The Mate Contract

Chapter 1

Across the street, some group of men was seen trying to break into an old building, they had knocked on the door earlier, but the house owner bluntly refused to open it even when he knew they would break through the old and worn-out wooden door soon enough.

He had a young and innocent-looking girl with him in the house, she was his youngest daughter, Amira. She was frantically shaking because of the commotion outside. She was scared and her father attempted to make her feel it would be alright with suiting words, but it didn't work. Just like every other time, those people would always do something horrible to them, they would sometimes hurt them and leave them bleeding after messing the house up.

"Dad, please beg them to leave... those people are no good." she cried out.

"It's alright dear, I just have to—" he went on while holding the door with much effort, "Go to your room dear, hide, and don't come out until I call you!" he instructed as he continued to struggle to hold the door and just as she was about to run upstairs, the people outside kicked the door open, shoving the man to fall on the side while they barge in the house. one of the men abruptly moved to where the frightened girl was trying to escape them. He had a sinister smile on his scarred face just like the rest of them, his smile was no good, and she knew it.

He clasped her hair, yanking her till he made her sit beside her father on the floor.

"Where do you think you're going to, huh princess?" She heard his question which sounded hoarse coming from his mouth. She was about to burst into tears but held herself by putting her hand over her mouth, "Hey, where's the other one?" he asked.

"Hiding, perhaps?" another said. two from the group stormed up the wooden stairs to hunt for the eldest daughter of their debtor, but couldn't find her as she had gone to work. The rest of them downstairs could hear their members purposely breaking some things upstairs with laughter made of mockery.

The house was already old and worn out, the paintings on the walls had started to peel off and some of the wooden pillars had started to get decayed at the top, it had its glory days and now it needed to be renovated but the house owner had no money to do that, his family could barely have a few decent meals for the week.

The gang started to beat up the man, booting and punching him and it was hard for him to see where the multiple punches were coming from. In no time, his eyes got swollen and he had to strain them to see the light.

He had always been addicted to gambling and after selling almost all they had to play games, he went ahead to borrow some amount of money from the gang's boss to play the lottery after losing all the money, he was unable to pay back the accumulated debt of 6.7 million and only managed to give in the interest monthly which he barely gave these days, and now they were fed up with all his excuses and they did not come to listen to his stories.

After whacking him up, the boss of them moved inches away from the man, wiping the blood which splattered on his cheek while he was punching the man.

"Listen to me old man," he said, he grabbed the man by his worn-out collar and choked him low-key, "We'll give you one week to decide, you'll either let us have one of your sweet daughters or this here," said the man, He raised his shiny silver dagger playfully and held it to the man's throat, piercing a bit of the dagger on his skin to give him a small cut which caused blood to roll down from his neck and stain his shirt.

"This will be your bringer of death and then, we can forcefully have the both of them and sell this old field of yours." he was referring to the land where the house was situated. He pushed the man back to face his head on the floor and he dared not lift it.

"We'll f**k them so badly in front of the old man, right before his miserable life comes to an end." Another said, and it caused the group to chatter amongst themselves.

The gang leader went to the tied girl, rubbing his hand on her small perky molds. he squeezed her nipples from the pale pink night nightwear and soon he developed to pull her nipples hard with lust filled in his eyes and his tongue wetting his lips most disgustingly.

She cried even more, feeling dirty. Her father could do nothing to help, he was already ganged and beaten up by the men so he wouldn't dare to want to cross them for the second time.

The man with a scar on his left eye laughed more at the discomfort the girl was feeling, he enjoyed her sweet voice as she sobbed, they felt like sweet moans from her little mouth. Thoughts on how to fill her small hole with himself crowned his head, he wanted to destroy her little body and leave marks all over, and he would be getting that once the man would be unable to pay back the debt in ahort period of time he would offer and therefore call him for negotiation with his daughters.

"This is just a lesson, the next time won't be so easy old man, remember what happened the last time?" the thug refreshed his mind. he did remember and it was a gory scene that day. he lifted his hands to meet his eyes sight, looking at his bandaged fingers terrified, the ones they had chopped off two weeks ago.

One of the men seized his bandaged fingers, making him rise due to the pain. "Sign here," the man ordered.

He made sure to force a pen in his hand, and passed him a contract.

Edwin's eyes read a bit of the document and knew what they wanted. He was feeling hesitant and a gun was placed at the side of his head so he quickly signed it.

After he had done that, they pushed him to the floor, Taking turns kicking his ribs and legs before walking out of the house which they already turned upside down.

The man turned to his Fifteen years old daughter, she wasn't even looking at him, her eyes were shut with bead-like tears rolling down her cheeks while she cried silently, biting her lips to stop her from making any more sound, what if those men haven't gone so far and they heard her crying? she did not want them to come back.

She felt terrible, those dangerous men touched her in places where she never let anyone and the thoughts of how disgusting they all looked. Musky, the leader of them smelt, with a mix of alcohol and cigarettes.

The other one who came close to her smelt like a dirty pig, Sounds like he barely washed and they were all decorated with tattoos and scars on them. she was feeling the trauma of their touch. she could still feel the gang's leader's hand on her hips and she just wanted to be numb from the touch which still lingered and made her feel warm continuously, she was disgusted with herself.

