Where is this?
1065 Words
It's so loud, and it stinks too. Are the neighbors fighting again? They never let anyone get any rest.
My head hurts. I must have drunk too much last night. But why is my bed so hard today?
My eyes were still shut. I reached for my phone when something slammed hard into my stomach and forced my eyes open.
"What the f**k!"
The scene in front of me froze me solid.
All around me, people were chained together and locked inside iron cages. The air was damp and rotten, mixed with the metallic stink of blood. I wanted to throw up on the spot.
That's when I noticed the dark-skinned man standing right in front of me. He was staring at me, and I instinctively shrank back.
"I thought you were dead."
My voice shook.
"L-let... let me go. You can have as much money as you want. I won't call the police, I swear..."
He didn't even listen. He just turned to another man and said,
"Andru, did you hit this girl on the head or something? She's talking nonsense now."
Andru scratched his bald head and clicked his tongue.
"Boss, relax. I swear I only gave her a light tap as a warning when she tried to run! Who knew the kid was this weak, she fell, cracked her head on the ground, and was out cold for a whole day. We thought she croaked. We were about to dump the body in Rat District, and now she just wakes up?"
Andru stepped closer and suddenly kicked the bars of the cage.
CLANG!
The sharp noise made me flinch.
He growled,
"Hey, you little brat! What the f**k is a 'police'? You're ugly, flat-chested, and now you're crazy too. Who the hell is gonna buy you?"
The people around him burst out laughing.
"She really did get her head smashed."
"I heard slaves from the North are all freaks."
I couldn't listen anymore.
Because behind them, through the gaps in the cages, I saw an old wooden sign hanging crooked.
SLAVE TRADING HOUSE.
I understood every word.
I have no idea why I could read that language.
But I knew exactly what "slave" meant.
The whole group in their strange clothes quickly walked off, no one bothering with me anymore.
The space sank back into that suffocating, damp stench.
I sat leaning against the corner of the iron cage, trying to take a deep breath to calm down.
My head was still spinning.
It's 2026, how is there still slave trading?
A thought hit me and sent a chill down my spine.
Did I end up in another world?
"Calm down. Calm down."
I muttered to myself, forcing myself to think clearly.
Andru's words replayed in my head.
He didn't know what "police" was.
That sign outside clearly said "Slave Trading House."
I could read that strange language. None of this made any sense.
I looked around.
Inside the other iron cages were all kinds of people.
Men, women, even kids who weren't even grown yet.
All of them had shackles on their ankles, huddled in filthy, torn rags.
Their faces had no life left in them, only fear and despair.
As much as I didn't want to admit it, everything pointed to one conclusion.
This isn't the world I knew. But then another problem hit me.
I touched my chest.
Wait a second... he just called me flat-chested. I looked down at my body, uneasy.
Guys don't care about that stuff.
Or...
I swallowed hard. No way, are people gay here or something?
While I was trying to sort through the mess in my head, a small voice came from beside me.
"Sister Mouse, you're finally awake."
I jerked my head around.
In the cage right next to mine was a little girl, maybe ten years old, hugging her knees in the corner.
Her blonde hair was matted with dirt, her cheeks smudged with dried mud.
When she saw me look over, she immediately lowered her head.
"I... I'm sorry."
"It's fine."
I answered without thinking.
Wait.
I stared at her.
"What did you just call me?"
The girl looked up, confused.
"Sister?"
"I've been calling you that ever since you got caught."
I froze.
"No... I mean..."
My throat was dry.
"I'm a guy."
As soon as I said it, her eyes went wide.
Then she scooted all the way back into the corner of the cage like she was looking at a crazy person.
"..."
The air turned painfully awkward.
Finally, she whispered,
"Did you hit your head too hard?"
My heart skipped a beat. I took a deep breath to steady myself. This wasn't the time to fall apart. I turned back to the girl.
I forced a laugh.
"I must have hit it really hard. I even forgot my own name, haha..."
The girl was silent, her eyes locked on me like she was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth. After a moment she mumbled,
"My name is Lily. Mouse is your name. You told me that when you were first brought in here."
I nodded, memorizing that weird name. Then I couldn't help it, I fired off questions.
"Do you know any way to get out of here? Why doesn't anyone fight back? And why were we caught to be slaves?"
The barrage made Lily flinch a little.
"Oh... sorry. If you don't know, it's fine."
I scratched my head, embarrassed.
I was already discouraged, having learned nothing except the name of this body, when Lily suddenly spoke up.
"There's only one way out."
"How?"
"Get bought by someone."
Lily lowered her head and kept going.
"No one escapes. The leader here can use magic."
"And even if you did get out by force, the city's knights would catch you again."
"Knights?"
Lily gave a small nod.
"Only people from kingdoms that lost a war get taken as slaves."
Her voice got smaller.
"Just like us. Don't try to run. If they catch you again it'll be really bad."
She hugged her knees tighter as she said it.
"Thank you."
Lily just nodded slightly, her empty eyes staring at the dirt floor.
I didn't ask anything else.
Her answer was like a bucket of ice water.
If what Lily said was true...
Then my situation is a lot worse than I thought.
- Writer
