Without despair we will share,

And the joys of caring will not be replaced,

What has been must never end

And with the strength we have won't be erased

When the truths of love are planted firm,

They won't be hard to find,

And the words of love I speak to you

will echo in your mind

~I Believe (When I Fall In Love, It Will Be Forever)

I woke surrounded by darkness. It was no surprise, considering I usually woke before they came to fetch me. It was the worst time of the day, sitting here in all darkness and I struggled to keep my mind away from the day to come. More auctions, hoping nobody would see number eighty-three, hidden in the back corner of the wooden stage.

I had only been bid on twice, once between two competitors who literally got so angry at each other that one of them shot the other and then complained that I wasn't worth the money. The other time, they couldn't come to an agreement so they both bought different females. I was glad, to say the least, because all they men who had ever looked at me had either been scarier than my father's corpse or pig-headed monsters.

It was kind of ironic, how I came to be here for the past two weeks. Just a month ago, I had been living with my father in Washington state. He was the chief of police in a small town there, working to ensure that the slave trade stayed under control. When he returned home one night, he was shot before he could close the front door and I was stolen to become part of what he was trying to prevent.

I was passed around for about a week, blindfolded the majority of the time and then, when I finally reached Arizona, I had been kept in captivity, fed rarely and treated badly. I had no idea what I was going to be sold for, only that I was going to be sold. After one hundred, they restarted the system, going back to one. Currently, one through seventy-six were sold, the rest of us just waiting to be some person's maid for eternity.

I let myself cry until they arrived, two men gripping my arms harshly. I was taken to a room with about ten women, all prepping the to-be slaves for the sales. I waited a long time until I was shoved into one of the chairs once again. It felt good to be cared for, even if I knew it was only so I could be sold. I had my hair brushed and my dry tears wiped away so they could apply a light layer blush that when under the right circumstances I wouldn't need. I was put into a slight blue dress, the color of the sky when it was half way to night and a storm was approaching. When I stood up, I didn't have enough time to give myself a good evaluation, but I was sure it looked fine because otherwise, they would have put me out on the market.

I dragged down a familiar hallway by the same two men who retrieved me from my room and shoved into place on the stage. The first row, to be exact.

I almost cried when I saw the amount of people in the small room, crowding together. It was almost nine o'clock which meant that the market would start soon. I scanned the crowd, fruitlessly looking for somebody who could save me from this mess. Needless to say, I was searching for wheat in a hay stack.

The auctions began and they slowly started creeping towards eighty-three. My heart was beating faster and my brow was covered in sweat, but I couldn't move for fear of being whipped.

"Numer eighty-two, sold for one thousand dollars!"

I almost gagged at the amount of money. I had never seen that much in my entire life.

"Eighty-three. She's a virgin, can clean whatever you like, and is extremely obedient. Starting bid, one hundred dollars!" the evil man from the podium yelled.

I hand instantly went into the air. I searched for the owners face. He was slightly grimy with pulled back blond hair, a brown trench-coat and a wide smirk on his face.

"Two hundred!"

Another hand went in the air. This was a fairly regular looking man, brown hair, brown eyes, but everybody looked terrible in this place.

Until the next bidder.

I looked at him and could only see him for a brief moment, but from what I saw, he was magnificent. His hair was a mix between golden and copper, sticking up in precarious places. He was taller than the majority of the people there, so I didn't know how I could have missed him in the first place. Just as I went to examine him closer, a man moved in front of him, blocking my view of his gorgeous face.

"Five hundred dollars!" he called out. His voice was just as magnificent as the rest of him.

"Five hundred dollars, going once, going twice-"

"Seven hundred!" the first bidder yelled. The second dropped his hand. But number three didn't.

"One thousand."

"Thirteen hundred."

"Sixteen hundred."

I anxiously stood there, staring in awe, questioning why someone would spend so much money on a person, especially someone like me with no skills.

Unless... unless they wanted me for another reason.

I put my head down and resisted the urge to cry.

"Two thousand," bidder number three said as I snapped my head up. That's the most I'd heard from a bidder in the two weeks I'd been here.

Bidder number one hesitated before dropping his hand. "Whatever. Take her."

"Going once, going twice, sold for two grand!" the announcer said.

I was immediately grabbed and dragged off the stage, just like i was dragged everywhere else in this place. But hopefully, I would never have to set sight on this terrible room ever again.

