A Chameleon in Daylight

We arrived safely at the address of the man we had come to see after a long journey. When we arrived at the party venue's entrance, we were stopped by a well built security personnel who requested an entry ticket. I was worried we wouldn't be accepted again, but Angela saved us. She reached into her belt bag and pulled out the ticket, which she handed to him. I caught a glimpse of the ticket and realized it was a VIP pass. Angela was indeed completely prepared for the party. When we finally arrived at the party, it was very noisy, with loud hip-hop music, beautiful decorations, various foods and drinks, and male and female waiters who were there to serve the invited guests whatever they requested. I was surprised to learn that the invited guests were all adults. I had expected it to be a moderate event with a few people our age.

Angela motioned for us to follow her as she moved through the crowd, who were dancing to the rhythm of the music playing in the background. We arrived at the innermost part of the building, which resembled a large living room, with some radiating electric-light bulbs displaying different colors of light, making it difficult for us to see the faces of those around us clearly. However, the most shocking discovery was that the room was only occupied by middle-aged men smoking various sizes of cigarettes. I couldn't breathe in there, and I couldn't see the smokers' faces because the room was partially filled with cigarette smoke. Chioma was coughing profusely because she was just as uncomfortable as I was. No women or teenagers like us were to be found in the room. I quickly looked around and noticed Angela passing from one man to another, whispering something into their ears. Chioma and I stood there, staring at men, unsure what to say or do next. It appeared strange that they were pointing their fingers at us, nodding and smiling amongst themselves. 

A few minutes later, two hefty men entered the large room and captured Chioma and I. Each of them forcefully carried us on their shoulders and began leading us to another inner room that connected to the large one the men were occupying. We started screaming at the top of our lungs, slapping and biting the muscular men to get away from them. We had no idea what had happened to Angela because she was smiling as we were carried away by these men. We were suffocated by a strong substance, causing us to lose consciousness along the way.

When we finally regained consciousness, we were exhausted and unable to move our feet. I had no idea how long we must have stayed there. It was only a few seconds before I looked around and realized we weren't alone. There were about eighteen other teenage girls lying around us. They appeared weak and hopeless. A few of them were as thin as rakes. They couldn't talk or move. We then entered a large room that resembled a dungeon. Chioma clutched me tightly, as we both appeared terrified of where we were being led. The door was locked, and there was no ventilation except for the electric light bulb, which lit up the room.

Soon, we heard voices and footsteps approaching the room, the door creaked open, and two hefty men walked in, including a very gigantic dark man in his late 50s, followed by Angela, who entered majestically last. We had no idea what was going on, but all I needed was to get out of the room. Mr. Jerry Dele, the massive dark man, carefully examined our faces while attempting to caress our hairs, but we managed to crawl to the other side of the room. Angela remained silent and gave us a mischievous smile. She appeared calm and unconcerned about the man who was attempting to harass us.

"I like the girls. You did well, Amara, my dear." Mr. Jerry complimented Angela with a terrifying smile on his face. 

"Amara?" I repeated the name out of confusion. 

Mr. Jerry, dressed in a blue suit, took out a smart phone from his breast pocket and began making a call. The voice on the phone was masculine. They had a serious conversation that lasted approximately 15 minutes. That was when we both realized we had been kidnapped for human trafficking.

Angela, on the other hand, was not who we thought she was. She was the devil we had never known. A very cruel person, manipulative, deceptive, and attractive in human form. The biggest secret we never knew about her has been revealed. She was no longer the Angela Herbert we all knew from school. She was Amara, but she was also one of the young adults involved in Mr. Jerry's human trafficking business, and he had been looking forward to seeing her while we were in school. They were a group of them who split up and then went into high schools disguised as one of the students, pretending to be studying with them while also displaying their ill-gotten money and lifestyle, in order to gain their trust and attention, and then luring them out of the school premises, before kidnapping them and transporting them to another geographical area to serve an exploitative purpose of sexual slavery and forced labor. It never occurred to us that her deliberately display of money and expensive items in the school was through that.

We were now imprisoned in a dungeon alongside other easily duped victims, waiting to see what would happen to us.