Being sold is just the beginning.
The best thing that ever happened to me was getting drugged in a nightclub and waking up in the possession of a man twice my age, a man who tells me he is going to train me and then sell me to the highest bidder.
What he doesnāt know is that Iām safer in his cage than I am on the streets.
Heās not the worst man in my life.
Heās not even the most dangerous.
He will awaken my desires.
He will mold me into his perfect toy.
He will make me marketable to the rich and twisted.
Then he will sell me,
And Iāll be free.
Itās the perfect plan, as long as I donāt make the one mistake that will ruin everythingā¦
Falling in love.
Stavros
Sheās all limbs, long legs exposed under the insufficient length of what passes for a skirt, curled up against the cold truth of the world. Her face is hidden beneath a curtain of hair which wonāt protect her from anything down here.
I saw her lift her head and look around as I was coming down the stairs, but sheās decided itās better to pretend to not be awake now that Iām standing over her, a man she doesnāt know, and has no reason to trust.
She is lit by a single bare bulb hanging above her head. It casts shadows all around her helpless frame. Those dark depths hold horrors she canāt begin to imagine. This place of captivity will become her world over the next hours and days. Soon, sheāll forget that there is anything outside these walls. She wonāt know anyone or anything besides me.
Her helplessness makes me throb with need. She is nineteen years old, almost too old for what I have planned for her, but I think we can make it work.
āSit up,ā I say, crouching down next to her prone form. It puts my face, my hands, my body closer to her, gives me more control and more presence.
She doesnāt move, but I can see her breath quicken in the flaring of her nostrils and the pulse visible at the base of her pale neck. Naughty girl, refusing an order. Sheāll soon learn not to do that.
Sheās going to learn to obey.
Sheās going to become so conditioned to obedience that anything else is literally unthinkable.
That will come in time. Today she will be scared and perhaps even defiant.
I love these first precious hours with a new girl. This is the time in which I learn precisely where her soft spots are, and she discovers that the world is not what she thought it was.
I reach down, let my fingers run through her hair. It is smooth and silky, with just a little grip from the product she used to make it sit so sleekly around her face. My caress brings a whimper to her lips, then a gasp as I tighten my fingers, grabbing her hair down by the roots. I lift her head up. Her upper body follows. As I tilt her head back, she canāt help but look at me with pretty, innocent blue eyes.
She is trembling in my grasp, portraying the kind of fear entirely appropriate for a situation such as this. But that is the word that sticks in my mind. Portraying. I have been there when a hundred different girls have found themselves in this situation, I have seen a hundred frightened expressions and felt the tremors of their terror. There is something superficial about this one. She is afraid, but not as deeply as she should be. I wonder if the drugs are yet to fully wear off.
āHelp me,ā she whispers as I lift a bottle to her lips.
āI am helping you,ā I say, dribbling a little of my sedative-laced water between her lips. She swallows automatically. Good girl.
āI need to call my family.ā
āSshhh,ā I say, gentling her with a brief brush of my hand against her temple. āYouāre alright.ā
Sheās not alright. She wonāt be, either. With one rash decision, sheās fallen off the radar of safe society, and into the pit which surrounds it on all sides. Most people arenāt even aware how limited their safety is. They have no idea how brutal the chaos which surrounds them on all sides truly can be. This girl is about to find out, and thereās something beautiful in that.
Even if it means death, to have seen the true face of this world we call home just once, is real freedom. So, then, though she is locked away in this basement which is so distant from everything she knows, in some way, I am setting her free.
This girl is young, beautiful, and apparently, impulsive. Sheās been taught that she is a person, but down here, in my basement, she is just raw material. We look into one anotherās eyes for a long moment. She is trying to understand me, trying to work out if I am a hero who has saved her, or something else. Unfortunately for her, it is the latter.
āPleaseā¦ā she has a tremor in her voice now. Reality is starting to sink in and sheās starting to get scared. She should be. Nothing good comes of finding yourself down here. This is the place hope comes to die.
