Chapter Two

❝ Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. ❞

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WARNING: this chapter may contain mentions of rape,child trafficking and suicide.

Read at your own risk.

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Beatrice felt worse than she had ever felt before. Her lungs felt as if they were about to collapse any second now and her throat was sore. Her legs shook and the bruises weren't healing as they were supposed to. The best thing about her being sick was how they hadn't came for her yet.

She rubbed her stomach slowly.

The door opened harshly and with it chaos followed. The women and children around her began screaming, each dreading being chosen. The three burly men who walked inside scanned the room until their eyes landed on a scrawny looking kid beside Beatrice. His eyes were wide open as he began crawling his way backwards until his back came in contact with the wall. From then on, he was an easy target.

They grabbed him and began carrying him outside. No one moved, no one took a breath and no one looked. His screams echoed throughout the apartment building long before he was gone.

Beatrice knew it was her mind playing tricks on her, they wouldn't have let him scream too much. Someone could hear.

Tears trailed fast down her face, she hiccuped with a hand over her mouth. Faith was always worse for boys. Boys couldn't cry or they'd be punished. One sliver of emotion and they'd be killed. Boys were meant to be strong so they could be recruited. Girls weren't. Girls only existed to serve and please.

But Beatrice was smart. Smart and small. She also always noticed the details everyone failed to miss.

Among the commotion, they had forgotten to lock the door. Whether it was a test or not, she wasn't sure but she also knew that after two years, she wasn't giving up now.

Beatrice stood up slowly. Barely anyone was paying attention to her. All around her, children cried harshly, huddled in corners wondering when their time was going to come. Older teenagers cuddled smaller babies and even some older women checked the pregnant girls but Beatrice was different. She was special and no one was to touch her.

Matt himself had guaranteed that for her from the moment she was brought. He found her clients and he sold her. Him and only him.

She made herself seem small. As she moved along the wall, she hid behind the others. They were taller than her. As she neared the door, she peeked her head out. One guard was standing a few feet away from the door. She knew their schedules, she had studied them. At exactly 1pm, the guards would go on a break and switch shifts. The switch took exactly 3 minutes which was enough time for her to run down the stairs and into the vacant apartment.

Beatrice waited patiently until the guard left and raced down the stairs. As soon as she heard movement, she opened the door and stepped inside in a rush. She closed the door slowly behind her and began to step away from it.

At only 6 years old, Beatrice had survived and learned more than any other girl of her age. She knew the punishment that awaited her if she ever tried to run again. An exact reason on why she needed to be long gone before they came to count them.

She peeked through the window at the exact same moment a guard walked past on his daily routine. She hid flat against the wall in a hurry, hoping and praying that he hadn't seen her. As it seemed, god was on her side as the guard moved along without looking at her.

She waited a few minutes more and once she was sure he had rounded the building, she opened the window carefully and slipped outside. She crouched for a few seconds. No one came and so Beatrice bolted.

She ran until she couldn't breathe. She ran until her inside felt like they were collapsing on her and when she couldn't run no more, she blended with the crowd. For such a small child, it wasn't hard. Everyone was too busy with their phones to glance at her.

She looked around. The wind on her face felt like hope and freedom. She reached her hand up and allowed it to bask in the sun. She smiled for the first time in nine years.

She moved forward, not once stopping even if her feet burned and her stomach churned. She would walk for days if it meant not going back.

By the time night fell, Beatrice came across a house. The house itself was beautiful but what truly captivated her were the children. The free children who played in their living room with toys she had never seen. She moved closer to watch, entranced by the beauty of the lights and the children.

She pressed her face against the glass and smiled, a feeling similar to joy filling her up.

But the feeling didn't last long.

The mother of the family noticed her and yelled at her husband. Beatrice tried to run, she really had but in the end it had been hopeless. She was exhausted and hungry. She couldn't outrun a grown man but she could scream and she did. She screamed like her life depended on it because in the end it really did. She clawed his arms and bit his hands but nothing seemed to work.

⸻ "Honey! Honey! We're not going to hurt you!" The mother said.

Beatrice said nothing and continued to scream. Even if she wanted to say something, no one had taught her how.

The woman lowered herself to Beatrice's level and smiled. A kind smile that Beatrice found suspicious. Truthfully she had never seen one of those.

⸻ "Are you hungry? We have food and warm clothes to give you if you want." She spoke in hushed whispers, afraid to startle Beatrice.

⸻ "Food." She repeated, pointing towards her stomach.

The woman glanced down at her stomach and nodded.

⸻ "Will you come with me?"

Beatrice nodded once and followed her.

For months, she stayed with the Hartmans. They fed her, clothed her and treated her like their own daughter.

But one day Social Services came and explained to her that she had found her closest relative, her grandmother.

That was the day Beatrice tried to end her life.