Class Trip

by Burns, Rachel

  She was silent for a moment.

  “Really? Why would he go back there?” She hung up.

  “He is alive and back in his car, which I'm tracking. He is going back home. I have no idea why. My information is that the place is sold and everyone has left already. What would be there that he could possibly want?” She was leaning over me.

  “I don't know.”

  She squinted her eyes and looked over me. “Time to make another phone call. This time, I'll call your parents.”

  “It's just my mom. I don't have a dad.”

  “What? Did something happen to your father?” She was scolding me again. I just couldn't understand why she would care.

  “I never had a father. He took off when my mom was pregnant with me.”

  “What's your full name?”

  “Sandra Elisabeth Reed.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Vermont.”

  “What's your mothers name?”

  “Cathy.”

  “And your grandmother's name.”

  “Alice.”

  “Have you ever met your father?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “What kind of bull crap have they been feeding you?”

  “I don't know what you are talking about.”

  “At least one of us can see the whole picture. What's your phone number?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “I am calling your mother and letting her know where you are at.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Out of the kindness of my heart. Just tell me your number.”

  “Are you trying to get her to come here? I don't want her in this country and I don't want her to know what has become of me.”

  “Oh I think she should know. In fact, I think that there is a lot that she isn't telling you.”

  I helplessly watched her dial information and get my mother's number. She turned on the speakerphone and I could hear a phone ringing. Was that really my house? What was this game about?

  “Hello.”

  “Mom,” I called out, recognizing her voice right away.

  “Sandra? Is that you?”

  “Yes mom, it's me. I'm in Romania, in Bucharest.”

  “I'll call the police there right away.”

  “I wouldn't it I were you. I have your daughter and she won't be leaving my care until I wish for her to leave. If you want to see her again then you will have to come here, you and your husband, both of you, immediately.”

  “Sandra doesn't have a father.”

  “Oh yes she does. Get him to come here or I will sell your daughter to the highest bidder.”

  “I can't. He left us.”

  “Why did he leave you? Is it because you have a long history of losing your children?” She clucked her tongue. “That's a very bad habit to have.” She gave my mom her exact address and then hung up.

  “What was that all about?”

  “Don't worry about it.”

  “You just called my mother and you tell me not to worry about it?”

  “Yes. I think that it is time for the little princess to go to bed.”

  She went to the bed and threw several pillows to the side. She pulled the comforter completely off of the bed and then she pulled back the blankets. “Shoes off, get in.”

  “But that's your bed.”

  “Thank you. I know that it's my bed. Just get in it and don't discuss anything with me.”

  I sat on the bed and slipped out of my shoes by kicking them off.

  “You are ruining perfectly good shoes. Take them off with your hands next time. You aren't a little baby anymore.”

  “What am I?” I had figured that she wanted to keep me as a child. She was clear that that was the only way things could be back at the slave house.

  “You're tired. Go to sleep.” I was really annoying her.

  “His mother and brother didn't even say goodbye to him. Please, let me go.”

  “You want me to feel pity for the likes of him. He didn't for me. It's too much to ask of me. Now close your eyes and sleep.” She said that last sentence so nicely.

  Kelly covered me up and paced around the room.

  The phone rang once. I could only hear what she was saying. “Why would he go back just to turn around? Are you sure he didn't go into the house? That's so odd. How hard did you guys hit him? He may be off of his rocker. Just keep an eye on him. I don't want him to cause any trouble.”

  I closed my eyes when I heard her walking towards the bed. It was getting dark.

  “Just go to sleep,” she said like she was exasperated with me.

  “I can't. I'm too scared.”

  “You know, I was a lot younger than you when I had to live with Daniel and his family. They weren't nice to me. Sometimes his father would come in in the middle of the night. That was something to be scared about. His mother worked me by day, then the movies and of course the never ending punishments.” She sat down on the bed with her hands folded on her lap, making her looked tiny and helpless.

  “But you got away.”

  “Away,” she repeated. “Like you I didn't want to get away. I wanted him to love me and marry me. He wouldn't. He even let his brothers hurt me. I wasn't a real person to them. You were. He loved you. He has given up on you in the meantime but he would have kept you. That is saying a lot.”

  “Why are you doing this? Why can't you just forget everything and move on?”

  She grinned at me. “Are you giving me psychological advice?”

  “I guess so. This can't be healthy for you either.”

  “And you are so worried about me?”

  “Why not. I think the best thing for you to do would be to sell this place and run with the money. Go somewhere and learn to trust men again. You could get married and have a family. You're really beautiful. Any man would want you.”

  “No, not me but someone so similar and innocent.” She was looking off in the distant not really seeing the room.

  “Why do you compare me to you? I'm not you.”

  “Thank God for that. And you never will be if I have something to say about it.”

  What did she mean when she said those confusing things? “What are you going to do with my mother when she comes here?”

  “I want to talk to her. I have several questions for her.”

