The Mistake

All I wanted to do was study abroad for my Sophomore year.

After 4 years of high school French and concerning myself thoroughly with their customs I thought I was ready. I grit my teeth through general courses with France in mind. Yet, life doesn't work like that.

Which is exactly why I'm standing in a Chinese airport on the verge of a panic attack.

Okay, breathe. calm down.

An employee walks towards me and smiles lightly. My relief lasting only a few seconds before she asked me questions in Chinese. All I could do was burst into tears and hug my bag of sketchbooks.

She panics and runs away, leaving me to my own demise. Realization through my tears hits when I realize that she was only wearing blue. A nice blue outfit, but not an employee's uniform.

I collapse on the floor and hold my head in my hands. My artwork spills on the floor, flying out of built-in folders from my books. This rips my heart in two.

A hand reaches down, carefully lifting every paper and staring at the images. Another hand joins and places them in my bag as if they were as fragile as my state of mind. Finally a body fills my vision when the man crouched down.

He wipes my tears.

"Do you have a place to stay?"

I scrunch my eyebrows together and shake my head no.

With that, the man picks me up in his arms, handing my bag to the now calm blue woman. Staring at him in shock, I could only swallow deeply.

I've only ever read about this in books and seen it in movies. Never once did I think I'd happen to me.

I just got kidnapped By a human trafficker!