The birds chirped in at the early hours of the morning as the sun cast rays hardly filtered through the giant thick curtains hanging on the closed windows.
Their eyes opened immediately when they heard the door slam shut.
What came next was the clack of heels against the marble floors, walking further into the room.
The thick large curtains rolled to the side, and the light was almost too bright, the gasp and urge to cover their eyes made it a bit harder to adjust.
She squinted her eyes open and watched the blurry silhouette of a woman become clear.
Was she a maid? Even though she dressed like one her demeanour quietly emitted the kind of energy that made shivers run down her spine
She was caramel-skinned, dressed in a black and white maid uniform, that looked too prim and proper.
Her dark hair pulled back in a bun that almost smoothed the wrinkles around her eyes.
She stood still beside her bed while Esmeralda peered at her with eyes full of questions.
She studied the woman's blank expression and tried to make sense of what was happening. But immediately she heard the chains rattle, she couldn't fight the urge to rub her sore wrists and sigh in relief.
Only to sit up and realize the chain only moved to ease her movement to an arm's length.
The strange woman didn't take it off, and that said a lot
Her eyes widened when a bowl of water from the tea trolley slowly etched in her direction.
"Drink" her voice came out stiff but oddly quiet.
Her throat unconsciously gulped and she felt her saliva slip down like a tear drop, unable to quench the fire in her throat.
So she grabbed the bowl like touching her would sting and gulped down the water, feeling it droop down the sides of her cheeks.
Esmeralda handed the bowl back to the woman, fighting the urge to ask for more.
But the woman rolled her eyes like she could hear what she was thinking
Was she that pitiful To ask for what might be poison?
The rumbling of her stomach only brought her attention to more as the woman walked away and went towards the other beds to do the same.
Her bright sky-blue eyes encrypted every corner of the room into her head,
They were in a medium-spaced room with giant barricaded windows standing as far as the cream-white ceiling above their reach.
The room walls imprinted with petal designs that became naked bodies hiding in every rose when she stared hard enough.
Their beds were perpendicular to each other, in a comfortable distance that seemed precisely spaced.
Her eyes trailed back to the woman standing at the middle of the room, almost too tall for medium height.
"Ladies, welcome to Lady Lake's fun house." She announced with a smile that made it seem like an announcement that deserved applause.
"You will all live and work here from now henceforth and your earnings will be used for your upkeep. Follow the rules and your stay here will be pleasurable." She sighed with a weary smile.
"What kind of work gives you the right to chain me, and what is this fun house?" Esmeralda asked.
The woman's face was unchanged like she had heard that question a million times.
"You will all become part of the pleasure girls that will take care of our guests needs and desires." She said with a smile that barely reached their eyes.
"What is this shit about? Is this a joke?" Esmeralda yelled out but the woman spoke on, unbothered by her outburst.
"Miss Lake has given you a week to accept your fate and work hard to make this fun house a pleasurable one for our customers,"
Her eyes locked to Esmeralda's "if not you will have to suffer terrible consequences for choosing not to "
"What do you mean ma'am? This was not the kind of work my uncle said I would do." Molly cried out with the chains ratting after each pointless attempt she made to free herself.
The thick strands of her jet-black straight hair covering her lean figure like a robe while her big round glossy eyes peered beneath them.
"This is the work, young girl. I'll bring your food later on but for now, ponder on everything I said. I'm Coco and I'll be watching over y'all for now"
She heaved a sigh of relief, mentally patting herself passing for another good announcement.
"Miss lakes has to reward me for all the hard work I do around here" she muttered almost inaudibly and walked out of the room with the trolley, ignoring their screams and questions.
The men with guns peered from the other side and the door slammed shut again.
A wave of silence crashed over them, but it didn't stop the tears from quietly dropping down.
"We were supposed to come work as maids, I can't do prostitution oh. "This wasn't what they told me," Amanda yelled, submerging deeper into her bed.
Her hands combing down her cornrows as she sobbed quietly.
Bambi on the other hand seemed like a rock in the mist of trees. Her hands gently raking through the honey-brown wavy hair, resting at waist length.
She stared blankly at the silky white gown wrapped over her thick curves, almost lost in thoughts before turning to stare at everyone with a smile.
A smile that looked too crazy to be real, mostly because everyone apart from her thought was, crazy.
They all turned their heads to Molly and covered their ears when she let out an ear-piercing scream as she convulsed and struggled to unbound herself.
She went on until the part of her wrist and ankles bound beneath the buckle of the chains turned bright purple.
yet,no one came.
Time quiet the cries to gasps, and the pain to an uncomfortable ache.
Their fate becoming as clear as day.
They were in an unknown location, under the mercy of traffickers that would force them to become sex workers.
