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It seemed like a lifetime ago you were in an entirely different place, despite the repetitiveness of the days each of them were still different enough that you held your breath every morning when one of the many men watching the growing group of people, all different types of you were being held, men, women, girls and boys of so many ages.
You knew that the day was guaranteed to have some sort of pain, at least one moment but usually more than a handful where you just wanted to curl in a ball and cry. The days were long and the nights even longer, when you finally did have a moment’s peace it was spent on edge, silently begging somebody to come and rescue you, begging for anybody to save you.
One day things changed, it started out much the same as any day with one of the men barging into the room but instead of yelling for you all to get ready he watched further into the room, two other men following close behind, and made his way to you. The smirk on his face had your stomach churning and you knew something worse was coming.
You hardly put up a fight as your wrists were bound together behind your back, how could you when they hardly fed you and the small bit of food you did get was shared with the younger children, the look of hunger and fright on their face managed to get you to shove your own hunger down.
From there you were led out of the room, scared eyes watching your every step until everything went dark as a blindfold was placed over your eyes. You felt your breathing quicken, tears filled your eyes but you scrunched your eyes shut tightly to prevent them from falling, knowing that whatever was about to happen would only be ten times worse if they saw you crying.
You didn’t know what was to come but you did know that when somebody was taken from the big room you were all forced into they never came back. Screaming could usually be heard once they were taken and everybody assumed the worst from that point.
It wasn’t until you felt the cold air that you paused, the man behind you shoving you forward causing you to stumble over your feet before you righted yourself and continued on. You couldn’t remember the last time you had actually been outside, for so long you had been trapped within the walls of wherever they were holding you and despite your desperate pleas to be rescued you had given up hope of it ever actually happening.
You forced a sob that threatened to escape your throat down, knowing that you weren’t actually free, in fact it was probably the opposite. You felt yourself get grabbed by the man behind you, his large hand wrapping around your bicep as he stopped you only to shove you into a car seconds later. You were forced between two of the men that had led you out whilst the other drove, no words being spoken the entire journey as you tried to prepare yourself to die.
You couldn’t say how long the car ride lasted, the blindfold still tightly in place prevented you from even taking a guess at what time it was. It seemed to take forever though before the car pulled to a stop and the doors were being opened.
The man to your right shoved you out of the car, you almost falling to the ground if one of them hadn’t caught you by the arm again. He dragged you along with him, the air around you felt colder now so you assumed at least a good few hours had passed since you’d gotten in the car.
You tried to steady your breathing but found it was too difficult, your breath coming out in fast bursts that ached your chest. You flinched as a loud knock filled the silence, the sound of a heavy door opening coming a moment later.
The air in the room was almost suffocating compared to the cold outside but it finally forced a deep breath out of you. Music could be heard alongside several different conversations that you couldn’t make out and the smell of cigarettes and alcohol filled the room.
You were dragged through the room, walking until you were forced to stop and the blindfold was ripped from you. Despite the darkness of the room you still had to blink hard to adjust to it, low lights barely lit the room up but did well enough of a job that you saw a group of men all sat around a table, half drunk glasses scattered in front of them and they all had their attention on you. Hungry eyes darting up and down your figure as you resisted the urge to shudder.
“You always do bring such beauties for me.” A man at the head of the table grinned and you just about suppressed a grimace at the expression.
“Boss said she’s all yours, payment for the ammon.” One of the men behind you said and this time you couldn’t hide your reaction, it was only a widening of your eyes but you knew the man at the table had seen it as his grin widened wickedly.
“A pretty payment indeed.” He replied, his eyes having yet to leave you even as he waved a dismissive hand to the two men who had escorted you in.
Once the men had gone the man at the table stood and you forced yourself to stand still as he approached you, his hand coming up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear before his fingers grazed your cheek.
When he flicked a blade in front of you, however, that’s when you couldn’t hide your flinch, the blade coming closer towards you had you fighting to stay still.
“Relax gorgeous,” He murmured softly, the blade cutting away the rope restraints on your wrists and the man brushing his thumb over the raw skin. “I’ll take real good care of you.”
Months passed much the same as they always had except this time instead of answering to the group of men who had originally taken you, you now answer to Julian. He treated you just as poorly as the others had, fed you just as little though thankfully you didn’t have to share with anybody. You had long since given up on your silent prayers of rescue, came to the realisation nobody was coming, that this was your life now.
Every night without fail you went to bed sore and with tears falling down your face unsure of just how much more of this you could take.
Bruises seemed to cover most of your body, a brutal beating from Julian after a rival gang had betrayed him, working with the enemy and you were left curled up, unable and unwilling to move. Months and months of constant beatings and you couldn’t do it anymore.
You stayed were you were for a while, probably would have stayed there even longer had you not flinched into a sitting position, every part of you aching and protesting the move but the reaction was automatic when hearing a gun sound, the shooter seemed to keep his finger on the trigger for a while as it didn’t pause just continued shooting.
Julian ran into the room, pale face with sweat pooling on his forehead as he looked at you with wide eyes. You didn’t have time to react before you knew it the man was yanking you up and placing you in front of him as he backed out of the room, his gun stretched in front of him to your right, visible to you as you looked at it in fear, knowing that with one wrong move the man wouldn’t hesitate to take you life.
Eventually Juian made it to the safe room, it was only small, the doorway disguised so that it couldn’t be found in a situation like this. Julian kept you in front of him, kept his gun raised and the only sound to be heard was his heavy breathing as you tried to stay as silent as possible even with the tears making their way down your face, mixing with the dried blood that had poured from cuts made by rings earlier.
The silence seemed to last for hours, tension heavy in the air as the sound of gunshots finally stopped. It was so silent that the sound of heavy boots outside in the hallway could clearly be heard from behind the safe room door, Julians grip on your arm painfully tight as he held you in place. You weren’t exactly sure what his plan was, he had made a lot of enemies with other gang members in the time you had known him and not one of them would hesitate to kill you to get to him, all he was doing was buying himself maybe a few more seconds.
The door opened and your eyes widened at the man before you, two guns were held in his hands as he filled the doorway, the light behind him making him look even more dangerous though you supposed the blood covering him also helped with that image.
The man didn’t move, just stood before the two of you and you felt Julian’s fingers digging into your skin somehow even tighter than they already had been, you were close enough to feel him shaking as he shot his own gun.
You flinched at the deafening noise right next to your each, tears flowing faster down your face because despite the fact you knew the man wouldn’t keep you alive if it meant killing Julian there was some part of you, some small part that you thought had died a long time ago, that hoped the man would help you get away from this gang, from Julian but he had ruined it.
Your eyes fell shut, not wanting to watch as the man who could have changed your life was killed.
Instead though you heard the sound of the other man’s gun, one single shot came from him before you felt Julian slump forward against your back. You hadn’t even fully registered what had happened, barely felt his weight before you were being pulled away from Julian, the stranger moving the guns to rest on his back as one arm wrapped around your shoulder and the other held your head in place at his chest.
“Don’t look,” He murmured to you when you tried to pull away to look into the safe room, “He can’t hurt you anymore, I promise.”
With those words you began to sob, for the first time in years you didn’t try to suppress the noise, you just let them out as the man guided you from the building, never once letting go of you.
By the time you got to the man's van your sobs had calmed into sniffles and shaky breaths even as the tears continued to flow down your cheeks, the man held the door open for you and you climbed in despite your reluctance to let go of him. The man gave you a soft smile, a snark contrast to how he had looked before in the doorway, before shutting the door gently and making his way over to the driver's side.
The journey was silent, you didn’t know where the man was taking you but for some reason you didn’t care. It felt easy to trust the man, maybe trust wasn’t the right word but you certainly didn’t think he was a part of another gang. You had met many gang members and none of them had ever been quite as gentle with you, softly so softly to you.
Eventually the two of you pulled up to an apartment complex and Frank was the first to get out, you sat in your seat staring up at the building unable to remember a time when you yourself had lived in a crappy run down building with family members you couldn’t quite recall.
