Authors: Yolanda Olson
Please don’t do this,
I prayed silently as I raised my hand. Minnie raised her hand as did a new girl that must’ve pissed off Kerstan after I was traded because I didn’t recognize her.
“The three of you knew Amity – Lieve?” he corrected himself staring at us in turn. We all nodded and Minnie looked at him curiously.
“Were you close to her?” he continued.
“No,” the new girl responded. Luuk responded by waving her out of the room.
“I was,” Minnie replied. “So was Betje.”
“Come with me,” he said to Minnie. “Betje already knows.”
“Luuk let me come with her,” I pleaded.
“Stay here,” he replied coldly as he held out an arm to Minnie. I watched desperately as he walked out of the room with her.
I buried my face into my hands and waited. Famke got up from the chair she had moved down too and came over to me.
“I’ll go out there. The worst he can do is hit me,” she said reassuringly as she hurried out of the room.
But no sooner had she opened the door and stepped out did I hear the most heartbreaking wail in the world.
He told her. And she was by herself when he did it.
Famke came back into the room with Minnie half collapsed in her arms crying hysterically. My heart broke seeing her like that and I met Famke just inside the doors. She handed Minikin to me and called Luuk a bastard for not letting me be with her when he told her.
His response was a smirk.
“Amity was a bitch that needed to be broken and when push came to shove, she crumbled,” he replied.
“I’m going to town,” Famke suddenly said, pushing past him aggressively on her way out the door.
“Did I say you could?” he asked loudly.
“I don’t need your permission, Luuk. I’ll spread my legs, fuck a few people along the way, and bring money back for you, but I
am
going to town,” she replied through grit teeth.
Luuk stared at her angrily and she glared right back at him. It was the most intense standoff I had ever seen where words were not needed.
“Go,” he finally said waiving her off.
Famke glanced at me and gave me a nod before she left. Minnie was laid against me sobbing uncontrollably as the rest of the girls in the room looked at us. They’d never understand the heartbreak that we both shared so I didn’t care if they wanted to stare.
“Enjoying the show?” I snapped.
Maybe I cared a little. But it wasn’t for me, it was for Minikin. She was overcome with grief and she had an audience to witness it.
“Yes.”
I whipped around in Luuk’s direction. He was standing at his chair again, watching us with a smirk sitting on his lips. I can’t exactly say what took hold of me at that moment. I only really remember grabbing everything that I could get my hands on from the elaborate table settings and throwing them at him, hoping that I would hit him with something.
The sound of the sickening crack as I finally connected against his face with one of the glasses was deafening. The silence that followed as he stumbled was deadly. I watched numbly, as a trickle of blood appeared above his left eye and began to lazily roll down the side of his face.
“Give her to me,” one of the girls, who I think had been renamed Ilse, said urgently as she reached for Minnie. She gently pried her out of my arms and took her back with her to the group of girls who were staring at Luuk in shock.
“Get out,” he said in quiet, seething tone. The rest of the girls quickly scrambled and ran from the room through the back doors except for Ilse. She handed Minnie to one of her friends and came over to take me out of the room too, but Luuk shook his head slowly.
“Out,” he said to her again. “The bitch stays.”
“But Luuk –” Ilse started to protest and he cut her off with a sharp look. “You can take her place if you’d like,” he said in a sinister tone.
Ilse wrung her hands for a moment. She looked at me with tears in her eyes before she hugged me, kissed my forehead, and ran out of the room.
Just make sure Minikin is safe from here on out,
I thought silently after her.
When we were left in the dining room alone, I got to my feet and faced Luuk. I had a modicum of courage swelling inside of me; something I had obviously taken from Amity and Famke. I would take whatever punishment he would dole out to me as long as Minnie was safe and left alone.
I watched him as he wiped the blood off of his face and chuckle. His hands moved down to his belt buckle and he undid it, pulling the leather strap loose.
“Come here,” he said pointing to a spot directly in front of him.
