Bad Boy Judah

t w e l v e

After some hours, the van stops, and the door lifts. My functional eye spots the harmful man and he grabs the back of my neck, dragging me out on the snow.

"Let me go!" I scream, "Creep!"

He backhands me, forcing me to spit saliva. He lets me fall on the cold ground and my skin shivers uncontrollably.

He makes a phone call, and the back-men solemnly smoke cigars. It's too dark out to see what else they're doing. I don't know who they are, but I'm certain that they're the gangs that the news warned me every day about. Kidnapped girls... Now, I'm part of it. I've been added to the skyrocketing number. My body temperature plummets from anxiety.

Restricted to a side view, I see a tree... I see what looks like the corner of a warehouse. I see a few other shadowy vehicles sitting in the lot.

I refuse to cry like a little baby, though. My head turns to dip my swollen eye in the snow for healing.

"Yes, I got to admit she is a looker, petite, firm body—I can see why he keeps her," the man speaks on the phone casually. He pauses as he listens to the reply. He sets his stare on me. "Hm, college girl. Yeah."

He's talking to someone who's asking about me. My heart drops, and my spine stiffens.

"Don't worry," the man in the long taupe coat continues, this time looking elsewhere. He crushes snow under his crocodile skin shoes. "He'll do anything you ask."

"Please!" I plead, "Let me go!"

One back-man puts his foot on my head, applying pressure. I yell, helpless. The man lifts his hand, as if to say that's enough. I crawl on my chest, getting nowhere. My breath turns foggy in the air.

The man gets off the phone. I realize how difficult my life will become.

The man ends his call and chuckles lightly. He kneels down to me.

"Be a good girl and don't cause a scene," he warns me, widening his eyes like mad man. "If you don't, I'm going to have to hurt you, and Judah won't be so thrilled with me."

I fight back the tears rolling on my eyelids. Something is going on that I don't understand. I'm far from strong. I know I can't get out of this mess.

Somebody walks out the warehouse, interrupting the man's warning.

"Rick!" the newcomer exclaims.

He turns and I look, too.

"Antony, it's nice to see you. You took so long to open the door, I thought you were still in Colombia," Rick makes a joke.

Without another sentence, everyone gets on their feet and walk inside the warehouse. My body is picked up like a ragdoll. I've heard these names before. I'm scared of what they want with me.

Do I blame Judah? No, I can only blame myself. I knew how bad he was. I knew what he dealt with was dangerous. But I still went to him. So, it's up to me to get out of this mess... alive.

"Where are you taking me?" I spit.

Rick smirks, "I'm glad you asked. We're going to where you'll make me a rich man."

After descending a flight of metal stairs, we enter a fluorescently lit brothel. Pinkish and reddish light bulbs hang above our heads. Hard hitting atmospheric music blares around us. Naked women walk around with just their stilettoes on. Pole dancers on the right, lap dancers on the left...

We travel further, passing through sheer curtains and hanging glittery beads. I hold my breath from the heavy stench of pot and cocaine. I watch creepy rich men exchange money for the company of young girls and the side effects of drugs. I wonder how long these girls have been there. At what point did they give in to this life? Are any of them from my school... one day, learning how to work on a spread sheet—the next, spreading their legs for strangers.