Free Class Trip by Rachel Burns

our
new happy life.
    “I'm hungry,”
he announced. He grabbed hold of my hand and tugged it until I sat
up. I saw the blood on the sheets and covered my mouth.
    “That just
means that you are a very good girl. Good girls bleed the first time
but just the first time. It will only get better from now on. I
promise. Let's go take a shower.”
    I inched to the
side of the bed and stood up. My legs were shaking. I looked down at
them and so did he. Blood was trickling down both of my legs.
    “You are doing
just fine. I am very proud of you.”
    I looked up and
away from him. I had a feeling that I was going to pass out. His grip
tightened on me and he walked me slowly to the bathroom. He was
completely naked and my pajama top was pushed up over my breasts.
    He led me right
into the shower. He stepped in too and closed the shower door. “Let's
get this off of you.” He lifted the pajama top up over my head.
    “I can't stand
anymore.”
    “I got you.”
He turned on the water and held me under it. There was a bottle of
soap and he squirted some in his hand while he held, slash, pinned,
me in the corner. He washed me and my face felt like it was burning.
Tears were still running down my face. I scolded myself for being so
ridiculous. He was the one doing something wrong, not me.
    I had done
nothing wrong.
    I had been
wronged.
    He was cleaning
me in between my legs and I just cried, for the first time I made a
sound while crying. I have always been the type where my shoulders
move and tears come out but no sound. He had a way of really getting
me to cry out.
    “Shh, you are
such a good girl. Everything is okay. I got you.” He was babbling
at me. He wasn't good at comforting anyone. His comforts sounded like
threats. He left me leaning against the wall and showered off
himself. He even washed his penis right in front of me. My blood was
on him too. I felt like I was going to be sick.
    He finished and
stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. I was getting a bit
cold but he hadn't said that I should come out and there really
wasn't any room for me in the bathroom anyway.
    This room was so
ugly. Brown tiles halfway up the wall, even in the shower. The walls
were painted brown and the paint was chipped off in several places.
Everything was old and the towel was ripped here and there. This
wasn't the luxurious home of a slave trader. That meant that he was a
middleman. Was that why everyone had been so mad at him yesterday?
They had wanted him to sell me and a buyer was even interested.
    This meant that
everyone here hated me. And he just wanted to hurt me. I was all
alone.
    “Come here,
angel.”
    I went to him
feeling that a big part of me had just died. I had decided to just
obey him. If fighting made things worse than I would never fight him.
    He dried me off
and kissed me every now and then. “Are you hungry?”
    I shook my head.
    “Are you sure?
You didn't have supper last night. You must be hungry.” He was
smiling down at me. It was almost like he was teasing me.
    “This is all
too much for me,” I admitted.
    “You are doing
really well. You are being so good for me. I will reward you for that
one day. You'll see. It's time to get dressed and get breakfast.”
He hung up the towel and I figured that the others would all be
sharing the same one. That thought made my stomach churn. I wanted to
go home to my mother so badly.
    He took hold of
my hand and walked me back to his bedroom. If anyone had been in the
living room then they would have seen me naked.
    What was my life
going to be like now?
    He held the door
open for me and walked in. I saw my blood on the bed. It wasn't as
much as I thought it would be, but it was enough to have me off and
running back to the bathroom. I closed the door with my foot hoping
that he wouldn't come in.
    He didn't come in
right away. I was still kneeling next to the toilet when he did. I
kept my eyes on the water in the toilet; the part where the water was
all brown. I was