The Ring of Fire & Serpents

Chapter Sixteen- Opportunity to Escape

SOPHIA

Startled by a loud bang, I quickly open my eyes; my heart is pounding out of my chest. My attention is drawn to the light overhead as it begins to flicker. I reach up to rub my eyes before jolting from the sensation of a warm hand on my shoulder. Immediately, I pull away in response, turning my head in that direction. The young girl that I spoke with earlier pulls her hand back, her eyes wide, body trembling, “Are you okay?” She whispers.

Feeling relief as I glance down at my feet to find that I’m not restrained to the table, but my relief is short-lived once I discover that I am now on the other side of the bars along with her. I slowly pull myself up to a seated position. My head is pounding, so I reach up and rub my right temple, “I Ummm…I don’t know yet.” My voice is raspy. I feel as though I have swallowed cotton; my mouth is so dry.

She turns and crawls over to the corner of the cage to grab a water bottle and returns, reaching out to hand it to me, “You need to drink something.” She instructs.

I twist the cap and chug the water down until it is empty. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, “Thanks. What is your name?” I ask.

“Michelle.” She answers.

“I’m Sophia,” I respond.

She smirks, “I know who you are… I heard you when you were talking to Butch.”

I reach up to gently rub my eyes again, “What the hell is going on, Michelle? Why are they holding us down here like animals?” I ask.

“Well, we are being held here until we are sold.” She responds; her voice cracks, so she clears her throat.

I grimace and hold my side as a sharp pain shoots down my rib cage, “What do you mean sold? Sold to who?”

Tears stream down her cheeks as she looks at me, “Sold to the highest bidder. We are being trafficked.” She responds.

I hang my head as I can’t bear to look at her. The pain in her eyes is too surreal. My stomach flips as I realize my fate, “My mother unknowingly works for the man who kidn*pped me and plans to sell me to the highest bidder.” I mumble quietly in disbelief.

She reaches up and wipes the tears from her cheeks, “At least Frank will put you to sleep before he does the unthinkable to you. Butch is the devil in the flesh. He shows no mercy. The more you fight, the more he enjoys it.”

I curl my lip in disgust, “That’s sick!” Nausea sweeps over me at that moment, and I reach down and place my hand over my stomach.

She scoots closer towards me, “It’s best if you don’t know. Pray that Butch doesn’t get ahold of you. I can promise you that you will not be the same afterward.”

Tears begin to well in my eyes, “But...I…I am a virgin. How could this happen? Did he…?”

Her eyes grow wide; she swallows hard and reaches out to pat my shoulder, attempting to comfort me. She doesn’t respond. Maybe it’s for the best that she doesn’t. I don’t even think I want to know, “Why did they have me strapped down on that table? What are they looking for?” I ask curiously.

Without making eye contact with me, she removes her hand from my shoulder, nodding her head, "A doctor examines us and runs tests, I guess.” She whispers.

“A real doctor?” I ask curiously.

She rolls her eyes and belts out nervous laughter, “Yeah! I know the doctor; it’s my mom’s gynecologist.”

I curl my lip in disgust, “Eww…This is just evil!”

She shakes her head, “Girl, it goes deeper than you can imagine. They have cops, doctors, teachers, politicians, and royalty all in on it. It’s like a whole network of them all over the world. It’s just a matter of time before we are sold to the highest bidder. This is what they do. We aren’t the first, and we definitely won’t be the last."

I pull away in disbelief, "How do you know all of this?”

Suddenly, we are startled by the sound of a door slamming in the distance. The two of us crawl to the back of the cage and hunker down as the sound of footsteps echo down the hall. Trembling in fear, I cover my eyes as they draw closer, “Come on Michelle, time to go! You are bought and paid for.”

I open my eyes to find two familiar faces standing on the other side of the bars. It’s Clayton and Wyatt from the party, “Wyatt?! Clayton?!” I belt out.

Clayton kicks the cage forcefully, “Shut up! We aren’t here for you!”

I jump back, shielding Michelle as she is in a fetal position sobbing uncontrollably. Wyatt looks down at me with tears welling in his eyes, “Wyatt…why?” I ask; my voice is raspy.

He shakes his head, “I’m so sorry, Sophia. I didn’t want to….”

Clayton shoves Wyatt back against the wall, “Wyatt, don’t talk to them! You know we have a job to do!”

Wyatt looks down at me apologetically and shakes his head. My eyes wet with tears as Clayton works to unlock the door. After jiggling the lock a few times, he kicks the door open and steps inside, “No, Clayton! Get out of here!” I yell as I continue to shield Michelle from him.

He rushes over to me and grabs my hair, and pulls me off her. I cry out in pain as he nearly rips my scalp clean off my head, “Out of the way!” he growls.

I take the heel of my foot and begin kicking him as hard as I can, aiming for his jewels. He loses his balance briefly as he jumps back to avoid my kicks but quickly regains his bearings before reaching down to grab my ankle forcefully, “Do you have a death wish!?” he belts out with a sly grin.

I begin to thrash my legs and arms around wildly to attempt to break free of his grasp. I heard a growl, and then with a flash of pain, I was on my back, bewildered. He stood above me, panting, his hand still curled in a fist; he glares at me. I reach my hands up, hoping to shield him from throwing another punch. Instead, he pulls his leg back and begins kicking my side, knocking the wind from me, and I’m thrown into the side of the cage from the impact of his kicks. He quickly stands, mumbling curse words at me as he moves towards Michelle. I’m so weak I can barely move; I lay on my back, grimacing from the sharp pain of his kicks to my side and the punch he threw, “No, Clayton! Leave her alone!” I cry out.

He ignores my pleas and grabs Michelle by her hair, and drags her out of the cage. Wyatt watches in horror as Clayton drags Michelle across the dirty concrete floor, “Why do you have to be so rough? They go through enough, man!” He cries.

Clayton stops and glares at him. His fingers laced around Michelle’s hair, “What?! Would you rather this be us? Just grab the keys out of my pocket and lock the other one up! I’ll take care of the dirty work since you can't handle it!”

Wyatt reluctantly grabs the keys from Clayton’s pocket and walks towards the cage while Clayton proceeds to drag Michelle across the room. Her cries are deafening as she thrashes her hands wildly around, attempting to grab him as he pulls her out of the room. Wyatt stalks towards me, stopping at the door. I turn my head to look up at him with tears streaming down my cheeks. His eyes bore a hole through me; he shuts the door and places the key in his pocket without turning the lock. He lowers his gaze to avoid eye contact with me; shaking his head as he wraps his fingers around the bars, “I can’t do this anymore…I can’t be a part of this. It’s not just me I need to be thinking about now. The first chance you get, you run. Run as fast as you can, and don’t look back!” He yells out before turning around and darting out of the room.

I pull myself up on my side, grimacing in pain from the ass-kicking of my life; I realize that Wyatt has just given me a gift, the opportunity to escape!