Edwin managed to stand up from the floor, staggering because of the injuries he suffered. He went to his daughter's side,

His eyes stared worriedly at her for a while, she hadn't said anything to him ever since those thugs left, how must she be feeling?

He sighed before loosing the rope she was tied with and wanted to speak with her, calling her name softly "Amira-" and the girl ran upstairs without looking back.

She went to the room she and her sister shared, forcing the door to the bathroom open and going to soak herself in the bathtub and aggressively switching on the faucet which already had some patch of rust on it. the water poured with so much pressure and quickly filled the tub, but she was out of herself to notice it.

*****

Outside the house, down the road, a girl walked on foot, swinging her arms along with the plastic bags she held with her in mid-air while humming a small song till she reached the front of her house. the door was broken which was unusual, she raised her brows but said nothing.

She found the neighbors peeping at her from their houses but ignored them, they usually did that. the people here liked to talk so much.

She was the eldest daughter of Edwin and she had just come back from her job with the food for the family.

"Dad? Sis?" Elsa called as she walked in. she noticed their house was turned upside down and she wasn't a stranger not to know who it was that did it. She just wanted to make sure her family was ok. She ran the broken stairs of the house, going to her father's room. He was seated on the bed edge with his back facing the door and shoulders down.

Elsa rushed to him, "Dad? what happened to you?" he was beaten to a pulp with scars all over his face, his bandage fingers were bleeding again, and he was shivering in fear.

"You-you're here," he called with hope glistened in his eyes. he raised his hand to her face, cupping her cheek lightly with his bleeding hands and her eyes turned watery.

Two weeks ago, she made another deal with those loan shark people after they cut off her father's index finger as a memo of what they would do next. she promised them that she would be getting their money ready but she just needed some time, The sea was not as smooth as the months earlier and it made it hard to get more seafood for delivery.

"Please save us, they... T-they would come back." he stuttered. his eyes searched around the room for no particular reason before settling to meet her.

"Elsa, Uhm... I have a small request to make." he asserted. he knew it wasn't easy to convince her to do so, but he would try.

"I-I mean, I-It's not right to ask this from you, but this is the only way to pay back the debt I owe. can you help me with something Elsa?" he was shivering as he spoke. she nod quickly without hearing his request first.

"Those loan shark people, they made me give my consent that if I don't pay them before month-end, they would sell my organs, please dear, I don't want to die!" he was shaking terribly. iIts was damn impossible to pay the money her father borrowed before month-end, they had three more weeks of hardship before the month finally ends and she already received her salary for the month earlier on

"Why did you sign, Dad?...!" she rubbed her hair in frustration, ruffling it and pushing back the loose strands that had come to fall on her face in aggression. How could he? Wasn't he tired of frustrating the both of them?

Her father shook his head, trying to explain to her but words did not come out.

"... They gave me another option, one that wouldn't involve my death," His lips twisted as he finds a way to explain the other option to her.

"Elsa, they want to take one of my daughters, the boss there. he offered to pay us more money and clear-"

"Dad!" she yelled. She did not let him finish, how could he say the most despicable thing! selling his daughters?! She would never agree to that!

Those people never respected women, she was almost eighteen and her younger sister Fifteen and yet their father was planning to sell them off.

Her father suddenly kneeled in front of her, wanting to touch her feet but she moved back swiftly.

"Please Elsa, you're the only one who can save me from those people," he begged, tears falling endlessly from his eyes.

Elsa was different from the other girls of her age, she spent her time working more than one job daily to earn money for both her father and sister and she was ready to work more if it meant that they would pay those loan shark people but it would never be enough, she had to stop school before she turned 13 so her sister could continue and there was no decent job for a school dropout.

Her father was a drunk and a gambler, A selfish person at that. He could pass for the worse parent two teenage girls could have. After her mother died in a car accident, he turned worse, he even borrowed money just to gamble, and currently, he owed so much debt that he could barely go out without trouble following him back.

She had heard so many stories of how the gang leader 'Dolphin,' as he was usually called treated women. how he made his money by adding so much interest to the debt people owed and using threats to make them pay the money and if they couldn't redeem the debt, he would request for the unthinkable. She did not want herself or her sister to get into their traps. he was a despicable man who had done many bad things to people and still somehow managed to get away with it.

"I will work and pay them back all the debt we owe. they're not taking anyone from this family, "as what she thought, but her father's face did not look quite agreeing with the decision.

******Dinner*****

The dinner at their home was quiet with everyone lost in their thoughts. Edwin only thought of how to save himself by sacrificing one of his daughters, after all, he did not bear them and let them grow this big for nothing!

Thoughts on how to raise so much money for the family expense and also the debt occupied Elsa's mind. She was doing more than one job, but it wasn't enough to cover their monthly expenses, not to talk of paying their debts off in one week.

Amira was lost in her world, numb... she hadn't even touched her meal.

Elsa snapped herself out and proceeded to eat her meal, then she noticed her sister did not touch hers, she tapped Amira's arm lightly.

"What is it?" asked Elsa. Amira was going to give a reply but she could not hold back her tears from bursting out, "Why do we have to live this way? those people, they had their eyes on me, I don't want to go with the sister!" She cried out.

They both knew how greedy their father was and there was no telling what he would decide to do next.

Elsa pats her head lightly to keep her calm, she felt worse herself. The inability to do anything to save the family was slowly killing her.

"We will surely find a way, I promise you." She consoled her sister.