Never in a million years did I think my life would come to this. I could feel the pressure build up in my chest as I inhaled and exhaled sharply. The thought of never seeing my friends and family again terrified me and I knew that I couldn’t leave them all behind. I want to survive this. I need to survive this. 

At a little less than a year old, my family adopted me from the Jiangsu Province in China. My older brothers consist of Will, Jackson and Beau. As a professional escape artist, my mother must learn how to diligently and successfully work her way out of sticky situations. When my father was young he got interested in medicine and currently works as a surgeon, working with everything ranging from an enormous laceration to working towards curing cancer. As a little girl, my brothers would teach me to pick locks, speak only when need be, and how to get out of even the most difficult pickles. They definitely knew a thing or two about doing stuff in that field. 

I grew up in America basically my entire life. My first language being English, I quickly grew out of anything and everything relating to my ethnicity. However, in college, all of my friends ended up being from Asian descent or Chinese. They always talked of the great things yet to be discovered by Chinese-Americans like me. So, when the time came I decided to make a trip to China. Not only exploring one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but to also reminisce about what my family told me about from where I was born.

On a June morning, the 17th to be exact, I scheduled a guided tourist trip around the grand country for July 2nd. 10 days of complete fun tourist attractions, bus rides, and more and 4 days to have on our own. I went with a group of about 8 people including me. All around my age, being 24. Gael, my Filipino best friend, Lida, a coworker of mine who shares the same background as me, Aliyah Schuester, Maddie Kennedy, Jake Carter, Elle Stringer, Abraham Covey, and Noah Mendes all accompanied me on the trip.

On the day of departure, my parents and brothers drove me to the Detroit airport to meet Gael and Lida. Everyone said their goodbyes with a few tears from my parents and then off to China! Children crying and old women shouting made the plane an uncomforting environment, but after about 3 hours it all settled down and I dozed completely off. What seemed like 30 minutes actually ended up being 12 hours. Yes, I slept 12 hours on the way to China. Indeed, the best  sleep ever until I woke to a young girl who seemed to be at least 6 kicking the back of my chair. We arrived safely and not so soundly. People crowded the aisles and hoots and hollers rang through my head. We retrieved our carry-on suitcases from the overhead cabinets , grabbed our backpacks from under the seats, and made our way to the terminal to get our luggage.

The main brochure given to us proceeding this trip was our schedule for each of the 14 days. Because day one starts tomorrow, the three of us made a plan to find the hotel, meet up with the other 5 and lounge around  by the pool.

On day 1 of the adventure the tour guide wanted to start out with a bang and we went straight to The Forbidden City. Day 2 consisted of us taking a boat ride down the Li river in Guilin. We ate so much delicious food and had so many fun laughs. We went and saw the Giant Pandas in Chengdu on day 3 and each of us chose a panda and named them. The tour guide, who we learned their name was Linda gave us a day off for day 4 and we all made a group consensus to swim in the pool provided by the hotel and go to a street market in Guangzhou later that evening. 

The warm sun beamed on our shoulders when we arrived at the market. Rows and rows of small boutiques and food stands covered the ground with parents and their children huddled around each booth shouting and screaming at the seller. Smells of pork and and spices wafted in the air and people bumped into us left and right. After what seemed to be hour of searching we found a table big enough to sit all of us. We invited Linda to accompany us because none of us speak one lick of Chinese and she agreed happily. Around the big off-white table sat me, Gael, Lida, Jake, Elle, Aliyah, Abraham, Linda, and Maddie. We each received a yellow menu with everything we could ask for in it. We each wrote down what we wanted and Linda ordered for us. I ordered jiaozi, chinese dumplings and pai gu nian gao, pork chops with rice.

“Jiǎozi hé zhūpái pèi mǐfàn,” Linda spoke to the man in mandarin.

“Shi,” he replied.

After about 2 hours of laughing and talking and many many drinks, I felt a brush on my back. I usually keep my backpack close to my leg so I could always feel it, however tonight I decided to just keep it on my chair next to me. I went to reach for it, and I couldn’t find it.

“Okay, okay, who’s playing the joke guys?” I proceeded to blame,  “which one of you took my backpack? You know I keep everything I need in there.” 

As I finished my remark, Gael looks up and screams, “Graeson, look! That guy in the black hoodie snatched your bag-”

  And just like that, I ran like the wind. The dark hooded man appeared to be a good 5’10, maybe 180 pounds and as he ran, he talked into his hoodie, something I couldn't decipher. He zipped through the crowds of people and past all of the shops and food stands dodging everything and anything in his path. A few shoves here and there and poof, just deep blue skies and old worn-down buildings surrounded me. The guy seemed to just disappear within thin air just like that. He got away. All of my belongings, my most important things, gone. My phone, passport, money, translation book, everything nowhere to be found. 

This foreign place gave me the chills as soon as I found myself lost. No sight or sound of people anywhere and a feeling of defeat overcame me. What would I do without any way to communicate? Any sign of civilization gone. Within minutes I started crying. The old musty building provided comfort to me as I came close to losing it all. Chills covered my body while I sat there sobbing, thinking to myself while dozing off, what do I do?

