It was noisy. People shouting here and there. The gruff voices of men as they conducted their businesses. This was an underground market. A black market. A place where the most horrendous and illegal things were sold.Morals were non-existent in this place. There was nothing you could'nt find in a black market. Placed soemwhere at the end of the underground market were cages. These cages held all sorts of creatures captive. Humans included.
A little girl slept peacefully, her body was stripped off all clothing. Her body was left bare for all to see. Same for the others. Man or woman, it didn't matter. The little girl slowly roused from sleep. Her head pounding. It felt like someone had smashed her head with a rock repeatedly. She opened her eyes and looked around. What she saw left her stunned. There were about 10 people in the cage with her. The oldest appeared to be in their lates twenties and the youngest was an infant still drinking from his mothers bosom. She could tell the gender because everyone was naked. Totally bare. She was child and shouldn't know the difference between genders but her naughty friend had once shown her some illustrations.
She felt a chill and looked down. She was no different. Her brows furrowed. How did she get here? Who brought her here? What was this place? She tried hard to recall. She remembered playing with the maids when the assassins attacked out of nowhere. She was hiding from them when Aunt Yiran found her. She told her to leave and then she died.
She died.
Aunt Yiran died.
Aunt Yiran was dead.
She let out a blood curdling scream. Her arms clutching her head tightly. Her face distorted and drowning in her tears. The sound of her cries caught the other slaves off guard. They looked at her with hostility. One man roughly grabbed her arm and pinched her side, "Stop crying child!!! It's not the end of the world!! Stop screaming will you! We do not wish to be starved because of you!!"
When it seemed like her screams will never end the man slapped her ruthlessly. The right side of her face quickly swelled. It was red. Blood tricked from her mouth. It was a powerful blow even for an adult, what more a child. Mei'er's tears still continued. She couldn't scream as much because of the bruise on her face. " Hey! That's a child! You should control your strength", the woman with the child interjected. Another person scoffed, "She deserved it. Screaming like that out of nowhere. She's bound to make trouble for us."
"She's still a child-"
"What's going on here?" It was one of the slave masters. He was well built and huge. He carried a Sabre on his waist. The scar on across his face made him more menacing. He glared at the people in the cage. The man holding Mei'er tensed up. "It's this child sir. She was making a fuss. Please deal with it" The slave master looked at the limp crying girl in the man's hand.
"Troublesome" He opened the cage and dragged Mei'er out of it. She had still not come to her senses. She couldn't believe her Aunt Yiran was gone and she was all alone. Mother and Father weren't there too. She didn't know where she was. She was lost. The man dragged her away from the eyes of the buyers and sellers. Everyone just watched. No one bothered to help the poor crying girl. Mei'er just looked on, whimpering, realizing she was truly alone.
The man opened the tent and walked inside. There were others in the room. "Hoho, what do we have here? She rebelled?" He smirked evilly. The man ignored him.
He frowned. "Tsk. Just because you've been put in charge of this place you think you're the owner here"
The man ignored him ance again. He slammed his hand on the table and walked up to the man and grabbed his collar, "I'm talking to you oi!" The man glared at him fiercely. He felt a chill and stepped back. The man ignored all of them and raised a wooden board on the floor. Beneath it was a pitch black hole. Mei'er tensed up. She trembled. "Are you putting me there? Mister, no, no, I'll be good. I promise. I won't shout don't leave me there please" tears gathered in her eyes.
Mei'er hated dark places. She always slept with a candlelight. The man ignored her and threw her into the hole. Her body hit the cold, hard ground. She looked up in fear. Her face a miserable sight. Swollen with dried blood on it. "Please, please!!!", she implored. "Shut up and behave" The entrance was sealed. She was left in the dark.
Mei'er quickly stood and tried to open the door. It was locked. She pounded on it,"Help me!! Help me! Somebody please help me!!" She cried till her voice was hoarse and all that came out was croaks. She slowly fell to the ground. Her mind filled with images of her aunt and the countless dead bodies in the yard. She let out one last scream and all was silent.