The Scarlet Girl

4. Light At The Other End

Once Peter left the atmosphere changed drastically. Distrust hung heavily in the air, curiosity mingled and testosterone floated as all the guys stared at her as if begging her to talk as well as wishing her to keep silent. They were all the same, their pastes all sang a similar tune but they all had different stories to tell and not all of them pleasant. It was easy to say 'Oh I was kidnapped and shipped to some person who use my body to make money', but it lacked detail and those where dangerous.

One of the guys, Craig, walked over and pulled back her sleeve. She slapped him and pulled her hand away. They all stared at her shocked. Craigs face was a mask of fury.

"What the hell!" He yelled at her and she cowered against the couch.

"Take it easy man." Mason said stepping up next to him.

"Take it easy? She just hit me!"

"Well if you would have rushed her like you did maybe she wouldn't have done that. There's nicer ways to ask to see something." Craig glared at him and he turned around and knelt down next to her.

"May I?" He asked softly holding out his hand.

She hesitated before holding out her wrist to his out stretched hand. Mason gently pushed the sleeve aside to reveal the eye tattooed there. They all gasped.

Ramses was well-known on the black market, he dealt in everything from drugs and guns to people. He pimps out the best girls he gets and sells the rest to the highest bidder. They boys that he gets through the market he either sells to some friends or whoever pays more. In the end the boys either spent years being exploited for their bodies or they ended up dead, just like the girls and women in her position. Some were use in other ways, like manual labor, some weren't. And if you were a girl and got pregnant, that was worse, forget about keeping the baby, you'd be lucky to stay alive. Sometimes, if you were lucky, they'd kicked you out onto the street, but most of the time they made you get an abortion, or killed you and get rid of your body. Ramses was known for beating his girls if something like that happened, some had died from it.

The guys knew this.

Ramses reputation had led to him being feared in most countries and if you belonged to him and wore the tattoo, you where his property. If you escaped, sooner or later you ended up at the bottom of the bay, and those who helped you met some unfortunate accident.

They all stared the mark of looming doom on her wrist, Jayme could see the fear and mistrust in their eyes, she pulled her sleeve down covering the cursed mark that seemed to burn her wrist.

"Look I can tell Peter, this wasn't a good idea, I can go somewhere else, I shouldn't have come here in the first place." She said getting up from the couch. "I'll be going. It was nice to meet you."

"Now wait a minute. Did any of us say that?" The Ethan guy said.

"You didn't have to." She said softly. "It's in your eyes."

They all looked down at their feet, they all had a right to be afraid, if anyone saw her and figured out who she "belonged" too they were all dead. Death being the kinder option. They would probably all go back to their old masters and end up dead eventually or be sold. She didn't even want to think about what would happen to herself.

"Look I get it and I don't blame you. I don't want to put you in danger anymore then you want to be there. I have spent the last five years under his control and I'll be damned if I go back or be the cause of someone else being put under his thumb." She adjusted her bag in her shoulder and made a move for the door. "Tell Peter thank you and Elsie too. Oh, and tell them not to look for me I don't want to cause them anymore trouble."