āWhatās your name?ā
āSiri.ā
I pause. āYouāre named after the app?ā
āI was born before the app,ā she says, somewhat indignantly. In that moment she forgets her surroundings. Sheās pulled back to her original self, and I get a glimpse of the girl who she was before she came down here. Thereās something proud about her, something elegant, almost regal. This is a girl who comes from power.
Interesting.
āWho are your parents, Siri?ā
She presses her lips together, and I know sheās not going to tell me.
āTheyāre dead.ā
āAre they?ā
She gives a quick little nod, tugging her hair against my fingers.
Iām not sure I believe her.
āMy father killed my mother when I was four.ā
She says it bluntly, matter of factly. Itās not an appeal to my emotion, itās just information - and it has the ring of truth about it.
āAnd your father?ā
āDied in prison.ā
āTragic,ā I murmur.
āLike you give a fuck,ā she shoots back, sudden fire emerging from her fragile frame.
āI donāt give a fuck,ā I admit. No point pretending that this will be a meeting of emotional beings. I want to know who her parents are, because I want to know what level of heat having her is going to bring down on me. By the sounds of it, sheās a perfect candidate for my little program, an orphan with nobody to notice that sheās missing.
Everything about this girl is superficially made to order. Her personal situation, her appearance, her very bearing. I can feel the aristocracy in her veins. She is European and finely bred with it. She speaks with a hint of an American accent, indicating sheās spent some time in the United States, but she was picked up in Athens, so sheās either on vacation, or sheās returned home.
āYou have a boyfriend?ā
She presses her lips together again. Oh she has a neat little tell when she doesnāt want to talk.
āYeah,ā she says. āHeās a marine. Heās going to come here and kick your ass.ā
āIs that right? Where was he when you were being plied with drinks in the bar?ā
Her eyes flash. She doesnāt know that I know absolutely everything about how she was picked up. Nothing was left to chance. I saw a video of her lithe little ass swaying to the music before my man lured her in. She was very much alone, and very much on the prowl.
āYouāre going to want to tell me the truth,ā I purr softly, pulling her closer to me. āIf I find that youāve lied to me, youāll be punished. Harshly.ā
Her eyes flash defiance before she gives in. āFine. I donāt have a boyfriend at the moment.ā
āYouāll never have a boyfriend again, little one. Youāll have an owner.ā
Siri rolls her eyes.
I let out a short laugh, surprised by her reaction. Usually that revelation brings hysterics, but she acts like I just told her to clean her room.
āYou do understand what is happening to you, donāt you?ā
āIād have to be an idiot not to,ā she says, fresh attitude surfacing. This one is going to test me. I am going to be taking my palm to her ass frequently, I can already tell that much.
I turn my attention away from her attitude and toward her appearance. Sheās very pleasing to the eye. I like her hair. Itās long, but weāll grow it out even longer. Men like long hair on their toys. Her eyes are a very nice shade of blue. I imagine theyāll shine in the sun, if she ever sees light again.
āWhat do you think is happening?ā
āYouāre probably going to kill me or something.ā
Again, she speaks as if it doesnāt matter, as if my killing her would be a minor inconvenience. I wonder if sheās more damaged than she looks. A violent father, a deceased motherā¦ major losses at a young age leave their marks on people. I should know better than anyone. She may be broken.
āIām not going to kill you, Siri.ā
She shrugs, as if it doesnāt really matter one way or another.
āWhat do you last remember?ā
āBeing in a club,ā she says. āA guy bought me a drinkā¦ā
āNever take drinks from strangers,ā I chide gently. āThey rarely have good intentions.ā
āI know,ā she says, looking at me with those strangely calm eyes. āThatās why I drank it.ā
Jesus.
Siri
He is handsome, but it is the kind of handsome which is just a veneer for evil. His face is generic in an attractive way. Dark hair, dark eyes, smooth voice. His bone structure is square and well balanced. The worst things come in the most attractive packages in my experience, and he is no exception.
āWhatās your name?ā
My survival depends on understanding this man. As much as he is trying to work me out, Iām trying to do the same - except I canāt let that show.
āYou can call me Stavros.ā
I nod.
