The Accidental Slave (Aya's story Part 1) (18 page)

Jonul

There was a PS that seemed to be written at a
different time with a different pen.

PS: I think I found my gift, Kato. It’s not
one I would have chosen myself, but I’m really good at being a
warrior. I’m fierce and dangerous and capable of inflicting great
pain on others without letting it affect me. Many of the other
recruits are too weak – yesterday my partner vomited when we had to
cut off a few fingers of a hostage. I seem to have the stomach for
it though. Not quite as glamorous as working with computers
perhaps, but being good at something makes me feel significant and
special. In fact this might be the one thing you can’t do better
than me.

Aya read the letter again and again. If Jonul
had written it five years ago then Kato would have been only
twenty-one at the time.

So Jonul knew Diana.
Aya tried to
remember what Kato had told her about their relationship. Hadn’t he
said that Jonul was a friend of his family and that he had known
him since he was a child? Yeah, something like that, but the level
of respect and almost adoration in this letter indicated they had
been really good friends.

She found it very disturbing how Jonul had taken
pride in inflicting pain on others, and looked at his description
of how it made him feel significant and special. Together with the
first part of his letter it reminded her of basic psychology at
nursing school.
If you can’t get your needs met through positive
behavior you will go for the negative. It’s simple human
nature.
Apparently Jonul hadn’t always been a monster, just
someone feeling insignificant and unimportant. He had believed
causing pain in others didn’t affect him, but how could it not? Did
he even stop to notice how callous he had become, or had his need
for significance spiraled out of control to make him a sadist that
took pleasure in others’ pain? Chills ran down her spine as she
remembered his horny prickling eyes feeding on her fear when he
tried to rape her. No, there was no excuse for his behavior, and
the world was a better place without him.

Aya put back the letters where she’d found
them.

The day felt endless and gave her too much time
to think and worry, and when Kato finally returned she had come up
with a new plan.

“Kato, do you remember when you asked me to
choose between you and Jonul?” she asked before he even got his
shoes off.

Kato wrinkled his brows. “Yeah.”

“Well, you also said that if there was a third
option of getting me home safely then you would pick that one,
right?”

Kato entered the living room, where Aya sat on a
chair facing him. He sat down on the chair next to her.
“Right.”

“So I was thinking. Couldn’t you contact my
family and ask for a ransom? If you don’t care about money then you
could accept a small fee and drop me off at the refugee camp, or
just the marketplace. That way it wouldn’t look suspicious to the
other warriors. More like you got tired of me or something.”

Kato clenched his jaw. “It wouldn’t work.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Because there’s a special team that
takes care of negotiations and I would never let you into their
hands.”

“Ohh.” Aya thought of Jonul’s letter and
suspected that torture was used to pressure the families. She
wasn’t interested in losing body parts.

“I want to keep you safe, not put you in danger,
Kato growl in frustration. “Why can’t you see that?”

Aya’s eyes grew cold and her voice malicious.
“So you would rather let me sink into a deep depression in this
horrible place than risk getting me home. For what? So you can have
sex with me in the evening to distract you from the boredom and
loneliness you feel?”

Kato looked hurt. “Screw you, Aya,” he hissed
and stood up.

“Alright then.” Aya got up too and without
hesitation she took off the dress he had lent her. He stared with
his mouth open as she continued to impassively pull down her
underwear so that she was completely naked. Her eyes were frosty
and full of anger.

“Screw me, Kato… I dare you.”

Kato took a step back. “Aya, don’t.”

She arched a brow. “What, Kato? Am I not
beautiful enough for you anymore? Do you need a new slave to
satisfy you now that you had me… what, Kato?”

He swallowed hard. “I don’t want you like
this.”

“Like what? I’m offering myself to you… isn’t
that why you keep me here, to satisfy you sexually? Isn’t that what
sex slaves do?”

