. It stung my skin as I tried in vain to rub away the angry tingles. Hot tears trickled down my face in pain, both physically and emotionally, and it was completely draining my will to continue that life. I was especially discouraged from continuing to live if my future involved those people and their human trafficking business.

"We'll have to train you to speak when spoken to," said the woman, wiping her hand on her skirt as if in disgust.

"Why don't you want to keep her," asked the man. "She could be useful to our enterprise finding young people to give to us to sell to the highest bidders. She would be a good lure, attractive as she is."

Allen shrugged. "We don't need no cops sniffin' at us if they track us down, since we stole her real parents' identity and all. Jill and I'll have to get new identities soon 'cause of this."

"Those people who adopted her must be lookin' for her," said Jill, looking at me with disdain. "And if they find out we stole the identities, them police are gonna be huntin' us down. Best to be gettin' rid of her and you're our best customers."

The couple nodded in agreement. Of course I didn't tell them my parents most likely weren't looking for me since I didn't tell them I was going to visit my 'birth parents', and they had no reason to suspect I would try to find them. Plus I was supposed to be away at college, not skipping out to find people I thought were my family, so they definitely didn't think anything was amiss in my life. So I was certainly not going to tell my captors this.

"So you're looking to sell quickly," said the man, looking suspicious. "Even though she's not ready to be put on the market."

Allen and Jill shared a look that told the couple they were right in their assumption, but I suspected they had been at that for quite some time and knew how to work over a customer.

"Well," said Allen, "you see, she was bred good. Them people who raised her taught her to be a proper lady, gave her a good education. She's smart and can do all kinds of things for ya. I reckon you can get a good price for her."

The man nodded, looking toward his female counterpart, but she looked unconvinced and shrugged nonchalantly still looking over my naked form. Their look told me everything I needed to know about them: they were willing to buy and it wouldn't have taken a lot of convincing.

"Why don't we take this upstairs and talk some more?" suggested Jill.

The couple nodded and they all ascended the stairs, locking the door behind them as they passed. I was once again left in the darkness and quiet solitude but in my mind I was trying my best not to panic as I wrapped the robe around me. Those people wanted to buy me for their own sinister purposes and then sell me to some bidder, and once that happened I knew I would never see freedom again. There had to be some way of escaping my bonds without alerting the people upstairs.