Scar Red

36: Tequila

A huge building loomed over the parking area where we were. It looked even more conspicuous as we got nearer. Night had descended fully by then but it might as well have been daytime due to the bright lighting inside the building.

Suddenly, fear gripped me tenfold and I started struggling again only to receive a hard slap across the face.

I have never received such a strike in my life and I suddenly regretted my actions. It left me deafened momentarily and when I could make out sounds again, my ears picked up on some music coming from somewhere in that place.

Their grip on me on both sides tightened so much that I couldn't move a muscle. My legs were no longer touching the floor and that was when I realized I was partially being carried.

We made a turn and started down a corridor—the music was getting louder. Soon, two more burly men came into my field of vision and we were ushered into this vast room.

My eyes literally wanted to pop out of their sockets at what I saw; there were various people—women mostly, in several states of undress. Two danced on long poles while a multitude watched. Others engaged in unmentionable, crude, and obscene activities with only booths reinforced by glass divisions to offer some bits of privacy—not that there weren't rooms.

The atmosphere was beyond sinful and I quelled the urge to throw up. Some made faces at me and I was mortified. How I would give anything to be anywhere but there. They led me to a woman in the middle of the room. She was seated on some kind of...throne?

"Here she is, your grace," one of them said.

"That's good," the woman merely voiced before she peered in my direction. "Hmmm, now what do we have here?"

She stepped down majestically, making her way over to me. I struggled some more while her grasp on my chin tightened as she scrutinized me.

"Don't try anything stupid, dearie. You belong to me now. Take a look at all this…" she swiveled my head to view all the wanton activities anew. The air itself was laden with alcohol and booze which had induced me to crinkle my nose in disgust. "This is your life now, breathe it all in. You gotta love it…"

I shuddered at the thought of descending to the abnormal behaviour being displayed there. Mentally, I cursed the day I met Harriet. Abruptly, the strange woman leaned in, until our faces were only inches apart.

"You look so innocent. We all were, at one point…" Her eyes betrayed nothing as she spoke. I couldn't imagine myself indulging in all these atrocious activities. The place was repulsive to me and I could feel the revulsion down to my bones.

"I don't belong to you! I don't belong to anybody!" I hollered.

This attracted whispers and stares but the shock on her face was suddenly replaced by a smile. One that radiated danger.

"I'll pardon you for that outburst. It's because you're clueless...but not for long." She faced her thugs. "Take her to be prepared. The boys will have the pleasure of being entertained by her tonight. It's going to be...fun."

With that, they literally dragged me away. We went through another door, almost hidden from view, and once we reached another corridor, one of them was quick to seize me by the throat. I gasped for air, coughing as I struggled with the brute.

"Nobody challenges the queen, you miscreant!" He said through clenched teeth, his hand tightening around my neck. "You should've been penalized!"

Black spots were already dancing across my vision by the time his cohort gripped his other arm, warning him. All the careless ideas that had been brewing in my head vanished and I was scared stiff as I coughed violently, grasping my throat. Before I knew it, I was handed to some women who, by the looks of it, were the ones to 'prepare' me.