1
Life was hard.
What made it harder for Joia was that her parents had wanted a son. A son could work the plot of land much better than she could for the crops they grew that fed them year after year. Even with her mother assisting her, it was sweat-inducing labor.
Joia always tried hard. But she was more feminine than masculine. Nature had designed her for simple beauty rather than hard labor. Her face was soft and innocent, her breasts small yet firm under her meager peasant attire.
The only thing that gave her comfort was her discovery of self-pleasure. Joia would touch herself late at night when it was dark and her parents were asleep. Usually she did this whenever she was feeling particularly sad.
With just a little bit of kneading, she could make the nipples on her breasts rise. The right combination of a thumb on her nub and fingers inside her would carry her away with feelings of pleasure, temporary though they always turned out to be. Afterwards, she would drift off to sleep.
Joia longed for the day some promising young man from the village might come and take her away from all of this. She longed for the gentle touch of warmth and affection from another human being. It was something her parents were not good at giving her. She wanted to be loved, but that emotion bestowed by another seemed destined to be denied her.
Her family’s resentment at her gender slowly ate away at her hope and joy of life. Now she simply wanted to be taken away. But there was no one to take her away.
She had simply been born into the wrong family at the wrong point in history. The life that lay before her appeared dark and full of despair. So she lived each day in sadness, touching herself in the dark hours to bring herself some semblance of comfort.
That all changed the day the military people showed up in a small convoy of vehicles…
Joia and her mother came in from the nearby field, curious about the visitors. Joia noticed the large truck that was open in back. In it she saw a number of young females similar to her age looking out at her.
Their eyes betrayed a combination of fear and hope. Perhaps they had lived an existence similar to hers. Were they now being taken away to a better life?
Joia felt a surge of something inside her. Was it fear and trepidation, perhaps? Or was it a desire they might take her with them to a better life?
She saw a stern looking woman get out of one of the vehicles to speak to father. The woman pointed in her direction. For the first time, she wondered if there might indeed be a future for her.
Seeing all the young women in the back of the truck spoke to her. Their presence spoke of the promise of companionship, a better life to come. She found herself longing even more to go with them rather than go back to her work in the field.
Father nodded at the stern looking woman. Joia saw her signal for someone in her vehicle to come to the two of them. A man in military attire came out with a small pouch.
He gave it to the woman who then turned and gave it to her father. Looking inside, his eyes gleamed. For the first time in her life, Joia’s father actually looked quite happy.
He nodded at the woman. At her command, a couple of men piled out of the truck and came toward her. Joia didn’t know whether to be excited or fearful.
Despite a renewed sense of hope, she felt an understandable fear of the unknown. It now appeared she was truly going to be taken from her home. Joia instinctively cried out in alarm.
She felt a mixture of emotions as she was forcibly escorted toward the back of the truck. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. That’s when her mother started to protest.
The woman ran over to her father. He simply showed her the contents of the pouch. She too seemed overjoyed at what she saw inside.
All sadness was removed from her parent’s eyes. They watched her being taken to the back of the truck. She was hoisted up inside with the other females.
Joia was greatly saddened. For a pouch of coins, her parents seemed willing to say goodbye to their one and only daughter. She wasn’t even allowed to fetch her meager possessions.
The stern looking woman nodded at them as though concluding their transaction. She turned and climbed back into her vehicle with her male subordinate. Joia took a seat next to another young woman as the truck roared to life.
The convoy started to pull away. For a brief moment, Joia watched her parents as the truck pulled away. She was still hoping to see some sign of love.
Sadly, there was no show of affection and sadness at her departure. All she saw was her father pointing at her mother to go back to the field. A tear trickled down her cheek as she turned her back on them forever.
Joia refused to gaze back at what had been her only home. She did not look back with fondness over her life of hard labor in the field. Where she was going now would surely be better than what she was leaving behind.
Joia did not see the last vehicle in the convoy tarry at her home. Nor did she see two men get out and pull out their weapons. By then she was too far away.
