Deep Woods

“Are you ready?” asked Ralavich from outside the door.

“Just doing my make-up!” I checked the bathroom. The door had a lock but he’d just break it down. Think!

“Hurry up!” ordered Ralavich.

“One second!” I was hysterical, now. The room began to swim behind hot tears. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Just a year ago, I’d been following my dream. Then one day changed everything. Suddenly, I was out of medical school, my future gone. Then came the call center and the daily screaming in my ear. And now….

I’d been wrong, in the car. I wasn’t a cog in a corporate machine. I was an asset, a thing to be bought and sold.

I hiccoughed and sobbed, my chest heaving. I might as well give up. Maybe he won’t hurt me as much if I don’t fight. The tears began to run down my cheeks.

But as I stood there sobbing, something happened. With everything stripped away from me, every hope gone, I found something deep inside me, something I’d never known I had. All those months of being yelled at in the call center had worn down the rest of me, but there was something right at my core, something tiny, that had hardened, instead. Hardened until it was like diamond.

I wasn’t going to let him have me. And once I decided that, there was only one way out.

I opened the window wide and looked down. Three floors onto paving stones. A quick death. Better than being his slave.

I stepped up onto the sill.

Ralavich banged on the door. “What are you doing in there?”

I took a long, deep breath—

And then, in that last moment of calm, I saw another way. I jumped down off the sill and slid under the bed.

I heard the door fly open and crash against the wall. I closed my eyes tight, trying to keep perfectly still. I imagined his gaze sweeping the room, then locking on the wide-open window. Please—

He raced to the window, his footsteps shaking the floor, and cursed in Russian. Then he ran back to the door and bellowed. “Alik!”

Feet pounded up the stairs. Alik. That must be the bodyguard I’d seen downstairs. I lay motionless, barely daring to breathe. I saw Alik’s feet run to the window and there was a hurried conversation in Russian. I could guess at the content, just from the amazement in Alik’s voice. She jumped?! And she survived? He ran off, Ralavich close behind him. There was shouting downstairs and an alarm started to wail.

I slowly let out my breath and slid from under the bed. I could hear shouted orders, running footsteps. I crept out into the hallway and peeked down the stairs. The club members were ushered into another room, out of the way. Security guards dressed in black flooded from a doorway and ran outside. In just a few moments, the main hall was deserted.

I had no time to change clothes. I knew I wouldn’t be able to run in the heels so I kicked them off and crept along the hallway barefoot. As I passed bedroom doors, I could hear sounds from inside. Wailing. Sobbing. My chest contracted. There were at least nine other women here, destined for Ralavich’s brothels in Russia. Maybe many more, if the other members had all bought women, too. I can’t just leave them here!

But I couldn’t help them now. I needed to escape and bring the cops. I forced myself to keep walking. Down the stairs. Across the massive hall, the marble ice-cold on my bare feet—

Footsteps. I ducked behind the grand piano.

“Why weren’t the windows locked?!” yelled Ralavich as he stormed in.

The head of the club walked alongside him, placating and just a little patronizing. “Mr. Ralavich, please. In all the years this club has been open, do you know how many escapes we’ve had? Zero. She probably broke both her legs in the fall and she’s crawled under some bush somewhere. It’s over a mile to the edge of the property and then she’d have to climb a ten-foot fence. We’ll have her back here in a few minutes.”

They passed into the next room. I crept over to the door and peeked outside. I could see flashlight beams sweeping back and forth as men searched the grounds. None of them were looking towards the mansion.

For now. Sooner or later, they’d figure out I wasn’t out there. Then someone would think to search the house and it would all be over.

Several cars were parked in the driveway. Keys. I needed keys. Heart thumping, I hurried to the room the security guards had run out of and peeked around the door. Empty. My stomach knotted when I saw a rack of guns: shotguns, rifles, handguns, all secured behind wire mesh. They were prepared for this. They’d kill me if they had to. Then I saw the little cupboard on the wall. Please don’t be locked—