Chapter 02

"I bid seventy thousand dollars!"

The boy slowly opened his eyes, waking up after what felt a century.

"W\-where am... I..." he strained to hear a mallet thumping a few times and a redundant chanting of a certain amount of dollars until the ringing blare in his ears ceased. He feathered his eyes close and open a few times, but as much as he tried he could only see the darkness. Sheer and all consuming in its wake.

He perspired in his nerves, tugging on his limbs as they burned from staying on the same strenuous position where he seemed spread out... And almost bare with nothing but a cloth around his waist to cover his groin.

It took him no time at all to realize that he was binded on an upright position, his arms open and chained above his head. He tried to move his legs too—only to find out they were chained as well. Maybe together or each to a different part of where he stood, but he had no ways to even check.

"H—" he croaked before he could even scream for help, his throat dry and the words heavy on his tongue. He was scared shitless, his body severely trembling from fatigue and fear from the unknown event on\-going before him.

The ash\-blonde haired youth tried to struggle, biting and nibbling on his lower lip but that only seemed to rile up whoever was watching him—if the chants and indecent catcalling were any indication. He began to sob once again, feeling his head throb unbearably as the mallet was smacked a few more times calling the attention of the audience for their silence.

Andrei stopped struggling the moment his head felt more light and numb, the throbbing getting worse by the second as the ringing blare returned to molest his ears. He cringed, gritting his teeth which seemed to add more suffering to his dilemma. He so much wanted to crawl under something, to curl into a ball like he always does when stressed, but with his current situation... He can't, even if that was all he wanted to do in that instant.

Worse, he just came to realize the unsettling, rising heat from the middle part of his body. It felt uncomfortable. Unbearable. It was like an itch he so wanted to scratch—but hell, how can he when his arms are chained into place?

"Five hundred thousand dollars..."

A mysterious voice boomed from different sources around the room. From the sound of it, it seemed to have come from numerous speakers strategically glued to the wall across what may be a large hall.

Andrei jolted and shuddered at how the voice sounded. As if it penetrated his skin which made the hair on his body stand on edge. His still blindfolded eyes widened and he gasped, his legs weakening. He did not understand how a simple sound could make him weak on his legs, but he soon concluded it must have been that commanding, dominance to it. It felt angry... And Andrei feared it.

Silence followed the deep voice, then soft panicky chatter followed after which escalated louder and louder by the second until the auctioneer bounced back from his stunned state.

"... Do I hear five hundred thousand? Five hundred thousand on the floor. At five hundred..." The auctioneer claimed repeatedly from his spot. The crowd's hype regressed until only the auctioneer's chant of the high value offered was the only thing sounding in the hall.

"...Five hundred thousand. Fair chance at five hundred. Five hundred thousand." The auctioneer seemed to pause, and what Andrei believed to be his little anxiety attack made him break into a heaving mess. His chest tightened, his body grew hotter and hotter in anticipation, and what more was that he just wanted to be in the comfort of his own room. In private. "Going once... Going twice! Sold at five hundred thousand!"

The loud thump of the mallet seemed to echo throughout the room louder than the first few times Andrei heard it. Maybe it was due to the silence that spread in the audience... Maybe the auctioneer was ecstatic to have gained a shit ton of money from a useless slave.

It was not the time to think of such things though, because even if he hadn't realized it, he was just sold at half a million to a stranger in an illegal slave auction. He gulped his nerves down his still dry throat, feeling like wanting to scream still but too weak to even muster the energy to utter a whisper. He cried. Sobbed. Willing someone to come and save him.

Large hands wrapped their fingers around his limbs, removing the restraints on his limbs only to replace them with handcuffs and another set of binds. The moment they were removed, Andrei had almost fell to the floor head first, but the men acted fast and caught him, helping him stand. He was weak, his body was heavy and his head was swirling menacingly. He wanted to hurl, but even that seemed too much for him to handle.

"Be careful." A new voice demanded in an authoritative, no\-nonsense tone. "The master demands for him to be unhurt so treat him with utmost care."

Andrei was already in a tranced state that even with the treatment, the presence of strangers, and most especially, his fucked up situation did not make him resist. He was tired, and now that sleep was threatening to make its calling known, Andrei welcomed it with open arms. He was only able to feel the men dragging him off the stage with ease as his conscience seeped out of his body and he once again fell into a deep, much welcome sleep.

And one he so wished he would not wake up from.

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