The roar of the departing truck was too loud for her to hear the cries and shots. She was not made aware the pouch had been retrieved. She would never learn her mother’s dead body had been left behind to fertilize the field she once had toiled in. She had no way of knowing her father now lay lifeless outside her former home, shot through the head.
Joia was saddened to be sent away over a pouch of coins. She simply hoped for a better life. But had she known her parents cruel fate, she might have experienced reservations over her future. At the very least she might have found some tears of grief to shed over them.
2010; 2020 (written Mar 15 ’10; ed. Oct 21 ’20 by riwa)
2
They finally arrived at their destination two days later in the morning hours. Joia and her 14 female companions were tired of riding in the back of the uncomfortable truck.
They had been fed, and had also stopped several times to allow the women to discharge the contents of their bowels. In the process, she had learned a few names. Joia had also learned most of the stories were similar to hers: a pouch of coins in exchange for each life.
A couple of females seemed genuinely sad to have parted with their families. Another one like her was all too happy to have been delivered from her former home. For the rest, any sadness was overshadowed by the uncertain hope of a brighter future.
All had been delivered from a hard existence. But what new life had they been delivered to?
The buildings of the compound showed the promise of food, shelter and warmth. Their truck backed up near the edge of a wooden building. No fields were visible, although Joia fretted she might still find herself on a new plot of ground to work.
The stern looking woman appeared again at the end of the truck. She carried herself with a commanding presence as someone not to be trifled with. Her countenance spoke that she would brook no opposition.
“My name is Clemencia,” she told them. “That should be of no consequence to you. You will henceforth refer to me as Mistress. And you will come whenever I call for you.”
“You will get out and follow me to your new lodgings! Obedience will be rewarded. Anything less will be met with the harshest of punishments. If you understand my words, nod your head.”
Joia nodded submissively along with the others. The woman did not seem as compassionate as her mother had tried to be at times. As long as there would be no fields to work, she would willingly adjust to her new life.
Two guards came up to the back of the truck. One by one they offered each young woman a helping hand. There were no words of complaint from her companions.
Joia patiently waited for her turn to disembark. But her eyes wandered during the delay. That’s when she caught sight of some sort of activity occurring on the far side of the compound.
A group of men – more guards perhaps? – had gathered around some sort of upright mechanism she did not recognize. They seemed happy and jovial. She thought she heard laughter carry back to her.
Another open-ended truck had been backed into position near the men. But the sides – like her truck – were too high to see the contents. Were there other females inside that vehicle as well?
Joia tarried, allowing other females in their peasant dresses and simple attire to pass ahead of her. She was curious as to what was going on across the compound. She could not fathom what she was seeing.
She saw a naked young woman emerge from a building. She was escorted by two more guards. They led her over toward the strange object.
Joia was surprised over what she saw. Instinctively her hand came up and covered her mouth. How could they take her out like that without any garments to cover her nudity? It was indecent!
The woman was taken over to the upright mechanism. At the last moment Joia saw her turn and look right at her. Joia blushed at the sudden attention.
Instinctively she turned her head. Besides, there were only three females ahead of her now. She would soon be helped out of the back of the truck.
As Joia moved forward, she glanced back across the compound. That’s when she gasped at what she saw. The woman was now lying face up on some sort of wooden bench.
Her head appeared to be protruding through some piece of wood. She thought she heard a frightened cry as the men laughed at her. Her legs were up and spread apart in a totally shameful manner.
One of the men appeared to be between her legs. His movements were such that… Joia stared in disbelief.
It was not possible! Why was he treating her like that out in the open? Why, it couldn’t be!
“Come here, young lady!” the woman named Clemencia told her sternly, getting her attention. She was now the last one. Joia gulped as she nervously made her way to the back of the truck.
Two guards reached up with their hands to help her out. That’s when she heard a faint scream carry across the compound. The scream was abruptly cut off with the sound of a thump.
Joia could not help turning to look. She stared in horror at what she saw. Then hands pulled her out of the truck.
