Chapter 7

Terror all over her face. 'Ah' she was done for. 'Please don't come out.'

"Ted! Ya' here… Look what we found."

Another man walked in.

"What?" he grumbled.

The man named Ted walked down the stairs. He looked at the girl in front of him.

Her body was shaking, and droplets of tear falls down her cheek. Her eyes were wet, yet there was something about it that tickled his heart.

He snickered. 'Can't believe I hit a jackpot.' The moment he saw her, he knew. This girl is going to be a hit.

One of the men said, "Ted, don't ya' think we can sell her? She's cute, ya' know…"

Ted grinned. "Take her, wait… hide her. Can't let that Wayne caught on to this. He'll just killed her anyway. Tch, that guy don't know how to have fun at all."

"Yeah, if that guy didn't killed the other kids, we could sell lot already. Such a wet blanket."

"He's a wet blanket but he didn't get wet."

The men laughed. One was holding his stomach, and another was wiping his tear.

Ted added, "That brat's too dry."

They continue laughing.

One of the men stopped, and turned to stare at Aretha.

"At least we got one."

Aretha's face turned pale. 'They didn't get away.'

"Kid, just follow us obediently, ya' get it. We don't wanna scratch on that cute little face of your."

The man step closer. "Urgh." He squinted his eye. A sharp pain on his thigh. He looked down. A little boy was biting his thigh. He shoved the boy away. The little boy fall down to the ground.

Another boy stood in from of Aretha, spreading his arm, protecting her. "Don't bully our sister."

Aretha shouted, "Cole! Peter!"

The boy on the ground ran toward Aretha and hugged her.

The other three girl came out of their hiding place and ran toward Aretha. "Sister!"they shouted.

"You guys!" Aretha embraced the children.

A man whistled. "Look what we got."

"Must be our luck, huh."

"The little girls won't sell much, but with these face, we could get a lot, no?"

"What about the boys then?"

"They still got their worth."

Ted chuckled. "All of them got their price. I know the place."

"Oh! Ya' mean, there?"

"Just don't touched them. They are pricier when they're still pure… especially that one." He pointed toward Aretha.

"Um, Ted… How do we hide them?"

Ted looked around the room. He pointed toward a wooden box. "Put them in that box."

"This time, we board on one ship, won't they—"

"What? Check the box? Tell them it's mine! Who dare to take what's mine?"

"Oh… alright."

"Covered them with materials worth money."

"Got it."

"Make sure no words get out, or I'll kill you myself."

"We know…"

Ted walked out leaving the four men with the task.

"Geez, he always make us do his dirty work."

"That oldie was just jealous of Wayne."

"Bet he still bitter. Wayne got it all, after that, you know."

"Urgh, how many years already."

"Well, ain't gonna blame him there. Gotta say, we can't do lots, since that Wayne became the boss, you know."

"You two get the box, I'm gonna get something to cover up. You, looked after the kids, put them in the box."

"Kids, be nice." He grinned with a dirty old man look.

The robust looking man grabbed the kids and put them in the box.

"This one got a nice skin," the man said while holding Aretha's arm.

"Ted said not to touch ya', didn't said not to get off from ya'." He smirked.

Aretha shuddered, seeing the gaze the man gave her. She was reminded with passage from a book she once read, 'men are more moral than they think, and far more immoral than they can imagine.'

***

Ted stood on the pile of crushed flower in the garden. He whistled. A bird flew closer to him, and landed on his arm.

The bird carried a brown cute little bag on its back. Ted put a letter inside the bag. The bird flew away.

He felt satisfied. It had been quite a few years since he involved in human trading. 'I should have done this more often.'

The year Wayne took over the position as the leader of their pirates group, they were force to stop any activities involving human smuggling, trafficking, and trading. He took upon himself to enact a new rules on the ship.

What makes him angrier was the fact that the position as the leader was supposed to be his. Yet, Wayne killed the previous leader and took it for himself.

He was furious but at the same time terrified. They were ranked based on strength. Wayne was stronger then all of them together. No one dare to oppose him, not even he.

He once felt the shame for having to be under a fresh young man, but, the live as a pirate was all he know. It takes time and money to start all over again, and he was unwilling to devote any.

The route he chose, was to follow the rule, but, sometimes, rule are meant to be broken. Every now and then, he would secretly did what he was not supposed to do.

Ted reached the inner pocket of his jacket, and took out a small, thin silver bottle. He uncapped the bottle and took a gulp.

One of the four men came out of the house. "Ted, finished."

"Carry them out."

***

Her stomach turned upside down. There was a lump in her throat begging to come out. She felt dizzy.

"Sister, will you be alright?" Peter said, stroking her back.

Her face was pale, and her lips turned blue. "I'll be fine." She smiled.

She furrowed her eyebrows, bit her lower lip, and clenched her fist as the image of the robust man earlier flashed through her mind. 'Disgusting piece of trash.' When the man was pleasuring himself in front of her face, she had a surging urge to stab him to death. But, she couldn't. She gave the remaining knife to Calix and the other three boys.

She was at least glad that the other children did not have to witness such obscenity.

She looked at the children crouching together in such a small and confined space. There was nothing she could do to take away their discomfort.

The children were shivering. Was it the cold or fear or was it both? Their eyes were red and puffy. How long had they been crying for? Their nose was red, and traces of dried snot could be seen.

"Sister Rere…" Lucy whimpered with her coarse little voice. A bubble of snot peeked out from her little red nose.

Aretha took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wipe the girl's nose. "Yes?"

"Has mommy and daddy gone to heaven?"

Aretha stilled. Her heart throbbed. She could not smile, yet she curved her lips up. "Why would you think they're in heaven?"

"The scary uncles said they died." Tears swelling in her eyes. "My daddy said that when good people die, they go to heaven. Mommy, daddy, and everyone is good people, so they will go to heaven."

How cruel can a person be, to let a child understand the concept of death at such a young age. Aretha pursed her lips. She patted the girl's head.

"What you didn't see might not happen. A miracle could happen. Who knows."

"Sister…" Peter murmured. Peter was only half of Aretha's age, but he was the smartest kid among his peer, thus he knew. He knew that there was no miracle. He knew they had lost their families, their homes.

"Peter, you know, when our world is as black as the darkest night, hope is like the stars shining light, giving us guide. Everything will be fine."

Peter nodded. He wipes away the remaining tears swelling in his eyes and the snot dripping from his nose. He bumped with Cole on his side.

They were moved again. Aretha peeked from a tiny hole and saw a humongous ship. She saw people. "HELP!" she shouted. But none of those people react.

"Sister?" Peter was confused. They had already tried to scream for help but, there they were, cramped still.

"Nothing. I was just confirming my suspicion." She continued to peek, hoping to gain some clue. They moved again. They were placed in a bedroom. There was a single bed, but that was all she could see.

After some time later, she heard a rattling. She looked up. Someone was opening the box. The piercing light stabbed her eyes. She groaned. She blinked her eyes few time before she could felt a rough calloused hand grabbed her.