I lifted my chin a little higher, stood up a little straighter, and walked with purposeful long strides to where Luuk had directed. I was afraid, terribly afraid, but I would be damned if I would let it show.
“Do you know that I could kill you for this?” he asked calmly.
I nodded and waited.
“And do you think I should?” he prompted.
“What you do to me is of no consequence anymore. My best friend is dead and I have no resolve to live,” I replied bravely.
“So, perhaps I should just have Minikin go through another round of what went through with Kerstan before she was given to me?” he asked, a disgusting smirk crossing his face.
“No!” I closed my eyes for a moment and took a breath to steady myself. “No. Please. Leave Minikin out of this. I was the one that attacked you, I deserved to be punished.”
“I meant what I said when I called you a bitch,” Luuk said conversationally. “Take your panties off and bend over the table, Betje.”
“What are you going to do to me?” I asked nervously eyeing him and pulling my underwear off.
“Break you,” he replied simply.
I closed my eyes tightly as I bent over the table and gripped the edges. I grunted in the next breath as he brought the belt down as hard as he could over my bare ass. Tears stung my eyes because my pride was wounded.
Luuk spent the next ten minutes whipping me repeatedly until he decided he was tired and I had been punished enough.
I’d give anything to go back to Kerstan,
I thought as I struggled to reach down for my panties and cried out in pain as the delicate silk touched my burning skin.
Three
One full week passed before the pain finally went away. Minnie and Ilse spent their time taking care of me and my welts, which was quite humiliating, but I’m sure that was part of the punishment.
In the seven days I struggled to be able to sit again, Famke was gone. She hadn’t come back and I wondered if she had absconded and why she didn’t at least take Minnie with her. One of Ilse’s friends entered the room and came over to my bed. She leaned over and whispered something to Ilse in their language and handed her a piece of paper.
Ilse looked around before she unfolded the paper and read its contents. I saw her look of surprise coupled with a gasp of shock. When she was done she quickly folded the note and slid it underneath the mattress.
“I’ll burn that later,” she said quietly. “Eva brought news. While she was out today with her clients, she came across a man that spoke of his distaste for Luuk. She said she approached him as if she were going to proposition him, but the man brushed her off and told her that he would not fuck a whore from this house. He also said that she would be better pressed to work for him.”
Ilse gave me a knowing smile.
“Kerstan?” I asked in shock.
“She described him as tan, green eyes, and somewhat long black hair, and absolutely beautiful.”
Yeah, that’s Kerstan alright. The devil in disguise himself.
“Where did she see him?” I asked desperately.
“She did not write it down. She said that when she realized he was of another house, she quickly left his side because she fears he will tell Luuk.”
“Did she Famke?” I asked.
“She did not say, so I assume she did not,” Ilse said sadly.
“Goddammit, where did she go?” I wondered out loud more to myself than them.
***
Famke
Finally in the heart of Amsterdam, Famke,
I thought grimly to myself. I had spent the first five days in hiding. I didn’t want to be caught and sent back to Luuk until what I had set out to do was done, then I would return of my own volition and accept whatever he decided needed to be done with me.
I hated Luuk more than I hated anything in the world and I hated that he made picking on Betje and Minikin into a fucking game because he didn’t like Kerstan. They were like little boys constantly trying to prove that their whores were better than the others, while we put in all the work and didn’t get shit for it.
I reached the fourth and largest house that lined the outskirts of the Red Light District and knocked on the door. My game plan was to pass myself off as a girl looking for work and see what I could find. I wanted to speak to this Kerstan person about how Amity died so that Betje and Minikin could find some kind of solace in this fuck hole of a situation we were all in. They didn’t deserve to be there at such young ages. I had fucked up and got too far into drugs and gambling and so yes; I owed a debt and I would work it off, but I would not allow them to be used any longer than they had to be.
I waited patiently. A few minutes passed before an elderly woman opened the door and I immediately thought I was in the wrong place.
“I’m sorry. I was looking for work and possibly a place to live, but I think I’m in the wrong place,” I said turning to leave.