It's funny they always thought life couldn't get any worse.
Well no shit it could!
Esmeralda stared into space, unsure of how to react. But one thing was certain, she would never accept this as her fate.
She had to find a way out of this, just like she found a way out of the problems back home.
The cold wind blew its way into the thoughts echoing through the space, dissolving it into a resolve.
"I can't believe my aunty could do this to me, my family must be thinking I'm in America, working to get money." She laughed.
"But I am here, chained to a bed. I can't do prostitution, oh. You people should go and collect your money back from her. I can't do it!" Amanda tried to scream but her voice was weak and broken.
"I know it's hard but you have to accept it. Trust me, there is nothing else you can do. Though this would only hurt more if you are a virgin." Bambi confessed with a sigh.
"Virgin or not, we won't sell our bodies and become their slaves. I'll find a way out of here." Esmeralda replied, unable to hide the disgust in her voice as fire ignited in her eyes.
"And how will you do that? Oh I know, you could ask nicely and they will let you go. Maldita sea, ella es tan estúpida." Bambi replied and burst out into a heartfelt laughter as she watched Esmeralda's brows furrow.
"I will get out of here one way or another, just to be clear am not stupid," Esmeralda replied and watched her eyes slightly widen in shock.
"Will you take me with you?" Molly asked
"Me too, please don't leave me here," Amanda muttered.
"You can't give in no matter what, you have to be strong for your families," Esmeralda replied and watched them sit up with swollen eyes reddened with tears while their noses reddened each time they sniffed.
She could tell they were all in the same age range, young and naïve.
"I'll be strong, for my family." They mumbled in unison and wiped their teary eyes.
"And I'll watch how this plays out." Bambi laughed again with amusement lingering in her eyes.
Their conversation was cut off when the coco walked through the door. The trolley rolled in, filled with what might be dinner.
Emitting pleasant that made their stomachs growl in response.
Their hearts were broken but that didn't stop their stomachs from working.
Coco walked towards each bed and dropped a medium-sized bread with a bowl of soup. They each took what she gave and hungrily devoured them in seconds as they sought to satisfy their hunger.
The woman took the bowls after they were done and walked out without a word, leaving them to their thoughts.
A few minutes went by and they all instinctively turned their heads towards Bambi's bed when they heard rattling sounds from her direction.
She removed what looked like a pin from a strand of her hair and picked the locks of the cuffs on her wrist.
A smile etched on her face when it clicked.
They gasped after the buckles fell off her wrists and ankles within seconds.
"Those things were heavy," she mumbled and stretched her limbs before getting off her bed.
They begged her to free them too but she paid no attention and went back to her bed after walking around for a while.
To their surprise, she re-cuffed herself and laid back to sleep.
"This girl is crazy," Molly exclaimed and glanced at each of them to see the same reaction etched on their faces.
"I am not, I just don't want to get involved in whatever you girls are planning. I think I like it here, so let me be putas."
"How can you be this comfortable after finding out you were trafficked? Don't you want to go back to your family and your home?"
"I am my family, I am my home. I can do whatever I want and stay where I want to. I really don't care what you think, así que vete a la mierda" She replied with a smile and went back to bed.
"Fine, if that's what you want for yourself." Esmeralda rolled her eyes at her and looked toward the other girls
"Listen, girls, for now, we'll have to find out everything about this place and find every possible escape route," Esmeralda mumbled
"What if we are on an island, or Forest? How do we escape?" Amanda asked.
"We'll never know if we don't try," Esmeralda replied with a distant look.
Days went on and they remained prisoners to their new master. The only person who came in and out of their room was Coco, but she hardly said a word, and that only darkened their fears.
They could only hope their experience was some sort of mistake or perhaps, a sick joke. Yet the next morning would only bring them to the harsh reality of their new life.
The orange rays of the morning sun slowly brightened the room as birds chirped around the giant thick trees surrounding their walls. Esmeralda opened her eyes to a world that she could only wish was a nightmare.
At least, nightmares end.
Right?
Esmeralda slightly flinched and quickly sat up when she heard the door swing open and so did the others.
Their brows furrowed in confusion as they watched Coco emerge with four men dressed in black. Their hearts raced when they saw the guns in their grasp.
They doubted it was real until a gun shot echoed from another room. Some flinched, some screamed but Esmeralda could only gulp.
She stared at the finger etched on the trigger, eager to press down and fire at anyone who wanted to discover what bullet shots would feel like.
"You've all had enough time to think. Y'all need to clean up and get ready to meet with my boss today. Behave calmly and I promise you'll leave here without a bullet in your head" She announced with a smirk.
Coco walked towards each bed and unbuckled every girl in the room to get them ready for what was next....