The Auction
The rain had started as a drizzle, but by the time Alina reached the empty street, it had turned into a steady rainfall that soaked through her clothes. She kept walking, her steps slow and heavy, her mind replaying the breakup she had just walked out of.
Her heart still stung.
Just an hour ago, she had walked into the small café near campus, expecting to surprise her boyfriend. Instead, she found him sitting close—too close—to her best friend Sandra. Their fingers touching. Their faces inches apart. Whispering like they had secrets they never intended Alina to know.
She froze. Sandra looked up first, guilt flickering across her face before she wiped it away. And her boyfriend—now her ex—just stared at Alina as if she were an interruption.
The confrontation had been a blur. Her voice shaking. Theirs cold. No remorse. No apology. Only dismissive words and tired excuses, as if hurting her was a small inconvenience they didn't want to deal with.
And then she walked out into the rain.
It didn't matter that she had no umbrella. It didn't matter that her clothes clung to her skin or that the streetlights barely lit her path. Her chest felt tight, her throat raw from trying not to cry. Each step home felt heavier than the last.
By the time she reached the front of her house, her hair was dripping water onto the porch, her shoes squelching with every step. She wiped at her cheeks—not sure if the wetness was from rain or tears—and opened the door.
The first thing she heard was shouting.
Not the argument kind that fizzles quickly. This was loud, frantic, desperate.
Her stepmother's voice rang through the living room, sharp and furious. "You can't send my daughter for your own misfortune. She is not going anywhere. She's not a sacrificial lamb!"
Her father's voice was lower, but strained. "We don't have a choice. They're coming tonight."
Alina froze in the doorway. The dripping sound of her wet clothes seemed too loud in the messy noise of the argument.
Her stepsister sat on the couch, arms folded, her expression tight. Not scared. Not confused. Just irritated, like this was inconvenience, not chaos.
Alina blinked. "What… what's going on?"
No one answered her.
Her stepmother kept shouting, pointing at her father with trembling hands. "You already know who to send! Definitely not my daughter! You think I'll stand here and watch you throw her away?"
Her father looked exhausted, defeated. "This is bigger than any of us."
Alina stepped further into the room, her heart pounding. "Mom? Dad? What are you talking about?"
Her stepmother didn't even look at her. She was staring at her husband like he'd betrayed her, like the walls of the house were closing in.
Alina turned to her stepsister. "Why aren't you saying anything? What is happening?"
Her stepsister shrugged, looking away. "It's not about me. Just stay out of it."
The words burned.
Alina felt something coil painfully in her chest. "Stay out of what?"
Before she could finish, her father reached for her. His hands were shaking.
"Alina," he said. His voice cracked. "I'm sorry, girl. I've failed you as a father."
Alina frowned, confused and thrown off. "What are you talking about?"
He didn't give her time to understand. He grabbed her shoulders, his grip firm, desperate. "Maybe… in your next life, I can pay you back."
Her stomach dropped.
"Dad?! What do you mean—"
But he didn't answer. He pulled her toward the front door. She stumbled, slipping slightly on the wet floor from her clothes.
"Dad, stop! What are you doing?!"
Her stepmother shouted behind them, "Take your own child! Not mine!"
Her stepsister didn't move, didn't speak, didn't even look at her.
Alina's panic rose. "Dad, please, talk to me!"
They reached the outside again. The rain hadn't slowed. It made everything blur—streetlights, shapes, even the black vehicle parked directly in front of the house.
The doors opened.
Four men stepped out.
Tall. Broad. Dressed in black suits. Their expressions unreadable behind dark glasses even though it was nighttime.
Alina felt her father's grip tense before he pushed her toward them.
"Here," he said, his voice breaking. "Take her. The debt is cleared now."
"No—wait!" Alina twisted, staring at him in disbelief. "Dad, what debt? What are you doing? Why are you giving me to them?"
The men didn't give her time to process anything. Two of them grabbed her arms, one on each side.
"Let me go!" she cried.
She struggled, kicking, pulling away, trying to wrench her arms free, but they were too strong.
"Please!" she shouted toward her father. "Dad, look at me! Please! I don't understand—"
"Keep quiet," one of the men barked, tightening his grip. "Stop making noise."
She flinched at the harsh tone, the coldness in it.
"Dad!" she screamed again.
He didn't turn.
Not once.
He stood there with his shoulders slumped, his face hidden by the shadows. And then he walked back inside the house, closing the door behind him.
Just like that.
As if she were nothing.
Alina's knees trembled. Her chest felt like it was caving in. "Dad, please… don't leave me… please…"
Her voice died in her throat. The door didn't open again.
The men forced her toward the waiting car. She looked back until the house blurred through the rain, until she couldn't see the outline of her father anymore.