  “I really don't have a dad. She won't be able to get him to come with her. Unless she convinces some man to pretend. He would be a police officer then. You are taking too much risk. Just let me go and take off.”

  “If I let you go someone else would grab you. There is something so innocent about you. I think it's your eyes and forehead. When you look up at someone they want take care of you. Men also want to fuck you but they would give you a lollipop too. Your kind is almost impossible to find. You could have made me very rich. Men would have paid top dollar for you.”

  “Would have? You aren't going to prostitute me?”

  “No, I'm going to kill you while your parents watch.”

  Kelly had gotten up and left then, locking the doors behind her. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't stop crying.

  When it was very late she crawled into bed next to me. She wrapped her arm around me and promised to kill me quickly.

  She wasn't any good at comforting. I even told her that. She told me that she used to know how but that she forgot it along the way.

  I settled down eventually and fell asleep.

  Chapter 15

  The next day Kelly kept me locked up. I tried to figure a way out but I couldn't. She spent all day watching me. She didn't even let me go to the bathroom alone. I was surprised that she gave me something to eat. I ate everything she ate too.

  “Why are you feeding me if you are going to kill me? Isn't this just a waste of food?”

  “Don't be so dramatic about. It will be over with quickly.”

  “So you are going to shoot me?”

  “That is the plan.”


  I felt a tear trickle down my face. “In front of my mom?”

  “And your dad. Don't forget him.”

  “But I don't even know him.”

  “That doesn't matter. It would be better if Daniel were here too. But it's too late for something like that. I should have thought of it sooner.”

  “What makes you think that they will come?”

  “I don't know that they will.”

  “What happens if they don't?”

  “I can always make you work for me. By tomorrow evening I'll know. If no one comes I have a rich customer who would be willing to pay a lot to spank the daylights out of you and then fuck you. He likes his women exhausted. He has no qualms about being the one to exhaust them.” She looked me up and down. “He would like you. He believes that all women are pure sin and thus deserve to be punished.”

  “That is so sick.”

  “I agree, but he has money. He knows that a man has to pay well if he wants to see to his needs.”

  “And he needs to punish women?”

  “Yes. Quit acting like you never lived at the slave house. I watched you. You knew perfectly well what was going on there.”

  “Yes, I guess so.” I hung my head. I knew that Tata was sleeping with the other girls.

  “I told you he isn't perfect.”

  “I know that. He wanted to become perfect. He worked towards it. Tata had no problem quitting. He swore that he would never sleep with another woman again.”

  “I'm sure he meant that, when he said it. All men mean it at the time of saying it. The thing is time goes on, and men have needs. That's just how they are made. They need to sleep with women. It honestly isn't anything personal. They can't tie themselves down to just one woman. Your own father left your mother. He probably found someone else too. How does that make you feel?”

  “I don't care. We got along just fine without him. I don't need to meet him now.”

  “I see. I had both parents. They seemed to love each other. I believed that my parents would do anything for me, anything at all. I was wrong. They stopped looking for me months after I was kidnapped. I was so quickly forgotten. Daniel's father was bursting for joy when he told me that. He threw down all of the newspaper articles about the case.

  “They gave up, he told me. They are going back to America.

  “My last bit of hope died that day. I had hoped that they would come along and rescue me. They had so much evidence that told them that I was in Romania and they had a picture of Daniel's father but they never set foot in this country. Do you know why they didn't?”

  “No, I don't. It doesn't make sense.” If it were my child I would move heaven and earth to get my child back. I still wasn't over baby's loss.

  “I have a younger sister. They didn't want to risk losing her too.”

  “You mean like a bird in the hand as opposed to two in the bush?”

  “Exactly. Three months they stayed in Europe but they didn't go to the country that they had a lead in. And I got my nose rubbed in that every day.” Kelly looked so sad. She went to the window and looked out. “Well, I'll be damned. Come here, Sandra, quick.”

  I went to her side and saw my mom getting out of a taxi. A man was with her.

  “That man is your father.”

  “How do you know for sure,” I asked her.

  “Because he's my father too. They wouldn't come to Romania for me but they would for you. Go into my office.” She opened the door and I walked through it.

  I wanted to see my mom and warn her. Kelly was crazy and I needed to protect my mother from her.

  “Sit down at my desk.”

  I did as I was told.

  Kelly opened a drawer and pulled out a gun. She checked it, looking to see if it was loaded before she snapped it shut with her wrist. Then she reached for her cell and told them to bring the couple at the door up to her office.

  “Kelly, please don't hurt anyone. You need help. We can find a place where you can go and get the help that you need. My mom would help you.”

  “Quiet, I promised you that this will go quick. Look on the bright side. Daniel will be the only man you ever sleep with. You will be able to keep the promises that you were probably dumb enough to make.”

  “I didn't make any promises. He told me that I would never have to sleep with someone else.” My eyes were locked on the door. My mom would be coming in in a moment. It wouldn't be good for my mom to have to see me die. She had been so torn about me going to Switzerland. One day she would say yes and the next she would say no.

