In a dingy room that stank of sweat, dirt and a faint tang of blood, two people lay on a stripped mattress with their limbs intertwined.
They looked as good as dead and none of them stirred as the door suddenly got kicked in.
The faint light from the hallway washed over their faces and revealed the faces of a heavily bearded man with bottle-green hair and a woman with dirty, tangled, dirt-blond hair strewn over her face.
Sounds of raucous laughter from afar and pissy traffic where drivers seemed to be having a contest over the horns filtered into the small room.
None of them stirred as two men entered and one of them spat into the corner of the room with a disgusted look on his face.
The other held his nose as he squinted at the trail of dried blood on the arm of the woman.
"I daresay! Is that blood?"
Close to the bed was a dirty syringe with a remnant of some liquid in it.
A thin rope was on the woman's wide-open lap where her short skirt had already ridden higher up her thighs at the risk of exposing her crotch.
"I don't know what you fucking dare do. But yep, those two are knocked out pretty well for the night. Fucking cunt. Did that motherfucker in since she got here. Jeff should just toss them out once and for all."
"And lose what they bring in? Nuuh, Jeff is too smart for that. He would keep them as long as they are useful."
"Can't see much of their usefulness at the moment," the other man said with disgust even as his leery gaze went to the woman's high, riding skirt.
"Jeff would sort them out soon, or they would do themselves in. I'm outta here."
"Actually, I got some usefulness for that piece of ass right there."
The other man saw what he was looking at and said "Fuck, you are sick, man. I can't even think of digging that nasty piece. I would rather go for one of 'em whores out there."
"Missy is off-limit, so get the fuck off my back, will ya?"
"Jeff would kill you if he heard you talk about Missy."
"Fuck off." the other man said as he unbuttoned his flap.
His colleague spat again and stalked out of the room.
The other man gave the woman a resounding spank that made her turn onto her back.
The dried scab on her arm got pulled at, and it began to bleed again.
She squinted at the man with the leery smile standing above her as the latter reached down to grab her breast roughly.
She opened her mouth as if she wanted to scream, but then readjusted again, so she was lying flat on her back.
"What do you want?" her voice slurred out.
"Some of your sweet hole, cunt." the man said with a leer as he grabbed her breast again.
"Not for free." she slurred out with a sickening smile that stood stark against her pale face.
"I will get you the sweet stuff. Just the way you like it." the man said as he tossed his trousers aside and descended on her.
"Promise?" she asked with a semblance of a smile as her eyes closed and opened.
"I always keep my promise. Raise your fucking skirt. Let me give you some sugar."
"Good, my stash is gone," she said as she simply shifted to fully expose her crotch.
"Motherfucker" the man said with lust as he grabbed her waist and dragged her closer to him.
He knelt closer to her and slammed into her.
She let out a pitiful semblance of a moan as he raised himself and dragged her waist along with him.
With her upper back keeping her on the mattress and her legs up in the surrounding air, he slammed into her over and over again, swearing with every thrust.
The woman tried to grab something as her eyes closed drowsily again.
Her hand landed on the man sleeping like the dead beside her.
She turned her head to grin at the sight of the fine powder scattered over his beard and face.
The man pumping himself into her slammed into her so hard at a point that she grabbed the man beside her tightly to stop her head from slamming against the wall.
Soon enough, her drowsy mind won.
With her hand on her man and her legs in the air, her eyes fluttered close again.
The sweating man continued pumping furiously into her.
********
She had promised herself not to go.
Just that morning she had firmly ignored the text message from Mary.
Since when did aged women become keen on texting anyway?
She had even admonished herself for remembering the date even before Mary texted her.
The woman had done that right after her call went straight to voicemail.
Blocking her was beginning to look like the better option after all.
Still, she had not done it.
She had simply left her home, which still seemed strange to her with all the changes, as early as possible.
She convinced herself and her surprised employees that she had been the first person in the office because she was eager to get started on the day's work.
Oh no, it had nothing to do with any anxiety she might be feeling about what had nothing to do with her.
Even as her eyes kept going to the clock while she was in the middle of her first meeting of the day, she convinced herself it was all normal.
She was fine, and she was not bothered about anything at all.
The clock struck ten, and she leapt out of her chair like her pants were on fire, grabbed her jacket and asked Samantha to take over for her.
She hastily threw an "I have to go" over her shoulder on her way out of the meeting room, and practically dashed to her car.
She was silent for a while as she drove as fast as she could.
"What are you doing, girl?" she muttered to herself in defeat.
Why? Just why?
Even though she had no idea what difference her presence would make, she began to have another fear.
What if she was too late and they had already taken them?
"And you going will change what exactly?" her subconscious prodded her none-too-gently.
Reyona increased her speed and only slowed down when she was about to enter the street leading to Mary's house.
Thankfully, kids were not messing around on the road as they mostly do. She was still careful with her driving though.
What was she going to say if she hit someone?
Sorry, I was in a hurry because I wanted to see my ex's children for the last time?
"Stop being dramatic. It is not as if they are being taken to jail or something". Her subconscious seemed ready for combat that morning.
Reyona could see a few women standing in front of Mary's house.
One of them had her breast in her toddler's mouth.
They stood aside in a huddle while whispering.
She could see a silver metallic Camry 2014 to the side and wondered if that belonged to the social worker.
The sudden anger she felt towards the faceless woman was surprising to her.
Just like that of a hen towards a hovering hawk.
She was just getting out of her car when she heard a scream from Mary's house.
She hastily shut the door as she rushed towards the women who were trying to peep into the house.
They noticed her and turned their gazes on her.
"Is that not…?"
"Hi, you…"