Illuminated By The Darkness

chapter 26

Tiara:

Loud screams resonated in my ears and I sat up with a jerk. When I became aware of my surroundings I was in my room, covered in sweat, panting and my throat parched. I was feeling hot and feverish. The blood that flowed through my veins felt like fire. Instantly I reached for the glass of water beside me finishing it in big gulps. The past two nights has been hell for me. I try to sleep and then wake up in the middle of the night due to some nightmare. But what had me puzzled was that when I wake up I would either be freezing or burning, like right now. I couldn't bare it.

Turning my head, I looked at the clock. It was only two a.m. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Getting up from my bed I went straight to the balcony hoping the cold Wisconsin air would help. I stepped out and sighed as cold air wrapped around me. It was cold. I could see Eugene's guards wearing thick jackets, gloves and ear muffs. I could also see my warm breath mixing with the cold crisp air. If the guards saw me now they would think I was smoking.

Few minutes passed by and I started to feel better so I sat down on the chair beside me. Just then a beautiful white bird flew across the sky and rested on the railing opposite to me. I didn't know what kind of a bird it was as I hardly knew anything about them.

"Hey birdie! Why are you here so late? Where is your family?" I asked because I knew most birds didn't wander around after dark.

It didn't respond. Not that I was expecting it to.

"What is your story?" I asked again "You must be thinking I'm crazy. I guess I am. Do you know why? Because I'm going to tell you my story" yup I have gone crazy. What was I supposed to do? I wanted say everything in my heart out loud. I couldn't carry this burden anymore.

"Here I go birdie!" I started "My sister Amara and I knew nothing but darkness and pain. We didn't know who we were or why we were there. All we knew was that we had to stick together till the end, no matter what. We were not alone, there were a lot of other girls with us. Down there we had random names given to us, that in turn became our identity. Mavey, Stacy, Lara, Prim, Sarah, Rachel, Merlin and so on.

In the Mexican estate when a child is born, it is taken away by the officials. The girls are expected to do all the house hold work until they turn fifteen and after they are trained and sent to the prostitution houses. The boys are trained right from the beginning to serve the Mexicans and die for them. So, it is what we did for years, cleaning and washing and scrubbing the messes made at the brothels and parties. One day while supervising some activities in the club Sullivan saw us. I still remember the shocked expression on his face on seeing us."

My hands were sore scrubbing the dirty floor and the soap made it more intense, it hurt but we couldn't stop or else they would punish us. As I was cleaning I saw some consignments being delivered and monitoring the delivery was a man I have not seen before. He looked like someone of importance, an intimidating aura surrounding him. He stopped at the exit and spoke to another man, from the looks of it I knew it was not a pleasant conversation. I hated being in their sight, how their lustful eyes roamed our bodies. Getting up from the floor I decided to move away but it did not go as planned.

I took one step and slipped on the foamy floor, to balance myself I held on to a chair. That didn't help me as well, I fell down on the hard floor pulling the chair down with me with a loud thud. Earlier the man did not notice me, but now he definitely did.

I looked at the man and watched his head turn my way. His eyes widened on seeing me. He sent the other men away and without even blinking he started to walk my way. My poor heart pounding in fear.

What will he do?

Will he hurt us?

He stopped right in front of me. Drowning in fear I looked down.