Christina couldn't believe it. She was having a baby brother or sister. Even though she was happy, she got scared because she Numra said that if she had a second child out of wedlock, she would abort it. Christina placed a small smile on her face, grinning a little.
"Oh.......okay." Christina smiled, disguising her voice. "Let me call you back so that I can uh.....um..tell my husband the news!"
"Alright. And once again, congrats!" The doctor smiled. "Take care, Numra."
Christina hung up the phone, not knowing what to do. She got up and started pacing back and forth, wondering what she should say. What she should do. How she should address it. Seconds later, Numra walked through the door with two large bags.
"OH MY ALLAH." Christina jumped as she held her chest, glancing at her mother.
"I brought turkey burgers and fries!" Numra cheered as she inched her way into the hotel.
"Mom, why do you look all.......dirty?" Christina asked as she looked at her mothers filthy body.
"Sorry, sweety. Military school is difficult." Numra sighed as she placed the bag down and took off her filthy jacket. "I'm about to get in the shower right now."
"Wait!" Christina said. "Mom!"
"Yes, dear?" Numra said, glancing back at Christina.
Christina wanted to tell her mother so bad, but she was afraid that she would get rid of her baby. Christina scratched her head, looking a little off.
"Are you going to military school again tomorrow?"
"Yes, dear. I go there everyday." Numra giggled. "Why?"
"Are you guys going to be doing, y'know, physical stuff?" Christina asked in a worried tone.
"Well, we have to go through a series of segments on where we endure certain pains to see what it's like in the army." Numra replied in a soft tone. "We have to go through it to know what to do on hand."
"But, don't you worry about harming the baaaa........back of your....back?" Christina asked, changing the "baby" word.
"What? You're so silly, Christina." Numra said as she rubbed her hair. "Anyway, I'm going to get in the shower."
It was a sad attempt, but it was worth it.
Christina knew that those type of things would harm the baby in a very dramatic way. Christina laid in her bed and drifted off into a deep sleep thinking of ways on how to tell her mother. Instead, she winded up going to bed with it on her mind. When Numra got out of her half an hour shower, she stepped out in her bra and underwear, finding her mother sitting up in the bed and crying while she clenching her teeth together.
"Mother!" Numra said in Persian as she rushed over to her and sat on the bed next to her. "Are you okay?"
"من خیلی ترسیده،, Numra." Athena said, rocking back and forth. "آنها به من."
"Who's coming to get you?" Numra said in her language, responding back to what her mother said. "What's going on?"
Numra's grandmother shook a little bit, then looked at Numra with her teared filled eyes.
"Mom, how did you get back in the US?" Numra asked, still speaking in their language. "What happened to you?"
It all started, 20 years ago . .
"Athena, come cook for me." Numra's father, Frank, demanded as he sat in their living room with Numra. "I'm hungry."
Numra was only 3 years old at the time. It was the winter of 1991, which was a few days from Numra's past birthday. Like Numra, Athena found herself feeling like another mans slave for almost 10 years due to the arranged marriage that her parents made for her. Athena felt that it was right at first, but now she felt like she was being held as a slave. A worker. A maid. As Athena fixed a large bowl of spaghetti sauce and noodles, she took the plate and smashed it into Frank's face. Frank quickly got up and grabbed his wife, giving her a look of fury.
"What the hell!?" Frank barked, shooting a look of rage into her eyes.
"I am your WIFE!" Athena barked. "Not your slave!"
"A wife is responsible for doing what a man says that she's supposed to do!" Numra's father shouted. "Now you get in there and make my dinner like I demanded!"
"No." Athena smiled.
"Do you want me to get the honor killing society on you tonight?" Frank growled.
"Call them." Athena said, snatching her arm away from his grip. "Maybe they'll make your dinner."
And that's exactly what Frank did. He called them and told her mother that they'd be there in the morning to show her a "lesson". At this point, Athena was scared. She knew that Frank meant what he said, and rarely lied on his word. So by midnight, Athena tucked Numra in for the last time. She kissed her on the forehead, then stroked her hair while watching her big bubbly eyes gaze up at her.
"Mommy, where going?" Numra asked, wondering where she was heading to.
"Mommy has to go." Athena responded back, stroking her hair again as she held her duffel bag. "I promise that I'll be back. Okay?"
"K." Numra responded back in Persian.
"And just where are you going?" Frank growled, standing in the doorway of Numra's room.
