1. Used as collateral

“Damn! It hurts so much,” she complained as the tip of her index finger touched the corner of her bleeding lips. The girl winced.

The wound was not only on the corner of her lips but also on several parts of her face. The girl’s hair was getting messy, her appearance was also messy. One of her hands was holding a black plastic bag.

“Damn! I want to get out of this hell,” the girl said again while grumbling on the dark road to her house after buying a drink for her father. “You old Bangka. Why don’t you just die?” The girl was talking to herself, of course, because when her father was there, it was impossible to curse or curse the drunkard, or her body would be destroyed.

Taking a deep breath. The girl directed her gaze forward, to the dark road that was only lit by a lamp from a distance.

“My fate is really unfortunate,” the girl complained then. “I have to get away from that drunkard. How could a father be so cruel to his child? I’m sick of it!” Helga sneered and then chuckled, laughing at her unfortunate life and her cowardly courage.

The twenty-five-year-old girl had long planned to run away but always failed. Having a drunkard father was not easy for Helga, who was beaten almost every day by the depraved man. He was not only a drunkard, but also a gambler. All the money Helga had collected had been spent. How could the girl not be unfortunate?

On the way home after buying the alcoholic drinks her father asked for, Helga was startled by a loud noise from the front. The girl was frozen in place when she witnessed something unexpected. Two cars collided on a deserted road, making Helga speechless. No, it was not an accident. The positions of the two cars looked strange.

As if knowing someone was watching, the black car behind the white car that had hit the big tree immediately left there, running away.

"Hey!" Helga shouted to the driver of the black car, which of course could not be heard.

The girl ran towards the white car whose front was emitting smoke. The front of the car was destroyed after hitting the big tree in front of it. Helga peeked out the car window to make sure. A woman was sitting behind the wheel, unconscious with wounds on her face.

"Miss?" Helga called. The girl banged on the car window but there was no answer from the woman. "Miss, wake up!" Helga shouted. The girl panicked, all she could think about was getting the woman out.

Helga looked here and there, there was no one there, it was just quiet. Helga knew no one would pass that way in the early hours of the morning.

"Damn it!" the girl cursed. Throwing black plastic carelessly, Helga tried to get the woman out and save her. The sound of splashes from the car was heard, Helga thought the car was going to explode.

Helga tried her best, and when she managed to break the car window and open the door, the difficulty Helga experienced was getting the trapped woman out. The air from the front of the car was getting thicker which indicated the danger before her eyes.

"Oh, come on. You have to hold on," Helga said while checking the pulse on the woman's neck. The pulse was very slow.

Once again, until the girl managed to save the woman, Helga would try her best. When she finally managed to save the woman, Helga carried her away along a loud explosion was heard and the car caught fire. Helga gasped, automatically protecting the woman who was now in her lap.

"Miss?" The girl patted the unconscious woman's cheek. Blood was pouring from the woman's head area. "Did you hear me?" Helga asked as the woman moved slowly.

However, all the woman did was raise her hand and then remove the silver necklace that was around her neck. Helga just watched in silence.

"Take this," the woman said softly and stuttered. "Find Zean." The woman's gaze was fixed straight on Helga's face. Oddly enough, the woman smiled very widely amid her pain. One of her hands reached out to touch Helga's right cheek. "Helga, nice to meet you. Sorry, I hope you're happy." That was all the woman said before her hand fell on Helga's lap and her eyes closed.

"Miss?" Helga panicked trying to wake the woman up. But there was no response at all. The place was quiet and dark. Helga couldn't ask for help, screaming wouldn't be of any use because no one would hear. In the end, the girl was only able to remain silent, afraid, and confused with the woman's hands covered in blood.

Helga didn't understand how the woman could say her name. Did the woman know her? But who? Suddenly Helga's chest hurt, her eyes stung and strangely the girl cried as if she recognized the unconscious woman in her lap.

***

"Damn it!" Helga cursed again while throwing things in her house.

The wounds on her face increased because her father was furious after finding out that Helga didn't bring the drink he wanted. The drunkard went crazy and beat Helga mercilessly. It was useless for Helga to learn self-defense if she couldn't fight her crazy father.

The girl cried silently, grumbling incoherently. Her body hurt, let alone her heart which always hoped to escape the trap of poverty and her father's torture. Her house was messy and rickety. Helga was tired of lamenting her fate so the girl just stayed in the house with a thin mat. Her house was always messy, it was useless for Helga to clean it up because the loan sharks would come to collect her father's debt and destroy everything in her house.

"Helga!"

Helga got up from her seat. Her body was disheveled and messy with many wounds on her face. The girl tried to hide as footsteps approached quickly.

"Helga!" The voice called her name again, making the girl very scared. "Damn it! Why didn't you answer, huh?" Along with his appearance, the man shouted angrily.

"What?" Helga shouted back, making the man furious, and immediately pulled Helga's hair easily.

"Are you fighting me?" the man snapped.

Helga screamed. The man let go of Helga's hair roughly, making the girl stagger.

"Hey, hurry up and pack your things," the man said suddenly, making Helga turn her head. "Quickly pack your things. Someone is coming to pick you up."

Helga was silent but not for long because her father immediately pulled the girl into his dark room, forcing Helga to pack her things carelessly and then dragging the girl out of the house.

The drunk man's smile grew wider when they were on the porch. Helga was still wincing in pain because her father's grip was too tight.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen," the man said in a controlled tone.

Helga's gaze was fixed ahead, towards a group of people in black suits with large bodies and fierce faces. Helga looked at her father who was smiling broadly.

"We're taking Miss. All the money is in that suitcase," said a man standing in front. The man was thin with sunglasses perched on his nose. The man gestured to the person behind him, and the man gave him a small black suitcase.

Helga's father immediately opened the suitcase to make sure what was inside. Not only did the man roll his eyes, but Helga did too. Rows of money were neatly arranged in the suitcase in an amount that could not possibly be small.

“Father, what is that?” asked Helga who approached. However, the man brushed her off roughly, glaring sharply at Helga.

“You don’t need to know,” said the drunk man.

“Father!”

“Sir, this letter must be signed as an agreement,” said the thin man as he approached Helga’s father while carrying a piece of paper.

The drunk man immediately took the pen from the thin man and signed it immediately.

“What do you mean, Father? What agreement?” Helga wanted to know, but no one explained.

As soon as he finished signing the letter with Helga’s father’s fingerprints. The man didn’t care at all, all he cared about was the money in the suitcase.

“Come, Miss. The Young Master is waiting,” said the thin man.

“What do you mean, sir?” Helga did not accept it and took a few steps back as the man approached. “I will not leave until I get an explanation,” said Helga.

The thin man took off his sunglasses and stared at Helga. “Your father made a deal with our master to give you a guarantee. In return, we pay your father to pay off his debt, and you must come with us.”

Helga couldn’t believe it and stared at her father angrily. Did the man sell his child?

“What? Haven’t you always wanted to leave this house? So just go. I’m sick of seeing you useless,” the man said and immediately left Helga who could only stay silent in her place.