Pages 25-30

‘Lacie what happened?’ asked Sophia.

‘Sophia go away!’ said Lacie burying her face in her hands.

‘I'm not going anywhere,’ replied Sophia sitting down outside the door. ‘I’ll be waiting for you, if want to talk just shout. Or even whisper.’

Sophia sat outside the bathroom door for over an hour before she eventually heard the lock being slid across and the door opening. Lacie stumbled out and collapsed into Sophia lap crying. Sophia put her arms around her and embraced her warmly.

‘I’ve never don’t that before,’ sobbed Lacie. ‘Alik forced me.’

‘What did he do to you Lacie.?’

‘I tried to stop him Soph,’ chocked Lacie. ‘I really did, but he just kept going. I couldn’t do anything.’

‘Lacie it’s okay,’ said Sophia gently.

‘IT’S NOT OKAY!’ screamed Lacie wrapping her arms tighter around Sophia. ‘I feel…I wish I was dead.’

‘Don’t say that,’ said Sophia stroking her hair. ‘Some things are best not wished for.’

‘He cut me Sophia,’ cried Lacie. ‘When I refused him he put the knife to my back and cut me. I screamed and he cut me again and ordered me to be silent. I begged and pleaded with him but he put the knife in my mouth and said if I didn’t smile then he would make me smile.’

‘Lacie what happened?’ urged Sophia.

‘He bent me over,’ cried Lacie.  ‘I’m sorry Soph I don’t want to talk about this.’

‘It’s okay sweetie,’ sighed Sophia. ‘Just stay with me.’

Bryce Donogan stood outside of Sarhoş talking to a source that had promised to give him some information concerning The Angel Wings. Asad as he was known had once worked as a crew member aboard The Angel Wings.

‘What exactly do they bring in on the ship Asad?’ asked Bryce with his note pad and pen in hand.

‘There are only two things,’ replied Asad. ‘Drugs and girls.’

‘The girls in the bar?’ asked Bryce.

‘Yes,’ nodded Asad. ‘They are always young, when they are young they are easier to addict to the drugs, they are raised on them, that’s why they never try to escape.’

‘Because they can’t go without the daily dosage,’ said Bryce. ‘What happens if they get sick, or old?’

‘The sick ones die,’ said Asad looking around to make sure they weren’t being watched.

‘And the old ones?’ asked Bryce.

‘There’s a place just on the city outskirts,’ said Asad. ‘You drive for two hours on the main road until you come to a quarry. Explore there and you will find the answers you are looking for.’

‘What will I find?’ asked Bryce quickly writing everything Asad had said.

‘I must go,’ said Asad walking away. ‘Trust me go the quarry.’

‘Wait Asad!’ called Bryce but Asad climbed into his car and sped away from Sarhoş.

Sophia helped Lacie off the floor and took her into the shower. When she started taking Lacies gown off she struggled but Sophia talked to her and eased her into agreeing to be undressed. When she got the gown off and she saw Lacies back for the first time, she was horrified. Lacies back was covered in long, deep cuts all of which were still bleeding.

‘Lacie we have to tell Andrei,’ gasped Sophia. ‘You need a doctor.’

‘You can’t tell him!’ pleaded Lacie.

‘Why not?’asked Sophia turning on the hot water and testing it with her hand.

‘Have you ever seen any sick or injured girls here?’ asked Lacie. ‘They kill them Sophia. It is cheaper and easier to put a bullet in me than it is to explain to the police and doctors why I have no papers.’

‘We can’t just leave these wounds,’ said Sophia. ‘You wil bleed out.’

‘Bryce can help us Sophia,’ said Lacie. ‘He is a good man, but not Andrei.’

‘Ok fine,’ sighed Sophia. ‘But what about Alik? He obviously knows.’

‘I will take care of that,’ said Lacie.

Detective Ariyo was lying on his couch relaxing whenhis phone rang, he rolled his eyes and answered it.

‘Ariyo,’

‘Sir, its Annabeth,’ said Annabeth.

‘I trust theres a good reason for this?’ asked Detective Ariyo.

‘Sir we found Sarah Hartley,’ repled Annabeth.

‘You have her in custody?’ asked Detective Ariyo sitting up quickly.

‘No sir,’ repled Annabeth. ‘Shes dead.’

The next morning Sophia watched Lacie very closely, her cuts were still untreated and bleeding. She winced as she pulled herself out of bed.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Sophia getting up to help her.

‘I’m fine,’ lied Lacie waving her help away. ‘I just need some water.’

Before she could reach for her cup the door opened and Alik walked in looking very happy.

‘What do you want?’ asked Sophia getting up and standing between Lacie and Alik.

