Page 141 of Out for Blood
Until I look into the dancers’ eyes, utterly hollow with plastered smiles.
Then I notice the cables.
Thin lines fade into the darkness above, attached to concealed harnesses beneath their costumes. From a distance, the women seem weightless, floating beneath the light like porcelain dolls suspended on invisible strings.
The auctioneer leers at the ballerinas as they are about to begin their performance.
Bile burns in the back of my throat as I take in the ghastly spectacle.
Hooks are embedded into their arms for added control connecting to the theater’s rigging lines. With every step, every turn, the metal bites deeper. Blood trickles down their bodies onto the stage floor as they continue to dance. Their own blood soaking through their ballet slippers.
They are literal puppets dangling by cables and hooks, and I have no doubt the doctor is the one pulling the strings.
The buyers observe from their seats like kings deciding the fate of their subjects.
The auctioneer steps into the spotlight dressed entirely in black, his silence as deliberate as everything else in the room.
A leather-bound ledger rests open on a small podium beside him.
In the balconies above, each buyer holds a numbered paddle.
Not a single person speaks. No bids are called out. The onlysounds are the music, the ballerina’s choreography and their quiet suffering.
Then the first paddle rises.
The auctioneer hurriedly marks something in the ledger.
No sooner does it happen, another paddle. A few moments later, another paddle follows and he adds another note.
The music swells.
My pulse kicks into overdrive.
The stage blurs at the edges.
White costumes become white walls.
The chandeliers become fluorescent lights.
And suddenly all I can see is blinding white light.
Immediately, I shield my eyes from the bright spotlights on me. A man is holding onto my arm, guiding me across this acrylic-looking stage.
“We have a rare treat for you tonight, gentlemen. This one just so happens to be a sorority sister plucked from UM. She’s a freshman, and you know what that means—a tight pussy with an even tighter body.”
My eyes adjust to the lighting, and I see little rooms with green lights on the outside of them. I can’t see inside them, though, because they are tinted. They are stacked like a stadium, and there have to be over 100 of them.
The announcer says, “Let’s give the buyers a little taste of this special purchase.” The guard holding me, who is wearing a mask to hide his identity, pulls me to the side of him and turns me around so my backside is facing the buyers. He steps around and kicks my legs open wide, backing up and pushing my head down so everything is on display, hence the crotchless panties. In a stealth-like movement, he spreads me open with his fingers and dips one inside.
After one finger is in, he shoves another finger in my ass while standing on the side of me.
“As you can see with your own eyes, each hole is intact and tight,” the announcer says giddily. I black out what the announcer says next and tune in to the last part of it: “5 million. Wow, 10 million, gentlemen. 15 million. Sold.”
My mouth gapes open, and I shake my head. Is that how much they think a human life is worth?
The memory shatters.
I blink hard.