Athena stood up and gave Frank a fearful look. While gazing at him, she watched as he pulled out a leather belt to prepare for her beating. When he prepared to swing at her, Athena grabbed his arm and kicked him halfway across the room. It was then when she grabbed her duffel bag full of money and scurried out of the window by Numra's bunk bed.
This, was the last that she would see her mother for 20 years.
As Athena escaped out of the window, she sprinted down the sidewalk and ran as far away as she could. But right when she thought that she got away, two men met her on the corner. They were members of the honor killing society, making their way towards their house. Athena tried to get away again, but she wasn't successful. Both men grabbed her up and smothered her mouth with a cloth until she blacked out and slipped into unconsciousness.
When Athena woke up, she wasn't home. In fact, she wasn't anywhere close to home. She looked around the room with her vision blurred and fuzzy. She figured after keeping her eyes open for a while that it would clear up, but it didn't. As she struggled to look around, she glanced at the woman next to her that was laying on a separate bed. She wasn't moving. When her vision cleared, the Brazilian woman with sandy blonde hair stared blankly at her as she laid handcuffed onto the bars of the bed. When Athena realized that the woman's chest wasn't moving and that she wasn't blinking, she knew what was wrong.
The woman was dead. How, Athena had no clue on how she died.
As Athena looked at the woman with the utmost fear in her eyes, she slowly turned to the front to see three men having a discussion. The man handed them the money, then left out of the room. When Athena realized that she was naked, she wiggled and jumped around in the same spot while she laid bound to the bars. When they realized that she was being a little too loud, the man placed a gun on the side of her face. Athena slowly looked over, then looked backup at the man. Everything that was happening literally looked like it was going in slow motion, because she was drugged beforehand.
"Be still!" The man shouted in Persian. "Or else!"
Athena stayed still like she was asked. The man kept the gun to her head, then placed it back into his pocket as he licked his lips and looked up at his friend.
"So, is she good enough?" The gunman asked.
"Perfect." The other man responded, also speaking Persian. "Lets auction her off."
"Wha........what's going to happen to me?" Athena asked in a worried tone.
"Don't be scared." The other man sighed as he prepared to leave the halfway home.
"Huh?" Athena whined, still not letting it go.
"شما در حال رفتن به برده جنسی ما است." The gunman whispered in a sinister tone.
It meant, "you're going to be our sex slave."
"No. No!" Athena shouted. "You can't do this to me. I'm a woman!"
"Maybe this will teach you to listen to your husband." The gunman sighed, carrying on his language. "Besides, you'll start to like it after a while anyway."
And from there on, Athena was classified as a sex slave.
For 20 years, Athena was auctioned off from country to country. And in almost every one, she was forced to commit sexual favors to each and every man she encountered. For the first few years, she was scared. But after doing it for so long, she got used to it. It was almost like a JOB. And after doing that job, she was sold to someone else to do a job for yet another man. Constantly being drugged and raped, Athena grew numb to the whole "you shouldn't be doing this to me." thing.
But as she started to age, less and less people thrived for her. Men in that field strived for younger and more fuller women. Athena's long hair started to grow dry and weary, and her skin started to grow frail and wrinkly. After contracting an HIV virus from one of the many men that she had a sexual encounter with, it was decided that she was no longer needed. Instead, Roberto's boss bought her off the market like he did on average with many women. He wanted to try and find something to cure her HIV with so that older men would buy her for a fortune off of the market.
But when Athena seen pictures of Numra in his house, she seen that it was pictures of her daughter. And after finding out the details, she begged and begged for Roberto to let her speak to her daughter again. This, led to the FaceTime call. After Roberto let her talk to Numra for a few seconds afterwards, he hung up and sent Athena up to the room to be contained by the men. As the night grew younger, Athena laid in bed in the guest room with the encounter that wanted to buy her for good. As he laid next to her to make sure that she didn't get away, Athena looked and seen his wallet laying onto the dresser along with her passport from being passed from country to country.
Athena slowly slipped out of bed and grabbed the wallet along with the passport, then jolted out of the bedroom door. There, she met Roberto.
"Where are you going?" Roberto barked as he prepared to grab her.
Almost instantly, Athena elbowed Roberto heavily in his face then sprinted down the stairs like she did 20 years ago. This time, she made sure that she was going to get away. As Roberto and his friend tried to run after her, Athena flagged down an oncoming taxi that was coming her way down from the heart of the city.
"Help me! Help me!" Athena cried in Persian as the taxi came to a complete stop. "I need a flight to the US. Help me!"
