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praying that, it all was a dream; none of
it real, but it was real. It was real and it was happening to her.
    She’d
stopped screaming and crying every day and night, and trying to take water from
the basin’s taps and had been rewarded with breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals,
along with plenty of water. She couldn’t be completely sure that the meals were
rewards for her behaviour. The Thai man who had kicked her in the stomach when
she had tried to run down the hallway on the second day, still pushed her hard
into the ground and kicked her in the legs or backside when he returned her to
her room from a toilet break. She tried not to go when he was outside her room,
but she could never tell who was on guard until they opened the door.
    The
Australian man still had not come to see her, and she didn’t dare try and look
for him anymore down the hallway.
    The
only men she saw were the three Thai men who guarded her door. She knew there
were more though, maybe five of them.
    During
her long days and nights, she listened to the sounds outside her door. The
different voices speaking to each other, the toilet flushing, the doors opening
and closing, and vehicles coming and going. She’d come to identify the
different voices of the Thai men, and when she thought the Australian man had
left her, she would hear his voice. He never spoke loud enough for her to make
out full sentences, every time they needed to talk about something important,
he would order them outside so she couldn’t hear.
    The
men still tied her wrists to go to the toilet and the experience wasn’t any
less comforting. Then men started to stare at her provocatively. She’d even
seen them out of the corner of her eye rubbing their hands down their crotch as
she pulled her undies down to go to the toilet. Thankfully, she’d become quite
good at not exposing herself.
    She
had also come to use the time to wash under her armpits, which the men didn’t
seem to mind. Five days had passed without washing herself, and with the heat,
she really was beginning to stink. Her skin was black with dirt, her hair
knotted and greasy. She wanted desperately to wash more of herself with the
basin, but feared she would be starved again.
    She
still slept as much as she could to pass the time, the loneliness was sending
her stir crazy, but she’d rather be lonely than with the Thai men.
    Just
as she finished drawing the stem of the flower in the dirt, she heard the locks
on the door open. She stopped and stood up. She had already been fed lunch and
the plate and mug had been picked up. She never had anyone enter her room for
any other reason.
    The
door opened and in stepped the Australian man.
    Her
heart began to pound against her chest as she watched him step forward.
    “Come
with me,” he said.
    She
hesitated. Come where? To do what? She wondered.
    “Now,”
he said more sternly.
    She
found her feet and walked towards him slowly.
    “Hands.”
    She
followed his instructions and held out her hands as he wrapped a zip tie around
her wrists. He then grabbed with his hand and led her out of her room. He took
her down the hallway towards the front door.
    She
hadn’t been this far before. She slowed to look into the small kitchen on her
left that she hadn’t noticed on her way in. The man tugged against her hand
harder.
    She
followed him as he opened the door and led her down the stairs onto the grass.
There were Thai men on the verandah like when she had arrived, with their
rifles.
    “Where
are you taking me?” Ava asked as he led her down the side of the house. As they
walked, Ava looked around the house, taking in the forest around her and the
men surrounding the house.
    “Apparently
you stink,” he replied.
    “Excuse
me?” Ava responded shocked.
    “The
men keep telling me how much you, and the room you are in, stink. I thought it
was time you got clean.”
    “But
how-” she cut herself off as she saw just beyond the house, a small, fenced
off, outdoor