Highest Bidder

My head slammed against the trunk of the vehicle as I tried to push myself into a sitting position, pain shooting from the front of my head to the back of my neck. As I laid still and tried to recover from my injury, I felt the warm trickle of blood as it ran down my temple. I did my best to ignore the discomfort that it brought upon me, and instead, focused once more on freeing myself from the bounds that kept me immobile. The soapy taste of the cloth that they had used to gag me continued to burn my mouth, but by now, it was something that I had managed to push to the back of my mind. After all, coupled with the dusty smell of the bag that they had shoved over my head, I was in complete and utter hell. I had watched countless videos that portrayed what you were supposed to do in situations like these – kick out the taillight of the vehicle, wave your arms, do anything that could draw attention to what was happening. But in practice, when your legs and hands were bound to one another like a stuffed turkey, all that I could do, was try to wiggle free. And up until now, that was proving to be much harder than any of those videos had portrayed. Or perhaps I hadn’t been paying as much attention as I should have. The vehicle came to a rather abrupt stop, causing me to roll into the back of the trunk once more. Pain shot through my shoulder from the impact, and I couldn’t keep the grunt of pain that escaped from my mouth – muffled, just like everything else, by the gag. I waited for the vehicle to start moving again, but it didn’t. Unlike before, it didn’t take off with wheels spinning. This time, something much worse happened… It switched off. Up until then, I had somehow managed to keep my composure, to process what was happening to me without losing my mind. But now that I was hearing the doors opening – all four of them, slammed shut soon after – I knew that wherever they had been intending on taking me, this was it. We had arrived, and there would be no way for anyone to save me now – unless some kind of miracle happened. The trunk opened – I knew this because of two reasons. For starters, it wasn’t as dark around me as it had been for the duration of the trip. Secondly, there had been a very tell-tale click of the central locking. And in that moment, I felt what I believed to be true fear. It was unlike anything that I had ever experienced, my heart beating at a mile a minute, losing feeling in my arms and legs. If they told me to sit upright now, I doubted that I would possess the strength to do so. I should have known that they had no intention of speaking, for I was not asked to sit upright – I was pulled into such a position by a firm hand that wrapped around my upper arm. A bitter taste pushed up my throat, and I found myself holding back bile. I could probably be pulled out of this car with little to no effort at all, regardless of my efforts. “How’re we going to do this?” It was the first time that I had heard anyone speak, and the tone of the male’s voice, scared me even more. It reminded me of the reality of what was happening, of everything that it meant and that it could lead to. But it seemed like they were also starting to conclude that there was a lot more to what they had done than merely kidnapping a girl off the side of the street. “I don’t care. We’re already running late – we’re never going to hear the end of it.” Before I had even been given the chance to process the implication of the second man’s words – the man who seemed to be in charge and calling the hots – I was pulled out of the trunk just as roughly as I had been thrown into it. I was gifted with another knock against the car, and this time around, I was certain of the fact that there was something that had cut into the skin on my forearms – I couldn’t see, and I didn’t think that I wanted to see, either. I was placed on my feet, the fact that I was able to support my body weight proving to be quite the shock. But I was glad that there were no visible signs of my terror, of my fear. And I would be damned if I allowed them to see it at all. I needed to be brave about all of this, or else, I was going to turn into a bag of pulp. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting to happen next, but I certainly didn’t expect the knock in the back of my knees, forcing me to the ground. It gave me a horrid flashback to the very moment that they had managed to grab me, and the feeling in my chest intensified. I was certain that I would need trauma counselling when all of this was over, but there was no point in thinking about all of that right now. The bag that was covering my head was ripped off, and I forced myself to close my eyes. Instinct told me that if I opened my eyes and I saw their faces, then I would never see the light of day again. And I still had a reason to live. “Do you think she’s pretty enough?” “It doesn’t matter. They told us to find a girl, and we found one.” I was pulled to my feet again, shoved into the body of someone else. A fearful chill spread through my body, but before I could think much of it, I was forced to start moving, dragged along by my upper arm, and practically tripping over my own feet. Wherever they were taking me, and whoever they were taking me to, they were in a rush to do it. The thought that there was yet another person involved in all of this was somewhat startling, but at this point, I should start expecting anything. For all I knew, they were going to chop me up and sell my meat. I’ve heard that there is quite a market for such delicacies. I continued to keep my eyes closed, determined to make sure that there was nothing that I could have done to secure my fate here – but it seemed like this infuriated the person who was dragging me along, because he was quite quick to comment on it. “I would suggest you open your eyes, because if you fall down the stairs, I’m not going to try and catch you.” As if speaking about it somehow made it happen, I found myself falling over my own feet, my eyes flying open in an instant. Despite his words, his warning of his lack of assistance, he did not let me fall, his hand remaining firmly wrapped around my upper arm. Even though it was something that should have put me at ease, it did not. On the contrary, it made me feel worse. If he was this strong, would I have any hopes of getting away from them? I was slowly starting to lose hope. Even though my eyes were now open, I made sure that I did not do anything that would have compromised my safety. I didn’t look at his face, or his attire, or that of anyone who was with us – and there were three other men walking with us, and I believed them to be the same three men