Chapter 3

  "Get up!", I hear as I'm being nudged in the side by a heavy boot. "We haven't got all day to wait on you to get ready! The stands are just full of stallions chomping at the bit for the chance to get at a fresh new pony."

  Stands and stallions and ponies? What is he talking about? I'm barely awake and we're already talking about animals? Ah, the auction. I guess I'm being sold with livestock. Have I been sold to a farmer? Perhaps he breeds horses. Before I'm even fully coherent, I'm taken by the arms and pulled up to a standing position. This time, I can feel that there is one person on each side of me. I do my best to gain an understanding of my situation. The hands on my arms aren't as large or rough as the brute man's. Perhaps they belong to women? And I sense another presence somewhere behind me, so there are at least four people here.

  "The knife.", the same voice calls out from his position in front of me.

  Knife? Wait, what knife? What's happening? He doesn't need a knife! I'm supposed to go to a farm, not my grave! What happened to the stallions and ponies? Does this mean I was the meat he was referring to? Am I going to die here? And who would dare devour the flesh of a fellow human? Shaking off the remaining haze of drowsiness and dehydration, I tug away from the man and nearly fall backwards, but the unwelcome hands on my arms prevent me from going any further. My only option is to beg for mercy. He's shown me none thus far, but I've got to at least give it a try!

  "Please don't kill me! I promise you, this is all a misunderstanding!", I shout.

  "Misunderstanding?", he growls before starting to snicker. "And what sort of misunderstanding would we have, my dearie?"

  "I beg of you, ask my father! I have no uncle! We have no family! It's only my father and I! It always has been! I don't even have a mother, let alone an uncle!", I make my plea.

  "Make no mistake little girl.", the man huffs. "Your father did have a brother. And a brother with a gambling problem, at that! It's such a pity you'll never get to know him though. He had an unfortunate accident while running away from his punishment. Luckily for us, he had a special little notebook with him when we finally tracked him down. That is how we found you... And YOU are how we're gonna get our money back to pay his debts!"

  I make an attempt to argue but before I can utter a single word back, my blindfold is ripped off and the yellow light of the lanterns burns my pupils, which have been protected by darkness for far too long. Bowing my head away from the light, I blink and squint until I can see clearly again. The man comes closer to me and leans down to look me in the eyes, a sly grin crossing his crooked, sun cracked lips. The evil seeping from him steals the breath from my lungs.

  "So sorry about your father though. He couldn't be of any further use, so we sent him to meet his long lost brother. I'm just a sucker for reunions, you know."

  Sent him... What did he just say? Does that mean he... My father is... My father can't be dead! It's not true! It just can't be! Those last words cut me deeper than the knife in the man's hand possibly ever could. So lost in my own disbelief, I don't even notice the man bend down and grab the hem of my dirty, tattered nightgown. But the sound of fabric being torn pulls me back to my senses and I instinctively try to pull away, forgetting that I'm being held in place by who I can now see are two women much older than myself. They grip me tighter as I fight against their grasps.

  "Don't touch me!", I try to scream at the man, but my mouth is quickly covered by the mysterious third person behind me, just out of my range of sight.

  Curse them all with the full wrath of the heavens! All that is done in this life shall be paid for in the life that comes after, and I will never stop praying to all of the stars that they're all punished for their crimes. My skin crawls as the man continues to cut all the way up until my gown falls completely open. Once I'm fully exposed, he stands at his full height and looks me dead in my fiery eyes. Though my mouth is covered, my sapphire blue orbs dance with burning blue blazes and I hope he can see clearly the hatred and disgust in my gaze.

  "Don't you worry that pretty little head of yours. You're worth more to me if you're untouched. These rich fellas really have a thing for virgins. I'll leave you for your new master to deflower.", he spits, coming close enough to rub against me as I clench my fists and shut my eyes tightly. "No matter how much I'm just dyin' to put you face down on that table right there and show you what a real man can do to that tiny little..."

  He cuts his sentence short as he slices through the straps and my dress falls off of me, freezing cold air biting every inch of my bare skin. Before the cloth hits the floor, I feel his hand grab my panties. I fling my eyes open and try to fight the women off, but I know in my heart that it's pointless. The last shred of dignity I've been clinging to is swiftly cut away, and tossed aside onto the dirty floor, followed by the bindings on my ankles. He takes a step back as I stand there, fully naked on display in front of him and all the others to gawk at.

