Two.
1573 Words
Aria's POV
The first thing I felt was pain.
Every single muscle in my body ached like I had been thrown from the top of a cliff and left to tumble down the rocks. My wrists burned where the ropes had cut into them earlier, my neck throbbed from the spot where the needle had pierced my skin, and my mouth tasted like bitter metal and blood.
I forced my eyes open slowly.
It was dark, but not completely. A single lantern hung from the ceiling a few feet away, giving off a weak orange glow that barely reached the dirty floor.
Cold iron bars stood just inches from my face.
I blinked hard, trying to clear my head.
Once. Twice.
My heart lurched violently.
This was a cage. They had put me in a cage like some kind of animal.
I shot upright too fast and slammed the top of my head against the low metal ceiling.
"Damn it!" I hissed, rubbing the sore spot as the loud clang echoed through the room.
Someone laughed nearby. It was not a kind laugh. It was cold and mocking.
I turned toward the sound, my eyes adjusting to the dim light.
There were more cages. Rows and rows of them lined up along the stone walls.
Women filled them. Some young like me, some older. A few sat completely still with blank, empty expressions, staring at nothing. Others curled into tight balls, weeping quietly to themselves. A couple watched me with sad, pitying eyes, as if they already understood exactly what was coming and I did not.
My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.
"No... this cannot be real."
I crawled forward on my hands and knees and grabbed the iron bars with both hands, gripping them so tight my knuckles turned white.
"Hey!" I shouted. "Is anyone there? Let me out of here!"
No one answered. Only the steady drip of water somewhere in the distance echoed back.
I rattled the bars harder, shaking them with all my strength. "Open this cage right now!"
Heavy footsteps finally approached from the shadows.
A guard stepped into the faint light. He was enormous, his face mostly hidden under a black hood. A big ring of keys jingled at his belt.
He looked at me with total boredom, like I was just another chore in his long night.
"So the little wildcat is finally awake," he said with a grunt.
"Where am I?" I demanded, my voice hoarse but strong. "What is this place? You have no right to keep me here!"
He stayed silent for a moment, just staring.
"I asked you a question," I snapped. "Answer me!"
A smirk pulled at his lips. "You will know soon enough, girl. Patience."
"I want to leave. Let me go," I said firmly. "I have a family waiting for me back home. They will be looking for me."
His laughter cut through my words like a knife. It was loud and cruel. "No, you do not."
The words hit me harder than any punch ever could. Mother... Father...
A painful lump formed in my throat. I refused to cry in front of this monster. I would not give him that satisfaction.
He stepped closer, wrapping his thick fingers around the bars near my hands. "Listen carefully to what I am telling you, because I will only say it once."
I glared at him without blinking.
"If you scream, no one is coming to help you. If you fight back too much, you will be beaten until you learn better. And if you try to escape..." His smile grew wider and meaner. "...we will break your bones one by one until you cannot even think about running again."
My fingers tightened even harder around the iron bars. "Go to hell," I spat back at him.
He chuckled low in his throat. "I like this one. She has spirit. That will make things interesting."
Without any warning, he unlocked the cage door with a loud click.
Hope surged through me like fire.
But that hope died fast when four more guards appeared from the shadows, blocking every escape route.
I did not hesitate for even a second.
The first guard barely had time to react before I slammed my forehead straight into his nose. There was a sickening crunch. He howled in pain and staggered back, clutching his face.
I ducked under another guard's swinging arm and sprinted down the dark corridor as fast as my sore legs would carry me.
Freedom was right there. I could almost taste it.
I only managed six or seven steps before someone tackled me hard from behind.
I crashed into the cold stone floor, the impact knocking every bit of air out of my lungs.
Rough hands grabbed my arms immediately. Another set seized my legs. I thrashed and fought like a wild animal caught in a trap.
"Get off me!" I screamed. "Let me go, you bastards!"
One guard cursed loudly as I sank my teeth deep into his forearm. Blood filled my mouth, warm and salty.
He punched me hard across the face. Stars exploded behind my eyes, and pain bloomed across my cheek.
Still, I refused to stop fighting. I kicked, twisted, and bit at anything I could reach.
It took six full-grown men to finally drag me down the long corridor.
Every woman in the cages watched in heavy silence. No one cheered for me. No one tried to help. They only looked away, as if they had already learned the hard way that resistance always came with a terrible price.
The guards threw me roughly into another room. This one smelled strongly of soap and heavy perfume, which felt sickening after the damp cage.
Several women dressed in plain gray uniforms waited inside. They kept their eyes down and would not look at me directly.
"Strip her," one of them ordered quietly.
"What? No!" I shouted, backing away. "Do not touch me!"
Before I could do anything, they grabbed at my torn clothes. I kicked one woman away and struggled hard.
Another slapped me sharply across the face. "You will only make this worse for yourself," she warned.
An older woman with kind but tired eyes whispered, "We are trying to help you, child. Fighting now will only bring more pain later. Please."
"I do not need your help!" I cried out. "I just want to go home!"
Within minutes, my torn and dirty clothes were gone. They inspected every scar, every bruise, every inch of my body. I felt completely exposed and wanted the stone floor to open up and swallow me whole.
One woman gently washed the dried blood from my face with a warm cloth. Another carefully brushed out my tangled hair. A third fastened a heavy silver cuff around my wrist. It clicked shut with a final sound.
I pulled at it desperately. "What is this thing? Take it off!"
"No one removes those," the older woman said softly, her voice full of sorrow. "It tracks where we go. It is part of the system here."
Cold dread settled deep in my stomach.
Then they brought out a branding iron, its tip glowing red-hot.
My eyes widened in horror. "No. Please, no!"
One of the women looked away, unable to watch. "I am so sorry," she whispered.
"No! Do not do this!" I struggled violently, but the guards pinned me down hard against a wooden table.
The hot iron pressed firmly against the soft skin on the inside of my wrist.
The smell of burning flesh filled the room.
Pain exploded through my entire body like fire.
My scream tore out of me and echoed through the chamber.
By the time they finally released me, a fresh mark had been burned into my skin.
XXXVII.
Thirty-seven.
"What does this number mean?" I whispered, cradling my throbbing wrist as tears stung my eyes.
The older woman answered with fresh tears shining on her own cheeks. "It means you are no longer a person to them. You are just inventory now. Property to be bought and sold."
Something deep inside me shattered into pieces.
A few hours later, they marched all of us women through a confusing maze of underground tunnels. The deeper we went, the louder the sounds became. Music played. People laughed. Expensive glasses clinked together.
We stopped behind a pair of enormous black curtains.
A young girl standing beside me could not have been older than sixteen. She trembled so badly that her knees knocked together.
"They are going to sell us," she whispered, her voice shaking. "Like animals at a market."
I stared at her, my heart pounding. "What did you say?"
"They always do this," she continued, wiping at the tears running down her face. "They will parade us out one by one in front of the crowd. The prettier you look... the higher the price they can get for you."
My blood ran ice cold.
"No..."
A loud bell rang out.
The curtains slowly began to part.
Blinding lights flooded in from the hall beyond.
A man's deep, booming voice echoed through the space. "Ladies and gentlemen... welcome to the Crimson Market."
The women around me started to cry softly.
I lifted my chin high instead, clenching my jaw.
If these monsters expected me to bow my head and break easily...
They were about to be very disappointed.
- Writer
