~1~
~TIANA (POV)~
“Fifty thousand going once, going twice, sold!” The auctioneer’s voice rang out, reaching the back of the stage where I was.
Dragging myself up to my knees, my fingers curled around the old rusty iron bars of my own personal cage, my gaze trained on the small crack in the curtains separating the part where I was and the part where the bidding was going on.
I saw as the newly sold merchandise, a young crippled boy, was carried off the stage, and then the next item was dragged up there, another set of damaged goods just like the rest of us here.
This was an underground human auction site, but not just any regular one. This one was a dump site, where all abandoned, unwanted, discarded goods were dropped off for recycling, if one could call it that. This was where the worst of the worst kind of men from society came to buy, where the ones with little change in their pockets could afford a human pet for whatever use they wanted it for.
I was not even considered human in a place like this. “It.” That was exactly what I was in the eyes of these people.
My previous master threw me here a month ago after disguising me as a boy. He had given strict instructions that I maintain my disguise until my sale was complete, and so far, I have successfully managed to fool everyone here.
My long flowing hair had been cut short, barely leaving anything. I was starved so I would lose weight. My chest was wrapped, bandaged to hide my bosoms.
Sitting back down on the floor of my cage, my knees curled up to my chest. I heard soft sobs coming from the cage next to mine. There was a girl in there, bawling her eyes out. My cold, lifeless eyes scanned her. She looked around 18. One of her arms was missing.
When she noticed that I was looking at her, she stopped sobbing, now staring at me with her wet, tear-streaked eyes like she was expecting some words of comfort.
The poor thing.
When she didn’t get any, her gaze turned sharp, glaring at me like I was the cause of her misfortune.
“What are you staring at, witch!” she snapped at me, throwing insults. “I hope your next owner guts you.”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t, after all. Like her, I was damaged. I was mute, no voice, unable to speak.
I simply tore my gaze away from her, trying to mind my business while I waited my turn. I was hoping her words would come true. I wanted nothing more than for my next master to kill me instantly. I had long lost the will to live but was too cowardly to end my life.
Not long after, a tall, fat man came in with another lean man. They stared at my cage and then the girl’s.
“Which one should we take first?” the fat one asked the other guy.
“I don’t know, maybe that one. He looks pretty.” He was referring to me.
I felt relief as my cage was opened and I was pulled out. Unlike the others, I didn’t try to struggle or fight back.
Finally. I wanted this to be done and over with.
They pulled me out to the stage, the bright blinding light forcing me to keep my eyes down on the floor. Then I was made to stand at the center of the stage and face the audience. Everyone was wearing a mask, including the auctioneer himself.
The auctioneer came behind me, placing both hands on my shoulders.
“Fetch us a good price, boy,” he whispered into my ear, his rotten breath hitting my nose.
There was an urge to throw up in the pit of my stomach, but I held it in.
“We have a fine specimen here for you, ladies and gentlemen. This one here has properly been trained and set, and as you can see…” he made me spin around slowly for the audience to see, “…there is no external damage. It is also mute, which means you don’t have to be troubled about your new pet causing any noise pollution when you play with it.”
Both I and the audience understood what he meant when he said _play_. He meant abuse, r**e, torture, or whatever heinous act they saw fit to use me for.
“We will start the bid for this one at forty thousand American dollars,” he announced.
Someone quickly raised their paddle for that amount, then another person raised their paddle for forty-one thousand, and then another person raised again.
“Do I hear fifty thousand? Can someone give me more? Who wants to go for a higher price?” The auctioneer was doing what he was good at — taunting the audience to bid more.
And as the battle for who would own me continued, my eyes slowly moved over the crowd, subtly staring at the eyes of the savage animals trying to buy me.
Then my gaze met a specific pair of eyes that had me pausing for a moment. It was a man wearing a black mask, a masked woman sitting next to him, her arms latched around his. He didn’t look like he belonged in this crowd… a crowd of lowlifes, schizophrenics.
There was just something about his gaze that made it impossible for me to look away. They were icy cold, and yet there was a hint of pity in them. He was staring back at me with pity, and it made my skin crawl as I immediately recalled my last master.
I quickly dragged my gaze back to the floor, my heart pounding in my chest.
“Three hundred fifty. Do I hear three hundred fifty thousand?”
My eyes widened slightly when I heard the amount. No way. How did my bid get so high? The highest anyone had been sold for here was two hundred thousand. My bid continued to increase till it reached an unbelievable amount of six hundred thousand.
A woman had just bid that amount.
“Six hundred thousand, folks. Would anyone like to challenge the lady in the front row?”
Nobody spoke from the audience or even dared to raise their paddles.
The woman smiled behind her mask, seeing that no one could dare counter her bid.
“Okay folks, going once, going twic—”
“Two million.”
My head immediately shot up when I heard the surprise bid, stunned as to who was mad enough to bid for damaged goods for that amount.
It was him, the man whose gaze I’d met. My blood ran cold.