‘Get out of the way girl,’ ordered Alik stepping forward. But Sophia stood her ground defiantly. Alik smiled. ‘I admire your courage.’ Quicker than Sophia could see he drew up his hand and back handed her across the face so hard she fell to the ground and hit her head against the concrete floor painfully. Lacie tried to stand up but her back was too sore for her to do anything but lean forward.

‘What do you want Alik?’ she asked.

‘Andrei does not accept damaged goods,’ he said. ‘You are to be ready to leave tonight, but you are not going with the other girls.’

‘Whats going on?’ Lacie asked. ‘The only reason I'm injured is because of you!’

‘Who will Andrei believe?’ smiled Alik just be ready on time.’ He walked towards the door and stopped with his hand on the handle. ‘I suggest you say goodbye to Sophia, it might be a while before you see her again.’ Alik banged the door closed behind him.

Sophia got up slowly rubbing her head. ‘Lacie what’s going?’

‘I told you Soph,’ said Lacie her voice beginning to break down into sobs. ‘Do you see any sick or injured girls here?’

‘Lacie,’ groaned Sophia. ‘What happens to them?’

Lacie wiped her eyes on her blanket. ‘I have seen it many times. Any girl who falls sick with anything that requires serious medical attention is immediately picked up by the green van.’

‘Whose van?’ asked Sophia. ‘And where does it go?

‘No one knows Soph,’ replied Lacie ‘But they never come back.’

‘That’s not gonna happen to you,’ said Sophia firmly. ‘We’re gonna think of something.’

Lacie smiled and picked up her bath robe. ‘I know Soph. I’m going to shower.’ Lacie walked slowly out the door and stopped in the corridor. ‘You know I think of you as my sister Soph, without you this place would have been unbearable.’

Sophia smiled. ‘We’re gonna figure this out Lacie. I promise.’

Lacie nodded and walked down the corridor to the showers. Sophia lay back on her bed and tried her best to think of a way to help Lacie, soon her thoughts turned into dreams and she was sound asleep. When she woke it was getting dark and she could hear the sound of people going to the showers. She rolled over to see Lacie and saw that her bed was empty. Sophia knew she had been sleeping for a few hours now so Lacie should’ve been back from her shower long time ago. As she sat up she heard a loud, piercing scream from outside, she jumped out of bed and ran outside. The commotion was coming from the showers, there was a big crowd of girls surrounding the entrance to the showers, Sophia ran forward and pushed her way through all of them until she was in the front. At first she thought that somebody had spilt a can of red paint on the floor. But as she walked into the showers and followed the red liquid to the source, the last shower cubicle. Sophia stretched out her hand slowly pushed the door open. The door swung open to reveal Lacie, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall and her head bowed down on her chest.

‘LACIE!’ screamed Sophia throwing herself into the cubicle and wrapping her arms around Lacies body, but she knew it was too late, her body was cold and the colour had all but drained from her flesh. In Lacies hand was a blood stained glass shard. The tip of the shard was buried in her thigh, a few inches above her knee. The cut to the femoral artery  had bled her out in minutes. Sophia lay on the floor with Lacie crying, she refused to let her go even when Andrei and Alik came to investigate the source of the commotion.

It had been two months since Lacies suicide. Sophia had help onto her body until eventually Andrei ordered Alik to take her back to her room so they could take care of the body. Sophia had kicked, punched and screamed at him all the way down the hall and into her room. As soon as Alik had thrown her in the room and walked away she got up and tried to run back to Lacie, Alik had caught her and thrown her back into her room and made sure to lock the door behind him. Sophia kicked and threw herself at the door until she was too sore and tired to continue. She collapsed onto the floor next to the door and wept until eventually she had no more tears to give and crawled into her bed and fell into a deep uneasy sleep.

Sophia lay on her bed facing Lacies bed. Those last two months had been hard on on her without Sophia. Andrei had wasted no time moving a new girl into Sophias room, but she was not Lacie. Sophia treated the new girl Skye kindly enough but she knew she would never have the same relationship with Skye  as she had had with Lacie. Sophia climbed out of bed, grabbed her towel and headed for the showers. When she had found an shower cubicle she turned the water on and turned to examine herself in the mirror while she waited for it to heat up. Sophia had changed over the last two months, her skin had become pale and her once beautiful blue eyes had sunk into her now sickly thin face, and blue colour seemed have dulled and now longer a had a shine to it. She opened her mouth and examined the underside of her tongue; the fat blue veins were littered with pin pricks where the candy had been injected daily. Sophia stripped down and entered the hot shower. She closed her eyes and the warmth of the water.