I was brought to a room similar to the one I slept in with no windows and only one door. One guard stayed with me, only a candle illuminating the floor as I assumed the transaction was being made on the other side, somewhere.

I waited about an hour, stuck in a room with someone who looked like he could beat the snot out of a whale, terrified out of my mind. I imagined the third bidder coming in here, kicking the guard's ass and whisking me away. But I knew that wouldn't happen. He didn't buy me to treat me right.

When the door finally opened, I was once again dragged outside. There he was, waiting for me with his arms crossed. Boy, was he tall. I got to have a better look at him now that he was standing in front of me, and I sure wasn't disappointed. His cheekbones were high and his lips were full. His wonderful green eyes glinted as he saw me, looking me over thoughtfully.

"Satisfied, Mr. Masen?" a man asked who I hadn't even noticed before.

I thought for another moment before shaking his head. "No. I'm not."

My heart dropped into my stomach, dreading having to go back into that horrid room that I was forced to call my own.

The man seemed stunned. "Why not?"

Mr. Masen walked up to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder and smiled down softly at me. His hand ran down to my upper arm, slowly lifting up a small section of the dress to show a collection of bruises where the guards hands had gripped me as they carried me from place to place.

"This is why. I don't care who you sell them to or what they do with them, but when they're in your care, they should be taken care of, not tortured. Make sure of it," he growled, not taking his eyes off me. I got lost in them, not able to move enough to change my expression to one of gratitude.

"Y-yes, Sir," the man stuttered.

"We'll be on our way, now. Have a nice day," Mr. Masen half snarled.

He led me out with one hand on the small of my back, quietly guiding me into the sunlight. I hadn't felt it in days, not having let us out of our rooms or the auctioning room. I nearly cried right then and there, but I kept it in, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of my new owner.

Owner.

It sounded like such a dirty word, like one of the ones my father had told me not to use. My father. God, I missed him.

I tilted my head back and sucked in as much sun as I could before I had to return to another closed room or carriage or whatever. I absorbed it through my skin. Letting it heat the places that the dress did not cover. My buyer noticed.

"When was the last time you were outside?" he questioned quietly.

I shrugged.

He sighed frustratedly. "Those fucking people..."

I almost smiled. Almost. I didn't have enough will to smile anymore.

"Am I ever going to hear your voice?" he asked me, grabbing my wrist and running his thumb over the skin there. I shivered at his strangely intimate gesture and shrugged once again.

We reached his carriage being pulled by two beautiful black horses and he unlatched the hook keeping the door closed and unexpectedly grabbed my waist, hoisting me up. He smiled at the carriage driver.

"Take us home, Newton," he said, climbing up and closing the door behind him. We both sat down just as the carriage started moving, the clamber of the horses' feet making the silence less awkward than it would have been.

He turned to me. "Here's a question you can't avoid," he said proudly. "What's your name?"

Shoot. I couldn't get out of this one. I opened my mouth and found that I couldn't speak. Not just physically, but mentally. I couldn't get my brain to work properly, to form the words that made my name.

Instead, a tear leaked down my face as my jaw moved up and down without sense, looking for words but finding none.

He looked at me, stunned that I couldn't even say my name. "Would it help if I told you my name first?" he whispered, lifting his hand to my face, ignoring my flinch as he wiped away my tear. "I'm Edward Masen. I live in Chicago with my dog, Jacob and I work for a riding stable as a professional jockey. Can you tell me now?"

I really wanted to tell this man. I wanted to tell Edward my name, where I used to live, what I did while I was there, everything. But I couldn't. The part of my brain that formed the words had been disabled and I sat there, stuttering silently.

Instead, I started crying. I tried not to cry often, but I couldn't stop the tears and sobs coming out now.

I couldn't see his face through my blurry eyes, but he wrapped his arms around me as I cried, holding me to his chest. I tried to stop, but the more I tried, the more tired I became. Before I knew what was happening, I was fast on my way to sleep, completely content in this stranger's arms.

Hello, Friends! This is my first story and I just wanted to know what you thought of it so far. I feel like I could really bring this story far with encouragement from all my readers and things of that nature. So, I know the majority of you will NOT leave a review, but the more reviews I get, the longer the story will last. So, if you like it, PLEASE leave a review. It doesn't have to be long, it can just be a smiley face or a frowning face or anonymous or whatever.

Okay, I'm rambling now. I love you all!

~Zoë