Human trafficking victims experience various stages of degradation and physical and psychological torture. Victims are often deprived of food and sleep, are unable to move about freely, and are physically tortured.

Myungsoo ran home, hoping that the male hadn’t been too scared on his own. He glanced at the plate that he had left in the morning and saw that it had been untouched. He frowned, maybe they were too burnt.

He took the plate and threw the contents in the bin. He took out an obento box he had bought from a street store nearby and smiled, at least this was edible. Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, he slowly walked up to the bedroom, hoping that the other hadn’t escaped.

“Master.” He breathed out, as he saw Myungsoo walk in. He saw the shocked look that disappeared quickly as he placed the photo frame he had been holding back, and pulled the blanket up to his chest.

Myungsoo had noticed that he had taken that clothing that was given and frowned.

“Aren’t you cold?” He asked.

He shook his head slightly.

“Okay.” He murmured, before sitting on his bed. He saw the other slightly tense, however he did not show any signs of fear and continued looking at the bed sheets.

Myungsoo began taking out the food and opening it.

~

He was confused. He knew his master wanted something, but he didn’t know what. All his other masters treated him the same, so he was able to predict what was going to happen. But his master was different. He would do things that were so unexpected. He just knew that this master would soon do something even more terrible that the rest. He was never treated like this before. For the first time in 16 years, he felt scared.

He saw his master pull out boxes with unknown content. He had never seen something that looked so good, and it smelt so nice. It made his stomach churn and grumble in delight. He couldn’t take his eyes of this foreign substance. Were these drugs? Maybe they were food, but the food that his masters would give him didn’t smell like this. They smelt like dirt, and they tasted rotten.

He saw his master pull out another metal weapon. He slightly jerked back. What was this weapon? He had never seen such a strange weapon. The tool had a handle similar to what they had called a knife, however, the tip was not sharp. It was blunt, and round. It was oval shaped. It was a strange instrument indeed. Was it a new way to hurt him? Would it hurt more?

He had once heard a couple of his owners stated that ‘the blunter the knife, the more it hurt.’ This weapon was not in the least bit sharp. He let out a quiet shaky breath, as he prepared himself for the pain that was going to feel, closing his eyes to calm himself down.

“Hey.” A soft voice called. He opened his eyes to see the soft gaze his master was giving him, “I know you didn’t eat your food.”

He gulped and looked down, he’d rather die, than eat that dirt. He thought, but he remained quiet.

“Come on, let’s eat a bit.”

He shook his head slightly, “I’m okay, master. Let me pleasure you.” He said monotonously.

“What?” He didn’t thinking further and pulled down the blanket cover. He saw a look of confusion in his master’s face and wondered why. Was he not tempting enough? He had to be, or else he would get hurt. He tugged on the hem of his material and began to pull it up.

It was then when he saw a different expression on his master’s face. It was a look of… shock?

“Woah woah woah, hold up.” His master said, pulling his shirt back down, “No one is pleasuring anyone. I just wanted to eat.” He said, handing him a spoon and a box of the foreign substance.

He didn’t want to take it. He didn’t know what it was. He looked at the weapon that his master had given and looked at it curiously. Did his master want him to harm himself? Was that how his master sought pleasure? But he hadn’t had a clue as to how to use this weapon.

“Eat.” His mastered ordered. Finally something he understood. He dropped the weapon onto the bed and proceeded to pick at the substance with his fingers.

“You can use the spoon, you know. I won’t mind.” He said motioning to the weapon he dropped on the bed. He picked it up once again and looked at it. A spoon? What a strange word.

“Y-You don’t know what it is, do you?” His maser finally asked in realisation. He nodded. His master extended his hand outwards and he returned the tool.

“It’s to help you eat. Here.” He said, “May I?” He asked, as he took the box he was holding. “You scoop the food here and you eat it.” He was amazed by such useless tool. Why use this, when you could use your hands?

“You try.” He was given the ‘spoon’ and the box back and he copied his master’s actions. He scooped a bunch of this white sticky substance and held it up.

“Good job.” His master cheered, “Now you can eat it.”

He shakily brought the food up to his lips and nibbled on it. It tasted glorious. Never had he had anything like this. He wanted to keep eating, but he was sure that it was been drugged. Maybe his master was waiting to hurt him because he could do so last night.

“Come on, just keep on eating. I’m going to do some work.”

He gulped, knowing what his master had meant by work. He was going to prepare things to do to him. He nodded, preparing himself. It wasn’t like he could argue. “Yes master.” He replied timidly.

“Myungsoo.”

He looked up at the strange bur familiar word.

“Call me that from now on. Master seems too formal.” That was right, it was his master’s name. He nodded.

He continued to nibble on his food. The more he had, the more he craved. It had just tasted so good.

At the same time, he looked at his master who held a large rectangular object that contained hundreds and hundreds of paper. How could they stick together? He wondered. He saw large foreign symbols at the front, but he couldn’t read so he simply stared at the intricate symbols, as he continued to nibble on his food.

Hope you enjoyed this!

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone right now who are living in Jakarta. I hope everyone is