Everyone leaned in, as Sage began her horrific story. "I was afraid I'd smother when a black bag was slammed over my head. Someone wrapped my wrists together in zip-ties." She winced as she continued. "So tight I was afraid it would cut off the circulation. Then they wrenched my arms behind me. I was deceptively hopeful when they began to raise the bag a little. Duct tape pressed over my mouth made sure I could never call for help."

"I heard the sliding door grate open and I was thrown up against the edge so my cheekbone slammed the cold metal floor. They tied my ankles. They burned wicked. Then I was rolled onto two dead bodies. I was sure they were dead, no one moved. I didn't dare move either; I just froze."

Sucking air in, "I tried to plan my next move." Expelling a long silent breath, "I got chafed as I shinnied across the rusted floor. I just aimed for the back corner. Anywhere away from those dead creepy corpses."

Simultaneous grasps came from the direction of her dear friends, Dragonfly and Turtle, "That was us, we'd been captured before you. We thought you were a dead body too. Until you starting moving. But go ahead, finish your story."

"I heard the van door scream shut. I succeeded in getting to the back, but being at the back maybe wasn't the greatest idea. Exhaust was leaking up through. It was making me so nauseous I was fighting throwing up, knowing I would drown in my own vomit. I still wanted to live, not to give up."

As Sage sat there on the cold damp stone floor of the cave with sisterly-love surrounding her, she began shuddering, mumbling how sorry she was. Looking up at her friends, "I should have asked you guys to go back into the building with me; then maybe none of this would have happened.

Tremoring fingertips pressed into the skin at her temples massaging in slow deliberate circles. Next, her attention moved to her yellowing bruised cheekbone. Allowing everyone pause, to show reverence to Sage's painfilled story, Turtle was the next to speak.

She contritely explained how she and Dragonfly should have waited or gone in search of Sage. She self-refused to disclose that Dragonfly's impatience had been the reason they proceeded along toward home.

"We had just gotten out to the sidewalk on the street when we noticed a creepy van across from us. We didn't think too much about it as we were deep in conversation." She bowed her head as she defeatedly announced, "I didn't have time to warn Dragonfly there was someone sneaking up behind her. "

Massaging the back of her neck, "A black bag thrust over my own head, my neck being yanked backward, distracted me from saying anything. Soon I couldn't anyway. Duct tape was roughly pressed to my face.

Turtle's voice quivered as she told how her hands were jammed against her back. "I stumbled off the curb, as I was blindly marched until I was slammed into something solid." Remembering the sound her body made against that obstacle filled her with horror. " It was metal. I knew it was that van."

I heard and felt the awful impact of Dragonfly being stopped in mid-flight too. I knew she was either pushed or had tried to run. That option for me was soon be eliminated as I felt my own aching arms being released only to have my hands zip-tied together.

With my feet bound next, I had no control where I'd land when the behemoth rolled me like a bowling ball across the floor. I struggled to sit up but found myself so fatigued I reneged on the effort.

After Dragonfly was tossed onto my leg, I felt the vibration of the exhaust pipe beneath, as the van engine came to life. The sliding door slammed shut bringing on a feeling of finality. I was certain that even though I could see nothing, the van was going in reverse.

Turtle wantonly smiled, "I breathed a sigh of relief when the abrupt braking caused Dragonfly's body to spin off my numb leg that had gone to sleep. I decided since I had nothing better to do, use a trick of grounding myself against my terror. I worked to notice the direction we went in. I felt as if we were turning into the school driveway. But couldn't imagine why? Little did I know we were stopping to pick Sage. Tears streamed down her face.

"My question was soon answered as we began to idle. I could hear the tires very slowly crushing and crunching isolated stones under them. Coming to a complete stop must have been the cue for the front passenger to jump out. Soon thereafter, the side door jaws fractured open."

"I heard grunting and muttering from the abductor. I was sure my leg was broken after another heavy weight, who I now know was Sage, was thrown onto that same vulnerable leg. At first, there was no movement so I figured they were dead.

"The thought of riding, to who knows where and for who knows how long, with a cadaver on my leg, was just about putting me over the edge. There I am lying in the dark and suddenly whatever or whoever it is, begins scuttling like a crab across the van floor. There was no way to know and no way to communicate with them."

*************************

It didn't take Dragonfly long to burst out with a confession, "It 's because of my own tiring of waiting that we're in this situation. I was self-centered, thinking everyone's safety was less important than my own selfish comfort.

She lowered her head in shame, digging at an old scab, beside old scars, on her arm, pronouncing how much she hated herself. She squashed the tears away with the palms of her hands. A tiny mewl could be heard as she hugged herself rubbing her injured arm and shoulder.

After a constricted pause, a very contrite Dragonfly proudly explained, "I'd always been told if anyone ever tried to grab me that I should make them work hard." For the benefit of Linda and Liz, "The Matrilineal Chief of our tribe had gathered everyone together to talk about the epidemic they were seeing of women's disappearances, especially teens."

She continued giving attention to Linda and Liz, "She urged families to discuss this issue about some safeguards with their teen girls. Even though I knew I could not successively escape, I attempted but was instantly grabbed and flung against something hard. With the breath knocked right out of me, I resigned myself to be more compliant, for the moment."

"After being tossed off Turtle's body I wriggled around on the floor positioning myself so as not to put pressure on my burning aching arm and shoulder. I automatically went to stretch my arm to make sure it wasn't dislocated, to be brutally reminded where I was."

Dragonfly began having an anxiety attack before she could finish her account. She forced herself to breathe in and out, focusing on the movement of her chest. Air filled her lungs until she no longer felt the pain and could become aware of her surroundings.

Calmer, she continued with what happened next. "I noted the two people in the front didn't talk much. It could have been a practiced tactic to perpetuate the disorientation, intimidation, and powerlessness of their abductees. I assumed that they didn't know each other well and weren't at all interested in getting to know one another, or they just couldn't get along."

Dragonfly said she felt a bit like a detective, "I kept listening in case they slipped and spoke. The driver had a gruff smoker's cough. It almost sounded like it could be a woman. I was appalled at the fact a woman would have any part in this. I would have spit in her face if I didn't have tape sealing my lips."

She grimaced, still shaking her head, as she tried to force the image away, working to accept, among many realities, a woman participating in human trafficking.

Having reached the required age for driving lessons at school, I recognized what the next sound meant. It was the cause of many gritted-teeth and knitted brows. The driver couldn't handle the rhythm of abruptly braking and immediately putting it in reverse.

My question was answered. The passenger, a guy, asked the driver, a drinking smoker what she was doing. He also grumbled about her stripping the gears. She answered him with something about the magic number ten.

When two more bodies were rolled through the gaping door and swallowed into the darkness I did the math. There were five in the van. I wondered if we were going to continue cruising till they captured a total of ten of us?"

"Another of my disconcerting disturbing questions was later answered when the van, after traveling for a considerable amount of time, slowed and stopped. The driver, whom I mentally named Gruff, told the guy she was letting off, she'd be back around dark with the load."

"Our five bound bodies rolled into awkward and distressing positions as the van made a nauseating u-turn. They were heading back the way we had just come. The number ten kept going through my mind. What did Gruff mean 'by the load'?"