Chapter 6: Trapped

Zia stood in the middle of the cabin completely numb and motionless. How could this be happening? She had just turned eighteen. She had never entertained a man privately. What was she supposed to do?

Tears streamed down her face as she turned to look at Ansel, who was sitting there in as much shock as she was. "Ansel, is this real? Is he serious?" Zia asked.

"It seems so, my dear. But do not fear. You are a very smart girl. Something will work out. Do not show them your fear." Ansel said, encouragingly.

"I feel like I am going to throw up." Zia said as she ran out the door, nearly falling over the railing of the cabin. She tried to calm herself down. She threw up her insides as her body convulsed.

"I don't have time for this! Damien said furiously." He walked over to Zia and grabbed the back of her head, pulling her hair backwards, bringing her ear towards his lips. "If you are not ready in three minutes, I will end you." He said.

"Ok, I will be ready." She replied before he followed through with his threat.

As Damien released her, Zia returned quickly into to the cabin. I really have no choice. She thought. Ansel lit a candle for her to get ready and held it out to her, holding back tears. Zia took the candle and walked into the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed.

"Let's go Zia!" Damien shouted, five minutes later.

"I am ready." She replied through a crack in her voice. She had covered herself with a blanket over the cover up Damien had given her and let her long white hair fall down her back. Her long, thick hair felt like another cover up, a safety blanket.

"Cute." Damien said, chuckling. Zia remained quiet while looking at him from her peripheral vision. She found nothing funny about the situation. Her eyes shifted to the ground as they both walked out of the cabin in silence.

The darkness felt so cold. Zia felt hollow walking through the night.

"This will be over soon. You just have to get used to it. He won't be the last to request you." Damien said. Zia remained quiet. Damien's words cut her like a knife. Her stomach was in knots.

The road seemed narrower for some reason. The trees lining the pathway grew darker, casting strange shadows as rustling noises followed their steps. A dark cloud began to seep into the pathway.

"Fuck!" Damian spat. "We must move faster. They are not supposed to be here." Damien said, picking up the pace as Zia followed. Growling noises merged with the rustling of the trees. The faster they walked, the closer the sounds became.

Damien and Zia looked at each other the same time. "Run!" Damien said, shooting off through the path as fast as he could. Zia dropped her blanket without asking any questions and began running as well.

Zia didn't look back once but she felt the darkness getting closer. She could see the bright lights from the Circus area ahead. Coming off the path and into the arena, Zia ran straight into the dirty man who put the chains on Emrie. He grabbed her by her shoulders looking even more annoyed than earlier.

"Hey, watch where you are going, little girl." He said. Zia said nothing. She gathered herself and immediately pushed away from him as she took as step back to catch her breath, pushing her hair off her face.

Zia pulled her cover up tight around her body. She was grateful for the cover up even though these men were used to seeing women dressed like her and some with even less clothing. Still, the dirty man eyed her from head to toe before looking away. His stare made Zia's blood crawl. She felt the bile make its way up to her throat as she swallowed hard. She walked away without saying a word to him.

Zia assumed Damien had already arrived since he ran off before she did. However, he was nowhere in sight. He ran ahead of her, so she knew he had to be around somewhere. She decided to make her way over to his office so he wouldn't be mad. She couldn't tell which of her fears were the worse tonight. As though giving more time would change Damien's twisted mind. She walked slowly to toward the office.

There were many lights surrounding the office area, more than the actual circus. Zia, walked up to the door of Damien's office and reached for the brass knob. She felt a strong hand grab her by the wrist, startling her before she could touch the knob.

"Ahhh!" She screamed. Damien placed his hand over her mouth to muffle her scream. "Shhh." Stop making so much noise. Let's go." He said, pulling a key out of his pocket. There was only one key that opened his office. He didn't trust anyone to have a key. He had to be in the office for it even to be cleaned.

Damien's hair was slightly disheveled, and his face was a little flushed from the run. He quickly caught his composure though. He had been dealing with the darkness longer than I had. I could never get used to it.

"I will deal with what just happened, later. Something is not right. Those creatures are not supposed to be so close to the boundaries." He said sounding annoyed as we walked into his office. Zia stayed quiet and simply listened. So many thoughts circled through her mind.

"Wait. What about Ansel?" She asked. "Ansel will be fine if she stays put. If not, there is nothing I can do about that." He said, as thought he didn't care what happened to her. Anger began building inside me as he spoke. I tried my best not to show it.

Damien's office looked expensive. His desk was made of mahogany wood, complemented with a brown leather chair. His carpet was the skin of an extremely large tiger he had slain many years ago while he hunted. It was one of his favorite trophies.

How fitting that he hunted beautiful beasts before he began the circus. Destroying beauty came naturally to him. My heart ached looking at the amazing tiger's head.

Towards the left of his desk was a fancy liquor bar, lined off with his favorite, expensive whiskeys, and wine. A display of crystal gasses shined beautiful under the low lamp light near it. A glass about a quarter filled sat on his desk. "Someone didn't finish their drink." She said.

Zia picked up a new glass off the display and poured the open bottle of whiskey into it bringing the glass up to her nose to take a whiff. "Yuck!" It smelled horrible. Do people actually enjoy this? She wondered. Zia held her nose, taking a big swig of drink down her throat.

It burned going down as she began coughing, trying to keep the toxic liquid down her throat. When she gained her composure, she put her glass back on the display as though she never moved it.

Zia looked around as her eyes focused on the windows. They were completely black. Of course, Damien didn't want anyone to see into his office from outside. She walked pass the windows into the bathroom.

Switching the light on, she noticed it was very nice as well. It was white with gold fixtures and spotless. None of our things looked like his. He gave us the broken, used things while he kept the best of it all for himself. How is he like this?

The mirror in the bathroom was large and beautiful. The glass was framed in gold and jewels. This is really fancy for a bathroom. I guess everyone has their likes. She thought.

She looked at herself in the mirror and began smoothing down her hair. She turned on the cold water and splashed it on her face. Her mascara had already smudged from sweat. She took a small cloth from Damien's stash and wiped underneath her eyes.

"He is here and ready for you." Damien said, popping his head into the bathroom.

Zia jumped as he caught her off guard. Her stomach turned as she made her way out of the bathroom and followed Damien towards where she felt was the lion's den.

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