Calming The Storm🌌 (#wattys2019)√

17. Apocalypse I✔

"Life is a mystery, every day is a revelation."

-Kingsley Nwoke

_______

Sampurnaa's pov :

Indrayan left after I promised him. The day was just beginning here in the brothel. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, so I stayed put in the room.
It was around 7.30 that a girl who looked about 20 came into my room. She smiled mildly and asked me to freshen up and changed into a new dress. I was given another Saree to wear; it was a net Saree and had a very deep blouse to go with it. I hesitated but took a shower and then changed. I attached the camera to the gold chain around my neck. It seemed to be a pendant. The camera was hidden underneath my Saree's drape. Then I wore the bracelet-like recorder and hid the earpiece behind my own hair. I activated both.
The girl was still waiting for me.
I looked at her inquisitively.
She spoke in Hindi,
"I am Pritha. I am 16 years old. I have been working here as an escort since I was 12."
My eyes widened at that.
She continued, "You are much older than me. At least you had a childhood. I was sold here as a toddler. I don't remember much of it but I always worked as a house help till I was 10. They started injecting me with something that made me grow bigger. I just grew older in appearance and also physically. I know you thought I would be around 20, hence I am telling you. "

I was at a loss of words. She smiled weakly before getting back her voice and a neutral expression, "Come with me now! There's a lot of work to be done. Firstly, you need to clean your own room. Change the bedsheets, wash the old ones and then sweep and mop the floor. Once you are done with all this, come down to have breakfast. After that, there's more work that is to be done. I shall tell you later. For now, just get going!"

I could hardly manage to nod.
A girl younger than me came and shouted orders at me like I was some low-down house help!
Alas, I had to overlook all that. She must have been through pain so immense, that she lost that little ounce of humanitarian feeling and trust in her.
I simply obliged all that she asked me to do. But I was careful enough to leave the bloodstain on the floor and the broken earring.
I changed the sheets of that sinful bed and washed the old sheets.
My word! Household work is so tiring! Especially on an empty stomach.
It had taken me an entire hour to get all this done. Thankfully, 4 years abroad had gotten me used to doing housework.
.........

I locked the room carefully behind me and then went down trying to find my way to the kitchen.
The kitchen was a heavily cramped room with women of different sizes, ethnicities, and types engrossed either in making food or eating. I could even identify several foreign nationals whose missing reports had been lodged with the police. I myself had run a few of them on the television.

Some younger girls were scrubbing away the scullery. They seemed to be like Pritha.
It was a weird combination of women, yet one common string kept them bound to this hell; forced prostitution and circumstances induced by criminals.

I was given a plate by someone who had similarities to a hostel warden. Devouring the poor fair put together for all the women, I was given the work to clean up the corridor and the rooms on the ground floor.
I had a good opportunity to sneak into Frieda's room and gather evidence of any suspicious or illegal activity.
...

I had succeeded in cleaning 2 rooms and an entire corridor. Two more rooms remained. One of them was where Mr. Sequira and Freida had been in a meeting.

I decided to enter the other room first.
The room was another barely furnished one which seemed to be for the same purpose as the other rooms.
I started mopping the floor.

While mopping, my thoughts started running hither tither.

A Columbia graduate! A qualified journalist! A properly educated woman living here in the disguise of a prostitute!
My parents must have come to know about my decision to be here all alone. I couldn't even imagine the anxiety they must have been going through since the time I last contacted them.