Chapter 5 The Beginning

• My name is Regina Bricks. I am from Bronze Creek, the third daughter of four siblings. I have always believed and still do believe to this day that my family loves me, and they miss me terribly.
• When I was younger, I was always the curious one. I wanted to go out in the world and experience it on my own. Rolling Water Ridge was the place to be and that’s where I moved to once I had completed my pharmaceutical degree. I couldn’t pack my bags fast enough to leave the comforts of home.
• In RW, I had a great job, a cute apartment, and good friends. When the opportunity presented itself for me to own a condo in the city centre, I jumped at the chance without a second thought.
• I lived my life on my terms and my finances were my strongest point. I did not need to rely on anyone. Life was good and everything went according to plan. Until a stormy Saturday afternoon when my neighbour Steven Grayson, called me for help.
• We had formed a lovely friendship since I moved in, nothing romantic. He was a trust fund baby with no family left to own him, so he too lived his life on his terms as well. When he called me to come to assist, I thought nothing of it. Must be the usual drunk episode he was having.
• When I arrived at his place, he was busy dying. His eyes were rolling back and his breathing was unsteady. If I hadn’t had the spare key in my possession for emergencies, Steven would have died alone in his condo and no one would have known.
• There was a nagging feeling that he was heavy on drugs, but little did I know that he was also a dealer. Steven tried to double-cross Paul; a formidable man who lets nothing go past him. When Paul found out, he came for his blood to even the score.
• My focus was to save Steven. I didn’t even realise that Paul was still in the apartment. He had given Steven an injection to immobilize him and slowly kill off his organs. The tonic that I fixed up for Steven in the kitchen worked almost immediately, reviving his body to the point of mobility.
• All the while, Paul was watching us, impressed by my actions. When he appeared and crunched down to Steven, he never answered any of my questions when I asked. He stayed focused on seeing the miraculous recovery that Steven had made in such a short space of time.
• “Impressive,” was all he said after a prolonged time before he took out a gun and shot Steven point blank in the head. Then he turned to me and said, “He called you here because you are his repayment for his debt.”
• Even when I fought back, he easily overpowered me and took me away. My head remained covered the entire time I was moved into many different vehicles over a long distance. It even seemed like we were travelling for days with hardly any food and water.
• We arrived at a large basement and there were two other girls with me. We were surrounded by guards and darkness. The corridors were dimly lit and cold. In our confinement space, there were prison-style bunk beds with tattered blankets, the sort of image you dread to see in real life.
• Everything was dirty smell from the indoor toilet had nowhere to escape. There was a lady in charge of us, not the nicest human being that you would run to and from what I gathered she had hit rock bottom to be working in a place like this.
• After five days of being brought here, our bodies were inspected and then we were advised of our new occupations, working in the club. The training consisted of just a few sentences, but the explanations for the punishment of not adhering to the rules were repeated several times.
• I was wearing a recycled purple mini-skirt and a red crop top that exposed all of my imperfections to the world. The club was dark, and the music was unbearably loud. A place where you were not allowed to hear yourself think or hear what the other person was trying to say.
• The smell of cigarettes and cigar smoke was the first thing that greeted you by the door. As the new girls, we had to entertain in the private rooms upstairs. Obese men called us derogatory names and did not shy away from telling us what they wanted to do with our bodies.
• One such man had grabbed me from behind when his hand was removed by none other than Paul himself. However, I want to clarify that as I was reminded, Paul's action was not a kind gesture.
• The infamous Paul has no heart and for a woman to think herself special whilst in his service could only lead to her demise.
• He motioned to his men to take me away before whispering some inaudible things in the man’s ear. I was then roughly dragged out and taken out of the club to go back to the basement into yet another long dark tunnel to a brightly lit laboratory.
• There were five people inside, two people working and three guards. “Great, we have more hands.” The one guy commented. You could tell from his face that he had not slept in a long time.
• His eyes bagged yearning to be released from misery as they reached the bottom of his face. “Have you ever worked with pharmaceuticals before?” his exasperated voice rang out.
• I nodded, “I am a toxicologist.”
• My words brought visible hope to their faces. “Here,” he handed me a piece of paper. It was a formula that they were trying to recreate, yet their efforts were always in vain. I quickly scanned the page with my eyes and immediately noticed the errors.
• I asked for a piece of paper and pen then reworked the formula. When I shoved it back to the two men, they were not interested. One of them pointed to a workstation near the corner, “Now go make it. Remember that they will not allow you out unless the product is a success.”
• I nodded and headed over to the corner.
• After spotting an unused coat, I swiftly snatched it to drape over my body and promptly set myself to task. It was easy to work alone, no one here wanted to disturb the other. You had to look out for yourself and another reason was that talking was forbidden.
• When it was time for the shift change some sour porridge was served. It was not appetizing, to say the least. I had been working all night, so if they were serving food, it must mean that it was morning.
• After some time, my eyes began to feel strained from the excessive brightness of the fluorescent light and the extended hours of work with minimal breaks were starting to wear me down.
• I sensed my body yearning for rest, but it was not something I could afford at that moment. With a shake of my head, I pushed through and persevered with my work. It took me three days to finally get the product I had hoped to create.
• The quality was superior and it matched what they had asked for. Paul was called down to the basement with a team of men and test subjects. I was confident in my skills. I had no fear of someone consuming the product or any backlash from Paul.
• When they had tested it, they took the remainder and left. Now, my only task was to await what would come next. As I sat on the chair, drowsiness started to overtake me, prompting me to stand up and occupy myself to stay awake.
• Before the hour had passed, Paul returned accompanied by his team of men, who proceeded to escort the other guys elsewhere, leaving me alone with him. He walked in my direction, took his hands out of his pockets, grabbed a stool, and sat in front of me.
• “How do you know Steven?” he asked, keeping his eye on me.
• “He is my neighbour.”
• His face was still void of any emotion, “Was he aware of what you do for a living?”
• I leaned back to the table to support myself, “No not in so many words.”
• Paul looked around, “He stole three million from me and used you as collateral”.
• My jaw dropped. “He had no right to do that. I do not belong to him or owe him anything for that matter.” My broken heart pleaded for my course.
• “You belong to me now,” Paul said with a menacing look on his face.
• I could not help but shake my head in protest, who was he to take ownership of me because of some sense of entitlement? He just ignored me.
• “The stuff you created seems to be good. The test subjects haven't died yet. We will be rolling it out in the market tonight. From now on it is your job to create it. I want my money back with five times the interest at one hundred per cent.”
• He reached his hand out to touch my face, “I will allow you to get some rest for now.”
• Then he left.