Under The Veil of Night

The students were taken to a secluded place. All the time, Misae was clutching the red hair girl’s hand tightly. She was too terrified after the event that happened today. She kept on praying that today’s incident was nothing but a bad dream where she could wake up soon. When she woke up, she would find herself on her bed.

When the truck that brought them away stopped, the door was opened and a man pointed a gun towards them. "Get into the building, one by one."

Still holding the girl’s hand, Misae walked towards the building. The stench of the building caused her brows to crease. The moment she saw what was inside, she nearly threw up. There were numerous people there, and all of them were around her age.

From their appearance, she knew that they were already here for several days. Their clothes were partially torn and there were several bruises on their body along with several parts that turned blue because of the cold. At this point, she didn’t dare to think about what they had to go through. The floor was messy with dirt, blood, and might be other liquid she didn’t recognize.

"Walk inside!"

They were pushed inside. One of her friends stumbled and fell to the ground. The girl immediately screamed loudly as she could feel the dirty dirt on the ground touching her skin.

The man frowned.

BANG!

The sound of the gunshot caused the girl to close her mouth immediately. The man looked at her with his gun pointed up. "Close your mouth. If you don’t, the next shoot will reach your head."

The girl nodded her head repeatedly as tears poured out from her eyes. The others helped her up as they tried to find a dry and safer place.

"Come over here, this is still pretty good," the red hair girl pointed to the stack of boxes on the side.

Misae dragged her feet listlessly. Her eyes were looking at the surrounding as she hoped that this was nothing but a dream. She hoped that she could wake up soon.

"I’m afraid..." Misae muttered.

The red hair girl smiled wryly. She hugged her friend tightly as her hand was also trembling. "We’re going to be alright. Someone is going to save us."

"Yeah, I hope so."

The red hair girl closed her eyes. She knew that their chances to get out were slim, but she couldn’t show it to Misae, not when Misae was showing her the weakness inside her.

Someone will help them.

She believed that.

...

The next day, the men returned. He kicked the door open, forcing the sleepy children to wake up.

"Good morning, kids," the man said. "Take them out."

Several men came inside and dragged several girls out from the room. The red hair girl was also got picked. Her eyes were filled with terror as she clutched Misae’s hand tightly, afraid that she would get taken away.

"No, no, please don’t!" the red hair girl begged as tears started to fill her eyes.

"Shut up, you b*tch," the man didn’t care about it as he pulled the red hair girl harder, pulling her along with Misae because they were holding hands.

"No! Don’t!" Misae yelled.

"Tsk," the man clicked his tongue and raised his hand.

SLAP!

Feeling the force that came on her cheek, Misae stumbled back. Her clothes were stained with dirt on the ground. Her cheek was filled with pain as she listened to her best friend begged the man to let her go.

"Please, don’t!"

"Shut up!"

The girls cried. Some of the boys tried to fight back, but they were beaten up ruthlessly. None of them were those who have good martial arts. And even if they did, they couldn’t outdo the guns.

Their speed wouldn’t be fast enough to beat the speed of the gun.

"Don’t ruin the goods," one of the men came closer and frowned as he picked up the red hair girl. Taking out a cloth, he gagged the red hair girl’s mouth.

The man that slapped Misae shrugged. "They’re so noisy. Besides, I’m not slapping that hard."

"That girl is prettier. The boss is going to like her more."

"We have to wait until tomorrow. For now, take her away and don’t hurt her. I don’t want their price to decrease because of your action."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Goods....

Misae forced her body up and sat down on the ground. Her mind was filled with uncontrollable rage at the thought of them treating people as items. They were not things to sell, they are all human being.

Her eyes landed on the red hair girl, which was still struggling. As her mouth was gagged, she couldn’t say anything, but her eyes were filled with fear and terror.

Misae watched as they brought her friend away. Tears poured out from the corner of her eyes. The terrifying things that they might do to her flashed in her mind, filled her with chills.

She felt afraid. She wanted to go home. Someone, please help her!

Misae yelled inside her mind as tears continue to pour down. She cried without any voice along with several other girls inside the room. They were all afraid.

Today, some of the girls were taken out.

Next time, it would be their turn and they didn’t know what their fate would be. They were not treated as human being, but as items that no one cared about. It was simply too cruel.

’Mom, Dad, help me,’ Misae begged inside her mind. She wanted to get out of here. The thought of what might happen to her terrified her greatly.

"Stop crying," one of the boys said with an annoyed tone. "It’s cold on the ground. If you stay there, you’re just going to get sick."

"What do you know? It’s not your friend that’s being taken away!" one of the girls snapped. Even though she was crying so badly, she still has the strength to retort the boy.

The boy frowned. "The one that they take is my friends too! Stop telling me that I don’t know anything. Just get up if you want to stay alive or just kill yourself. At the very least, there’s a chance to get out if you’re still alive."

There’s a change to get out if you’re still alive.

The boy’s words sunk into Misae’s mind as she stood up slowly and moved to the stack of dry grass again. It was indeed cold because the weather has turned into winter.

She had to stay alive.

At least, she would survive until someone came to save her.