He is a bad man. He has fucked up intentions. But he hasnāt hurt me, not yet, anyway. Thatās good. I was bracing for pain. I thought he might be a sadist. I know heās a sicko.
āSo, why do you have me, Stavros?ā I ask a question I already know the answer to.
āThis is what I do,ā he says, brushing another strand of hair away from my eyes. āI collect fine women, and I train them for service. When you are ready, you will be the pleasure toy of one of the richest men in the world.ā
His words sound somehow far away, but I think itās because Iām not breathing. I canāt believe he just said all of that, and so calmly too. Iām doing my best to stay collected in front of him. I have to toe a fine line. If Iām too calm, heāll know something is up with me. If I give into my fear, then Iāll be useless to myself.
Iām already fucking this up. When I said the thing about drinking that laced drink, his head shot back like Iād socked him right on the nose. I canāt give into my nihilistic tendencies right now. I have to pretend Iām someone this would matter to.
āBut, I have to go back to school. I have two more yearsā¦ I haveā¦ā
āNothing to worry about except me,ā he interjects.
I like the way he speaks. His voice is low and calming. He doesnāt have the hectic energy of a madman, even if he is one. Itās helping keep me together, even as my world falls apart.
āAre you going to hurt me?ā
āThere is no benefit in hurting you,ā he says. āAnd thereās certainly no point in traumatizing you. Nobody wants their toy to come to them broken.ā
āToys only get broken once theyāre opened.ā
His eyes light up with something like mirth. āExactly,ā he says without any kind of remorse or concern.
I swallow. Thereās no point trying to appeal to his better side. I donāt think he has one. And thereās definitely no point in trying to make him feel sorry for me. He doesnāt care. My mind is racing. What do you say? What do you do? There are no scripts for moments like these. He said he was going to sell me.
āHow much am I worth?ā
His brow rises. āWhy?
āIām curious. I study economics. How much am I worth?ā
āDepends,ā he says, running his gaze up and down me with the critical eye of a marketer. āAre you a virgin?ā
āNo.ā
āLess, then.ā
I suppose I shouldnāt be surprised to discover that people who sell women are misogynistic.
āAlthough, we could get you hymen surgery and sell you as virginal, you look innocent enough,ā he comments thoughtfully.
Everything he says is terrible, but he delivers it in such a way that it sounds nearly pedestrian.
āI mean, ROI, am I right?ā I agree blandly.
Itās his turn to look shocked.
āYou do understand that I am serious, Siri. You will be trained and sold.ā
āRight. Yes.ā
āYour life as you know it is over.ā
āYes.ā
He shakes his head at me. āThis is usually the part where the begging and the crying starts.ā
āDoes it work?ā
āNo.ā
āWell, I might skip that part, then.ā
It's just as well Loki Renard became an author because other career paths proved disastrous. She was once thrown out of someone's house for trying to sell them citrus based cleaning product, and her brief brush with corporate life ended when she wrote profiles for her fellow employees likening them to various feral animals then attempted to negotiate the idea of not coming into the office and getting paid anyway. Perhaps if she'd had the dedication to slug herself in the face a la Fight Club, things might have turned out differently.
Being sold is just the beginning.
The best thing that ever happened to me was getting drugged in a nightclub and waking up in the possession of a man twice my age, a man who tells me he is going to train me and then sell me to the highest bidder.
What he doesnāt know is that Iām safer in his cage than I am on the streets.
Heās not the worst man in my life.
Heās not even the most dangerous.
He will awaken my desires.
He will mold me into his perfect toy.
He will make me marketable to the rich and twisted.
Then he will sell me,
And Iāll be free.
Itās the perfect plan, as long as I donāt make the one mistake that will ruin everythingā¦
Falling in love.
It's just as well Loki Renard became an author because other career paths proved disastrous. She was once thrown out of someone's house for trying to sell them citrus based cleaning product, and her brief brush with corporate life ended when she wrote profiles for her fellow employees likening them to various feral animals then attempted to negotiate the idea of not coming into the office and getting paid anyway. Perhaps if she'd had the dedication to slug herself in the face a la Fight Club, things might have turned out differently.
Comments
Post a Comment