  "Bathe her and make her up real nice, ladies. We'll get a hefty price for her today. I can feel it!", he says as he turns and leaves the room, closing and locking the door loudly behind him.

  All I can do was weep as I'm scrubbed and washed. The soapy water hurts my wounds, but it's nothing compared to the pain of losing my father. No more tears come, but I cry nonetheless. The women clean and scrub every inch of me while I sit powerless in the wooden washtub. Let me drown in the water, drown in my grief! Not only have I just lost the only person I've ever had in this world, but I've never known such humiliation. Not a single man has ever laid a hand on me before, ever seen my bare skin. And now, I could do nothing to defend myself, to protect my honor, as I was being violated in such a way that made me feel sick to my stomach.

  'I'll leave you for your new master to deflower.' His words replay in my head. Deflower... What does he mean by that? Never mind! I don't want to know! There's no way that it can be anything good, coming from vermin like him. Feeling myself being pulled out of the tub, that thought is interrupted. The women sit me down on a wooden stool in front of a mirror. One of them begins brushing my long hair, another rubs a kind of floral scented oil on my legs. I bite my bottom lip and only allow myself to look at my own face. The entire time, I try to stare deeply into my own eyes, blue as Mama's sapphire ring that Father held in his hands every time he'd hide away and cry.

  He didn't know I had seen him. But of course I did. He missed her dearly. Father loved Mama more than life itself. I wonder if they can finally be together again now that he has returned to the heavens. My painful thoughts return to me. Father has always told me that I'm a rare beauty, but looking at my slim face in the mirror, I'm not so sure. My already fair skin has become even more pale. Is it from lack of rest? Food? Water? Water! I almost forgot about my thirst! Now that the man is gone, maybe I can convince one of the women to give me a drink of water.

  "Please...", I speak to the woman holding the tray with a brush and some things that resemble paint. "May I please have a drink of water?"

  She looks around nervously and nods silently, giving me a cup filled with the most glorious tasting water I've had in my life. It's not clear like the water from the streams at home, but I gulp the cool liquid down so quickly that I start to cough. It wets my throat but there will never be enough water in the world to quench this thirst. As I continue to cough, she takes the cup and fills it again, handing it back to me, full to the brim. I make eye contact with her and her eyes are full of woe. I don't know why, but I feel ashamed and I feel inclined to look away. I don't want her pity. All I wanted was a drink.

  I close my eyes as another much older woman paints on my face. When I finally open them again, my eyelashes have turned black and my lips are moistened with a transparent, yet glossy pink liquid. Now, my eyelids are shimmery and pink and my cheeks are colored too. I would never be able to tell by looking at my painted face that I'm exhausted, hungry, and dehydrated. After she finishes drawing on me, she nods to the woman who gave me water and she comes toward me. In her arms is a tray holding a plain white piece of cloth and a smaller piece of fabric folded up into a tidy little parcel.

  "Wear this", she says.

  I snatch up the larger piece, holding it to my chest, if for no other reason than as a means to cover my breasts, which have been exposed for far too long already. After glancing around the room to glare at everyone who dares to stare at me while I dress, I look down at the fabric in my hands but it does not resemble any piece of clothing I have ever seen. It's just a thin tube of cloth. Where is the rest of it? Did it get eaten by moths in this cold, dirty room? And why is it white? Any other color would be better suited for farm labor. I decide to put my questions aside for now and just wear it. It's the only thing I've got right now, after all.

  "How am I supposed to wear this?", I ask the woman holding the tray.

  "I'll help you.", she whispers, gently pulling me up by the arm. "He's brought panties too. Put your feet in, quickly. He'll be coming for you any moment. Don't let him hear you talking. Please, just get dressed quietly so all of us can stay out of trouble!"

  Trouble? Why would she be in trouble? Isn't she on his side? No matter. Not wanting him to see my exposed body again, I quickly follow her instructions. I slide in one foot, then the other, and pull them up around my hips. Then she slips the larger piece of cloth over my head and arms. It doesn't even cover my belly button. How can someone call this clothing? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Are there people who actually dress this way? Do they not get cold? The sound of the door unlocking sends shivers down my spine and I take a step back, out of instinct. The door creaks open and the man looks me up and down with lust in his eyes.

  "Come on then, before I get any ideas."