Young Writers Society

Heavy Traffic

It took three agonizing months to realize that no one was coming for me, though many a search had probably been organized. It took an entire year to realize that I would probably die in chains, lost to the world I once knew, body broken and unrecognizable. My story is not as distant as you might assume. I am one of you. Or rather, once was, many long ages ago. I suppose I am much different now, as my spirit and body have withstood many tests of time and will. The world is now a different place for me. It has faded; lost much of its color. But somehow, at the same time, I see more than I ever have.

The horror began with my abduction and the murder of my best friend.

They had been following us for a couple blocks now. Looking back I guess there might have been a tiny voice that urged me to have caution. Everyone has that voice somewhere within them, yet youth seldom heeds its wise counsel. I was young, and therefore invincible. Caution belonged to the wind in my mind. Besides, the probability that a few men out of thousands could be taking the same path as we were was not absurd. But we were paying attention to them. We looked over our shoulders periodically, giggling like schoolgirls. I leaned close to Jaden, asking what she thought of the man farthest to the right. She responded with a comment I’m not too keen on repeating. It made me blush, though the deep tone of my skin and the lighting of the night hid it well.

Remember my skin, it is important.

We turned a corner. It was breezy and cold and we were eager to be home after a late night. We ceased looking behind us now, knowing in our naivety that we would not be follow, that the men would continue on the main path and we would never see them, save for in trivial memory.

But oh, cursed is the folly of youth.

Their approach could be sensed, like a dog can sense the shaking of the earth or an eagle can sense the brewing of a storm. I could feel some malice creeping up my spine. That tiny voice I had so foolishly pushing aside was back with the intensity of a siren. I got a good look at them before they were on us. We had not giggled for nothing. All three of them were handsome in their own rights, what with their windblown hair and their hard bodies that were visible even beneath their shirts. But no amount of outward appeal could mask the inner evil they radiated, especially when the Second Man’s hand came down on my shoulder. I shoved him off and whipped around, taking cautious steps backwards. Jaden was in my peripherals doing much the same. The men advanced as we retreated.

I calculated the chances that we could make a run for it, the chances they really had no ill-intent. Then there were the more likely odds: that we would walk away with more than a few wounds, or that we wouldn’t walk away from the impending ordeal at all. My blink trek backwards continued as these thoughts proceeded to suffocate my mind, destroying every notion but fear.

It was late. We should not have been out. We shouldn’t have there, with those men. None of it should ever have happened. But it did.

“You’re beautiful,” the First Man said to either one of us. Usually I would have been humbled with the compliment but not this time. His tone, low and threatened, morphed a perfectly good compliment into a stinging insult, enhanced by the fact that he was running his eyes greedily over the parts of me he deemed “beautiful”. Jaden was receiving that same treatment from the other men, though she looked slightly more at ease. She was used to such attentions as this whereas I was not.

But Jaden was the one who made the fatal mistake. She yelled, “Run!” and bolted off through the maze of deserted streets she thought she could navigate swiftly enough to escape. Looking back I know I should have run with her. Maybe then both of our lives would have turned out much differently. As I where, I remained rooted to the spot while Second and Third Man went after her. That left me with but one offender. Yet a grown man versus a fifteen-year-old was hardly a fair deal.

First Man chuckled deeply and went for my arm. Only then did I spring into action, running in a different direction as Jaden had, hoping to keep the pack divided. Jaden had a long history of being faster and generally more coordinated than me. I tripped after about twenty feet in my haste, cursing my natural clumsiness the whole way down. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. There was no chance I would have been able to outrun the man for long. By his build I wouldn’t have been surprised if he were a professional athlete. Gravel dug into my palms at impact, leaving angry red imprints. A second later he was on me and we began our struggle for dominance, the one I was destined to lose.

Wishing to protect my face from the fate of my now stinging hands I rolled over before his full weight could descend on me. His immediate response, other than grotesque language, was to pin me. I kneed him hard and he grunted in pain. His muscles went slack for a fraction of a second. It was my only opportunity, but the scramble was short-lived. He had me down a second time in the blink of an eye, this time slamming my head violently into the pavement. Star danced in a starless sky. My vision blackened before focusing up, though the edges remained blurry and shadowed.

Tears found their way to the surface. The odor of cheap alcohol on his breath was overpowering. When his lips took mine the taste of it was sickening. So much liquor and yet he wasn’t drunk. I could fight a drunk man. This man was very coherent and vicious. He acted like he was trying to swallow me whole for a full twenty second before I was allowed to breathe again. He released my lips and grinned wickedly, his degrading comments lost on me as I gulped in air like a fish out of water. I realized later, when my sense had returned to me, that my first kiss had been stolen.

I struggled and his fist came down, striking me so hard in the chest that a hollow sound resonated. Gasping won me no air. While I was paralyzed in my suffocation he went for the buttons to my blouse. I protested weakly a he struck me again. The chill breeze was harsh on my breasts as he tore open the rest of the fabric with impatience.

A gunshot echoed through the night. It was difficult to tell where it had come from but somewhere in the pit of my stomach I knew that shot had been meant for Jaden. The grief would come later, as would the pain. All I had time for then was fear.

The man on top of me froze at the sharp bang and cursed, shoving himself upright so that he was fairly sitting on my torso, completely immobilizing me. Air was precious and struggling meant it would lose it. I was perfectly still.

“Good girl,” he sneered down at me as he accomplices came jogging back looking angry and disheveled. Their moods brightened considerably, though, when they saw they had one captive yet alive.

“You could not have spared the other?” First Man said. Only then did I realize that he spoke with a thick accent that I couldn’t quite place. Third Man shook his head, eyes glued on me and my exposed flesh.

“It’s no matter,” Second Man replied. “She was generic. This one looks like a half-breed.”

That was a term I was accustomed to, though it was usually said in jest by my now deceased best friends. I shivered with a new gust of wind. I couldn’t decide whether or not to beg first Man to get off of me. He must have sensed my unease because he returned his attention to me.

“Please don’t,” I coughed went he let up a bit of weight. “There’s twenty dollars in my pocket. I have nothing else, I swear.”

“Of course, beautiful, of course,” he crooned as he stroked my face where a tear have previously fallen. I flinched. “No, shush, shush, it’s alright. Don’t cry, beautiful.”

But I did cry because my head ached where it stuck the pavement, because the wind was torture against my bare skin, because the pavement was hard beneath me, because I was terrified, and because somewhere my friend was dead or dying. This man knew all that and mocked me still. He made circles on my chest with a calloused finger, amused by my displeasure.

“You’re a virgin,” he noted. How he could have determined that just by touching me I didn’t know. He was pleased. “Good.”

Third Man whipped out an outdated phone and proceeded to speak into it in a rough dialect that perfectly matched their mysterious accents, during which time First Man continued to explore my body. He sucked the base of my neck, holding my hands in an iron grip over my head. I attempted a scream but his lips stole it. He bit the flesh of my lower lip, flooding my tongue with the coppery flavor of blood. I was visibly shaking.

His face was clean shaven and smooth, practically flawless except for the circular birthmark just above the right side of his jaw. I told myself to focus on the little things to keep my mind occupied. There were seven clothes lines strung across the old building windows. Third Man was wearing black tennis shoes with slightly frayed laces; First Man’s shirt had exactly seventeen strips. The small details kept me alive; I swear it to this day. They provided an escape that was otherwise nonexistent.

First Man took both of my hands in one of his and used the other to trail down my abdomen with butterfly touches that evoked a warmth deep in my gut. I was flooded with shame.

“So beautiful,” he moaned into my ear. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. I wished I had shared in Jaden’s fate. Surely it would have been better than such extreme violation.

“Stop…” I whimpered like a scolded puppy when his fingers trailed even lower.

“Stop,” Second Man barked when he ended his phone call. First Man raised his head but his hands remained where they were. They had an argument I couldn’t understand but by the way it sounded, Second Man won. First Man grumbled and removed his fingers from below my waistline and rose, rocking back on his ankles to balance before standing. All three of them stared down at me. I curled into myself to avoid their gaze. I remember dry heaving and then waiting for the shot that would end my life. It didn’t come.

They were conversing in hushed tones like they didn’t want me to hear, though I couldn’t understand if I tried. I started crawling, knowing that I could not make it and yet unable to keep myself from trying. They noticed, like I knew they would, but what I didn’t anticipate was the foot that slammed into my side. I fell into a puddle of filth, crying out weakly at what I knew were broken ribs.

“Don’t move,” First Man growled. I was instantly submissive. That pleased him.

Third Man scolded him, muttering something about damaged merchandise. I lie there wondering what I had done to deserve such treatment. To this day my only answer is that life isn’t fair.

A black van pulled up at the mouth of the alley, giving new meaning to Second Man’s phone call. I went into full panic mode, thrashing almost insanely against their hands as they went to drag me. I couldn’t keep it up long enough. I was in too much pain from my ribs and my head still wasn’t clear from its initially impact with the ground. But I fought knowing that I would fail. By that point I knew it wasn’t my life that they would take but my freedom. I knew which one I valued more. If there had been a knife I would have thrown myself on it.

Upon reaching the van I was practically paralyzed by agony. Pain like lightning shot through my bones with every move. It was easy for them to shove me inside and climb in behind. The sound the doors made when they shut reminded me of a knoll stone.

Second Man shoved a cloth over my face and Third Man punched my stomach so that I’d be forced to breathe in whatever chemical they’d tainted it with. My last coherent thought was that they would find Jaden’s body in an alley. I wondered where they would recover mine.

_____________________________

Please review. This is an assignment I'm turning into school. The challenge was to depict man's inhumanity towards man. I choose a very sensitive topic and tried not to sugarcoat it. I don't know if my teacher is going to except it because its what she would consider "rated R". Please tell me what you think and how I can improve it because I want to make it as good as possible. I'm aware of the grammer mistakes already and I take full responsibility, its a rough draft.

Thanks,

Veritas