A bright flashing light invaded my eyesight, “Noah?” I called. “Noah?!”
“Well, it’s your lucky day. You’re being auctioned today,” Keegan’s voice startled me into opening my eyes wider. He was positioned on top of me with a needle in his hand. “Now stay still, this will help you to relax. We want you to be perfect for your mate.”
“No!” I screamed and knocked the needle out of his hand.
He cursed then got off of me. He took a hand full of my hair and tugged me with him. I tried to stay planted to one spot but the grip he had on my hair was tightening. “Don’t make this difficult.”
“Get off of me!” I shouted and pounded my fist against his arm and shoulder. There was only so much I could do with my injuries. They still hadn’t fully healed and I still couldn’t use one of my arms.
“Enough!” he backhanded me and I fell to the floor. “I don’t have time for this. Stand up!” he order and I crawled back to the bed. “Come here.”
I shook my head ‘no’ and he growled as he walked towards me. I looked around the room. I was looking for something I could use to defend myself. He was coming fast and I had to hurry, then I thought about the wrench. I still had it from the last time I used it on him. I had hid it under my bed. I reached for it with my good arm, but as soon as my fingers touched it, Keegan started pulling me up by my hair. I reached for the wrench as long as I could before he held me up by my hair.
I swung the wrench back and got him in the eye. He dropped me and cursed, “You bitch! My eye!” I turned to see blood streaming down his eye and cheek. I took that opportunity to get up and run to the door.
I swung the door open and tried to run down the hall but as soon as I passed the door frame he yanked my hair and I flew backwards in the room. A slight ringing in my ears erupted and I felt lightheaded. I turned on my stomach and tried to scuffle away but he pounced on me, knocking the air from my lungs.
“No!” I kicked and screamed for him to let me go. At this point he had me pinned to the ground on my stomach. In the next instant I felt a slight pinch of the needle and it was over. I relaxed as my vision blurred and the room started spinning.
“You'll be so happy,” Keegan was laughing as he got off of me. He picked me up and threw me on the bed. Just the force of it knocked the wind out of me and made the room spin even more. I rolled to my side and used one hand to clutch a side of my head trying to control the spinning. Keegan rolled me back on my back. His hands were touching me and the last thing I remembered was him taking off my clothes before I fainted.
*
*
I woke up still in a daze. I was sitting propped up against a wall in a line full of girls. I was only in my underwear and bra. I quickly pulled my knees to my chest to hide what decency I had left. I looked around and noticed that I wasn’t the only one sporting a bra and underwear, all of us were. I knew why I was in line. This was it. This was the day I get sold.
“Next twelve for!” an unfamiliar woman called out. “I need all of the girls to stand in a straight line when they enter the room.” I tried to get up but my legs were too shaky. As the line grew short, I sat there as girls walked pass me to wait behind those doors. Eventually it was only nine of us left; the dizziness in my head wouldn't subside. Keegan strolled next to me picked me up off the floor.
“Now you wouldn't want to miss your big day, would you?” he chuckled. I tried to jerk away from him but he had a death grip on my arm. “Stop struggling or you won’t be sold. Then you’ll have to stay with me.”
“Get off of me!” I said through clenched teeth.
He shoved my armed away and I rubbed it. Not long after that, a wave of nausea overflowed my body. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and kept my head down.
“All the ones left, come to the podium,” the unknown woman said.
I began to walk to the room but Keegan stopped me. “Did you forget already? You’re going to be auctioned to council members only. Here,” he gave me a red band, “put it on. It means that anyone can bid on you but only one of the Council will get you.”
I gave him a dirty look then snatched the band out of his hand. I slid it across my wrist and looked at it. Then the line started moving. All I could think about was Noah.
“Oh yeah Mason, Noah told me to tell you good luck,” he smirked. “He’s a little tied up right now so he won’t be coming to the auction.”
“What!” I snapped my head up to him. “What did you do to him you jackass!” I immediately regretted it because the dizziness got worse and I started stumbling. I was suddenly pushed through the door and I fell on my knees. I tried to stand but it was too hard.
“Alright ladies please take a position up on the podium,” the woman said.
I began heaving and someone was pulling me up from behind. “Come on,” Keegan said. “The drugs will wear off in time.”
“Drugs?” I repeated.
As soon as I walked in, I was welcomed with darkness. I couldn’t see where I was going, only that Keegan was guiding me and that I was drugged. My heart beat fast in my chest. I couldn't tell if it was because of the drug or the nervousness.
A bright light came on and I found myself on a stage with nine other girls. Men were all around. Some were trying to grab some of the girls legs. Other were trying to get on stage to get a better look. Many of the other girls were screaming as more men came closer and kept trying to touch them. It wasn’t until I felt an arm on my leg that I saw that someone was trying to pull me off of stage. At that moment I was truly frighten. I kick at him and squatted his hand away but he kept coming back. It was chaotic until the auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Enough, if you cannot settle down, you will be banned from this auction!” she shouted.
