"Is he dead?"
"I guess. He's been beaten thoroughly... Don't think he'll survive it."
As I lay in what seemed to be an an endless abyss, I heard noises... Voices of people talking around.
"It's pitiful that he has to die such a shameful death."
"Yeah. Having sold him as a sex slave was the worst punishment a family could give to their own child."
"I heard he isn't there real child, maybe it's why he was treated so badly."
"Is that so? Well, he's got such a bad fate. Let's go."
----
Having listened to the conversations, everything seemed strange at first until memories began to flood my head. They weren't mine but looked very similar to what I had passed through in the hands of my father.
And to crown it all, the person in my memory was a young boy with the same name with me.
The boy was adopted by the family and when he became thirteen, they sold him off as a sex slave. Women used him every minute of the day. And the money he makes were sent to his family for their upkeep, they took everything from him, leaving him with nothing.
In the end, he contacted a disease and for that, he was beaten and thrown away out of the house to die.
These were the strange memories in my head.
After they ended, a bright light shone from the distance and I then saw myself being pulled towards the light. Soon, I was swallowed by the light.
Opening my eyes afterwards, the first thing I saw was the clear blue sky... Hanging above me.
I was alive?
Or was it paradise?
I didn't want to live again. Not when my fate was this bad. I dreaded going back to the devil of a father and experiencing the same pain over again.
I tried to get up but a sharp pain shut through my body, forcing me to lie down back.
'Why do I feel so much pain?'
My legs felt overly weak, it felt lifeless. My entire body ached like shit... It was far worse than when I was still alive.
'What kind of thing is this?'
The body didn't feel like mine at all.
I raised my hand and glanced at it, my skin was much more brighter than it was before but I could see fresh cut marks, probably from a whip or something.
I was curious so I tried to move again, this time slowly.
I first got up and sat on the soft grass. I looked around, I was by the side of the road but it seemed somewhat lonely.
This definitely didn't look like where I was before dying. The atmosphere felt different, the sun above the sky was smaller than our own sun.
'Did I wake up in someone's body?'
While growing up, I read stories about characters dying only to wake up in someone else's body. It could be the same world or a different one entirely. I never believed in those tales but now... I can't help but think it might be true.
Because I was certain that I died and the memories I have now were that of a different person, not just that... But also, I seemed to have occupied this person's body.
Does it mean he died? If he didn't, I wouldn't be occupying his body, right?!
This was the only possibility... He died.
This leaves me to one question.
'Why did I come here? And why do I have to occupy this body?'
These were the things I wanted to know.
While I was still thinking about my case, I began to hear footsteps and when I turned, I saw some individuals passing by.
The moment they saw me, they gasped.
"What! You are alive!" One of them, a man, gasped.
"We need to go back and report to the Miss Diana!" The other said.
"Stay here and watch him while I go and call her," the first man said and dashed off immediately.
The second man kept staring at me, he seemed quite shocked to see me alive.
"Oh boy, you survived. That's good and bad at the same time," he said to me.
I wanted to ask what heeanr by that but I declined. Instead, I tried getting up.
"Tsk tsk tsk, they really dealt with you this time around," the man said, staring at me in pity.
Oh, how much I hated the way the man was staring at me. He was making mockery of me... He was laughing at me.
'Damn it!' I cursed inwardly while trying to stand up but my stupid legs wouldn't let me.
I fell to the ground again, causing the man to laugh. "You should stop trying already," he said. "It won't work. You see... You should have remained dead but now that you stubbornly refuse to die, you will be sent back to continue your slavery."
Just then, the first man who had run off to call whoever they had wanted to call returned. Behind him were two women, one was wearing a heavy makeup while the other one looked familiar.
'Where do I know her from?'
"Miss Diana, look, he's here."
The woman with the heavy makeup came to me and after studying me, she smirked.
"You think you could escape, huh? No, you won't! Even with your sickness, you will be doing your work until the day you die for good," she said and then turned to the other woman. "Look at your good-for-nothing son, you should be glad he didn't die or you would have paid for it."
No wonder she felt familiar. She was the mother of this boy.
"Miss Diana, what do we do next? Are we taking him back?" The woman asked without glancing at me.
"Of course. He's coming back with me, you should head back home," Miss Diana replied and the woman nodded and left, still not sparing me a glance.
I see.
It was exactly like in the memories.
"You see, no one wants you except me," Miss Diana taunted. "You should be happy about it."
'Happy about it my foot!'
I cursed inwardly and tried to get up once more even when I knew so well that it was a fruitless effort.
"Where do you think you are going?" The second man asked and grabbed me.
"Bring him to my place! He's going nowhere!" Miss Diana said to the two men and they nodded and began to drag me along with them.
I didn't know where I was going but all I knew was that I was being dragged like a thief being taken away for prosecution.
We finally arrived at a large house. Not a house entirely but a busy place — men and women flooded in and out of the place.
I have seen this place before — In the memories shown to me. This was where the boy was sold to, a place where sex works were carried out. They brought people from all over the place to come work as a sex slave.
"Take him in and clean him and when he's done, take him to join the others," Miss Diana said to some ladies working there. To the men that helped her to bring me here, she paid and they left happily.
The ladies took me inside, into one of the rooms and cleaned me up. After that, they fed me a pill which after taking it, I felt strangely strong again — I could now walk on my own.
After that, they led me to another room and on their way, one of the ladies said something to me.
"I don't know why but there is something different about the way you carry yourself now. Did something happen to you?"
As the ladies took me to the room filled with other sex slaves, I could not shake off the lady's words. She undoubtedly knows nothing about dying and occupying someone else's body so how was she able to come to such a conclusion?!
No one will know that the main owner of the body is dead already, no one is meant to know.
"Look, he's back," someone whispered close to me.
"Yeah, the bastard that steals our customers."
When I turned to know who they were talking about, I figured they were talking about me.