It is dark as usual. The room is lit with dim lights, but she can see the lust in the eyes of the men who sit around her, very clearly. Their eyes roam on their body as if they have ripped her clothes in their head, already and are imagining her body. This is nothing new to her, she is used to this.

The "auction" continues. She waits for her turn. She wants this to end and to go back to the dingy room where she will be locked until tomorrow. She tugs on her dress, that doesn't make any effort to hide her thighs. She wishes someone would yell a price and end this. She likes darkness. This light is scary. Even if they turn off the lights to rape her, she feels at peace in the darkness, as if she had accepted the darkness, the loneliness.

She feels a nudge and looks at the girl who is standing on her left, she was kidnapped two months ago. Fear and disgust are evident on her face; she knew the girl would get used to being raped.

Who gets raped every day? Some women who are married to bastards and prostitutes. The law isn't for such women. She remembers hearing someone saying, "Due to poverty and illiteracy, marital rape shouldn't be considered a crime." She remembers cringing in disgust.

She looks at the man who bought her for the night. He seems so desperate that he will rape her there itself. But no, he signs to one of the closed doors and smirks. She merely nods and follows him.

He yells abuses as she undresses but shuts up as soon as she is completely naked. He stares at her for a few seconds and then pushes her on the bed. Her head hits the wood of the bed but she stays mum.

The clock strikes on the bedside table. She remembers her mother telling her that she was born in the dark, at around 11 o'clock in the night on a new moon. Maybe that's why she likes darkness; after all, she was born with it.

She remembers that it is her thirteenth birthday and looks at the man who places a gun near the clock. "It's loaded, screw with me and I'll shoot you," He smirks, thinking that he has induced fear in her, but she knows, he won't do no such things. That he doesn't have the balls to face the consequences. He climbs on the bed and starts undressing.

She moans when she thinks that she has to, just so that he has his pleasures and his male ego isn't hurt. But she thinks of her childhood, her parents and wonders about them.
She dreams of running on the beach, her mom following her and her dad laughing at the two of them. She dreams of looking at their parents, who are lost in their world and then looking at the money in her hand. Then she dreams of going to the gola-waala who was standing a bit further from the shore and running to him. She remembers eating a gola and then it all goes black, dark.

She remembers of going for gymnastic classes when she was eleven and then the doctor telling her that her hymen is broken. She remembers her boss yelling at her, three nights after being locked in a dingy room with ten other girls, "You bloody slut, you are not pure!" and slapping her and pushing her in a corner. She remembers telling his boss's wife the reason her hymen is broken and that she had tutted. 
She yells as he enters her. Not in pain, she has suffered worst, but simply because she was told by her boss's mother to do so. She remembers scratching the first man who had raped her, on his chest with her sharp nails. She mentally smirks at the memory. She may have been frightened then, but now as she thinks of it that was the only time she had actually fought for her body, the first and the last time.

She squints her eyes trying to recollect. Yes, she has taken the birth control pill. From last year, after she had started bleeding, she was given the pill. No one told her what the bleeding meant, it disgusted her. She thought it was because she was raped, but then her friend told her that was not the case.

He had come to her a week ago. They had gone to a party. An elderly man had pointed at her and pushed his young son (?) towards her and winked. She had walked in a nearby room and had stood in a corner. He looked at her, awkwardly and then sat on the bed.

"Look, I am not interested in doing anything with you," She remembered that she had almost fainted, listening to his words.

"Actually, I am interested in men, you understand?" He had asked her softly. She had nodded in a no.

"I am a gay. I like men, more than women. People who are attracted to the same gender are called homosexuals, for men, its gay and for women, it's lesbian," She had nodded as she processed this new type of "sex".

"My dad is homophobic, he dislikes homosexuals. He wants to "correct" me so has got me here. But I will leave in a week to Denmark. There is no law that punishes homosexuals. So I won't touch you, only because neither am I interested, nor does it fell right."
"I am Siddhant, by the way. I am 25 years old. What's your name? You seem as if you are twelve," She had nodded. A part of her was still unable to believe that he had revealed his identity, so casually. She had been thought that men didn't like telling the world that they slept with prostitutes, so would  never reveal their identity.

"You can go to sleep if you wish," He pointed at the bed. She nodded and removed her heels and threw herself on the bed. Soon, she was fast asleep. Suddenly, she started bleeding. She woke up, picked her bag and rushed to the washroom.

"Are you ok?" He asked as she exited the bathroom. She had burst out crying, feeling dirty. He had almost begged her to stop crying.
"I am bleeding," She had said, between her sobs. He had simply nodded.

"I don't like this, you didn't do anything and I am bleeding," He had looked at her in confusion.

"Look, you don't bleed because you sleep with someone. Bleeding is a body function. It is known as menstruation. Every month, your ovary, you know what is an ovary right?" She had nodded in a yes. She had read about parts of the female reproductive system.

"Your ovary releases an egg every month, if you don't get pregnant, this egg, along with blood lining of your uterus, is released out of your body. That is why you bleed. It is completely ok to bleed for women." She had looked at him in surprise and nodded.
They had spent the night, talking. He had told about a man he loved. She had talked about her parents. He had told her about contraceptives and other things. She had told him about her life in the brothel. He had told her of his ambition. She had told him about her dreams of childhood. For the first time in two years, she wasn't scared of light, when she was with Siddhant.

She felt a hard slap on her face, so looked up at the man. "You are good," He smirked and asked her to turn.
She thinks of Siddhant again, he must be in Denmark by now. Lucky chap, he could escape. She wonders, what the world must be, outside the dark hotel rooms, her own room and the other rooms where men fucked her. She can only remember her beach and her parents.

She closes her eyes, wanting more darkness. She is sick of the outline he sees of the man, due to the moon outside. She likes it when she closes her eyes. Escape! That's the thing.
After another two hours of assaulting her, he falls asleep. She slowly walks in the washroom, carrying her clothes. She dresses up and looks in the mirror. The makeup is smudged and makes her look hell. She puts off the lights and closes her eyes and pulls the trigger. It is finally the darkness she had always wanted!