RESTRAINT | H.S. AU (Editing)

o n e

"Stop!" My staggering, hoarsed voice pleads the unknown men who are tugging me towards the dark endless hallway. Smell of wet dirt is all I can sense since my eyes are blindfolded tightly by a cloth torn from the hems of my dirty rag dress.

"Shut up will you! If you don't stop wailing I will shove some dirt in your mouth." One of the men who abducted me threatens.

"P-please! I beg of you! Release me and I'll do anything, please!" Panic is laced in my voice as his threat frightens me. I don't care if he shoves dirt to my mouth, I've been to worst and that will prevent me from talking. As long as they can hear my pleads then there might be a slight chance of them to pity and release me. But by the way they treated me so far is breaking my hope that these men have even the slightest tinge of kindness in their heart to release me.

"You never give up don't you, princess?" I can sense that this horrid man is mocking me. It burns anger in my chest as I do my best to force out my arms from their grasps.

"You are all monsters! How could you do such thing! Maltreating and forcing a helpless woman, you think that makes you more of man, you pigs!" I shout at them. They don't give me a reply which makes me more nervous since suddenly I feel silence surrounding my ears.

"Wh-where am I?" I ask nervously, my senses alert to my surroundings. All of a sudden, the gruesome man shoves me to the ground too hard that I feel that the skin on my knees splits making me cry from the sharp pain.

"Esme, this is the new slave. Clean this filthy girl and put her it into some use immediately after. But, he will see her first, understood?" He orders strictly to the girl named Esme.

"Yes, sir." I hear a soft voice coming from Esme, I supposed. Gentle hands help me to stand up, in contrast to the harsh treatment I had from the men who abducted me.

"C'mon, quickly. You don't want to piss them. They punish new slaves really bad." Esme whispers at me with a tinge of worry in her voice.

New slave.

It makes my skin crawl upon hearing it. They abducted me to become a servant where punishments are more likely to happen than getting fed. I can't help but to cry in silence as it brings the cloth blindfolding my eyes soaking more heavy from the amount of tears I shed.

I hastily stands up even if my knees are burning from pain. Esme guides me to walk, holding my arms for support.
Somehow, I can say that I trust Esme since she's one of the few person I encountered so far who is nice and gentle to me.

The world right now is a very cruel place to live in. There is a blurred line between right and wrong. Morals were changed and survival to stay alive is the primary goal. Finding a pure heart is a challenge. Meeting a good and nice people will take great effort because most of them either conceal the goodness in them or they probably didn't even survived as they were eventually changed by the harsh reality. Earth is now a living hell.

We walk a long way before I sense Esme opens a door. As soon as we are inside the room, Esme carefully unties the blindfold around my eyes. It takes me awhile to adjust my sight from the blinding white light of the fluorescent lamp. I notice that we are inside a huge white room that resembles a clinic due to the smell of the disinfectant alcohol emitting from it.

"We need to clean you now. The Don is waiting for you." Esme informs me. I turn around and notice a brunette girl probably the same age as I am, studying me carefully.

"What do they want from me?" Tears spring in my eyes again. I am not a crybaby I swear but everything that's happening right now frightens me a lot.

No answers comes from her as she swiftly moves towards me trying to remove my clothes without asking my permision. I grip the hem of my dress stopping Esme from getting me naked, making me hear a huge sigh from her.