Immediately the men got off the stage and stop trying yank some of the girls off with them. I was relieved but now I really felt exposed. I huddled closer to the other girls. This was humiliating. I felt like they were all looking at me, trying to see a part of me that no other man has ever seen, not even Noah.
“Get on with it,” one man with gray hair and a long, shaggy beard shouted above the rest. “We have money to spend and a bed to share.” A few of the men started chuckling. This was a joke to them. They don't give a damn about any of us.
“Alright, we have a Chelsea Tatum,” the auctioneer voice boomed through the microphone. “She has been here for almost two years. No one has ever made a bid on her. She is seventeen, her appearance is quite average, and she a bit on the bony side. She is believed to be a virgin. She could be an efficient maid or look after the children. This is your last chance to get her cheap. After today Chelsea will be stripped from the auction. ”
Just the sound of that didn’t sit well with me. I knew after today that they would not keep her. There was only going to be two options for Chelsea: death or brothel. Both always had the same outcome. It scared me to think about that.
I stared at the board-thin girl in shock. She was so skinny and looked to be malnourished. She had short red hair and a face full of freckles. She was shorter than me. If the auctioneer hadn’t of said it, I would have thought she was younger than me. I felt sorry for her. I don’t think she could survive having a mate. Half the girls on this podium couldn’t. I wasn’t going to be one of them.
“Okay, let’s start with one hundred,” the auctioneer started. "Do we have one hundred?"
While I was trying to get oriented again, I could practically hear the crickets. I looked at Chelsea and she stared back me with terror in her eyes. She looked blurry and her feature stood out at awkward angles. Now that I think about it, eveybody looked like her. It had to be the effects of the drug. I coud tell that she didn’t want to be sold any more than the rest of us, but if she wasn’t, then most likely Keegan would kill her or sell her off to a brothel.
“Okay, how about seventy-five!” One man in the back raised his hand hesitantly and the auctioneer pounds her gavel. Two guards came up to the podium and escorted Chelsea off the stage.
"No!" Chelsea screamed as the guards handed her over to a grungy looking man with a few missing front teeth. I could hear her whimper as the man yanks her away and out the room. I knew I would never see her again.
I looked down at one man who was staring directly at me. He looked to be in his fifties with graying dark hair, mysterious dark eyes and what seemed like a permanent frown on his face. I walked/tripped trying to get to the other side of the podium and he was still watching me. As the auctioneer called out our names individually, bile threatened to rise in my throat. All I wanted to do was lie down and get the drugs out of my system.
“Mason Faye!” the auctioneer announce while she pointed to me. My gae immediatley shot up to the auctioneer. “Age fifteen. Still believe to be a virgin. She is very attractive. As you can see she is quite curvy and would be suitable for child-bearing,” the auctioneer cleared her throat. “Do I have one thousand?”
“One thousand!” one man shouted while waving his money in the air. I shuffled around the podium again. I was half naked and standing in front of about sixty men. They all looked lecherous. Many of them were three times our age and they looked at us like we were candy. Could no one see just how disgusting this was? “How about two?”
“Three!” a man with an obvious comb-over shouted.
“Four!” a man who looked to be in his sixties. He looked very eager. I scrunched my nose at him and turned--well, stumbled-- away. I could feel his beady eyes on my almost bare back.
“Five!” more offers kept pouring in.
“Six! I got six thousand!”
“Ten thousand dollars,” a man in the back with a receding hairline said.
“Okay we have ten thousand. Anyone wants to go for eleven thousand?” the auctioneer tempted. “Okay, I see eleven thousand in the back. Can I get twelve?”
“Twelve!”
“Fifteen thousand!” this time the man who was staring at me intently shouted an offer. “I want everyone here to know that I’ll match your bid every time. If you value your money you’ll keep your hands down!”
“Twenty!” a stubborn bald man shouted. “That one’s going to be mine. I’ve been itching to get some more pups. I need a tight young one.” I wanted to throw something at him. Part of it was because the room was spinning, I had to puke and his voice was annoying me. The other part was that he just said he needed a young one. He looked like he was in his mid to late forties. What the hell does he need with a girl barely into of puberty.
Pedophiles. All of them. Now-a-days people don’t use the term correctly or if they used it at all. If you were in the auction, you were not a child anymore. As soon as you step through the doors of Victorn’s Girls Academy, you were on your way to motherhood, domestic service, or death.
The drugs were making me crazy. All the men’s heads were distorted and funny-looking. I wanted to throw up. I could barely stand up, but if I fell or passed out I was a goner. I would have to push through this. I clutch my throat to keep from throwing up.
I could faintly hear men shouting prices and holding up wades of money. The girl next to me started hiding behind me. Little bitch! I was so disoriented that I dragged her from behind me and pushed her off the stage. I could remember hands grabbing for her until everything went blurry.
“Fifty thousand dollars!” the man who kept staring at me said.
“Sold!” the auctioneer pounds the gavel. I couldn’t take it anymore so I just collapsed and succumbed to the darkness.