“What kind of work?” she asked in a surprisingly strong voice.
“Um, well I’m really good with my hands among other things.”
She stared at me through narrowed eyes for a moment before telling me to wait where I was and closing the door in my face. I shrugged and turned my back to the door reasoning to myself that I would wait five minutes and move on. Three minutes later the door opened again and I looked over my shoulder.
Wow.
The man that was leaning in the doorframe was gorgeous to say the least and the way his lips curved as he smiled was enough to make my panties wet.
“You were looking to speak to me?” he asked in a Dutch accent.
“Are you the owner here?”
“I am.”
“My name is Famke,” I said turning to face him fully. “I’m looking for a place to stay and possibly to work for the roof over my head and meals. Are you taking anyone new?”
He chuckled and turned to his side, leaning his back against the doorframe and putting his hands into his pants pocket. He was wearing a black vest with a dark blue long sleeve button down shirt underneath. The sleeves had been rolled up to above his elbows and as I looked down I noticed his immaculately shiny black shoes.
“What do you think you would be doing for me here, Famke?” he asked, glancing at me with an amused look.
“Whatever you required of me,” I replied.
He nodded in approval and motioned for me to come into his home. I followed him silently, jumping when the door slammed shut, and kept my wits about me. When I had first been taken to Luuk, I had been drugged no more than two steps inside and woke up naked and shackled in a dark room.
As we walked past another elderly woman he said something to her that I didn’t understand. She nodded and walked quickly away.
“Do you belong to another house? Will I have to barter for you?” he asked me as we walked down the long hallway toward a heavy wooden door.
“No.”
“Good,” he said pulling it open and stepping in. I walked in curiously behind him and found myself in a large room with half naked girls sitting around on beds chatting excitedly.
“Looks like we’ve got a new girl!” the leggy blonde with the Scandinavian accent called out. I nervously looked at the man who was standing next to me. He shook his head in disapproval at the outburst, but nothing more.
“This is Famke; she will be joining our house,” he said nodding at me.
“Careful girlie! If Kerstan likes you, he’ll fuck you instead of sending you out to work and then you’ll be stuck here forever like me,” a brunette with big blue eyes and an American accent called out.
Kerstan? I found him? Finally!
“Lieve, why must you always do this?” he asked in exasperation.
“Because I like to piss you off,” she replied simply.
“Lieve?” I asked curiously stepping closer to her. “Your name sounds very familiar to me.”
“Lieve is my hooker name. Call me Amity,” she said lighting a cigarette.
Four
“You’re not dead?” I breathed in disbelief.
“Obviously not,” she replied dryly. “Why is that the new rumor? Killed me off already, did you?” she asked turning her attention to Kerstan who was now staring at me questioningly.
“Why did you believe her dead?” he asked.
But her hair isn’t blonde. Not completely anymore. This can’t be the girl I’m looking for,
I thought shaking my head.
“Famke,” Kerstan said sternly. “Did you lie to me? Do you belong to another house?”
I put a hand to my chest and tried to steady my breathing. “My owner’s name is Luuk; he told Betje and Minikin that Amity was dead.”
Amity sat up immediately at the sound of her friends’ names. She got to her feet and came over to me and gripped my arms firmly.
“Are they okay? You’re in the same house with them? Oh God, tell me they’re okay!”
Tears slid down my face. Luuk was more of a monster than I thought he was. He took great pleasure in wearing us down physically but moving on to mental degradation was way worse than any smack or belt lash.
“Luuk?” Kerstan cut in with a half-smile on his face. “Defecting are you? I won’t turn you away if you’d like to stay. That bastard owes me and he knows it.”
“Why would he say you were dead?” I wondered quietly to myself. “Minikin – I swear I’ve heard her heartbroken cries every time I’ve closed my eyes since.”
Amity put her arms around me and took me over to her cot. She balanced her cigarette between her lips as she pulled off the sheet on the bed next to her and wrapped it around me.
“You’ve got to find a way to let them know I’m alive,” she said looking at Kerstan.