“Don’t call yourself that,” he said,
disgusted

Aya’s tough façade cracked and she started
crying. “Fuck you, Kato. You are such a hypocrite. What do you
think we are doing here? Playing house? Pretending to be a normal
loving couple? You kidnapped me and you are keeping me hostage.
I’ve spent four nights in your bed and for every day you keep me
here you are crossing the line closer to becoming like Jonul.” She
sank to the floor and sat naked and vulnerable, crying with her
long hair covering her face and her arms hugging herself.

“I’m nothing like Jonul,” Kato exclaimed,
shocked.

“You are keeping me here as your slave, Kato.
You bought me from that psychopath and you keep me as your
prisoner.”

“But…” Kato took a step towards her.

Aya was still crying and hiding her face in her
hands. “I haven’t felt fresh air or seen the sky for five days,
Kato. I’m scared and so are my parents and friends.”

Kato stood for a second and then he sank down
beside her and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Aya,” he called
softly, willing her to look at him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

With teary, pleading eyes she begged him, “I
need you to be my hero, Kato.”

He swallowed hard and blinked. She could tell
she had hit a nerve.

“I want nothing more than to be your hero,” he
whispered.

Aya reached out for him and he scooped her into
his lap, holding her protectively in his arms. She leaned her
forehead against his and with tears still streaming down her face
she whispered, “Then take me home, Kato, please.”

Kato

Kato heart sunk into his chest. He couldn’t say
no, but he was certain that escape would get them both killed.
Maybe it’s better dying as her hero than living as her prison
guard
, he thought and kissed Aya’s forehead. He hated seeing
her so broken and vulnerable. “We’ll figure something out,” he
whispered and carried her to his bed. Aya sniffled against his neck
and her nakedness and softness made every cell in his body long for
her. He lowered her to the bed and covered her with his own body.
If she refused him now he would go crazy. He needed her so much; he
kissed her softly and dried away her tears. Aya didn’t speak or
react except to look at him with her gorgeous blue eyes. There was
no anger in them anymore and he kissed her again. Aya kissed him
back.

“I want to be your hero, Aya,” he whispered and
she nodded seriously. His hands were needy and pulling her close to
him like he never wanted to let her go. She swung her legs around
his waist and clung to him too, and for a moment they just held
each other tight.

Slowly Kato pulled back and looked at Aya. He
was searching for permission, looking for desire in her eyes. She
answered him by starting to remove his clothes, and with eager
hands he helped her, feeling the strong sexual energy between them
building explosively.

Once again, the deep looks and panting sounds
between them when he entered her and started moving created an
alternate universe where none of their other problems existed. “I
don’t want to let you go, Aya,” Kato moaned and she responded by
placing her hands on the small of his back and pulling him further
into her.

“Then come with me.”

He bit her lower lip, softly swiveling his hips
to fill her completely. “Are you serious?”

Her eyes were shining. “Yes, Kato. Let’s run
away together.”

The sex was a powerful outlet of suppressed
emotions between them. Kato closed his eyes. Breathing in her
feminine scent, he thought about changing position but he needed
her closeness, and never had missionary style felt as healing as
now. In that moment he had no fear of rejection and no doubt that
Aya wanted him. He opened his eyes to take in the wonder of her:
looking so beautiful with her head leaning back and her eyes half
closed, and begging him for more. She lifted her hands and made
fists of them in his hair, pulling and tugging him closer into a
deep kiss, and then she moaned into his mouth. “Yes, Kato, take
me.” It almost made him come but he wanted to wait for her and
enjoy her longer.

“Aya, please tell me I’ll see you again if we
make it home.”

She smiled at him and reached up to cover his
mouth. “Let’s focus on the now. I want you right now. Show me that
you want me too?”

Kato pushed harder into her and picked up his
pace while moving his skilled fingers in circles to pleasure her.
It didn’t take long before he felt her whole body stiffen, and her
ragged breathing told him it was time to release and come with her.
“Yes, Kato, yes,” she cried out, and he couldn’t hold back anymore
and pulled out to ejaculate on her stomach.

