Farfalla

7.

8:26 AM

"She's fine." The voice I distinguished as Harry spoke. I became more coherent to what was going on but kept my eyes closed. The night's sleep was restless but I managed to stay asleep the entire course of the night.

I didn't want to wake up crying and screaming with Harry and I sharing a room. Even though it was out of my control, things like that only brought me embarrassment in Harry's eyes.

"Yes, sir. Yes, we are scheduled to leave in two hours." Harry responded every once in a while when he was given the opportunity. "We will be in touch."

Opening my eyes to see Harry bringing his phone down from his cheek I yawned and stretched out still in my clothes from yesterday. I batted my eyes to help adjust to the lighter setting in the room where the curtains were completely open.

"Who was that?" Most of the time when I talked to Harry it was more to ask questions. Harry and I never had a real conversation since most of the time I was left in the dark and wondering what was next for us.

"Clean yourself up, we need to head out, our flight leaves in two hours." He moved his hand through his hair as if he again was already agitated with speaking to me.

"Where are we going?" I again lead with questions that I knew were pointless to ask since Harry most likely wasn't going to answer anyways.

"Less talking more doing!" He snapped at me while I pushed myself off the bed. Heading to the bathroom to shower quickly and brush through my hair, I got ready in record time. Only having time to brush and blow dry my hair with the limited supplies I had, Harry hurried me along. Shouting at me every few minutes that I needed to hurry my ass up even though I felt like I was racing against time to finish.

Pulling my hair into a high ponytail I flattened out my dress and slipped it over my head. Retying my shoes to better tighten them to my feet I came out to see Harry with folded arms. He acted as if it had taken me a century and a half to get ready when in reality it only took me 30 minutes.

"This isn't the Victoria's Secret fashion show," Harry commented like I knew he would when we walked out to the hallway.

"Yeah your right, this also isn't some James Bond movie either." I fired back quite pleased with myself referring to his black button up shirt and black jeans to match. I knew that this would come with retaliation, it was the price I paid for standing up for myself.

"You're right, I don't get paid nearly enough to put up with your ass." Harry shut me down causing me to shut my mouth. I had nothing to say to that and again he showed me that he was better than me. There was no winning with Harry because he was always better than you, always one step ahead of what you knew.

+

Crowds were abundant in the Paris airport. There had to be hundreds of people in lines for various reasons, some for food, some for airport needs; either way there were a ton of people.

After being patted down and checked roughly by a security guard I frowned at him. Not liking the way he was doing things all too roughly. I glanced over at Harry who was already sending the TSA deadly glares. Seeing Harry's intimidating expression and stolid stature, the man with the TSA uniform told me that I was fine to move on.

I walked closely behind Harry but was too afraid to grab his hand. I wanted to hold his hand for safety reasons but I could only find the bad in doing that. The crowds of people bunched together making it hard for me to keep track of the curly haired man that I was accompanied with. My breathing paced a little faster now with all these bodies brushing and pushing up against me, ultimately knocking me off course of where I needed to be.

Looking all around and stopping in the middle of people that were sorting themselves out in where their location was, I searched frantically for Harry. My eyes scanned all around me for the hope that I could find him again. My nerves bouncing around inside my stomach I took slow steps in the direction we were going in before to see if I could find Harry.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder I turned around flipping my hair that was bunched into a ponytail. The man facing me looked at me with kind hazel eyes and brown curly hair that roughly reminded me of Harry.

"You lost?" He asked me in an Australian accent I found attractive. His muscles looked to be toned under the black hoodie he wore.

"Yeah... Do you know where flight 105 is?" I asked him thinking I could take advantage of the help he was willing to offer me.

"Yeah! I'm actually headed there myself." He said taking my hand which I found a little uncomfortable for a stranger to be doing. Turning a sharp right I began to question his sense of direction. Going further from the crowds of people who clamored to get on their flights my stomach dropped feeling more nervous.

"Hey the flights are that way-" I tried to explain before being cut off by myself seeing the nameless man slap a hand over my mouth and nose. Being too quick to even scream for Harry or for any help in general my vision blurred and my balance going with it.

+

Blinking my eyes open I find myself with my hands tied to my back while I laid on top of them. My breathing picked up from the small space I was trapped in. My mouth was restricted from speaking due to a sticky consistency glued to my mouth making it only possible to mumble words that didn't make sense.

The motion came to a halt making me feel more nervous than before about my current state. Unable to slip my hands from the fastened zip ties I laid pulling at my hands begging to be released. Putting immense pressure on my hands from trying to slip from the restraints I panted in the small space I could now recognize as the trunk of a car.