As Athena got into the taxi and drove off, Roberto and his bosses knew that they were going to have to book a quick flight to the US to catch her. As the taxi driver drove a frail and fearful Athena to the airport, she bought a front desk ticket to California since she knew that's where Roberto said that she lived, and that she was going to make her way to the hotel that Roberto mentioned as well.
15 and a half hours later, Athena jolted into the hotel after realizing that Roberto and his group of men followed her there. They warned her that they would find her and capture her.
"Oh my goodness." Numra gasped as tears flowed out of her eyes, talking in their native tongue. "Mom......that's what happened to you?"
"Yes." Her mother cried as she nodded her head, unable to hold back her tears. "That's why............I have HIV. I know that you don't want to be around a person with a disease bu-"
"Mom, I don't care what disease you have. You're staying here with us until we find a safer place, alright?" Numra said in a serious tone.
"Oh.......okay." Athena nodded, wiping her tears. "Thank you."
"Anytime." Numra sighed, kissing her mother on the cheek. "You just get some rest, okay?"
"I'll try." Athena sighed, laying back onto her pillow.
As Numra helped her mother ease into a deep sleep, she tucked Christina in as well and slipped in bed with her daughter, and prepared to fall into a deep sleep for her long day tomorrow.
A few hours later, Numra's phone rang in the middle of the night. It was Dr. August.
"Hello?" Numra snarled, whispering in anger. "What do you want, Chresanto?!"
At this point, Dr. August hadn't slept in 4 and a half days. He was so tired that he sat up with the phone in his hand, halfway delusional. His eyes had brown markings under it as if he smeared a bunch of mascara on the bottom of his eyes. So tired and unable to speak for a few seconds, Dr. August held the phone up to his ear and dangled his head.
"Chresanto, speak or I'm gonna hang up!" Numra whispered in an angry fashion.
"Come.......sleep with me..." Dr. August said in a dazed and extremely exhausted tone. He was so tired that he had no clue how to say a full sentence.
"Are you kidding me?" Numra scoffed in a low tone. "Chresanto, go to be-"
"Please! When......w-when you get here, you don't have to say a word to me. You can leave tomorrow if y-you want." Dr. August growled in a sleepy and aggressive tone. "I just......I need you to sleep......I need you to be sleep with me in order f-for me to sleep..."
Dr. August was so restless and so tired that it sounded like he was drunk. He was slurring his words and talking like he was in a different state. Numra sighed and wrestled out of the bed, grabbing her keys as well.
"I'm on my way over there." Numra growled as she threw on her jacket. "We're not doing anything, okay?"
Dr. August was so dazed that he did nothing but smiled and hung up the phone. His eyes were so droopy and dark that that's all he wanted to hear. A half an hour later, Numra drove to his home and knocked on the door. Seconds later, Dr. August answered it. Delusional and being the sleepiest he'd ever been, he leaned his head up against the door and smiled as Numra stood there, giving him a miserable look. His eyes were so worn out that he couldn't open them more than halfway. When Numra glanced at his arms, she could see that he had goosebumps on his arms.
She thought that it was from the co breeze outside, but it wasn't. Even though he was in his sleepiest state, he still got goosebumps when he laid eyes on Numra.
Dr. August shut the door to his home and didn't say anything. He was so sleepy that he walked to the bedroom placing a small smile on his face while his eyes drooped heavily, almost looking like he was high of some sort. Numra kept her arms folded and looked at Dr. August as he slipped into his bed and left some open room for her. Numra scoffed and took off her jacket, sitting against the headboard and adjusting her legs under the covers. As he shut his lamp off and laid his head on chest while she laid on her pillow, Numra was still upset with him by the way she'd been treated.
"Y'know, I'm still mad at you, Chresanto." Numra growled as she laid on his pillow while Dr. August had his arm wrapped around her stomach. "But I hope you get a good night sleep because-"
Suddenly, she heard Dr. August snoring. He fell asleep within seconds. Numra looked at him at seen his face smooshed against her upper neck as he held onto her lower body. She couldn't believe how quick he'd fell asleep, and based by the way he was sleeping on her, she could tell that he wasn't waking up anytime soon. For days, Dr. August hadn't had a good sleep. Not until today. As she looked at him, she smiled and shook her head as she placed the covers over the both of them and went to sleep along with him.
All he needed for a good night sleep, was for Numra to be right there in bed with him. That's all he needed for the last 4 and a half days. An as Dr. August's arm rested across her stomach, he didn't realize that this arm was laying across their second unborn child.