I woke up in a cage the next morning. The cold, damp ground made me shudder and a flickering light in the hallway across from my cell made the pain in my body only intensify. I looked at my left arm and somehow appeared a bruise, a big deep purple, black, and blue bruise. I noticed another one on my forearm, but not as big, then it came to me. I have been injected with god knows what. My body ached and I fell to the ground when I attempted to stand up. My legs wobbled, barely able to hold my own body weight up.

“Where am I? Who did this! Show yourself and tell me why you’re doing this! I need to get back to my group. All of my stuff was stolen and I need to know what’s going on!” I screamed, “I’m not from here and I don’t speak your language! I demand to know what you’re using me for! I have nothing,” I cynically laughed to myself while hot tears burned my cheeks, “I just want to go home!”

After no reply I fell to the ground hard and could not get up. My body froze as I sobbed myself back to sleep. “What am I going to do? Where am I? What is going on? I need answers now,” I thought to myself. Surely my friends will notice my absence after that speed chase last night, right? My body grew limp as I braced myself with the bars. The cold, thick, disgusting bars. I noticed a padlock on the right of the cage door when a Chinese man appeared on the left. The sight of him filled me with fear and I grew horrified.

“What are you doing to me! Who are you?” I screamed in the man’s face.

“Ah, Miss. Mobley, I didn’t really expect you to look so American. Guess I should give my guys more credit,” the man’s ugly voice replied. His voice a very heavy Chinese accent but clear enough to be able to understand. “Expect to see me so American? His guys?” I thought to myself as I looked down.

“Who are you and what are you doing with me?” I repeated, but more stern.

“That’s how you’re going to treat the person who saved you?” He questioned.

“You did not save me, you fool!” I yelled.

“Why of course I did! You were just sitting out in the open against a building and in  Lanzhou City in Gansu Province to be exact. It’s a very crime ridden city, might I add. So for a 24 year old, beautiful girl to just be all alone, I did you a favor.” 

“You did me no favors. I lost all of my belongings in a backpack because of some idiot! Everything I had, lost!” I exclaimed with everything in me. As I said those last few words, he shook his head and walked away.
“Hey! Come back here! You never answered any of my questions! I will willingly comply if you at least tell me where I am or who you are!” I finally said. Nothing.

About three hours later I heard a familiar sound, my stomach. It growled at me like never before. The feeling of my empty stomach killed me from the inside out. Then a different man, smaller and less intimidating showed up.

“Eat up.” He spoke, his accent heavier and more quieter than the first man’s.

An old silver cafeteria-looking plate laid on the ground, with rice, some kind of weird meat, and three green beans decorated the horrid platter. I ate it with no hesitation and felt a little like myself again. 

With a not-as-empty stomach I could finally think. Think about every possible reason why I got kidnapped: my parents did something, I or they owe something, they got me mixed up with someone else, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking, torture, they’re going to kill me, and so much more. I thought about what my family would do if they found out I died, if my friends are trying to find me, why the people kidnapped me. All drew to a blank.

After 3 days of horrible living conditions I began to go crazy. Thoughts of all sorts filled my head and I started to go insane. Same thing everyday, at sunrise a tray of food brought to me. About 5 hours later, another, and finally, about 1 hour until dark another.

A week in and I don’t know what to do. I can’t live like this. I cry everyday and if tears don’t fill my eyes, thoughts fill my head. As a little girl, when my brothers would shove me into a chest and sit on it if I made them mad, I’d get claustrophobic and my breathing got heavier and heavier. I could not get out even with everything in me and finally I gave up and started to do a mix of crying and screaming. After what felt like years, it’d stop and my mom would open it up, finding my in a paralyzed state. That is me now. On the brink of another tantrum, I start to go insane. Is this insanity? I need my mom. I need my dad. I need anyone. 

After an eternity, the first man came back, to which I learned his name, Mao Zedong with something in his hand, different than before. He comes back at least once a day to talk about my life. He asks questions, I vaguely answer and then I ask. It goes on for about 15 minutes, then he leaves.

As he walks in, instead of with a chair in his hand, it looks like clothes, and a key. Wait, a key? Making his way over to the padlock, key in left hand, he drops the clothes off into my cell. 

“Get dressed.” He demanded.

“What? Why?” I replied.

“Just do it so I won’t have to forcefully,” He answers.

A pink and black corset thing you see on explicit movies laid on the ground, just waiting to be picked up and worn. The ugly undergarments would barely keep someone warm if they too were kept hostage in this facility. 

“I’ll turn around if you want to,” he proceeds, “but I fully expect you to wear them and nothing else.”

And so, here I am, putting on clothes I would never even think of wearing, regardless of the situation. The tight clothes fit flush against my bare skin, almost exposing myself completely, and then it came to me. I am about to get raped by an old, disgusting Chinese man who I don’t even know one thing about.

