Free Class Trip by Rachel Burns Page A

used to better places than this. I was used to
things being perfect and clean.
    Things weren't
here. Everything was so dirty. Dirt had gathered in the corners of
the bathroom from things not being cleaned right. My grandmother had
raised me better than that. If I had cleaned this bathroom this way
she would have made me do it again and again until it was perfect.
She had always said the perfect cleanness was a sign that a person
valued the things that they had.
    He had showered
me and cleaned me. Did that mean that I was of value to him?
    He picked up my
toiletry bag and fished out my toothbrush. “It's gone. I got rid of
it. That will never happen again.”
    What would never
happen again, I asked myself. He would never hurt me again or I would
never bleed again. Or he could even mean that I would never have to
see the evidence about what he had done too me.
    “Up you go,
slowly now.”
    I grabbed onto
the wall as he pulled me to my feet. I was still naked and so was he.
I was freaking out about that. This wasn't me anymore. I was dead and
just a shell was left in his place.
    I took the
toothbrush and brushed slowly and carefully. When I was finished he
brought me back to his room and laid me down on the bed.
    “Rest a little,
angel.” I could hear him opening the wardrobe and getting dressed.
He went off to the bathroom for a bit too and then he was back and
telling me it was time to get up.
    I sat up, modesty
had returned. I didn't want the blankets to miss any spot of me.
    “Please don't
start. I really don't want to punish you on our honeymoon.” His
shoulders dropped as he looked at me.
    I wasn't sure if
that was the right word. “Honeymoon?”
    “Yes, you are
my wife now.” His head tilted like he was trying to size me up to
see how dangerous I was.
    “Church?” I
asked. My German just wasn't good enough for a conversation like
this.
    “Old fashion
wedding. We are man and wife now. You're mine.” He looked ready for
a fight.
    I was too meek
for that. I could only stand up for others rights.
    I always had it
in the back of my head that I deserved what I got. I must have done
or thought something so terrible at one time in my life that this was
my due.
    Karma was doing
this to me, but why?
    I nodded at him
that I understood.
    He looked really
pleased and picked out another dress for me to wear today. I stayed
in bed, as I dressed so he could see as little as possible of me. He
sat down next to me and put on his shoes.
    I remembered
thinking that he was good looking the first time I saw him. And he
wasn't as old as the man who had waved to me. The girl he did buy
would probably be found starved in the room that he was locking her
in weeks after he had died.
    This house was
big and I got to move around a bit. Maybe I could even runaway.

Chapter 6

    We went down to
breakfast as always he held my hand. The others were gathered at the
table talking to one another. They stopped as we approached them.
    They all looked
at me. Tata patted my hand and sat me down in a chair. He sat down
next to me and on my other side was the doctor. Did they know what
had happened to me? I hung my head a little and folded my hands in my
lap again.
    Tata looked down
at me. “It's okay, this is my family. They won't hurt you. I'll
tell them very plainly. I am the only man you will ever know. Is it
better now?”
    I nodded a
little.
    He took my plate.
“Sandra?”
    I looked up at
the eggs that he was pointing to. “Are they spicy?” I asked in
English because I didn't know the German word for spicy.
    He raised an
eyebrow at me. “You are a very picky eater.” He spoke in German.
    I shrugged my
shoulders and nodded. “Well I have been drugged before.”
    A couple of
people laughed. Thankfully he was one of them. Offending him in front
of the others probably wasn't a good idea.
    “The eggs
aren't spicy.” He put some on my plate. “Fruit salad?”
    I nodded.
    “And I know you
like bread.” He was speaking German with me. I had