Page 65 of Pushed Through The Dark
I survived by watching, learning, listening. It was what kept me alive. Koa left me. He let them sweep in and steal me away. I wasn't sure why, and I was trying so hard not to care.
I felt it, and it hurts like a thousand hot needles poking my heart all at once.
"I'll start at the beginning. . ."
I told him everything. From the night Virgo took me, to the moment I was sold. The horror that was written all over his face almost made me stop talking. I didn't want to keep going. I couldn't take the way he was looking at me.
The sadness, the disgust, it made me feel gross all over. Pulling the thin blanket he had given me around my shoulders, I wrapped myself tighter. As if it would protect me from his eyes.
The words tumbled out of my mouth, flat, emotionless like I was telling the story of someone else. His face scrunched up, and his gaze grew wider as I detailed the forced sex and the men who paid hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars for a night with one of us.
The scariest part about all of it was I could remember each man. I could remember the color of their eyes. I could remember the way each one's hands touched me.
Some were too timid. Maybe they were afraid because it was their first time with a whore. Maybe they were afraid of me. Or maybe they were just afraid of Virgo.
Then there were the men who took pleasure in being rough. Those that smiled with delight as they scarred my body and crippled me to the point I could barely move. The ones who grew more powerful when they thought I was growing weaker.
"But Koa was not one of those men," I said, snuggling deeper into the blanket. "He took me. He saved me. I don't know about any of the stuff you're talking about, but the man I know gave me my life back."
I lied. Explaining to the detective that I was able to escape the man who bought me and smuggled me to the states and that Koa had found me on the side of the road.
And he believed me. After spilling my guts to him for over two hours, he had no reason not to.
There was so much pity in his eyes. It made me feel weak and frail all over again. The detective ran his hands down his face, rocking his jaw back and forth.
"Wow," he said, his eyes huge. "This is not what I expected at all."
"It's not what I expected either, but we don't always get to choose the roads we walk."
"Well, you're safe now. We're going to get you connected with your family and get you home as soon as we can. Right now, I need to make a few calls. This place, the Canary, it needs to get shut down now."
Standing up, his eyes softened as he gave me a slight smile. "You really are lucky to be alive."
"Yeah, I know." I was looking at my fingers, picking at the skin around the nail beds. "Detective, what's going to happen with Koa?"
"Look," he said, holding out the notebook in my direction. "I know you think Koa did something good for you, and from what you told me he did, but I can't erase everything I know. If he's guilty of this, if he did what Knox told me he did, he needs to be held accountable. That's how justice works." Holding the door, he looked down at me sympathetically before closing the door.
I knew he was right. Koa killed Alek, and if the cops had the evidence they needed to prove it, Koa wouldn't see freedom again. I was shocked his brother was doing this to him. Knox had gone too far. He crossed a bridge and was leaving his brother on the other side.
A woman came in not long after the detective. She was wearing a dark blue dress, her hair pulled back into a tight bun, and deep red lipstick on her lips. She was pressing a small computer to her chest, and she smiled uncomfortably.
He told her my story.
It was easy to see. I saw it in her big brown eyes. That was one of the reasons I didn't want to tell my story. I didn't want people to look at me like I was broken or treat me like I was made of porcelain.
I just wanted to be normal.
She asked me a few simple questions; my name, my birthday, where I was from.
"I have a question."
"Sure," she said, typing on her computer.
"I have a few things at Koa's home. Will I be able to get them back?"
"I can't make any guarantees, but if you give me a list of what you're looking for, I can ask Detective Thompson."
Telling her the few things I wanted. She gave me another pathetic smile and reached out to shake my hand.
