Distant Spaces-Chapter 3-The Encounter

---------------------------------continued from Chapter 2-The Place, check it out at http://www2.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1109141 --------------------------------------------

She was jerked out of her thoughts yet again as she heard the loud banging at the door.Raeshma put on the clothes they had given her, she preferred the bedsheet to those.She looked at herself in the mirror, which was precariously balanced against a wall in the corner of the room.A long flowy multicolored skirt, began below her navel and ended above her ankles, she tried to pull it higher but realized it looked more sluty higher than lower.The skirt was paired up with a tight tie-up blouse which was too small for her, and didnt allow for any breathing, it pushed her breasts up and her tucked her stomach in. She looked like a dancer right out of an item number.She used the little rag of a dupatta to look the least bit presentable, by covering up as much as she could.

"Come faaaaast, what are you doing in there?",dragged a voice from outside.

Raeshma opened the door in reply, to face a tall slender girl, also dressed in a similar outfit as hers, only her dupatta was non-existent and her skirt was pulled up and tucked in near her belly, revealing her right leg well above the knee.She was chewing a twig,and did not take the trouble of removing it when she talked, thus ended up spitting a lot of it when she talked,

"Oh! Are you new here? what's your name? I am Champa, What's your name?", she asked, resting on the door with one hand and throwing away the half chewed twig on the floor, a spitting out the remaining from her mouth right there.

"Raeshma" she replied without meeting Champa's eye.

"Hi, Raeshma, dont be scared, this is a nice place, lots of money and lots of....you no what" she said with a pause and a wink.

Raeshma remained silent, she wasnt going to talk to anybody,

"Co-operate! my foot" she thought, but did not dare utter a word.

"Dont worry, everything's going to be fine", said Champa,

"We are usually light during the day, so, i will show you around." she continued,

She grabbed Raeshma's hand and dragged her out of the room,

"Okay that is Ganga..." she said pointing to a bone thin pale girl, who was crying,

"Psst, she is always like that, dont mind her," she whispered into Raeshma's ear.

"Where do you stay?" asked Raeshma,

"Ah! Finally you decided to open that pretty little mouth of yours have you? okay that is good, well, all of us live in one place",

"All of you? How many are there here?", Raeshma asked

"Oh about 30 I think", came the reply,

"So, where do you all live?", she asked Champa again,

"Okay, I will show you", she replied and pulled her down a fleet of stairs and then another, and just as Raeshma was wondering how deep they would go under the building, they reached a dark small room, not much bigger than Raeshma's bedroom at home, there was a pitcher of water at one corner and some blankets strewn around the place,there was a girl sleeping all bundled up at one corner, there was no window or any other way for air to enter leave or circulate in the room.

"Uhh! How many stay here?", she could guess the answer but asked anyway.

"Huh?What do you mean how many? All of us!", replied Champa quite "matter of fact"ly.

"But you dont need to panic, its quite rare sleeping here,you know, business starts in the night", she continued with a nudge and a wink.

"Okay, we better get going", and they made their way up to the building again,

"Champa where were you? Aunty was looking for that new girl for a long time, go meet her before she gets angry", said ganga still sobbing and wiping her tears with a rag that looked like it was a sock once upon a time.

"Oh gosh! Go fast Raeshma you dont want to get aunty mad", said Champa and taking her hand yet again pulled her towards a door, as the figure of the round plump aunty appeared in the frame. She didnt seem to be in the best of spirits.Suddenly they heard a scream from one of the higher floors, Raeshma and Champa looked up in the direction of the sound simultaneously.

"Dont mind that, its Cho Sion with those two guys." said aunty

"Those two are horrible perverts,always insist on going two on one,horrible guys, well they do pay well", informed Champa whispering into Raeshma's ear.

"Horrible perverts?Ha! and what are the others?",thought Raeshma and almost laughed out loud.

"There is a customer waiting, send Raeshma to the first room on the second floor", she said

"I dont want to do this", protested Raeshma.

"No one asked your opinion here, you are responsible for taking her there Champa and you su ling, you too", she said pointing to Champa and a plump chinese looking girl, who nodded in reply.

"Cooperate and everything will be fine." she said and left.

"Raeshma it,s better to listen and obey, you are not going anywhere from here, better live amicably, everything will turn out fine." said Champa,

"Fine", said Raeshma,

"Fine I will cooperate, I will cooperate quite well,just see how well." she thought. She had an idea.Oh yeah! She was getting out of this hell.

She followed Champa towards the room specified, it was similar to all the others in that floor. Wooden doors with minimal decoration, unlike the elaborate door at the entrance of the house, she knocked on it and almost instantaneously a bald middle aged man, with a huge paunch opened the door, he had no shirt on, and his trousers were unzipped, and pulled down revealing red underpants.He looked drunk, Raeshma was taken aback but pulled herself together,she had a mission to accomplish. Maybe the most difficult objective she had ever attempted to achieve in her whole life.

--------------------------------------to be continued in chapter 4-The Escape COMING SOON----------------------------------