SIX

ARIA

My eyes scanned the bathroom for the tenth time, checking to make sure I didn’t leave any spot unattended. It looked perfect to me but I doubt Mrs. Brown would be pleased with the result. She is never pleased with anything and I learned that within two days of working with her. I spent the last four hours scrubbing this particular toilet because Mrs. Brown wanted it perfect, as it was situated in the master’s bedroom of her mansion, and she spends most of her time in here than in her actual bedroom according to her. 

I looked longingly at the bathroom again. What I would give to have a proper shower in a bathroom so luxurious. It is even bigger than the living room in my house! 

Sweat trickled down my forehead, chest, under arms, and even my thighs. I’m exhausted. Within the last three days, I have taken up all kinds of jobs I could get my hands on to make money, and so has Audrey and my mum too. Thankfully, Pablo hasn’t stopped by to harass us after that day, but time is running out, and we haven’t raised so much.

I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and using a clean towel, I dabbed at the sweat running down my forehead and neck before yanking the apron from my body and discarding the hand gloves I had on. I placed them into the small trolley that contained my cleaning equipment and turned to leave, and to my surprise, Mrs. Brown stood with her back leaning against the doorframe, admiring her perfectly manicured nails.

“I see you enjoy spending time in my bathroom too,” Mrs. Brown says coolly in her non-rhotic British accent, her eyes not leaving her hands.

I was hoping to be gone before she came back, but that isn’t going to happen now. “I was just about leaving,” 

She ignores me and pushes inside the bathroom to survey, her red heels clicking on the expensive tiles. How she manages to wear heels day in and day out is a mystery I do not wish to unravel. These rich people pride themselves on doing the most uncomfortable things to look classy, and that is something I would never understand.

She trailed her fingers along the sink, tiles, shower compartment, the bathtub, and almost everything in the bathroom.

“Better than yesterday, but still not good enough” she says with an unimpressed tone “Come,” she waves her hands and leads me to her bedroom, then squeezes a few dollar bills into my palms. “I will be having some guests over tomorrow evening, so I may not be needing your services,” she dismissed me.

I swallowed my disappointment and just nod my head. I needed the money, I didn’t need a day’s break, but I have no say in the matter. I tucked the cash in my back pockets and thanked her before leaving. 

I made my way downstairs and took in a whiff of air when my phone starts to vibrate inside my handbag. Searching frantically for it, I finally found it just in time before it went to voicemail. I can’t see the caller because of the purplish blob right in the middle and the many cracks on the screen. My mum gave me this phone on my thirteenth birthday and it is long overdue for a change. 

“Where are you? It's late” came mum’s concerned voice.

“Hello mum,” I say wryly “I just finished for the day. I’ll catch a cab home,” I lied. I wasn’t willing to spend half of what I’d just earned for the day on a taxi, so I already made up my mind I was going to walk the distance to the house. My mum doesn’t need to know that so she doesn’t get any more worried than she already is.

“Hurry up Aria, or else your dinner gets cold,” she scolds.

“Alright mum,” I hung up and hastened my footsteps. I’d just taken a few more steps when I stopped, startled. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and goosebumps climbed up my skin as a shiver ran down my spine. 

Turning around swiftly, I realized the roads were getting deserted. Shop owners had retired for the day, and asides from two other homeless beggars on the streets, I was the only one trying to get home. 

The traffic light ahead changed colours like a disco light, without anyone available to pay it any attention. The street was dead silent. I grabbed my phone again to check the time, but to my horror, the battery had shut down. I cursed and doubled my steps.

I start to feel eyes on me, and the feeling was followed by quiet footsteps behind me. Yet when I looked back, I saw no one. My heartbeat quickened. My mind is either playing tricks on me or I’m just being outrightly silly. So, I try to talk myself into calming down, but the more I tried to banish the thought, the stronger the feeling hunted me.

“Hello, is anyone there?” I yelled, but the echo of my voice was the only response I got. I rubbed my temples and continued walking. At this point, I will gladly take a taxi if I see one, but unfortunately the streets are already deserted. “stop overreacting,” I whispered to myself.

It will take another thirty minutes of walking for me to get to my house, and the further I walked, the darker the streets became. I’d left the perfectly tarred streets to the underdeveloped ones. It wasn’t helping matters that a couple of street lights were missing. I hugged my hand bag to my chest and shuddered. But then, I hear the footsteps again, this time louder and closer. I wasn’t imagining this, I was being followed.

I took to my heels and sprinted as fast as my feet could carry me, my chest rising and falling rapidly with my bag clutched tightly to them. The further I ran, the more the footsteps drew closer. Now I was sure I was being followed by more than one person, but two. I didn’t dare look back for fear that would slow me down but it wasn’t long before they caught up with me.

Pain washed over me when a hard fist tugged at my hair and sent me crashing to the ground as I fell backward with my butts hitting the ground first, then my elbows grazing the hard floor, and finally my head.

I yelped and rolled over to my side almost immediately, ignoring the pain on my elbow and back head, but my eyes met with dark dusty boots and there was no escaping for me.

I scrambled to stand, but those boots pinned me back to the ground again, and the stabbing pain I felt in my stomach from the impact caused a groan to escape my lips. What chance did I stand against two hefty men? None.

When I tried to look, they both had face masks on. The larger of them crouches beside me and I shield my face with my arms to protect myself from any possible attack.

He starts to laugh, revealing his rotten, smoke-stained teeth, and his colleague joins in. The sound repulsed me, and I didn’t hide the irritation on my face. I have heard that laugh before, and how could I forget the cold eyes with the wicked glint staring down at me? he starts to pull off his mask slowly, and I suck in a sharp breath when my eyes are met with Pablo’s.

“You don’t look too happy to see me, princess,” he smiled down at me.

I tried to stand up again, but he pushes me back roughly to the floor.

“What do you want?” I ask with as much courage as I could muster. This could be the end for me, for all I know. I didn’t have as much courage as I did when they had come to visit and taken my father’s tiny finger with them. I was at their mercies and they could do to me as they please.

“You see, that’s the feistiness I want in my bed,” he laughed, looking up to his colleague who nodded his agreement.

He brushes a mass of hair from my face and I jerked my head away from his touch in disgust, bile already forming in my throat.

“I’m taking you home with me tonight. Since your family cannot raise my money, I’m going to have to take you home to warm my bed. You and your big sister will pleasure me in a threesome for as long as I want. Why have one when I can have the two of you, huh?” he starts to pull me up.

“Leave me alone you asshole,” I screamed, wriggling my arms to free from his grasp, but his colleague had grabbed my second free arm, both dragging me with the same force.

“Stop!” An unfamiliar voice commanded just a few feet away from us. They froze, and all three of us turn in the direction of the voice “Leave the girl alone,”