Chapter 18 #3
It’s hard to believe that I’ve gone nearly three months now without Annabelle, that I’ve crawled to the ends of the earth to make it here and I swear I can feel her, her soul reaching out for mine somewhere in this hell hole. She’s so close but still so far away.
Quiet chatter fills the room and my eyes scan over each and every person in here, claiming their face to memory so that when I come to kill them, whether it be here or I track them down afterwards, I’ll show them the devil before they die a horrible death.
The lowlights of the room suddenly go black and my hand itches to find my gun, to be prepared for anything when the strobe light beams onto the man who’s running the auction.
I wonder if he’s spent his money here too?
“Are we ready to begin?” He speaks like a ringmaster at a circus, hyping the crowd up and these disgusting people eat it up like starved dogs, clapping and wooing as the first couple of girls are brought out onto the stage.
Each of them have a number attached to their far too small dresses, essentially ripping away their identities.
Their faces don’t even look real anymore, almost like they’re wearing masks with how much makeup has been layered on to feign perfection.
Like a precious doll, hiding the cracks within the porcelain.
Myself and Eli visibly straighten in our seats as the first girl steps forward on shaky legs towards the blinding light, her fingers fidget with the sides of her blue dress and she has to squint her heavily painted eyes to stop the light from blinding her.
“First up, we have the sweet little Lily, isn’t she a beauty?” The auctioneer waves his hand towards the frail girl like she’s a prized pony. “And just at the ripe age of seventeen too, she’ll be your perfect little girl.”
His words have me fisting my hands together in my lap, my nails creating little half moon indentations in the soft flesh as I push them into the palms of my hands.
“We gotta get these girls outta here man.” I whisper to Eli through gritted teeth. He nods at the side of me, his jaw ticking with slow burning anger. “Oh, we will.”
The auctioneer clears his throat before speaking into the microphone. “We’ll start the bidding at five thousand, do we have five thousand in the room?”
Immediately numbered paddles that were left on the seats start to fly up into the air, the price getting higher and higher.
“Ten thousand, what about ten?” The auctioneer rallies off in quick succession.
“Going once..” The wooden gavel hangs in the air.
“Going twice.” Another hand shoots up, outbidding the previous bidder.
“Sold!” The gavel hits the podium with a hard slam.
“To the gentleman at the back! Your prize will be handed over to you at the end of the night.”
A burly, fat man with a bursting open shirt claps his hands together before wiping a trail of champagne from his round face with the back of his hand, then he gropes his crotch.
“That tiny bitch is mine.” He bellows to the man next to him who laughs along with him.
This whole fucking situation is making my head spin.
Girl after girl, woman after woman. All of them plastered in layers of makeup are bought within seconds of each other.
Stupid amounts of money are being spent in this very room and it’s taking every ounce of willpower that I have in me to keep myself in check.
Once the group of girls are ushered off the stage, a woman who is clearly drugged out of her mind begins to weave in and out of the chairs, offering refreshments with a side of cocaine.
She stops in front of me and Eli, dipping the tray for us to make our choice.
We seem to be the only ones without drinks and it’s starting to cause some wandering eyes so we both grab a flute of champagne from the tray.
The woman with dull brown eyes simply gives us a small smile before moving on down the line.
Bubbles pop and fizz in the glass, settling at the top of the rose coloured liquid.
There’s no way I’m drinking this shit, instead I lean forward to make it look like I’m tying my shoe and place the glass underneath the seat then rise again.
Eli watches me out of the corner of his eye and does the same action a couple of minutes after me.
Murmurs and small talk surrounds us as refreshments wrap up and I overhear a man in the row in front speaking about a woman who is brought out for every Selection Day but never sells.
“Yeah, I’ve been to every Selection Day and this one chick never sells. Fucking waste of time if you ask me.” He says, swigging his drink back.
“Tonight might be different.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” The man questions, his eyes laser focused on the guy sitting next to him.
“I heard there’s a big-shot Russian in the audience tonight, he’s been promised this chick you’re talking about.”
“Promised?” He retorts. “What happened to a fair fucking bidding? I’ve been eyeing her up every time!”
