Several months later, when the children were led to the room where clients looked them over so they could take their picks of the litter, an exotic woman named Sabrina was among the perverted freaks. She had been living with one of the cartel’s regulars for over a year. Her boyfriend, Bernie, was a kinky bastard, and kids really turned him on. After Bernie and Sabrina had dated for a couple of weeks, they decided to move in together. Shortly after they started living together, he broached the subject of kiddy porn with her. Over time, she became more open to the conversation, but she remained standoffish.
Sabrina had no family, and since Bernie was a successful business owner who paid people to run his business for him, the two spent every minute of every day together. Bernie liked the fact that he was the only person who ever talked to Sabrina, and she seemed content with being cut off from the rest of the world. When he first told her about the group of children available to them, she was hesitant. Then, she began asking questions. How many were there? How old were they? Where were they kept? How much did they cost?
None of her questions were ever answered. Bernie explained that she couldn’t know any of the details because that was the deal he’d made with the cartel that owned the children.
“You and I can go there so that you can see them. I’ll let you pick whichever one you like. It’ll be so fucking good, believe me,” Bernie assured her.
Finally, Sabrina agreed to indulge Bernie’s obsession with children, although she warned him that she didn’t know what to expect or how she would react to it.
Bernie blindfolded Sabrina and drove to the abandoned prison. It was protocol to bring in newcomers that way until the cartel was certain the person could be trusted. Once inside the room, Bernie removed Sabrina’s blindfold, and she watched as the children removed their clothes for the audience.
Sabrina’s heart raced as she stared at the innocent little human beings standing before them. When Sabrina’s eyes met Maggie’s, the woman was mesmerized. It was as if she could feel Maggie’s pain. Typically, clients never made eye contact, but an unspoken connection was made between the grown woman and the young child.
Sabrina leaned into Bernie. “That one,” she whispered, pointing at Maggie. “I want that one.”
Bernie turned to her and smiled. “You have very good taste, my dear. She is the most expensive of them all. She’s also the youngest. I’ve had her before, and she is just delicious.”
Sabrina gave him a dim smile. “OK. Can we go now?” she asked.
“No, darlin’, the show isn’t over yet. Just a few more minutes and we can go and purchase our goods,” Bernie said with excitement.
Like soldiers, the children formed a line at the foot of the bed. The clients walked by them, and when Bernie got to Maggie, he put his mouth next to her ear. “My girlfriend has picked you. You are a very lucky little girl.”
“Thank you, sir,” Maggie responded, as she had been taught to say when she was given a compliment.
Maggie had lost all sense of ownership of her body. She nurtured her mind and turned her body over to the men who owned it. She didn’t fight it any longer. She had learned over time that fighting didn’t serve her well. Fighting them meant punishment, and her desire was to make it as easy on herself as possible. After all, she didn’t want to end up like Shana, being sold to the cruelest of the cruel.
Thirty minutes later, Maggie was alone with the couple. Bernie took his clothes off and instructed his girlfriend and Maggie to do the same. He led Sabrina over to the bed and had her sit on the edge. Bernie instructed Maggie to stand in front of him. “OK, Maggie, I want you to give your uncle a blow job. Do it real slow so your aunt can see everything.”
Maggie slowly got down on her knees, but before she could begin to give Bernie what he wanted, Sabrina stopped her. “Hold on now, Bernie. I thought little Maggie could just watch us. I mean, it would be a total turn-on to me to know that she’s peeking. You know, pretend like we’re her mom and dad and she is spying on us. Doesn’t that sound good?”
Maggie waited with anticipation as Bernie thought about it. She’d never simply “watched” before.
“Yeah, I like that,” Bernie stated. “But while we’re getting it on, I want you to sit on the chair over there and play with yourself.”
Maggie rushed over to the chair and sat down. As the two adults engaged in sex, she stayed on the chair and did exactly what Bernie wanted her to do. The child was numb to all of it. Bernie kept his eyes glued to Maggie while he pursued his girlfriend. Every so often, Maggie would catch Sabrina looking at her not with lust, but with raw sadness.
When it was all over, the three of them dressed while Bernie talked about what a great evening it had been. Sabrina grabbed her purse and dug through it until she found what she was looking for. “Here,” she said to Maggie, “do you like candy? I thought you might like it.”
It had been a long time since Maggie had a piece of candy. John William fed them oatmeal for breakfast, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and boiled hot dogs with instant mashed potatoes for dinner. It was the same food day in and day out; it never varied.
Maggie looked at the candy bar with longing as her mouth watered. “We’re not allowed to have treats like this. John William would never let me keep it. Thank you, anyway,” she said with regret.
“Well, then John William doesn’t have to know. Right, Bernie? We’ll just sit here while you eat it,” Sabrina said, sitting on the small chair in the corner.
Maggie took the candy bar from her and pulled the paper off as though it was Christmas morning. She bit into the candy and chewed as quickly as she could, as if someone would steal it from her. She gobbled the bar down in under a minute and looked at Sabrina.
“Thank you. That was so delicious,” Maggie said.
Bernie had watched the young girl and his girlfriend while all of this transpired. He didn’t care for the sentiment between Sabrina and the kid. In his mind, these kids were little sluts; he had never viewed them as human, and the exchange with Sabrina had ruined the image of Maggie in his mind’s eye. He preferred Maggie to remain a “thing” and not a person. That was part of the lure.
“All right, enough of this shit,” Bernie stated. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
On their drive home, with Sabrina blindfolded again, Bernie lectured her about the candy bar incident.
“What’s wrong with giving the little girl a candy bar?” Sabrina wanted to know.
“That’s not the point, Sabrina. This is about sex; it ain’t about kids and being nice to them. She’s not your fucking daughter, OK? We go there for one thing. Once you start that sappy shit, you kill the whole mood. If you’re going to do that shit, then I’ll go by myself the next time,” Bernie stated.
“OK, Bernie, OK. I won’t do it again. I promise. I want to go back with you, honey. I had so much fun tonight,” she sang sweetly.
For the rest of the ride, Sabrina thought about nothing but the beautiful little girl they had left to be consumed by demons.