You jumped slightly when the man opened the door for you, you knew he had seen it but didn’t comment on it, instead he gave you a small smile and held a hand out for you which you took gratefully. It was slightly overwhelming walking into the building, even more so walking into the man’s apartment and being greeted by an excited dog jumping up at you.
You couldn’t help but flinch as it did, your experience with dogs was limited but the gang had some that they used to scare people and it worked, the dogs weren’t afraid to attack when commanded though you did feel awful for them once you saw exactly how the members trained them to do it.
“Down,” The man commanded, not having to raise his voice or lift his fist to get the dog to listen and you watched in slight awe as the dog whine but did as his owner told him before trotting off to a dog bed in the living room. “He’s a big softie really.” The man told you and you couldn’t help the small, barely there smile that pulled at your lips, something that hadn’t happened in a long time, as the man shot his dog a soft look before turning his attention to you just in time to watch you shiver slightly.
“I’ll get you some clothes,” The man told you, gesturing for you to follow him into a neat bedroom.
You stood in the doorway, arms wrapping around yourself to fight against the chill and in an attempt to cover yourself. The lack of clothing was something you had long since grown used to, not having been allowed to wear proper clothing since you were taken and you couldn’t but feel excited at the chance to wear some, to actually be warm and covered for the first time in years.
“They’ll be a bit big but they’ll do,” he said as he handed you some clothing, “Come out when you’re ready.”
He waited until you gave him a nod before he left the room, closing the door before him with a soft click. You could only stare down at the clothing in your hands for a few moments, brushing your hands along them and feeling how soft they were.
You eventually managed to move again, peeling off the little clothing you had and changing into the man’s, blinking against the sudden wave of tears that filled your eyes again, completely overwhelmed at everything around you, at the fact that you were finally free from the men who had taken you, free from Julian and his men.
Once you were done you opened the door, your old clothes bundled in your hands as you looked around and spotted Frank in the kitchen, two steaming bowls in front of him. He looked towards you and you watched as his eyes went wide, softening as he looked at you, face cut and bruises as his clothes hung on your body.
“Give me them,” he said, reaching to take the old clothes from you and not even hesitating to throw them in the trash much to your amusement and you couldn’t stop the small giggle that left your lips, the man’s face seemingly lighting up at the sound. “Sit down, got some soup for you, eat as much as you want.”
The two of you sat at the small table, knees brushing as you picked the spoon up and brought it to your lips. Despite it being such a plain meal to most, to you it was the best thing you had tasted. It warmed you from the inside and you couldn’t stop yourself from scooping more into your mouth.
The man ate his own soup at a much slower pace, watching you with amused eyes though a sympathetic smile played on his lips. So many questions flooded his head, how long had you been with Julian’s gang, how long had you been beaten and starved, when had you been taken, were there more of you?
He waited until you had finished, to decline another bowl before he broke the peaceful silence that had settled between you as you ate.
“You got anywhere to go kid? Any family?” He asked gently, not wanting to upset you but if there was somebody out there for you he’d make it his goal to get you back to them.
You shook your head, looking away from him as you did. Obviously you were sad about your family but over the years you had sort of forgotten things about them, you knew the basics, remembered how many people made up your family but forgot what they looked like, forgot exactly where you had lived with them. You were so young when you were taken the few memories you did have were quickly replaced with ones from the first place you had stayed immediately after being taken.
This life was the only one you truly knew and that was terrifying.
“That’s alright,” Frank told you softly, causing you to look up at him with wide eyes, watching as he reached over slowly and took your hands in his to stop you from nervously picking at the skin. “You can stay here.”
“Thank you,” You told him, voice breaking as tears filled your eyes again and several managed to trickle down your cheek, “Thank you for saving me.”
Frank smiled at you as he leaned over to raise the hand not holding yours, keeping his movements nice and slow so you could see exactly what he was doing. He gently brushed the few tears that trailed down your cheek away, smile widening as you leaned into the touch as he thought about how long it had been since somebody touched you without bad intentions.
Frank swore in that moment he would never let anybody hurt you again and the people that had already done so were next on his list. He was going to make sure every single one of them paid the price for what they had done to you.