Chapter 2: Afraid
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Chapter 2: Afraid
I awoke in a cage, not a cell, a literal cage fashioned for some over-grown bird. Its wires had the characteristic dome-shape at the top and criss-crossed bars at the side. There was a shut wire door just big enough to fit through if it were opened. I had been stuffed unceremoniously through that door by the looks of the scratches on my hands. I was still in my black scrubs. There were slightly damp instead of soaked so some time had passed. The cage was in a dimly lit cellar. All around me were other girls in other cages. Most of them were sleeping or just unconscious, probably chloroformed just like I had been. I called to a red-haired, freckled girl near to me. She was one of the few who were awake. She regarded me with her fearful green eyes.
“Hey! Do you know where we are?” I asked, trying not to dissolve into tears.
I needed to think to be able to plan an escape.
She sniffled. She was crying.
“In the holding bay,” she said in a tone that was much more knowledgable than I had expected.
“Do you know why we’re here?” I said, gripping the bars of my cage.
“For the auction,” the girl said matter-of-factly.
“I’m Orchid,” I said, hoping introducing myself would make her more willing to talk. She seemed to know a lot.
“Rose,” she said.
“We’re both flowers,” I said softly, finding common ground.
She smiled sadly. “We’ve been plucked,” she joked, reaching for humour in the darkest of times. I instantly liked her.
I smiled. “Hopefully we don’t wilt,” I said. I took a deep breath.
“Who would buy us?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
She looked at me strangely. She came closer. I noticed she had a thick silver collar or choker of some sort that seemed to be irritating the skin on her neck. Her eyes widened. She gasped. “You’re human,” she whispered, looking at my bare neck.
Chills coursed through me.
“Of course, I am,” I said, without thinking. “What else is there?”
The girl laughed madly, hysterically as if driven insane for a moment. She regained her composure.
“I’m…not. And neither are the buyers,” she said.
My blood ran cold through my veins and arteries, chilling me to the core.
“What are they?” I breathed. Was she trying to terrify me? Was this a weird joke? Now was not the time for pranks.
“Werewolves,” she said simply.
It was my turn to laugh. I giggled and then I laughed more loudly, my shoulders shaking. “That’s not funny,” I said, despite still laughing. The same madness Rose had was seeping into me.
“Orchid, this is an auction where werewolves buy girls,” she said.
She was continuing her charade. I leant against the back of my cage.
“The buyers are the richest and most powerful wolves, pack leaders of the biggest and most brutal packs. The girls for sale are rarely picked at random. Most have been specially ordered by a particular Alpha for meeting some requirement or the other. The girls are usually from small, defenceless packs or poor families or they’re rogues or runaways. Most of us are she-wolves. I’ve heard of humans being sold too but you’re the first human I’ve ever met,” said Rose.
She had the most vivid imagination even in her madness. I looked at her in amazement. I played along.
“Rose, how long have you been here?” I asked.
“A week maybe,” she said.
My heart plummeted. A door above a flight of stone steps opened, allowing more light into the cellar. I recognised the grey eyed man. I glared at him. He had an eye-patch on. I felt a small sense of satisfaction despite my predicament. He surveyed the room as he descended the steps. He spotted me and smiled maliciously. He approached my cage.
“Paybacks a b***h and so are you,” he said.
I glared at him conveying every ounce of hatred in me. He opened the cage, pulling me roughly through the somewhat narrow opening.
“Ow!” I screeched as one of the stray wires scraped my cheek.
I was ready to fight him or so I thought. As he pulled me to my feet, I found myself unsteady, my legs gave out underneath me. He let me fall on the concrete with a thud. I groaned trying to get to my knees. I managed to kneel and sit up, panting from the effort. He cackled.
“Not so high and mighty now, are you?” He asked, a wicked grin plastered on his face.
I silently prayed for some miracle to take me from this place.
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