Chapter 4 All Mine

• “All my life, I have never been touched by a man. I’ve remained clean and chaste” – Ava Goodchild
• …
• My hands shakily reached for my undergarment. Since most of my attire had been ripped by my previous encounter with the other man, there wasn’t much to be removed.
• Slowly, I slid the torn skirt away. The shirt was already opened, and the buttons were scattered on the floor. I removed it, doing just as he said, standing there with my eyes directed to the floor.
• “S-so?” he arched his brows to my underwear.
• I froze my eyes in horror, at him.
• “All of it?”
• I hoped he didn’t tell me to remove all of it.
• “All of it,”
• My heart begun to thud rapidly instantly. For a moment, I thought doing as he said would be the way out. Then I thought of it.
• If no one took a stand against the dehumanization of people, then who will?
• I pressed my lips, staring at him firmly with a confident expression.
• Perhaps, if I died standing up to a beast, I died trying…
• “I—”
• The door suddenly creaked open.
• “Captain! The coast is clear. We are about to sail shore,”
• It was Helen.
• She seemed to only show up at the peak of each moment. Even though I had a certain disliking for her, I was thankful.
• “Alas, she finally lands,”
• Captain Caspian muttered. There was a treasured look beneath the walls of his eyes. I knew it had to do with the ship’s remarkable journey, in spite of the storm.
• He spared me a look.
• “We’ll continue this later, Ava. I promise,” he stated. “Your virginity is all mine. There are some sinful things I have in mind for us,”
• Captain Caspian whispered the last part in my ear teasingly, before making his way out with Helen who had a curious look on her face.
• I hoped she didn’t corner me later to ask me anything cynical.
• I was left to the loneliness of the deck room, locked in. But I had another thought lingering in my mind.
• There were lots of rumors of the beast being ravaging, showing no compassion.
• Why was he different to me?
• …
• Just a few minutes later, I heard the locks being unlocked. Some man, who appeared to be one of the guards from earlier came in.
• I stood up from the darkened corner of the room, making slow steps towards him. After the incident from earlier, I found it hard to trust any male’s presence in the room.
• “Come with me,”
• He let out coldly and authoritatively.
• I trailed my steps gingerly, after him. My clothes from earlier were still torn and no one made a sign to replace them.
• I couldn’t carry my stuff back at home, because we were demanded to leave that moment.
• “Okay…”
• With one last look at the cryptic chest, I followed the guard out the door.
• It seemed like the ship was a very big one because it took a lot of time before we were able to make our way on deck.
• And when we did, I flinched from the excessive light. In the little days, my body had mastered the dim lit room and embraced it.
• The light felt really foreign now.
• The guard directed me to a line of girls, just by the other side of the ship. They were highlighting the ship and I seemed to be the last one in line.
• “Join them,”
• I nodded my head, biting my lips in wonder at what they were up to. It was a straight line and the girls marched with their chin up.
• I followed suite.
• I knew they were from different districts and that was really disturbing. In the last 200 years, the other girls never came back.
• Was this also our fate?
• As we did march, I stared at the pitiful looks we got from the community people around. My eyes locked contact with a little girl in the midst of the crowd. I recognized her to be…
• “P-Pi—”
• She motioned for me to be silent. I immediately closed my mouth. I wondered how she escaped the guards. She was putting on a sand colored cloak that made her to blend in with the community people.
• I slowly nodded to her, looking ahead instantly.
• “Your name?”
• Someone called out to me, when it was my turn. It seemed like they were writing all of our names down, to keep a track.
• “Ava,”
• That went smoother than I had expected and, in a way, I was thankful nothing went wrong.
• I looked towards Piper’s direction, only to see nothing. I searched around immediately for her, hoping she was okay.
• I sighed a guard dragging her towards the line and her relentlessly struggling.
• “I see you’ve got the feisty one,” A voice remarked.
• I noticed it was Helen. Captain Caspian was nowhere to be found.
• “Keep her, she might be a virtue.”
• The pen woman muttered. She was of a brilliant dark skin and a face that had a symbol of kindness.
• “Your name?” she directed to Piper.
• I sighed as she struggled in the guard’s arm.
• “I’m not supposed to be here. I’m barely thirteen—”
• “What is your goddamn name?!!”
• The pen woman cut her off, banging her hands on the table loudly. That was certainly to instill fear in her.
• My mistake, she was the strict kind.
• “P-piper,”
• She muttered, in a weak tone.
• “Fall in line,”
• The woman ordered. The guard immediately let go of his grip on her. It seemed like he trusted the woman with her.
• Sadly, she stood just behind my back, walking in with me.
• When we were able to make a fair distance away from them, I called out to her.
• “Hey, hey,”
• She looked at me with a frown and a look of displeasure.
• “I know you want to leave here, but…we all want to. Just follow the rules and we’ll make it out alive, I promise,”
• “Pinky?”
• In an innocent husky tone, she asked.
• “Yeah, pinky,”
• I replied, outstretching my hands towards her.
• “Ladies, welcome!”
• A voice suddenly expressed. We all halted on our spots immediately, with our eyes fixed at the person that had addressed us.
• “My name is Lydia and I’m one of the highest ranks in this castle. I am the beast’s Knight and when I mandate respect, I demand it is given,”
• “We use chess pieces in this castle to demonstrate power. While the beast is the King, there is no Queen yet. Only the one who breeds a baby for the beast can attain that power.”
• “Then what are we?”
• A girl amongst us, asked.
• “Simply pawns,”
• “And don’t ever interrupt me when I speak,” Lydia added.
• The girl shivered in her spot; her head directed down in submission.
• “Come with me,”
• Lydia motioned, with her head up high. As she walked, I noticed more of her features. She had a brownish hair that was neatly woven to her mid back. There were also flowery decorations on her head, which she wore like a crown.
• Her dress was a purple robe that had a cape at the back, dashed with gold engravings on top.
• We entered a very large bathroom stall.
• There were two females in white, waiting with heads bowed down.
• “In rows and column, assemble yourself,” she ordered sternly.
• We all did as she said, and once more I was positioned at the extreme end.
• “Begin the inspection,”
• The women commenced with handing us white towels individually.
• I felt a little creeped out when they begun a check in between our legs, with a tool.
• But—I did as they said calmly.
• I knew to survive here, there were rules that had to be followed. My village had taught me a lot about not following the tenets and had people paid dearly when they didn’t.
• “I won’t accept this humiliation,”
• Everyone gasped at the voice that dared to protest.