who had aided in my kidnapping. Since the beginning, I hadn’t stood a chance. Someone’s phone rang, the shrill ring cutting through the air and practically making me jump out of my skin. Just when I thought I might be able to call out and alert someone to what was going on, I was reminded of the gag in my mouth. Even if I tried to say something, I wouldn’t be very successful. They had ensured that all avenues were covered. “It’s my wife.” Wife. The thought that these men had could possibly have wives and families of their own made bile rise up in my throat once more. I wished that I hadn’t eaten that turkey bacon sandwich on my way back from my lecture, but it was too late for me to have regrets. After all, where was it going to get me? “I believe that is our cue to hurry up. If she’s looking for you, that means they’re waiting for us.” And just like that, I was able to determine why she was his wife. If she was involved in this as well, then it meant that she was just as bad of a person as they were. I struggled to understand what it was that was happening, but I did know that they had no right to be doing this. We came to a door, and before I even had the chance to try and figure out what kind of door it was, it opened. There was a new sense of urgency amongst my captors – it was like they wanted to get me somewhere and they wanted to do it fast. And, unfortunately, the arm that was leading me down the staircase, was making it incredibly difficult for me to do anything other than to match his pace. If I did not, then I was going to find myself falling down this staircase. I knew that there were things that I should have been doing. I had watched a television show where they had explained that it was important to count the stairs, to look at as much as you could in order to describe what happened to you to the police. But I couldn’t do that. I knew that it was what I should be doing but did not mean that carrying it out was something that I could do. For goodness sake, I could barely even remember how they had kidnapped me. How was I supposed to remember anything else? It seemed like the stairs carried on for an eternity, and I did not need to be a genius to know that we were going to the bottom floor. There was a feeling in my gut that I just couldn’t seem to shake, a churning feeling in my stomach that kept me from doing anything other than go down the stairs. Perhaps I should have paid attention to how any stairs there were. Then I would know how many flights I would need to climb in order to get to the exit. You won’t need to use the exit. I did not know why I was being so pessimistic. I knew that there were people who reacted quite badly when things like this happened, and that was completely normal and acceptable. But I just couldn’t. I couldn’t freak out and scream for help. Not when I knew that it would take weeks before anyone even noticed that I was missing, that I wasn’t just another student who was skipping her classes. The only people who would be suspicious would be my parents, and they would only start to worry when I didn’t come home at the end of the month – and that was still three weeks away. If I wanted to survive these three weeks, then I needed to make sure that I kept my composure and that I didn’t show my fear. We came to a door, and this time, I looked up, making sure that I would be able to recognise where I was when I managed to get out of here. After all, if I was only running further into this place instead of running away from it, I needed to know. But even so, all that I saw was a sleek metal door, almost like an elevator. And it was only when I noticed the man pressing a button beside the door, that I realised it was an elevator. It was somewhat surprising to me, if I had to be completely honest with myself, but I assumed that this was an industrial elevator. It would explain why it was a lot less sophisticated than an ordinary elevator – and why it was so large. I could only begin to imagine how many girls they could shove in here – and shove, was exactly what they did to me when the door opened. It was the first time that they had let go of me, and I had nowhere to go. I had three solid walls surrounding me, and I could do nothing to get myself away from there. I took a deep breath and made sure that my footing was even, that there was nothing that could happen to me here, that wouldn’t be because of the men that were with me. “Is anyone going to get her to change?” “There’s no time for that. She’s going as is.” My heart started to thump against my ribcage, their words echoing through my mind. Where was I going? What were they going to do to me? It was not the first time that I had had these particular thoughts, but it was the first time that I hadn’t been able to keep my emotions at bay. Tears started to well in my eyes, and I could do nothing more than try to blink them away. I had no interest in being turned into a laughing stock amongst these men, and I had no doubt that that was what was going to happen the moment that they noticed that I was crying. “I don’t think that’s going to sit well with the bidders, but that is none of my concern.” Bidders? Was I understanding what they were saying, or was all of the brain fog that I had been dealing with lately, finally starting to catch up to me? Anything was possible at this point. “Remember, the agreement is that everyone walks away with a girl. Whether they like it or not, someone is going to have to bid on her.” It was at that moment that I decided to look up, that I decided to break my silence. After all, if they were going to openly discuss what was going to happen to me, then I had the right to ask some questions. “You’re going to do what with me?” All of them turned to look at me, the surprise evident on their features. It was clear to me that they had all expected nothing more than for me to keep my mouth shut and to go along with what was happening to me. And to be fair, it was what I had been doing this whole time, but now, I was done. Now that I knew what they planned to do, I planned to give them hell for it. “We’re going to sell you. To the highest bidder. And they’ll do whatever they want with you.” A wave of dizziness crashed into me, wrapping around my mind like a blanket, and I was forced to steady myself against the wall. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard, although, it was nothing different from what they had been saying this whole time. Some pieces of the puzzle finally started to piece together, and I realised that I was in grave trouble. I needed to get out of here, and I needed to make sure that it happened fast… Because once I was sold, it would be too late.