She was stood upright upon solid ground. Joia was forced to focus her attention on the woman standing before her. There was a rather disturbing smile upon the woman’s face.
Her new Mistress turned her head, perhaps to view the same area Joia had been witnessing. She seemed not the least bit upset by the goings on across the compound. It unnerved Joia even more.
“What’s the matter, little one?” the woman asked solicitously. “You’re positively pale! Is something wrong?”
The sinister look in the woman’s eyes frightened her like never before. Joia was unable to speak. Her words locked in her throat in abject horror.
She trembled violently, her breath catching in her throat. Her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. Surely she had not really seen what her eyes had witnessed, had she??
“Come along!” her new Mistress said impatiently. “As I said before: obedience will be rewarded. Anything less will be met with the harshest of punishments.”
Joia nodded numbly. But her mind now struggled to find some rational explanation for what she thought she had seen…
…that of a hooded man lifting up by the hair the severed head of that woman she’d seen looking at her… and then showing it off to the festive guards…
3
Joia had no time to dwell on what she’d witnessed, much less the image that seemed burned in her mind as though it would never leave. After being shown to her room, she and the other females were led to a larger room which housed a cistern of warm water. Joia was embarrassed when she and the others were forced to remove all their coverings and climb in naked.
Older women were assigned to each one. She received a kindly, sad-eyed, grey-haired soul who climbed in with her. The matron told her she had been there for many years tending to the females that had been brought in.
She said her name was Ysabella. She quietly instructed Joia to act submissive at all times. If she did as she was told, especially concerning one of Mistress Clemencia’s commands, everything would turn out all right.
Joia was embarrassed at Ysabella’s nudity, especially since all the matrons were naked in the large cistern with their charges. She blushed with embarrassment as she was gently and lovingly washed. The woman was much more tender with her than her mother had ever been. Still, Joia couldn’t help shivering shyly as her breasts and that sensitive area down between her legs were carefully tended to with a sponge.
After the communal bath, the young women were treated to oils and perfumes. Joia had never smelled such magnificent aromas! Nor had her body ever felt as wonderful as it did when they were applied to her skin. She found herself feeling like she did on those sad, lonely nights when she would touch herself.
They were all given special gowns of a material that covered, yet did not hide, their nakedness. The material felt good upon her skin. Joia decided she would not mind so much that her flesh showed through.
That horrible scene she’d witnessed that morning seemed a distant memory. Now her senses were filled with all these new smells and sensations. Joia began to feel the internal swellings of a happiness she had not known in a long time.
The females were given a separate communal area to share whenever they were not bedded down or using the room with the cistern. It was filled with things Joia had never seen or known living with her parents. There were brushes and perfumes, and creams for the face. All of her companions experienced the same giddy joys of using the items that helped make them feel more womanly than at any time in their lives.
Clemencia suddenly made an appearance. She took away a young woman Joia knew as Alviva. Alviva had long brown hair with cold, grey eyes, the evidence of a hard life. She was a young woman whose beauty had been marred by the sadness of her former existence.
Joia had learned that before her ride in the truck Alviva had been sold to a cruel man who had branded his mark upon her. It was just below her left breast, imprinted with a hot iron and again in the skin above her garden below. Now she had been sold a second time. She had secretly told Joia she would never be marked again.
Joia had been allowed a glimpse of the marks. She had even been allowed to gently touch them. Now she watched in alarm as Alviva was taken away.
There was no kindness in Clemencia’s eyes. Nor was anything spoken as to where she might be taking Alviva. On the contrary, the cruelness she saw in the stern woman’s expression chilled her to the bone.
Once again Joia found her heart beating fast. This was becoming a strange place of contradictions. Disturbing images were strangely followed by inexpressible joys, only to be followed by heart-gripping fear.
Joia stared out the doorway the two had departed through. A strong feeling of unease swept through her. She couldn’t help wondering what was to become of Alviva and how it might eventually affect them all…
2010; 2020 (written Mar 15 ’10; ed. Oct 21 ’20 by riwa)