Her thoughts spun. None of it made sense.
Her dad.
Her stepmother screaming.
Her stepsister doing nothing.
The men dragging her away.
Debt.
Sacrifice.
Her father's last words—"In your next life…"
The panic hit her so hard she nearly lost her balance. "Please," she begged the men gripping her arms. "Please tell me what's happening. Please just talk to me."
"Shut your mouth," one of them repeated.
"This is payment," the other said bluntly. "That's all you need to know."
Payment.
The word echoed in her chest like a physical blow.
The rain kept falling. Her hair stuck to her face. Her hands shook uncontrollably.
They opened the back door of the black vehicle and pushed her inside. She hit the seat, breathless, her heart racing so fast it hurt.
The door slammed shut.
One of the men climbed in beside her. Another sat in the front passenger seat.
The car started moving before she even sat up straight.
Alina pressed her hands against the window, staring desperately at her house disappearing behind her. "Please," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Somebody help…"
No one on the street looked their way. No one heard her.
Her world had tipped upside down in minutes.
First her breakup.
Then her family tearing apart.
Now strange men dragging her away.
She wiped her wet face with shaking hands, but it didn't help. The tears and rain mixed together.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked the man beside her.
He didn't reply at first.
Then, with a bored tone: "You're being delivered."
"Delivered… where?"
"To the auction," he said simply.
Alina's breath caught. "Auction? What auction? I'm not supposed to be—"
"You'll find out soon."
Her stomach twisted so hard she felt sick.
She pressed her back against the seat, shaking uncontrollably. She didn't know what kind of auction they meant, but every part of her body screamed that it wasn't something normal. The way her father couldn't look at her. The way these men spoke to her. The way they grabbed her like she was an object.
She stared down at her hands. Still trembling. Still damp. So small compared to the situation swallowing her whole.
The drive felt endless. Her mind raced, filled with questions that had no answers.
What debt?
Why her?
Why did her father give her up?
Why didn't her stepmother fight harder?
Why did her stepsister just sit and watch?
Nothing made sense.
When the car finally slowed, her pulse shot up again.
They drove through a narrow gate guarded by more men. It opened automatically, like they were expected.
The compound they entered was dark, the building ahead large and windowless.
A facility.
Not a place people willingly came to.
The door opened again. A hand pulled her out.
Alina stumbled onto the pavement. Her legs felt weak, her fear worsening with every step the men forced her to take.
They led her through a long hallway. The walls were bare. The floors cold. The air quiet except for their footsteps.
At the end, they stopped at a metal door.
One of the men unlocked it and pushed it open.
Inside was a small room. Bare. A single chair. A dim light overhead.
"Sit," the man ordered.
Alina didn't move. Her breath hitched. "Please, I'm begging you. I didn't do anything. My father didn't tell me—"
The man grabbed her arm and forced her into the chair.
"You sit," he repeated.
Her eyes filled with tears again, her body shaking uncontrollably.
"What is this place?" she whispered.
"An underground auction."
Her blood ran cold.
"People like you get sold here," he added.
Her breath stopped.
Sold.
The word trapped itself in her throat, suffocating her from the inside.
She shook her head slowly, refusing to believe it. "No… no, no, I can't… you can't sell me…"
No one answered her.
No one cared.
The man left the room, closing the metal door behind him.
Alina sat there, soaked, trembling, alone with the truth she didn't want to accept.
Her father had delivered her to be sold.
Her life had ceased being hers the moment that black car arrived.
Her breath came out in short, shaky gasps.
She didn't know who would buy her.
She didn't know what would happen next.
But she knew one thing with terrifying clarity:
This was only the beginning.
THE AUCTION
Walking through the lonely street following the lead of the little light from the street light under the rain replaying the scene of her hurtful break-up she just had Alina was broken of the thought that her now Ex- Boyfriend was having an affair with her best friend Sandra and she just caught them at a cafe and even after confrontation there was no sign of remorse and after walking in the rain drenched and soaked everywhere on getting home she hear arguments between her step mom and dad her mom screaming on the top of her voice that he can't send her daughter for his own misfortune she can't be a sacrificial lamb and he already knows who to send definenetly not her daughter walking in Alina was shocked. And confused of what exactly was happening and trying to calm the chaos and asking her step sister why she was just there not doing Anything about the chaos. Alina dad grabs her and says " I'm Sorry Girl I've failed you as a father hope in your next life I would be able to pay back" and drags her to a black vehicle filled with men on glasses and black suit and while Alina was trying to understand the situation the men weren't being nice to her and telling her
to shut her mouth as she makes so much noise as a settlement and she screams to her dad and he doesn't turn back not even a glance with tears rolling down her eyes she turned back watching her dad going and she still in. A predicament she doesn't understand