Chapter 1 - Cold night

    The cold and dark night went by pretty slowly. I sat with my knees to my chest and my head tucked between my legs. I couldn't lie down as the cell was occupied with other people like me. My stomach let out a loud growl. Hunger. I hadn't eaten in over three days. My legs hurt badly from walking and the scars from the whips I had gotten, still looked fresh. I closed my eyes to sleep but the rats wouldn't stop nibbling on my toes and the mosquitoes hummed in my ears continuously. 

I needed to sleep because we would have to continue the journey.

Closing my eyes, I slept but a few minutes later....

"Get up you miserable beings" A man with a long plaited beard whipped the cell doors making us all jump up from the floor in shock and fear. 

"Get in line.." he yelled as though we were deaf. I hurried to stay on the line before I got whipped again. I stood still as a chain was placed around my neck and on my hands and then moved to the girl behind me. 

I looked to see a woman, still sleeping. I feared for her as the giant man walked up to her and landed a hot whip on her rough dry skin. I flinched as the whip landed on her back but she didn't move. 

"This one's dead..." the man said indifferently to another man and walked away. Dead? I felt my heart race faster. 

"Move it losers.." another man shouted, so I dropped my thoughts aside to avoid being whipped again. 

We were all girls. Some of us were either sold to these men or our villages were attacked and we were taken forcefully. As for me, I was sold by my over-religious mother who thought I was a witch, due to my odd white hair and different eye colour. The men hopped on their horses and moved slowly while dragging us along with the chains attached to our necks and hands. 

My throat suddenly began to burn and I felt like I would fall due to hunger and thirst but I had to continue walking. My life depended on it.

My gaze remained lowered as I was scared to even look up. I was particularly scared because of my weird eye colour. I've been called different names, from witch to monster because of it.

After hours and hours of walking, it was dark again.

"Alright... stop" he hailed and we stopped immediately. We were somewhere in the woods and a cave was just beside a river.

"Take off your rags and get in the water," he said again.

"Five minutes or else...." he shouted and demonstrated throat-slitting with his fingers. I felt shivers down my spine. I rushed into the water and took my rags off over my head. I didn't care if the water was clean enough to drink but I drank it to cool down my burning chest. I rubbed my body with my hands to remove the dirt and washed my dirty hair; it was so dirty that I had even forgotten the colour. The fresh whip cuts hurt as I bathed and the slave mark made with a burning rod hurt as badly. I looked to see the men looking at us laughing and licking their lips. They even pointed at several girls including me. I took my rag and rinsed it in the water before putting it back on and stepping out of the water. 

"Change into these..." the head trader said as he shared the clothes with each one of us. Mine was a short flared gown, just on my thighs with a v-neck. 

I could see the others taking off their rags but I hesitated. I couldn't just go all naked in front of these disgusting men. 

"Not yet…. when we are about to leave tomorrow" he yelled and I felt relieved of not having to undress in front of six merciless men. 

They went into the cave and had a fire going while we stayed outside waiting for them to order us into the cave to sleep. I watched them eat and I felt my stomach growl. Not just mine, I could hear others as well. After they finished eating, they finally called us in to sleep. 

"Because you'll be meeting your owners tomorrow, you shouldn't be looking so skinny," the head trader said.

"Nick, get them some fruits, that should fatten them up a little," he said as he yawned. Nick is the assistant slave trader and I find him quite repulsive. 

"Okay, boss..." He said as he faced us.

"You...you..you and you, follow me," he said pointing to about four of us, including me. I got up immediately and adjusted my torn dress. 

We followed him and so did four other men. I kept my gaze on the floor as I followed them into the forest. 

"You should've picked five of them, I want in" I heard them discuss.

"You didn't say anything earlier bro" Nick laughed and so did the others.

The man who had been laughed at turned around and began walking away upset. I was beginning to understand what they meant but they wouldn't, right? Their boss said we were all to remain untouched because our buyers wanted it that way. I hoped what I was thinking wasn't true at all.

"Alright stop...take off your clothes" I stopped in my tracks, hoping I heard wrong.

"Didn't you hear me?" Nick yelled, making us all jolt in fear. I could see the girls in tears as they held onto their clothes. I didn't move. This wasn't happening at all. 

"Are you deaf?" Another one shouted as he took the blonde girl by her hair, dragging her to a corner. The girl shrieked in pain as he pinned her to the ground, trying to take off her clothes. She struggled with him and he landed a slap across her face, making her black out. The other men each took a girl, leaving me to Nick. I knew he was gonna take me so before he did, I ran.

"Come back here" he shouted as he pursued me.

I couldn't even run fast due to the extreme pain in my feet, so he caught me in no time.

"How dare you run?" 

He held both my arms as he tried to push me to the ground but I refused to fall. He moved his hands up to my shoulder and squeezed my collarbone. I felt weak, falling to my knees. He took the chance and pushed me to lie down flat on my back. He took off his shirt and I screamed as he tried to take off my clothes. 

"No...no please.." I begged but he didn't stop. 

"NICK.." I heard a loud familiar voice yell. He marched towards Nick who had immediately let go of me.

"I told you the buyers wanted them untouched" he shouted with rage in his eyes.

"Sorry boss" Nick apologised, putting his shirt back on. 

"Sorry for yourself...you shortened the slaves by two people" he sighed.

"Go find yourself another job Nick, cause you're fired"