After he realizes I changed, he nods, almost like an approval, then goes to the padlock. He motions me to walk out, and I oblige, head down arms crossed. With his hand on my back, Mao is leading me down the dark hallway, passing other cells like mine with other girls from all different ethnicities. It disgusts me that this man, no, boy, thinks he can ruthlessly do this to young woman. Treating us like we’re objects to be toyed with, completely oblivious of our physical or emotional pain. 

At the end of the hall, a curtain covers a room with a runway in it. 8 glass panels cover the walls and dim lights cover the edge of the runway. Men from all different countries and of all ages are sitting in the rooms covered by the panels. Two to three men in each room stare at me as if ready to tear apart and eat me as I walk down the narrow walkway onto the end circle platform. A chinese lullaby starts to play and Mao, along with two bodyguards follow me into the octagonal room. 

He starts with, “Graeson Mobley. Chinese, but only speaks english. 24, female, college student. Starting bid at $500,000.” 

I’m being trafficked, aren’t I? “Dammit, what the heck”,  I thought to myself, “why the actual frick do people think this is okay? I’m not an object and I sure as heck do not appreciate the sexism and misogyny concurring around me.” My stomach starts to turn and I can feel my face start to get red with hatred for every single person in this business thinking it’s okay and normal to treat women and children with such disrespect.

And then it starts. Men from each room begin bidding, “$642,000” a Japanese man shouts, “$800,000,” another one yells, “$1,000,000,” screams another, “$12 million,” from a Thai man, and finally, “$50 million,” from what appeared to be a 50 year old American man. Dressed in an all black suit and a mask of sorts covering his face, he peered over me while giving his money, in cash, to Mao.

Afterwards, all of them men, including Mao begin to exit the trafficking area. While leading me back to my cell, I witnessed another girl, probably Norwegian, being taken back to the area I just left. The man guiding her probably being her very own Mao, and then it clicked. I’m being held underground in a sex trafficking empire. This man, I think is the head, is only a basic employee, sentenced to comfort the girl until time to send her off. The audacity these people have. Who knows who’s at the top of this empire and who knows how many girls are being shipped out everyday.

Finally, approaching my cell, Mao gave the clothes I wore when I first came here, along with my backpack. Oh my god, my backpack! Basically running into my cell with anticipation, I quickly start rummaging through, looking for anything I once held precious to me, my phone, wallet, passport, anything. Nothing I once had is here. Basically an empty bag lays in front of me, with just a lipgloss or two, my pocket compact mirror, and my first aid kit I always keep. 

As quick as humanly possible, I slip back into my clothes, feeling like myself again. Mao gestures me to get my things together and to follow him. Leading me out the door I presume was the door I entered this facility in, I immediately am met with the white man who just paid a lot of money for me. Mao hands me over and two men dressed in black suits lead me to a private jet to accompany the man who won me. 

8 white leather seats, lined with gold trimming covered the floor of the jet and tables sat in between the sets of two chairs. I start to notice the man taking his mask off, only to see long greyish-white hair fall out from under. 

“Ah, much better. So, where were we?” In a feminine voice the lady I thought was a man questioned.

“Um, do I know you?” I replied.

“Oh how rude of me. My name is Mary and I am the woman that ‘bought’ you from Ken Jeong, the dreadful head of this underground business. I go undercover to establishments like this and ‘buy’ as many women and children I can, then set them free in America. I noticed your American accent and recognized you after you became a missing person in the US,” 

Missing person? So my friends did notice something and acted on it. “I thought I was going to die back there from insanity and was never going to see my family again. I had no clue what was going on until Mao made me put those horrible clothes on,” I panted.

“Well, us girls have to stick together to fix stupid misogynistic places and things like this. You’re 1 out of 6 million girls we have saved from places like this. We know how many still suffer, but we are doing as much as we can under orders of our president,” She continued, “We have undercover establishments with personnel like myself all over the continents.”

After hearing her talk about everything, I think my expression says it all because she’s returning it. I smile with tears of joy running down my face, hand in hand with her, mouthing the words, “thank you.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: This is completely fictional and was not intended to degrade men or women in any form. This short STORY has topics including injecting one with unknown substances and sex trafficking. In no way am I saying only men are in the sex trafficking business, women are too and men are also trafficked for sex exploitation. Sex trafficking is not just a thing in China, it happens all over the globe, including the US. 

According to 2017 statistics from ILO (International Labor Organization), an estimated 24.9 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery. Of these, 16 million (64%) were exploited for labor, 4.8 million (19%) were sexually exploited, and 4.1 million (17%) were exploited in state-imposed forced labor. While only 19% of victims are trafficked for sex, sexual exploitation earns 66% of the global profits of human trafficking. The average annual profits generated by each woman in forced sexual servitude ($100,000) is estimated to be six times more than the average profits generated by each trafficking victim worldwide ($21,800), according to the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe (OSCE).

Human Trafficking by the Numbers. January 7, 2017. humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers