Turning my head slightly, I speak to Eli in a hushed tone. “I can’t fucking wait to slaughter these animals.”
“Yeah, me too man.”
I can see the burning anger in his eyes and I know his mind is taking him back to his possible sister and the thing’s she’s been through.
Ending the conversation there, I lift my head back up and follow the audience into the large room. The lighting is low here with a single spot light beaming onto a makeshift stage, to the side there’s a wooden podium and below the stage, rows and rows of chairs fill the floor. We take two seats at the far back in the corner, a spot where we can still see the stage but it’s dark enough to keep us hidden.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve gone nearly three months now without Annabelle, that I’ve crawled to the ends of the earth to make it here and I swear I can feel her, her soul reaching out for mine somewhere in this hell hole. She’s so close but still so far away.
Quiet chatter fills the room and my eyes scan over each and every person in here, claiming their face to memory so that when I come to kill them, whether it be here or I track them down afterwards, I’ll show them the devil before they die a horrible death.
The lowlights of the room suddenly go black and my hand itches to find my gun, to be prepared for anything when the strobe light beams onto the man who’s running the auction.
I wonder if he’s spent his money here too?
“Are we ready to begin?” He speaks like a ringmaster at a circus, hyping the crowd up and these disgusting people eat it up like starved dogs, clapping and wooing as the first couple of girls are brought out onto the stage.
Each of them have a number attached to their far too small dresses, essentially ripping away their identities. Their faces don’t even look real anymore, almost like they’re wearing masks with how much makeup has been layered on to feign perfection. Like a precious doll, hiding the cracks within the porcelain.
Myself and Eli visibly straighten in our seats as the first girl steps forward on shaky legs towards the blinding light, her fingers fidget with the sides of her blue dress and she has to squint her heavily painted eyes to stop the light from blinding her.
“First up, we have the sweet little Lily, isn’t she a beauty?” The auctioneer waves his hand towards the frail girl like she’s a prized pony. “And just at the ripe age of seventeen too, she’ll be your perfect little girl.”
His words have me fisting my hands together in my lap, my nails creating little half moon indentations in the soft flesh as I push them into the palms of my hands.
“We gotta get these girls outta here man.” I whisper to Eli through gritted teeth. He nods at the side of me, his jaw ticking with slow burning anger. “Oh, we will.”
The auctioneer clears his throat before speaking into the microphone. “We’ll start the bidding at five thousand, do we have five thousand in the room?”
Immediately numbered paddles that were left on the seats start to fly up into the air, the price getting higher and higher.
“Ten thousand, what about ten?” The auctioneer rallies off in quick succession. “Going once..” The wooden gavel hangs in the air. “Going twice.” Another hand shoots up, outbidding the previous bidder. “Sold!” The gavel hits the podium with a hard slam. “To the gentleman at the back! Your prize will be handed over to you at the end of the night.”
A burly, fat man with a bursting open shirt claps his hands together before wiping a trail of champagne from his round face with the back of his hand, then he gropes his crotch.
“That tiny bitch is mine.” He bellows to the man next to him who laughs along with him.
This whole fucking situation is making my head spin. Girl after girl, woman after woman. All of them plastered in layers of makeup are bought within seconds of each other. Stupid amounts of money are being spent in this very room and it’s taking every ounce of willpower that I have in me to keep myself in check.
Once the group of girls are ushered off the stage, a woman who is clearly drugged out of her mind begins to weave in and out of the chairs, offering refreshments with a side of cocaine. She stops in front of me and Eli, dipping the tray for us to make our choice. We seem to be the only ones without drinks and it’s starting to cause some wandering eyes so we both grab a flute of champagne from the tray. The woman with dull brown eyes simply gives us a small smile before moving on down the line.
Bubbles pop and fizz in the glass, settling at the top of the rose coloured liquid. There’s no way I’m drinking this shit, instead I lean forward to make it look like I’m tying my shoe and place the glass underneath the seat then rise again. Eli watches me out of the corner of his eye and does the same action a couple of minutes after me.
Murmurs and small talk surrounds us as refreshments wrap up and I overhear a man in the row in front speaking about a woman who is brought out for every Selection Day but never sells.
“Yeah, I’ve been to every Selection Day and this one chick never sells. Fucking waste of time if you ask me.” He says,swigging his drink back.
“Tonight might be different.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” The man questions, his eyes laser focused on the guy sitting next to him.
“I heard there’s a big-shot Russian in the audience tonight, he’s been promised this chick you’re talking about.”
“Promised?” He retorts. “What happened to a fair fucking bidding? I’ve been eyeing her up every time!”
Hearing enough, I butt in on the conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt gentlemen.” I start, offering my hand out. “I’m Mr Blackwood. May I ask who thischickis, you’re talking about?”