  There was a knock on the door. I peeked up to Kelly to see what she would do. At first she looked scared, then she smirked. “Come in.”

  The door slowly opened and my mom came in with the man she convinced to come along. He was looking right at me.

  “Sandra, don't move. We'll get you out of this. We're here just like you wanted. Please let her go.”

  “I called you here so you could watch her die. You made it here in twenty-four hours. You wouldn't come for me. That surprises me.”

  “Please don't hurt her. I'll take her place but don't hurt her. She has her whole life ahead of her.”

  “Sit down and shut up.” Kelly's lips were pressed together so tightly. “Sandra, you say you never met your father. Tell her the truth.”

  “The truth?” my mom asked.

  “The whole truth. In fact, I wouldn't mind hearing it either. What happened after you two saw your daughter being pulled into a van?”

  “That wasn't how Tata got me. I was on a class trip. We came with our bus.”

  “Quiet. She knows what I'm talking about.”

  “I don't think she does, Kelly. You just seemed so confused.”

  “Really? I'm holding a gun to your head and you can't shut up.”

  “Kelly?” Both my mom and the man with her said.

  “Yep. It's me. Alive and well. No thanks to you.”

  “Is that really you?”

  “Yes, Dad. It's really me. I at least know what you look like. Sandra here, wouldn't recognize you from Adam. Would you have recognized her? You didn't recognize me. Father of the year you aren't. Me you didn't look for and her you don't even know.”

  “It was a tough time. Your mother and I had problems. You were gone and everything went to hell. We decided it would be best for Sandra if she moved away, near grandma. Everyone was treating us so differently. It was unbearable. We don't function like we should without you.”

  My jaw dropped. This man was really my father? This was the man who chose not to be a part of my life. And Kelly was my sister?

  I reached my head out to her. I understood a little what she had gone through. She didn't know that I hadn't always been happy with Tata. Of course she had it worse. That wasn't even something that we needed to talk about, but I would understand about the pain and being afraid and pretending not to be.

  “Keep your hands to yourself. I don't want you to touch me.”

  “Kelly, put the gun down. We will talk about this.” The man who was my father was stepping closer to us.

  “You haven't seen me in years. Don't bank on the fact that I used to love her. I will shoot her. My precious little sister is a stupid idiot who deserves to die.”

  “Please, don't hurt her. She is a really nice girl.”

  “Again you haven't seen her in a long time. She has been opening her legs for a slave trader, willingly. Oh and get this, Dad He had her call him Tata. That's the Romanian equivalent of Daddy. A porn star has replaced you.”

  Both of my parents were staring at me. They looked so unsure. “I love him. He needs me.”

  “Yep, you heard right, a slave trader, porn star is the man who your daughter loves.”

  “Kelly is the Madame here at this house. She can leave anytime she wants but she was too afraid to go home and tell you what all happened to her because she blames herself. But it wasn't her fault. They beat you until you don't fight anymore. They can make you do anything.”

&
nbsp; “Shut up. Don't talk about me like you know me, because you don't. You and I had two totally different experiences.”

  “I know you suffered more, so much more. Daniel's father kidnapped her and he was so cruel to her,” I told my mom. “Why didn't you tell me that I had a sister?”

  “You were too young to understand. Kelly was gone and you cried for her all the time. You were just two. We tried to explain to you where she was but we didn't know ourselves. Our visas were expiring and we had to go home. Everyone at home blamed us. Our marriage wasn't strong enough. I got a different job and moved in with my mother. We never told you because you were the only one of us who got to be ignorant. We lived with the pain and you forgot Kelly.” My mother was bawling into her hands. “Please, Kelly. Put down the gun. We want to talk to you. I want to hold you.”

  “No, you wouldn't want anything to do with the likes of me. I will do the talking and you will answer me. Tell me why when you had a lead to Romania didn't you come here and look for me? Yes, I know all about the progress reports. You even had a picture of the man who took me. He was so worried that he would get caught and then you just left Europe. I was counting on you to save me, dad, but you never showed up. But for Sandra you can come.” Kelly pushed the gun against my skull.

  I could taste her disappointment. She had wanted her dad to come and get her, to take her away from the bad guy but he gave up on her and she had to go through unspeakable pain.

  Tears were running down my face and I could hardly breathe. He wasn't there for me either.

  “Please Kelly, put the gun down,” he begged her. “I wanted to come, baby. They denied me again and again. I tried for several years.”

  “The iron curtain has been down for years. These are all just excuses. If you had wanted to find me you could have. I hoped that you would be among the men looking to buy a sex slave. I looked in all their eyes and prayed to see yours. You never came. And when I got sold here I did the same. You didn't look for me.” Her voice cracked with pain

  “I did. I looked in the wrong places. I had no idea that you were here. We had so many leads. The license plates on the van said Austria. I have been there over twenty times looking for you. I honestly looked. You were my little girl. I couldn't live without you but I couldn't find you.” He was crying as he pleaded with her, begging her to understand.