The night was quiet and cold. Oakley shivered and hugged herself in an attempt to warm herself up.
She should have brought a sweater... She scolded herself quietly in her head
She had already stopped crying, but the weight of her problem was still weighing heavily on her shoulders. But instead of crying about it, it would be better to come up with another plan to get the money. Anything would do, as long as it was not illegal.
Suddenly, a van sped past her, coming to a screeching halt in front of her. She paused her movement confused, but suspicious.
The door of the van opened and three men stepped out of it.
She was about to turn around and run back to the coffee shop and stay there until the next morning when it would be safe, but the next thing she saw left her shocked.
It was her mother.
What was she doing with these men!
"Mom! What happened?!" She ran towards her mother, but one of the men held her arm firmly, stopping her from holding her mother.
"Let me go!" She struggled to break free, but the man was too strong.
"Mom, are you okay? We can call the police on these men." She said still struggling.
Her mother still hadn't said anything yet, but was only glaring at her.
"Mom, why won't you say anything? Did these men hurt you?" She was extremely worried now.
"Will you be able to pay back the money?" Her mother suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Oakley was confused.
"Answer me."
"I'll figure something out, mom. I promise." She assured her, though she was honestly doubting her words.
"Then I made the right decision."
"What decision?" Oakley was starting to have a bad feeling about this whole situation.
"I'm selling you off to pay up my debt." Margret said with a straight face. No guilt. No shame. No regret.
"What?" Oakley felt as though the rug was pulled from under her feet, and she was falling in slow motion.
"You heard me right."
"You– You can't do that!" Oakley said as fear gripped her, struggling once again to free herself. This had to be some kind of sick, twisted joke.
There was no way her own mother was willing to sell her off. She knew that they were not on good terms, but this was too cruel, even for her.
"How can you do such a horrible thing, mom. I am your daughter, you can't do this to me!"
"Shut up, Oakley. You stopped being my daughter the day you killed my husband!"
"B–but he was about to r*pe me." Tears started falling from her eyes again, for the second time this night. "I only defended myself. I didn't mean to kill him on purpose."
"Spare me your lies you sick child. Richard would never have done such a thing." Margret said, defending her late husband.
"This is the least you can do after all the pain I went through after his death." Said Margret, referring to their current situation. "You're just lucky the police men believed your crap, and you weren't put to jail."
"Mom..." Oakley whispered, feeling utterly heartbroken. She didn't even struggle when she was pulled into the van, leaving her mother behind.
She just felt numb...