Hearing enough, I butt in on the conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt gentlemen.” I start, offering my hand out. “I’m Mr Blackwood. May I ask who this chick is, you’re talking about?”
Both of them spin in their seats, looking at me like I’ve got two heads but I keep my composure, locking my gaze onto both of them.
The one on the left seems to cower in his seat, his body sinking lower as I keep my hand out in between them both, the other one who started the conversation puffs out his chest.
“And what the fuck has it gotta do with you, Mr Blackwood?” He spits out with disgust and flicks his gaze to my outstretched hand. I see, we’re gonna play it that way are we?
Curling my fingers in on themselves, I pull my hand away and sit back in my seat, letting my jacket fall open to show the guns I’m carrying. The one on the right begins to open his mouth but I quickly cut him off.
“No fucking talking whilst I speak, you hear me?” I say with a harsh tone. “Now you’re gonna tell me who the fuck this woman is you’re talking about, and if you don’t, when this is over I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”
Crossing my leg over the other, I rest my ankle on my knee waiting for their answer. The both of them look at each other, probably waiting for the other to speak first.
“Reckon they’ll ever speak?” Eli says with a chuckle at the side of me and I dip my head to check my watch. “Apparently not and I don’t have the time to wait either. They’ve got five seconds.”
I begin the countdown on my watch and the one on the left quickly opens his mouth to speak.
“Wait, I’ll tell you alright.”
“Good man, and you.” I point to the gobby one on the right. “Keep your fucking mouth shut before I staple it shut.”
His eyes bug wide and he clamps his mouth shut, allowing the other man to speak.
“There’s a girl.. a woman.” He stutters, his eyes bouncing around the room. “She’s at every Selection Day, always the last to come out. No one ever wins her and most of the time, people don’t even bother to bid. Something about her husband, Ricky, you know him?”
“Yeah. I know him.” I reply, my jaw ticking. “Heard he’s got a bit of a reputation.”
“A pretty big one too. There’s rumours going round that he bit this woman’s ear off but you can never be too sure about these things.
” He says, keeping his voice low, probably afraid that someone will hear him and question how he knows this, just like I’m doing now.
I don’t bother to ask him though because the only thought in my mind right now is that Ricky has hurt the woman I love, my fucking property, fucking mine.
Inhaling a sharp breath, I keep silent for a moment when Eli speaks up. “What does this woman look like?” The question peaks my interest.
“Uh. Last time I saw her at Selection Day she wasn’t looking too good, skinny ya know, long black hair, blue eyes.”
I clock Eli in my periphery, turning to face me and I make eye contact with him, a silent conversation passes between us, confirming the woman the guy is speaking about is definitely Ana. I know it is, it has to be because I refuse to believe it isn’t.
Clearing my throat just in time for the auctioneer to arrive on stage again, I send the two guys spinning back around. Both of them quickly turn in their seats and I never see their faces again, but I’ll remember them.
The night flows on as more women are sold off to men with disgusting hands and even darker minds, and the brick that’s settling in my stomach seems to get heavier and heavier the longer I wait for Ana to arrive on stage.
“And now, we’re onto our last group!” The auctioneer shouts with excitement that has the audience clapping loudly.
My head flies up from my lap, my gaze burning onto the stage as the last lot of women are guided out, each of them looking worse than the first one.
And.. there she is. The last woman to arrive on the stage is the woman that’s been missing from my life for just over three months now.
Someone might as well crack my head open with a brick, it’d hurt less than how I’m feeling right now.
Seeing her standing there barely hanging on makes me want to rip myself apart.
My soul recognises hers but my eyes don’t, she’s lost all her light. Her once plump body that moulded perfectly in my hands is now frail and skeletal, her skin is gray and void of life. Even the blackness of her hair has dulled. A broken butterfly.
Anger like I’ve never ever felt before courses through my veins, it burns as it spreads over me like a wildfire, scalding and wrecking everything in its wake. So much so that it causes my hands to shake in my lap.
“I’m not sure I can fucking sit here Eli.
I need to get to her now.” I grit out, not giving a single fuck who can hear me now.
She’s there, right in front of me and the urge to barrel through the ocean of people in front of me, to take her in my arms and carry her to safety is enough to kill me off.