“From Ashes to Hope) Chapter 30
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I discreetly scanned the front of the van. Only the driver was there, focused
on driving, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, his eyes fixed on the
road ahead.
Perhaps they had never encountered anyone waking up from their drug
before, so he was confident in its effectiveness, oblivious to the fact that I was
conscious.
The two other girls who had been thrown in were also bound tightly.
Their eyes were closed, their faces pale, lying still, still under the influence
of the drug.
The van rattled along the bumpy road for a long time, each of us enveloped
in darkness. Finally, it came to a slow stop.
The traffickers dragged us out of the van roughly.
One of them grabbed my arm, his grip like a vise, the pain making me wince.
Another trafficker dragged the two girls, hauling us out of the van
mercilessly.
We were pushed and shoved towards a secluded area with several
dilapidated houses.
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The walls of the houses were stained and peeling, revealing the crumbling
bricks beneath. The roof tiles were broken and missing, as if a strong wind could
rip the roof off.
The area was desolate, only the wind whistling in our ears, a chilling sound
like the wails of ghosts.
As we entered a dark room, the young beggar nudged my arm with his dirty
head, his eyes filled with concern, as if comforting me, though his own body was
trembling slightly.
The next day, the traffickers moved us, along with the two other girls, to an
abandoned warehouse.
It was a desolate place, seemingly untouched for years, filled with an
oppressive silence.
The two girls finally regained consciousness after being brought here.
Their eyes were dazed at first, but as they gradually woke up and realized
their predicament, their eyes widened in terror, and they burst into tears.
Their cries echoed through the silent warehouse, filled with despair and
helplessness.
The guards outside heard the crying and frowned impatiently. “Shut up! You
want us to teach you a lesson?” one of them shouted menacingly.
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His voice was like a cold blade, slicing through the silence, a chilling threat.
The two girls trembled like frightened rabbits, their tears silenced, their
hearts filled with fear, afraid the men would burst in and do something even
more cruel to them.
I suppressed my own fear and calmly observed our surroundings.
The warehouse was dark and dilapidated, the walls covered in moss and
mildew, silently telling tales of past years.
A damp, musty smell filled the air, a mixture of rotting wood and moldy
fabric, making me wrinkle my nose.
A few rays of sunlight pierced through the high windows, which were
boarded up like a prison cell, trapping us inside.
Several traffickers guarded the warehouse.
Some of them had cigarettes dangling from their lips, the glowing embers
like the eyes of demons.
They had menacing faces, pacing back and forth restlessly. Others leaned
against the walls, seemingly nonchalant, but their eyes followed our every move.
I silently counted the guards, my eyes discreetly shifting from one to another.
There were about a dozen of them.
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I knew that in our current state, there was no chance of escape. We were
trapped here like insects caught in a spider web, waiting for fate’s judgment.
The guards only brought us two watery meals of porridge a day, nothing else.
- it.
The porridge looked like murky water, with barely any rice grains floating in
They didn’t tie our hands and feet anymore, probably assuming we couldn’t
escape under such heavy guard, or perhaps they didn’t care if we tried.
But we were already too weak from hunger to even consider it.
At first, the two other girls couldn’t stomach the watery porridge. The faint
sour smell made their stomachs churn.
But as their stomachs growled louder, the sound echoing through the silent
warehouse, a protest against their hunger, they couldn’t resist anymore.
By the time the porridge arrived in the evening, they were gulping it down
eagerly, the sound of their swallowing echoing through the silent warehouse, a
testament to their desperation and will to survive.
boot.
As darkness fell, one of the girls carefully pulled out a spare phone from her
Her movements were incredibly light, as if any louder sound would alert the
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guards.
The phone was her last hope, clutched tightly in her sweaty hand.
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However, when she anxiously tried to call for help, she realized there was no
signal.
The faint glow of the phone screen seemed so feeble in the darkness, like a
dying candle.
“Any light will be easily spotted at night,” I whispered, reminding her.
In this hellish place, any light could expose us, and we didn’t know what
kind of torture awaited us if we were discovered.
The girl understood and quickly stuffed the phone back into her boot.
“What’s your name?” I asked softly.
In this dangerous and desperate environment, getting to know each other
seemed like a comfort, a small step towards finding a way out.
The girl with the phone replied, “My name is Emma Black, and she’s Jackie
Steven. We’re classmates, we came to the ancient town for a trip. We wanted to
make some beautiful memories, but we never imagined we would end up in this
nightmare.”
<<<From Ashes to Hope…
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Her voice cracked with emotion, as if trying to suppress her fear and despair.
“How did they catch you?” I asked.
Emma said, “We passed a photo studio, and there was a very enthusiastic
staff member at the entrance. She kept recommending ethnic costume
photoshoots, saying they had a great package deal. We thought it sounded fun, so
we went inside. Then we fainted while changing clothes, and the next thing we
knew, we were here. What about you?”
I shared my story; it was almost identical to theirs.
It seemed that the photo studio was a trap set by these criminals. We were
like lambs led to the slaughter, falling into their carefully laid trap.