For a long time they lay wrapped up in each
other’s arms and then Kato spoke.

“If we are going to do this – escape, I mean –
then I’ll need to prepare a few things. I can make us false ID
papers at the headquarters – I’ll use the picture from your
passport,” he thought out loud.

“Why not just use my passport – why bother
making a false one?” Aya asked with a heart doing somersaults just
hearing Kato plan their escape.

“Because the minute you cross the border with
your passport, there is a chance the police will recognize your
name and take you aside to question you… honestly I don’t want them
asking questions about me as I’ll be traveling on a false ID.”

“Okay.”

“We’ll need money too. I know Jonul hid a big
stack but I don’t know where.”

“I can search for the money while you get the
things from the headquarters,” she offered.

“Alright, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow;
it will be less suspicious for me to snoop around my uncle’s office
then.”

Aya squeezed him as a signal of her joy. “Thank
you, Kato,” she whispered.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he murmured. “There’s a
lot of danger ahead of us and it’s doubtful that we’ll make it out
alive. If my uncle suspects anything he won’t hesitate to shoot me
and sell you to a brothel, and he’ll probably rape you before he
does.”

Aya

The next day Aya searched for Jonul’s money. The
10,000 Kato had paid him was easy to find, as it was back in Kato’s
room. But according to Kato Jonul had had more, and Aya looked
through every book, searched in every corner, high and low. She
even cut up the upholstery of the wooden chairs in the living room
but there was nothing hidden there. Her eyes kept wandering to
Jonul’s bedroom door; she was certain the money had to be in there.
It’s just a room, get in there, find the money, and get out. You
can do that
, her inner voice tried to persuade her. She wanted
to just get past her fear of the room, but as soon as she put her
hand on the handle, mental images of Jonul smacking her and
touching her came flooding back and she could hear his hoarse voice
commanding her to call him Master. She couldn’t enter.

When Kato came back he found her on the floor in
the living room. She was happy he was back sooner than she’d
expected.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes, when we leave this place we’ll be Mr. and
Mrs. Oppulas,” he informed her.

“And what’s our story?”

Kato looked despondent. “Our story?”

“Yes, why are we traveling? How long have we
been married?” Aya clarified.

Kato shook his head. “I don’t know… can’t we
just be traveling?”

Her eyes told him that was too thin.

“Okay.” Kato thought for a second. “How about
seven years then?”

Aya raised her eyebrows. “I’m twenty-three Kato,
then I would have married you when I was sixteen; that’s not
likely.” The thirteen-year-old pregnant girl from the refugee camp
entered her mind but she pushed the thought away. They would be
traveling out of the country, and outside Spirima people didn’t
marry as teenagers.

“Then three years,” he suggested.

“Alright, and why are we traveling?”

Kato frowned. “I don’t know, Aya, why don’t you
come up with something?”

“Okay, why not say that we are on our honeymoon?
That would make an excuse for us traveling.”

Kato looked skeptical. “Honeymoon in a war
zone?”

Aya placed her hands on her hips. “Outside this
Masi ghost town people actually continue their life. I know the war
is all around you, but believe it or not there are parts of Spirima
where people still live close to ordinary lives and marry and have
babies. Even in the refugee camp I saw people marry.”

Kato shook his head in disbelief. “Alright, if
you say so!”

Aya nodded, content. “Okay, honeymoon it is, but
how come they let you off the hook so early today?” she asked.

“Because I told my uncle I had trouble getting
you to behave, and he gave me a few tricks and sent me home to rein
you in.” Kato said it in a matter-of-fact way. His eyes were dark
but the sadness she often saw in them was less apparent now. Now
she saw hope and determination mixed with fear and even doubt.

“What tricks?” she asked but Kato shook his
head.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

She nodded and felt grateful that Kato was
different from his uncle and friend Jonul.

“Did you find any money?” he asked and looked
around at the trashed place with the chairs cut up and the books in
piles.