Doors slammed shut and voices spoke outside a few inches from where I laid doing my best to escape. Sweating from exerting all my energy I was putting out to squirm free I didn't bother listening to what the men were chatting about.

The voices were muffled in the conversation they were exchanging back and forth but one thing was for certain, the topic was me.

"l'emmener à être préparée." One of the three voices told the others. I knew it wasn't the one with the deceitful kind eyes and Australian accent.

Where was I? What was I being prepped for? Whatever that meant it wasn't going to be that of pleasant I could already infer. Adrenaline pumped through my veins while again I pulled at my hands in efforts to break free of the ties that held my hands tight against each other.

The light of the sun shined in my face temporarily blinding me from the men that took hold of me. Two men gripped around my arms and pulled me up letting me walk all on my own into the building that looked run down. I had no direction of where we were but from the atmosphere, I could only think this was a place where crime was running rampant. The door was painted a matte black when I took steps up to it, stopping for them to open the door.

"No!" I screamed under the tape that was laid over my mouth. It was weak and muffled from the tape restricting much sound but my lungs did their best to produce as much sound as possible. Squirming in the two men's arms I began to kick and flail to try and help my cause of getting away but this was useless against their strength.

"Hold her still god damn it!" A voice came up from behind me that was recognizable from the airport. I still remember his hand on my shoulder and the innocent question and kind gesture to help me.

He walked to me taking my jawline into his hands and gripping it as Harry had on the plane a few days ago. He looked me in the eyes and smiled with a dark chuckle that switched on the tears in my eyes. My eyes became glassy from the tears that sat in them waiting for their turn to fall. Chuckling he dropped my jaw when I turned away sharply from him and let a few tears fall and roll down my cheeks.

The curly haired man pushed open the doors for the two other men holding me more firm now. They guided me into the rundown building that only provoked more fear being inside the thick air. The lighting was dim and looked like hospital lighting with the blue glow roaming the produced light. More dirty men sat around playing poker or other games to that equivalent when I was toured through the front room. It smelt of smoke from almost every employee holding a cigarette between their fingers.

We made it to the back rooms where curtains sat on rods like a hospital, curtained rooms lined the long narrow hallway. My anxiety jumped to higher heights when I walked past a man administering something into an IV that a woman was hooked to. Her black hair wet from the sweat that poured from every inch of her body, bruises from various needle punctures lined her arms. She laid on a mattress clad in a black bra and matching panties that contrasted her sickly pale skin tone. I could only imagine this would be me in a few short minutes if Harry didn't come to get me. I prayed silently for Harry to be close, for him to come to save me since I was unable to do it for myself.

A curtain was opened that was empty once the man from the airport looked in. Looking back at me and taking a few heavy steps I closed my eyes letting more tears slip down my cheeks.

"Don't cry love, we are going to take real good care of you here." The man that I still had no name to label him, wiped away a tear streaming down my cheek. He gave me the same smile from the one I saw earlier today following this statement.

"Prep her now!" He ordered the two men holding me before walking further down the hall and fading from distance put between us.

"Stop!" I kicked and screamed with a muffled tone of voice from the tape. Shaking my head when they walked me into the small curtained area designated for me, the desperation sunk in. Squirming when they pushed me onto the bed and nailed me down with one of the men on top of me I saw the other prepare a needle.

"Hurry the f**k up!" The one on top of me growled huskily obviously not amused with my kicking and squirming under his hold.

"Hold her still!" The other shouted at the one pinning me to the bed. Moving my head to the side to watch the needle being inserted into my arm I flinched at the slight pinch.

"Please don't do this!" I pleaded with them my eyes that of vulnerable when I looked at them in the eyes. I saw that the needle was attached to the same IV drip as the other women I saw down the hall. Whatever they were hooking me up to caused my vision to blur and my mind to go away with it. My speech was slowly slurring when I tried to protest against their actions.

Vision blurry and becoming doubled I watched the man get up off of me knowing that I could take this opportunity to escape. To my dismay, every muscle in my body was relaxed to the point of not being able to move. My breathing slowed while I watched one of the men take scissors and begin to cut my clothes off for the exception of my bra and underwear. I was stripped down with nothing to cover up my now exposed body. I groaned closing my eyes and feeling a heavy sleep creep up on me from behind. My thoughts were too jumbled to even think straight that I didn't think at all but played into the mess my brain was beginning to create.

-April 29, 2016