Again we wait, I don’t know for what. Eventually, my legs start to cramp. I’m stiff from the lack of exercise. Slowly the line starts to move, one step every few minutes. As we get closer I hear a man’s deep voice rambling through numbers and I realize they’re busy with the auction. My eyes dart up the passage and down, nervously looking for Garrett. He won’t let someone buy me! I know he cares about me. I could see it in his eyes.
The closer we get and the louder the bidding, the faster my heart beats. The girl in front of me goes next and I swallow hard. My breathing speeds up until they’re shallow desperate gulps. I hear them close the bidding on fifty five thousand. The girl was only worth so little?
The huge man from earlier appears in front of me. He grabs my leash and yanks me forward. I can hear my heart beating in my ears! He hands the leash over to another man, who’s dressed in a dark suit. I follow the man to the stage. I can hear voices, lots of them. It sounds like an angry bee hive.
We walk out onto the stage and I’m blinded by the spotlight shining down on me. My whole body trembles with fear.
“Can I get a hundred dollars for this blonde filly,” I hear a deep voice announce and then it starts – the bidding for how much I’m worth.
When it reaches fifteen thousand dollars the man in the suit shoves my shoulder. “Turn,” he barks. I twirl in a circle and when I stop I’m worth twenty three thousand. The man takes hold of the straps over my shoulders and yanks hard at the dress. To my horror the dress tears down the middle. As he lets go of the torn material it falls to my feet. I’m left standing in a heap of material – naked and exposed to all the prying eyes out there!
The amount instantly jumps to thirty thousand. I’m worth more naked than when I have clothes on! It’s disgusting.
“Her breasts are all natural, no implants,” the voice thunders on and the price keeps climbing to thirty three thousand. “She still has her V-Card for her ass. Come on, who amongst you don’t want to break in this ass.” The man shoves me again and I turn so my butt is on display for all to see.
The amount climbs fast. Numbers are called out and then we reach forty two thousand.
“What’s that I see,” the thundering voice hesitates, “We have a bid for fifty thousand. Do I hear fifty one?”
Silence follows for a few beats and then the voice yells, “Going once, going twice.” There’s a loud smack and my whole body jumps with fright. “Sold to number seventy eight.”
I’ve been sold to a number for fifty thousand dollars.
A clammy coldness spreads over my body, I think it’s called dread.
I’ve been sold. I won’t see Garrett again!
I’m led off the stage leaving the torn material behind. A man comes up to me with a sharpie and writes the number seventy eight over my stomach, and then I’m shoved into another room. Long minutes pass before Andrea comes in, the number eighty four is written on her. Riza is last with the number fifty three written on her.
None of us got the same buyer. We’re being split up. My heart shatters and the hope I had fades away.
I wanted so badly to belong to Garrett. Now I’ll never see him again.
~*~
Chapter Twenty Five
Garrett~
I follow a man in a dark suit down the passage. The number I bid with is burning a hole in my hand. I just want to hold her. I paid sixty five thousand dollars for my own sister. She’s still a virgin, that’s why the price went so high. I’d pay anything for her to be untouched.
I’ve told Justin to meet me out back. He’s anxiously waiting at the rental car we got. I didn’t let him come with me. I think he’ll lose it when he sees her again. He’s at the end of his rope, and he’s never been the patient one in the family.
When the man opens the door there are several women in the room, all of them have their faces covered with a black sack. Their all naked, and they’re all marked with a number.
When my eyes land on the black numbers marking my sister, I take off my suit jacket. I walk to her and try to be calm about it, as I help her slip it on. I don’t take hold of the leash, but her hand, and pull her out – away from this hellhole.
I keep quiet until we’re outside. Once the back door closes behind us I turn to Andrea and pull the sack off her head. Her eyes are downcast, her hands hanging at her sides. I unclasp the collar around her neck and throw it all to the floor. I take a moment to button the jacket up with trembling fingers, so it doesn’t open by accident.
And then I just look at her. I drink in her pretty face. And I let the tears come. She’s taller than I remember, and much thinner.