Chapter 1: Where Are We?

Sibelle

What happened for me to find myself here chained with other girls, in filthy cells?

Andrea, where is my friend?

- Andrea, Andrea?

- I'm here, Sibelle.

She is in the same cell as me, but just behind. She throws herself into my arms, pulling the chain that hinders her movements.

She starts to cry and so do I.

- Are you okay?

- What happened?

- We were kidnapped.

- Sniff, sniff, sniff, what is going to happen to us?

- Calm down, we will get through this.

- How? We are all chained up, who is going to save us?

We hear armed men approaching, they open the cells, come in, and start pulling us out of the cell.

- Move straight ahead.

We move forward; there are about twenty of us. I ask a girl close to me:

How long have you been here? I'm Sibelle, and you?

- My name is Lupita, I've been here for 3 days. I came to find others who have been here for a week. According to the conversations, they were waiting for us to be numerous to make the auction.

What? They are going to sell us? May the Virgin of Guadalupe help us.

- Quiet down over there, move in silence. Those who are virgins go to the right, the others to the left; we are going to check.

A young blonde girl, about 16 to 27 years old, steps out of line with me; the others go to the other side. I am separated from Andrea, we look at each other with tears in our eyes.

- It's going to be okay, Sibelle. We will get through this; I will do everything to find you.

We arrive in a large room, in the middle is a woman in her fifties who shows us to two girls:

Go wash them, laser hair removal as usual; they must be more than beautiful; we need to get the maximum profit possible from them.

We are led to a large bathroom.

- Undress.

They run a bath; we are set up one after the other, washed, dried, and placed on a table for laser hair removal.

- Excuse me, does it hurt?

They burst out laughing.

- You will certainly feel pain here, but not less than where you are going; that’s what should worry you. Enough chatter, be quiet and let us work; time is running out.

The big boss will arrive soon. Everything must be ready. I lie down and let her do her work, reminiscing about what led me here.

With all this commotion, I haven't introduced myself: my name is Garcia Sibelle Hernandez, I am 21 years old, I study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), I am in my second year. I went out on Saturday night with Andrea to support her because usually, I don't like going out, but that night she kind of forced me.

And here we are. Being sold like slaves.

Where are we? How much time has passed since the kidnapping? Where are we going?

Sibelle Hernandez, no matter how long you stay here, you will have to get out one day; I won't go without you.

- Andrea, you know I don't like going to crowded places; I wouldn't feel comfortable.

- You've never been there; how can you know you don't like it?

- I just know.

I hear the voice of our mutual friend: Rodrigo.

- Hey girls, why are you still in the bathroom? Hurry up, or we will miss the best spots.

- We're coming, just wait a bit, okay?

- Dada!!! How do you find her, Rodrigo?

- She is gorgeous; that mini skirt looks amazing on you.

- Thank you, Rodrigo, that’s kind.

- So, can we go?

- Yes, we can go.

We go down from the floor where our dormitory is, take Rodrigo's car; the club is not very far. We arrive quickly; it’s 11:30 PM, the club is packed, and we look for a good place to sit. Rodrigo goes to get us drinks. The music is loud, too loud for me, but it’s very danceable.

The atmosphere is good; after a few drinks, we decide to go dance.

- Come on, Sibelle, I know you like this song.

- Let’s go.

We sway on the dance floor to the song by Kenzy Girac: Passito.

I feel two hands on my hips and a man pressing against my backside.

I must say I have a huge backside that always attracts attention, but men don’t interest me now; I prefer to focus on my studies. People tell me I am very beautiful, but I think beauty is subjective.

I come from a family of two children: my younger sister and me. We are very religious in the family. My parents instilled moral values in us from a young age: to have the fear of God, to love our neighbor, not to wish evil upon anyone, even if they are your enemy. I grew up in this atmosphere of joy and devotion.

I have known Andrea since elementary school; she is a year older than me, extroverted, very funny, always urging me to step out of my comfort zone.

We wiggle on the dance floor; I join our table to quench my thirst. Before heading back to dance, who would have thought, I love to dance, and I enjoy the atmosphere.

- For someone who didn’t want to come, you sure are having fun.

I’m a bit tipsy; I sit across from her smiling.

- I loved dancing; we should come more often.

- That wouldn’t be a problem; we’ll come back next Saturday, says Rodrigo, who comes to join us with a muscular man.

He likes them with lots of muscles. Rodrigo is gay; his wealthy parents disowned him because of his attraction to men; his father calls him “mamelette.” They follow the same path as us, which is accounting and management, at this university thanks to a scholarship.

We leave the club swaying; Rodrigo has left us; he went off with Mr. Muscles.

- What do we do now?

- We will walk; it’s not that far from the campus.

- But I don’t want to walk.

- You don’t have a choice; there are no taxis at this hour. Come on.

We start to walk slowly, two steps from campus, a vehicle comes speeding and brakes abruptly in front of us, blocking the way. Three armed men get out, lift us up, and throw us into the vehicle.

I wet myself; I’m a huge scaredy-cat; Andrea tries to struggle, but they put cloths soaked in a substance over our noses.

And it’s complete darkness.

I wake up chained in a cell.

What will happen to us? My parents won’t know I’m missing for a while; I call twice a week. And Rodrigo? Will he realize we have been kidnapped? Lord, by your grace, help us.