Ruthless Bargain

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ething close to peace, or rather freedom. It was the

the week was barely enough to call my own. But still, staying in the bookstore ever

'Okay,'' she announced, smiling, dropping the keys into her bag with a satisfying clink. ''That

didn't look up, not even once. I turned back to my uncle and his gaze was already on mine. ''Uncle Mateo,'' I said, carefully approaching him. ''What happened to you?'' He was quiet for a moment, his gaze still holding mine. Then he straightened gently on the chair he sat on, his bones clearly in pain. ''You are leaving this house,'' he said. ''By morning.'' My world stopped. Time stilled, while I tried to process the magnitude of his words. The words landed like a blow to me. I stared at him, maybe for a reason or an explanation. ''What?'' ''You heard me.'' ''I-'' I shook my head slowly. ''I don't understand. Leaving to go where? And what are you talking about?'' ''You have been sold.'' His words sounded rehearsed, flat. ''To cover a debt I owe. By morning, you would go to the man I owe. That's all you need to know.'' The room went very quiet. I could hear Natalie's consistent chewing of gum, the faint sound of traffic outside. I could hear my own heartbeat, which had clearly become very loud and fast. ''Sold.'' I tasted his words and it felt foreign, like a different world. ''You sold me.'' ''it is done.'' He said flatly. I got on my knees instantly, tears gushing down my cheeks in streams. ''Uncle Mateo, I have a life. I have a job...I....I have dreams....I have.....I'm trying to....you just cannot.'' The words refused to make sense. ''Please don't do this. You can't do this to me.'' I begged. He looked at me for a long moment. Then he stood up quietly, and walked out of the room. No words. No explanations. Just the faint sound of his footsteps and the click of his bedroom door. I broke down, crying hard on the floor, hitting my chest rapidly. I saw my Aunt move towards me in hurried strides and before I could react, I felt it, before the sound came. Her sharp, open palm cracking against my left cheeks so hard my head snapped sideways. I barely had time to process before the second one came, harder on the other cheek and the sting spread so fast across my face like fire. I pressed my hand so hard to my face, protecting myself. ''Whore!'' her voice close enough, loud and vicious. Every venom of hatred she had for me echoed in her voice, laced beneath her words. ''Useless, ungrateful orphan.'' She spat on me. ''You think you have dreams? You think you have a future? You have nothing. You never had anything. You came into this house with nothing and you will leave with nothing. Go and do what you do best, be a slave to whichever man will take you.'' She stepped back. Natalie glanced at us and focused on her phone again. I sat still on the floor. I didn't want to fall apart in her presence or give her the satisfaction that her action had an effect on me. I stood up and walked past her, down the hallway and into the small room that had been mine for years. The one with the thin matress and the small bookshelf. I sat at the edge of the bed, the night stretching long and heavy in front of me. A knock interrupted me far into the end of the night. The door opened and my Aunt walked in, two heavy bags of laundry in her hands. She dropped them on the floor, hissed a long sigh and exited the room like a ghost. I checked the time on my phone and it was already past midnight. I did the laundry without a word. Nobody brought me food. I did not ask for any either. Asking never worked for me in this house, it only gave them an opportunity to remind me of my place. I worked through the laundry in the small utility room across the kitchen while my mind was somewhere else entirely. Sold. The words kept circling, kept coming back. An apartment. With Iris. Two bedrooms, a kitchen and a door with a lock that I had keys to. After that, school because I was deprived of it and it was one thing no one could take back. And then a business, something small and bookish and my own creation. That was the plan. That was the only plan I had ever had. I wrung out the last piece of fabric, my hands cold from the water. Then a thought came, slowly, quietly. What if