Sold

He was ... crying. My dad, the jerk wad he was, was crying...? What? Is he PMSing or something? One minute he's beating me, no wait, for 2 years he was beating me, and out of nowhere ... he loves me?

"Uhh ..." I mumbled, unsure if I should talk. "What's wrong with you? Slap me to hard? Hurt your hand?" I looked at him suspiciously. "You hate me, re-" But, I didn't get to finish my sentence. GAH! I hate that!

"I've never hated you." He cut me off. I began to laugh. I couldn't really help it. Never hated me?! So rape and abuse is love now?!

He looked up at me with a questioning look. "What do you call what you've done to me then?!" His face softened slightly.

"I know what I did was wro-"

"WRONG?!" I shouted, stepping toward him. "It was far beyond wrong." I couldn't stop what I was saying, my feelings were finally ready to come out. "Just because she died on my birthday doesn't make it my fault! I didn't kill her! Yet, you blame me! I loved her just as much as you did! I lost her on my birthday! And you just put more depression on that!" Tears sprung in my eyes, waiting to fall. "Because I lost my dad that day too." And the first tear fell.

He stepped forward, but I didn't move. That was, until he was about to grab my arm; I flinched away and stepped back. I then heard yelling from the inside of the building behind me. My dad sighed.

"You don't understand Lilli." I looked up at him in shock. Did he just say my name?! "But, hopefully you will soon." And with said, he pulled me back into the building by the chain that linked the cuffs together. I winced, they were digging cuts into my wrists with each time he jerked or pulled for me to walk with him.

When we stepped back into the room, every eye fell on us and it was silent. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight I saw.

Red was holding Bored by the collar of his shirt, and Bored looked ... well ...bored.

"Everyone, calm down." My dad said, sounding agitated. Red just looked at him, firm grip on the shirt that was in her fists. Bored was looking around her and, not at my dad ... but me. What did I do?!

"Go screw yourself Jare, we all know you need it." Red said, hatred clearly heard in her voice.

My eyebrow rose at her, and she looked at me. "What?" She asked, her tone a lot less angry.

I decided I should ask her name. Can't just call her Red. "What's your name?" I asked, slightly pulling at my hands.

"Colleen." She answered, looking back at my dad for a moment before facing me again. "And you are..?"

"Errr...Lillith." I said, not completely sure of telling her.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled. I looked to the front of her ... to Bored. Guess I should ask him too.

"Who are you?" I tugged at my wrists again, ignoring the cuts I was boring into them. "And why are you about to be beat up by a girl?" I smirked.

"It's Justan." He smirked back. "And it's a long story." Okay then.

I pulled again, but a lot harder. Ooops. I yanked my hands away from my dad. My bad. I ignored the blood that dripped to the floor as I stood there.

"Okay, anyways, sorry for the delay. We were having trouble with the ... merchandise." WHAT?! A few chuckles came from the crowd as I sent daggers at my dad's back. "Colleen." My dad said, demandingly.

"Hmmm?" She answered, she was just about to continue in her quest to punch Justan in hisbeautiful face.

"Let go. No violence allowed in this building." He said, and Colleen let out a frustrated groan, then dropped Justan's collar.

"Fine old man. Can I have her of what?" I smirked at her. She must have really wanted to win this bet. Then I noticed she never told me what I would win, but I just let it go. Dad looked at Justan, who looked at me. Colleen seemed to be getting impatient. I could tell she was about to blow up.

"Not," said Justan, just before Colleen snapped. "2, 500." He still looked bored, but I could see the anger toward my dad in his eyes. Dad just looked at Colleen expectantly. She seemed to be thinking about the offer.

I'm not sure how amusing this was to the other people, but I found it way better than those stupid blue collar things on T.V. But, I had a feeling my amusement was over as Colleen's face fell into an uncaring expression.

"Fine. I'm done." She shrugged and got up, then walked out of the building without another word.

And just like that, I was sold. Just as I thought, I was no longer amused, but frightened. Some people groaned and others gave dad two thumbs up in congratulations. He just nodded at them. What happened to him loving me?! And he didn't say "SOLD!" like in those auctions I see on T.V.

Dad handed the chain linking my wrists to Justan, seeming a little reluctant.

"Does she have any things?" Justan asked. He was so emotionless, so bored, and so bore-ing. This wasn't going to be fun at all.

"Yeah. Clothes. I'm not wearing this rag forever." I spat. (Not literally)

Both pairs of eyes fell on me. One apologetic, the other telling me to shut my mouth. Go on, guess who is who.

"Alright. Jareth," Justan looked at dad, "Please take her to your home to get her things and meet me at the coffee shop." Without any word from dad, Justan let go of me and walked away. He never specified a coffee shop though, so how will they meet? What the heck?

I turned to dad who opened his mouth to say something, but I just scowled at him. He shut his mouth and started walking back the way we came in just minutes ago.

I would have stayed planted where I was if dad hadn't of walked back to me and jerked at the cuffs. I still didn't move. He tried pushing me from behind, but I still refused to move my feet. Out of frustration and lack of time, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

I just stayed passive. I didn't move. I couldn't move. I was numb, my life running through my head; the contents of the last few hours mainly.

Had he meant he loved me? Was it just bullshit to get me to shut up? Had I hit a nerve when I said I wanted to die? What is going on anyways?

I didn't dare ask any one of the questions I wanted so badly to have answered. My dad put me into the passenger seat of his black mustang, slammed my door, and a few seconds later was in the seat next to me. He just sat there, staring at the road in front of us. So, I did the same, finding that the fading gravel was more interesting than anything right now.

When he sighed deeply a few moments later, I jumped. He honestly scared me. He glanced at me shortly, just before he started the engine.

It was mostly quiet, except for the roaring engine and the crunch, crunch, crunch sound the gravel made as the car glided over it. I was silently praying that he wouldn't try to talk to me. I really didn't want him telling me it was all a lie. I liked believing this was forced, that he HAD to do this. I knew that was so unlikely that it was hilarious. I even tried to force myself to believe the real truth, the more likely one. But, it made me feel better, so I refused to take this little time of happiness away from myself.

We were coming closer to the house. I smiled slightly. He hasn't said anything and now he probably won-

"Honey, I meant every word." I looked at him in slight shock. That practically came out of the air. "This is just ... something I have to do." My mind eased slightly. Is it possible I was right? "I'm so sorry. I really need this money though." My heart dropped slightly. "And, I know I can't take care of you." I didn't really know what I was feeling. Happy? sad? Relief? Angry? Scared? Actually ... I think it was a bit of all of them. "I also can't stand to see you anymore." Sad. "You're just so beautiful, so much like your mother." Happy "I ... I just can't have you around me anymore. I can't take it." Sad. "I don't want to hurt you anymore than I've already done. I love you so much, and I hope you can forgive me for all I've done to you ... someday." Happy.

My mind was buzzing, my emotions mingled together. I couldn't comprehend barely anything he was saying. It was all happening so fast. Too fast. I couldn't let go of the past two years, and grasp what he was telling me now. I hadn't even noticed that we were pulled into the driveway. Ultimately ... I was confused.

So confused, so torn. Darn. Anger, sadness, depression. NUMB. I didn't want to feel anything at the moment. So, I closed my eyes to relax. Unfortunately, I relaxed a little too much. Ignoring my dad's questions of what was wrong, and all the sounds that were invading my ears. I was so relaxed ... I could just .... not .... do .... anything... So ... tired ... soon, blackness .. nothing - ness ....

Sleep.