Hope (boyxboy)

1) Captivation

My eyes shot open. I gasped for air as I started coughing furiously. My lungs felt heavy and throat felt dry.

"He woke up." someone next to me said. It was a girl's voice. But an unfamiliar one. An unfamiliar face came in to my view and she smiled caressing my hair. I wanted to shake her off because I didn't even know who she was.

But I felt like I was stuck on place.

It took me some time to move and sit on the bed. That's when I found out I was in a dark room along with a few more new faces. I opened my mouth to talk but no words left. My voice wasn't there.

The girl handed me over a water bottle and I chugged it in. I felt some like some foreign substances were there in my body. My lower abdomen hurt like hell.

The girl sat in front of me with a low gaze.

"I am sure you have a lot of questions." she said moving her lips in a weird angle. Her lip was busted and swollen. "Don't look at me like that silly." she joked.

I shrugged motioning her to continue.

"I guess we both faced the same accident." she said. My mind clicked as I remembered everything which happened. My mind went blank. I couldn't contemplate on what to think of or how to react about everything.

"When I gained conscious I was here too. They are going to sell us." she said swaying her hand at everyone in the room.

I tilted my head not knowing what she meant by that.

Sigh, "It's black market. They've arranged fake death certificates for us and payed the paramedics and bought us. They are going to auction or sell us to men with higher prizes." she explained.

My mouth hung open. I thought those kind of things happened in movies and story books.

"It feels weird right? But that's what the stupid bulky man said." she said with another sigh.

Just then, the only door to the dark room opened. And two men came in. One was a bulky man which I assumed maybe the one the girl told me about. The other was a doctor.

The doctor went to each and every guy and girl checking them and muttering things. At the end they both stopped at me.

"He was the critical one." the bulky guy said to the doctor. I tilted my head not knowing if they were talking about me.

The doctor knelt in front of me casually keeping his hand on my chest, then stomach. I looked at him eagerly not knowing what to do. Then he took his stethoscope and kept them here and there asking me to breath.

He then nervously looked at the bulky guy.

"His lungs are not stable. He might need treatments as soon as possible." he whispered but I could clearly hear him.

"It's fine. His outer appearance is what matters. It won't be our business if he dies."

I was taken aback. They left the room and the girl kept on looking at me with a sad gaze. I signed with my hand tracing my fingers on my neck and pretend to close my eyes with my tongue stuck out.

"You won't die silly." she said with a half smile. I smiled back.

"I am Mariyam by the way. I assume you are Lukas." she said giving her hand to me. I furrowed my eyebrows then nodded.

She got the point. I wanted to know how she knew my name.

"I saw your death certificate." she said. It was silent for a few seconds before we both broke in to a fit of laughter.

Two days went on just like that. I did have breathing difficulties. But the assholes out there didn't even spare another glance at me. I could muffle out one word or two but my throat hurt and it was hard to speak. Mariyam was okay with whatever. She was kind.

Then after two days two new men came in. They told us to form in to two groups and follow them out. There were fourteen in total.

We went to a larger room which had a separate washroom. They instructed us to get cleaned inside and wear the new clothes they gave us.

I went in 3rd and cleaned myself within ten minutes. It was a wash I needed since I stunk. Well, not that much, but I was sweating all these days.

They provided us with full black clothes, tight pants and shirts for everyone.

I wore my onw which looked really inconvenient but since there weren't any clothes other than that we had to wear them.

Then they gave each of us a number and my one was: 256. It made me wonder why I got a three digit number. And Mariyam's one was: 127.

Then we were led in to some defenders and we went to who knows where.

"What do you think will happen?" Mariyam asked and I shrugged. She and I were both scared at that moment. Because the situation was weird.

After around two hours we arrived at some place which reeked of illegality.

There were hundreds of guys and girls around my age... chained in corners.

Mariyam and I got separated since we had different numbers. We were in a line with quite a lot of new people.

I stood there for a while until the bulky man from before dragged me to a corner. He cuffed my hands and I internally screamed. Since I didn't have my voice all I could do was slap away his hand and struggle.

He didn't have a good temper. He punched me on face which felt like I got hit by a truck.

Then he put a dark collar on my neck and another chain on my leg which was really heavy.

"At least now you will obey and won't move." he spat pushing me to the line again.

No one threw pitiful gazes because it was the same for every single person. Everyone was cuffed and tied.

Unshed tears started shedding because fear crept in to my body. Even the time I met with the airplane crash or the time I realized my parents were dead I didn't feel that much of a fear.

But being chained and cuffed with a collar made me imagine what could happen to me in future.

Some guy with a rough voice called the first hundred of chained people. They went in a line some trying to run a way and some following the rules. They hit the ones who fought against.

The person in front of me sighed. Then he turned to me.

"Are you new here?" he asked.

I nodded moving my lips and saying, 'I can't quite talk'.

He too nodded in understanding. 

"Let me tell you. They take you to a stage and display you like an item. The hall is filled with perverts they will bid for you. For many purposes who knows. They might request to see your body as in naked sometimes. If you put on a fight they will reject you. It happened to me. And the people here beat me to a pulp that's how I have all these injuries." he blabbered showing his horrible wounds.

"It's better to get out of here. Because the more no one choses you the more physical pain you'll have to face. I am not sure anyone will bid for me with these wounds."

I lowered my head not knowing how to reply.

I bent down and drew some words with my index finger.

'Why do they buy us?'

"To work to them. Maybe to rape."

I gasped. And my eyes widened.

"Look at that guy." he pointed at a guy very behind us. "He's a used one. He was bought by someone in the last bid and they put him here again. Look at his broken figure."

That guy had his eyes hung low, wounds scattered around his face and arms, he looked tired and sleepless. I bit my lower lip trying not to cry.

The next hundred was called. Mariyam waved his hand at me. She had a smile but it didn't show any happiness.

"Your friend?" the guy in front of me asked. I nodded.

"I am Chris. You?"

This time I used my feet and drew on the dirty floor. L U K A S

"Nice name."

I leant on the wall wishing for maybe not the worse. I wished the best for Mariyam, Chris and for me... not only for me especially for that guy. I looked over again at that broken looking guy.

His gaze met with mine. I softly smiled and he nodded.

The next hundred was called. I was in the line and it was my turn.

We walked in slow pace along the line. There was a large door open and no one was guarding there.

I poked at Chris's side pointing at the door. He looked at me as if I was crazy denying my plan.

I rolled my eyes. He got the point. Since we were near the stage the people won't beat us even if they caught us. Because they want out best display for the rich bustards.

Trying won't hurt us right?

We held our hands and waited.

"It won't be easy with the chain okay?" he asked. I nodded. The chain which was attached to our legs had a weight at the end, to slow our run.

The possibility of us escaping this hell was really low.

Chris counted from three to one. No guard was paying attention to us. They were busy chaining some new ones and listening to what was happing on stage.

So we ran.

"Stop running!" someone yelled from inside. We were out. Yet, it was a dark alley and there seemed to be no way out. We ran to the left deeper in the alley, the weight making us slow.

Three guards started running behind us, they were near us.

Chris was slowing down because of his fresh wounds, I could run fast but I didn't. I dragged him along with me to collide with a hard wall. Which later turned out to be a human.