Disclaimer: This story is fiction. If you are a minor according to the law where you are and/or it is illegal for you to read this, please do not continue reading.
My name is Ario. I am a slave. This is my story.
I guess this is not a shocking statement to many people out there. You may think that in in this civilised society we live in, slavery has truly been abolished. Yes, some forms of it have been, but owned individuals are everywhere. I am one of them.
My Master took an ownership of me when I just turned 18. He was 30 at the time. Master Esro bought me from an auction and now looking back, I am glad he did.
I was sold into slavery because my older brother lost big time gambling. He was nearly killed by the debt collectors sent by the mafia and then he made a deal with them. They arranged it in the way that I would get a scholarship to go to a University overseas. Our parents were divorced and neither of them suspected anything when my brother told them about the arrangement.
Now, before you think too badly about my brother. He is not a bad person. He practically had been raising me since I was 14. As a 20 years old young man, it was a tough job and he made a mistake. When Jeff, one of the mafia, suggested to Jono, my brother, that I could solve his debt problem, I said yes. My brother was badly beaten and he just became a father. I could not let my newly born nephew to grow up without his dad. My brother asked me to leave the room so that he could speak with Jeff.
"Think about it Jono, I mean it. We go way back but I can't help you out this time. I'll be back next week and my bosses expect answer by then," Jeff said as he left our place.
"I will do it, Jono," I said as soon as he closed the door.
"You know nothing Ario. It's crazy! Do you know what being a slave means?" Jono walked while groaning in pain from the broken ribs they gave him earlier that week. He sat down and asked me to join him.
"This is not a game. You won't get out of it. Being sold means you are a thing. An object."
I cleared my throat. "I know. And I also know that we do not have 30,000 bucks to pay them."
Anyway, I won't bore you with our debate about this matter. I won the debate and a week later I was picked up by Jeff. Besides the clothes I wore, I only brought one thing with me. It's a coin Jono cast for me when he was doing his apprenticeship in the factory. It has my initial on one side and his initial on the other side. Jono said they would take it away but I thought it would keep me accompanied a little longer. It was very hard, harder than I thought. Jeff treated me quite nicely, we left for the airport. He got all my travel documents ready.
It was my first time on a place, which admittedly made me excited. Jeff told me to not do anything stupid like running away or telling anyone about my status. He said that I would not want to see the other side of him.
Once we landed and cleared custom, he walked me to the parking lot where another guy was waiting for us.
"Boy is all yours now," He shoved me forward to that guy.
The guy gestured me to enter the car, he then locked a metal collar on my neck and a metal cuff on my right ankle.
"Empty your pockets now," he said sternly.
I took out the coin and a piece of candy from the plane.
"What is it?"
"It's a coin my brother made me."
"Do you know what are you now?"
"Yes."
"What are you?"
I stuttered. Saying it was different than thinking it. "A ss..slave."
"Correct! Save yourself some pain. First, address everyone with respect. That means you call me Sir. Second, you do not own anything. You are the owned thing. Do you understand?"
"Yes," I said and quickly added, "Sir."
"Good! You aren't stupid."
"Sir, do I get to keep the coin?"
He chuckled. "Shut up slave."
I tried my best to not cry. Suddenly I got chills climbing on my spine. I kept quiet as we drove into the unknown.