Chapter 45
Chapter
Forty-Five
I don’t know how long I’ve been here for. Days, at least, and the small light coming in through the window at the top of the wall lets me know that it’s been at least a day since I last saw a person. It was getting dark when they left. I’d drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night. Then I saw flickers of the sun coming through the window, but it’s dark again now. Pitch dark. I’ve never been afraid of the dark. Until now. I know I can’t stay here. Who knows when they’ll be back. I have to at least try and escape.
I gently tug on my wrists, testing the tightness of the ropes they have around them; I hiss inwardly as they scratch across my already raw skin. I take a few deep breaths, stealing myself for what I have to do, and shift my body slightly, sliding it a little to my left and the edge of the mattress.
“Oh, God,” I cry out as pain lances through me. Every inch of my body hurts. I need to hurry; I don’t know how much longer I have before they come back. I have to try and get the hell out of here, although I have no idea where here is.
A small sob leaves my throat, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears. Nobody knows I’m missing. He made sure of that when he responded to the messages from my friends and family. He told me he would keep it up for as long as he could. He said that plans have been put in place for me to be shipped off to another country along with other women. We’re to be sold into the traffic trade. That my life is no longer my own.
He claims that someone has paid for me already. He claims that person I’m being sold to is a cruel man who likes to buy women just to hurt them. He took pleasure telling me, in graphic detail, what this man does to women, how he hurts them and pushes them to see how much their body can take before it finally gives out.
I don’t want to go; I don’t want to suffer that fate. I’d rather piss these fuckers off to their breaking point so they kill me before they can ship me off. I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure I never make it onto that ship.
With a newfound sense of need, I take a deep breath, as deep as I can with broken ribs. Then, shuffling closer to the edge of the mattress, I pull hard on the ropes, biting my bottom lip to stop myself from crying out again.
I stretch out my leg, my bare foot hitting the cold concrete floor. I just need to get off the mattress and get closer to the wall at the side where my ropes are tied. I need to see what kind of knots they’ve used and how tight they’ve tied them. I’m hoping, even if they are too tight, there is something there that I can use to wear down the rope enough to remove it.
I turn my body too quickly and too hard to the left; it sends a wave of nausea through me, and I have to close my eyes to stop the room from spinning.
“Come on Marissa just a little further. You've got to keep it together,” I tell myself as my body gives a small shudder. I don’t know if it’s fear or the cold, maybe a little of both. I need to get it together. I can’t break yet.
I brace for pain as I shuffle my body off the edge of the mattress closer to the wall. I cry out in pain, as the nausea takes over, and I vomit on the floor and on my arm. My head begins to spin, and I think I can hear banging and men shouting. A tear runs down my face.
I took too long. The room begins to pull in and out of focus, and I shut my eyes hoping that it’s not too late, that I’m hearing things. I let out a small breath and I open my eyes, trying to look around the room, the noises getting louder, closer. I focus on the door but my vision blurs as it bursts open. I can make out figures approaching, and I can hear shouting, but I can’t focus, struggling to keep my eyes open.
I feel a hand on my head, pushing the hair back out of my face. Another hand pulling at the rope and another hand on my bare leg. I try to cry out, to tell them to stop, but panic ripples through me. There are too many hands; I can’t take it. I don’t want to do this again. I thrash my body, trying to buck them off me. I know it won’t work. I'm too weak, but I have to try. I can’t go down without a fight.
I hear pounding and yelling, but I can’t make it out. More figures appear in the doorway just as my vision turns to black, and I pass out.