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Remember, Aurora. This is your choice. This money will help you start your life. This is what you always wanted.
My pep talk is cut short when the woman in the gray suit beckons me to come with her. I walk down the hall with her until we reach the edge of the stage. I hear the tail end of the prior sale.
“Going once. Going twice. Going three times. Sold! To the man in the far back.” The auctioneer bangs the paddle down and a woman passes by me with a smile on her face.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
Gray suit woman pats me on the back and urges me to the center of the stage. A bright light shines on me and I blink my eyes, trying to see the crowd. I can’t see much other than the people in the first row. All I see are rich people. That’s what everyone here has in common. They have money to spend on people they want to spend some time with.
The auction starts and I stand up straight, put my hands to my sides and try not to look as nervous as I feel. All I want to do is crawl into a ball and pretend I’m somewhere else.
“This is Aurora. She is twenty and a virgin. We’ll start the bidding at two thousand dollars,” the auctioneer says and paddles begin to flying in the air.
“Three thousand!” My first bid is from a skinny looking guy in the front row.
“Five thousand!”
“Ten thousand!”
Wow, I guess Ms. Bowen was right—people really like virgins. She assured me that because I was a virgin I’d make more money.
A low voice from the back jumps in. Even though my eyes have adjusted, I can’t see him.
“Five hundred thousand!” he bids.
The bidding keeps going and the man in back keeps driving up the price. At one point we were at three million dollars and I can’t believe it. The man in the back gets into a bidding war with a skinny guy in the front. They go back and forth. Upping the price.
“Eight million. Going once. Going twice.”
“Ten million!” the man in the back says.
The skinny guy looks back at him with narrow eyes. I wonder for a second if he’ll take it farther but then the auctioneer says counts down times and stamps the gavel down.
“That is ten million for Aurora to the gentleman in the back.”
I walk off the stage and the gray suited woman takes me to a room.
“I’m going to get your buyer and you two will meet. He’ll pay and sign some stuff then you two can go.” She closes the door behind her and I crumble onto a chair. My hands shake and I drag them through my black hair and try to breathe.
I give myself another pep talk. Telling myself that everything is going to be okay. All will be well. I’ll get my money. The contract is only for a week.
I started talking to myself when I lost my parents. It was a good way to always have someone to talk to. I’d give myself motherly advice I remember reading off Hallmark calendars. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. Hallmark tended to be more wholesome than what my real mother said. Telling me that my virginity was ‘mine to do with what I wish’ isn’t traditional Sunday School fare.
Not having someone to depend on was hard. But I tried. I got three jobs and it still didn’t make a dent. At this point, I’m desperate and have nowhere else to turn. It’s either this or start stealing again. Jail sounds a lot worse than having sex for a week.
The door opens and the gray suit lady, Ms. Bowen, and my buyer walk in. I stand up to greet him and when I get a look at his face, I realize I know him. He’s the man whose wallet I stole. Shit.
“Hello, Aurora. My name is Ford Devlin. It's nice to meet you.”
