Page 6 of Risks of Temptation

My breath hitches and I step back into my bedroom, slamming then locking the door. I run to the closet to hide, but it's pointless. The sound of wood splitting fills the air and competes with my pounding heartbeat in my ears.

I curl in a ball, putting my hands over my head and my face and in my knees, but they tear the closet door off the hinges.

Pain sears through my head when the bald man yanks me off the ground by my hair.

"Ow!" I scream.

The other man smothers a white cloth over my face. I make two more attempts to get away from them before everything turns black.

I fall in and out of consciousness. Each time I wake, I'm awake longer, but my eyes are covered. I'm on my side, and the cold metal floor feels scratchy.

Is it rust?

My heart races. I try to breathe to calm myself down.

This is not the time to go into a panic attack.

Something tight cuts into my wrists, restraining them behind my back. Whatever I'm in is moving, and we hit a bump. I fly up in the air and come down hard on my shoulder. I scream as pain sears through it, but something is in my mouth.

I cough from the gag.

Reggae music blares. Cigarette smoke fills the air. I try to sit up, and a hand pushes me down and stays on my torso, near my hips.

Oh God.My skin crawls. I try to move out from under his palm, but he grabs me and pulls me onto his lap.

"Stop moving, little girl," he warns in Spanish.

Tears drip from my eyes, and I freeze, except for my quivering insides.

Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me!

My thoughts do nothing to stop him.

Don't let this happen again. Please.

His breath seeps into my skin. The warmth makes me nauseous.

The vehicle comes to a stop, and the music dies. "Take her out," a man yells in Spanish.

I'm carried out and then dropped on a seat in another vehicle. Monkeys screech and birds sing. I'm belted in, and another bumpy journey begins.

The noise of the jungle becomes thicker; new voices of men speaking Spanish fill the air. The warm sunshine burns into my skin. Whatever I was drugged with wears off. I spend the ride attempting to breathe through the pain in my chest.

We slide to a stop. Whatever holds my wrists together is cut. Someone drags me out of the vehicle and tugs the gag from my mouth.

"Don't touch her!" Naomi's voice rings through the air.

Hands roughly grope my breasts.

Not again. Oh God.

Flashbacks of Zaka placing his hands over my breasts that had just started developing and telling me how beautiful they are while I cried consume me, and I sob harder.

"Stop," I try to cry out, but I can hardly get enough air in my lungs, and it comes out choked.

My blindfold gets ripped from my face, so hard, pieces of my hair go with it. The man's hands don't leave me. Someone else steps behind me, holding my body to theirs. The more I wail, the more his erection grows.

The smell of body odor and sweat flares in my nostrils.