Bryce stepped out of the cab and paid the driver. Bryce had spent the last two months trying to gather as much information as he could about the quarry Assad had told him about. But after weeks of meetings with shady characters and other questionable people he had eventually decided that the only way to discover what exactly went on at the quarry he would have to go there himself and investigate. Bryce had taken a cab to the outskirts of Mogadishu; from there he had followed a narrow dirt road for six kilometers until he had eventually arrived at the quarry. The quarry was relatively small, Bryce approximated the perimeter to be about two hundred by three hundred meters, and the inside was littered with holes, some were covered with planks and a few were open. The perimeter was fenced off with a three meter high wire fence topped with barbed wire and every couple of meters there was big sign that read; ''Private Property Keep Out.''

Bryce shook the lock on the gate pointlessly and walked around the fence trying to find somewhere he could get in. The only gap he could attempt to get through was between the top of the gate and the fence a few inches above it. Bryce threw his backpack over fence and started climbing, he just managed to pull himself through the small gap and landed with a thud on the ground inside the quarry. Bryce dusted himself off and shouldered his backpack and went to the nearest hole and peered in.

‘You miss her?’ asked Miranda taking the stool next to Sophia in the bar. ‘Lacie.’

‘Think about her every day replied Sophia ordering another drink. ‘It’s not the same without her.’

‘I won’t pretend to know how you feel,’ said Miranda. ‘But if you want to talk, I'm here for you.’

‘Well that is a touching sentiment,’ said Alik before Sophia could reply. ‘But you are not here to be each other’s personal shrink, you are here to work so I suggest you separate yourselves and focus on attracting customers.’

‘See you later Sophia,’ said Miranda standing up and walking away from the two.

‘Your little friend was lucky,’ said Alik. ‘Threw her body in a small ditch, had she not been dead I would have thrown her in there alive.’

‘Shut up!’ snapped Sophia starting to walk away.

Alik grabbed her wrist. ‘Do not forget who you are talking girl!’

‘A killer?’ asked Sophia politely.

‘Yes,’ whispered Alik. ‘Now unless you want to be next I suggest you watch yourself.’

The dead bodies in the hole were floating in water. The water did a decent job of ensuring the stench was not strong enough to be detected outside the quarry. Bryce stared at the floating bodies, they were girls, young mostly, some in their teens, some as young as ten maybe eleven. Bryce stepped away from the whole and went to one of the closed holes and raised the wooden cover off and almost dropped it again when he saw what was within. This hole was full of dead bodies too, but instead of water it the bodies were floating in a sea of maggots. The short fat maggots were everywhere, they were crawling in and out of eye sockets and mouths and ears, Bryce gasped loudly and slammed the lid shut, he collapsed on the ground and threw up violently for the next couple of minutes.  He got up as quickly as he could and tried to run to the gate but he slipped on his own vomit and fell head first into an open hole. For the first time in over two months he was face to face with Lacie.

Bryce practically ran into Sarhoş and looked around for Sophia. He had come straight from the quarry to Sarhoş he had to tell Sophia what he had seen. He finally spotted her comig out of the rest room and he pushed his way through the crowd until he reached.

‘We need to talk Sophia,’ he whispered urgently into her ear.

Sophia looked at him and gestured to his filthy cothes. Bryce shook his head, grabbed her hand and pulled her with him out the doors and and into an dark alley two roads down.

‘Bryce,’ gasped Sophia. ‘You know we can’t be here.’

‘I know,’ he replied licking his lips nervously. ‘But its important. Its about Lacie.’

Sophias sharp intake of breath was followed by silence as she waited for him to continue.

‘I went to the quarry,’ Bryce said glancing over his shoulder. ‘I know where the sick and wounded girls go Sophia.’

‘What quarry?’ asked Sophia. ‘A van picks up the sick girls.’

‘That van takes them to the quarry!’ said Bryce loudly.  The quarry is full of these pits, and they are full of bodies.’

‘What bodies?’ asked Sophia.

‘The dead bodies of girls Sophia,’ replied Bryce. ‘They kill the sick, and they stuff them down a hole to rot.’

‘And Lacies there?’ said Sophia with tears forming in her eyes. ‘Lacie is stuffed in a pit?’

‘Yes,’ mumbled Bryce putting his arms around. ‘I saw her.’

Sophia cried into Bryces chest. ‘She didnt deserve that, she deserves a proper burial.’

‘I know Sophia,’ whispered Bryce. ‘And one day she will get one, but right now we need to focus on getting you out of there. It wont be long before you join her and the rest of them.’

‘What about the others?’ asked Sophia. ‘I can’t just leave all the others there to suffer.’

‘You can be more help to them when you’re free,’ replied Bryce.

‘I can’t just leave them Bryce,’ said Sophia shaking her head. ‘They dont deserve this any more than I do.’