Captive-Sated

My name is Lady and I am an American pop-star. Yesterday I was standing in the middle of a stage with 100,000 adoring fans screaming out my name. I should be happy but I am not. I live the life that teens dream of and adults covet, yet each day I ward off thoughts of slitting my wrist and ending it all. For a woman who has so many people around, I sure am lonely.
Lady…..Lady……Lady….Lady…..Their chants pull me back into the present and I signal the band to strike up the first notes of tonight’s concert.


I begin to sing; it is the only time that I am happy……So sing……..I will…….

Today I am:
Stumbling through the back alleys of Afghanistan in fear for my life. I should have known better than to venture away from the military base but I was close—just not close enough for anyone to hear my screams.
I jumped as a caged dog lunged towards me giving my location away to the men in the van at the mouth of the alley—the alley that had brought me to a dead end.

I watched as the man wearing a turban made his way towards me with caution, as if he had cornered a wild animal. I ran towards him in an attempt to head butt him but it was useless. His robe deceived me in that it never revealed the solid body mass beneath the gown. The last thing that I felt was his thumb as it viciously clamped down on an artery in my neck and then nothing.

I huddled on the filthy mattress covering my ears to try and make the screams stop piercing my throbbing head. When I tried to sit up and eye the men who seemed to be fighting about my abduction, bile erupted from my wrenching bowels. I slumped back down onto the mattress. At least I had made certain that it landed on the concrete floor.

My eyes tried to adjust to the dim lighting but even that was an effort. I needed to see the man in the suit addressing my captors—it was evident that he was in charge.

Once again I attempted to rise up and process what was happening—what had happened. An overwhelming wave of nausea hit me again forcing me back down face first into the mattress that reeked of sweat and body odors. Had there been more women before me?

The blinding pain in my head was making it impossible to remember anything but bits and pieces of memory. As desperately as I attempted to put the puzzle together there was nothing but jumbled chaos in my brain right now. Confusion—pain—darkness…