Captive of a Lonely Heart Ch. 01

Chapter 1

This is a fairly long tale in five parts. It features kidnapping, and a strong, dominant female character. There is also very little or no sex in most chapters except for Chapter 5. If sexual action is all you are looking for, you may want to skip directly to Chapter 5 but you will be passing up the adventure that takes you there.

Lavinia was a causality of the Cold War or more specifically, of its ending. Life behind the Iron Curtain was never easy and for an orphan it was desolate. Her first memory was of playing with a mop and bucket, something she later learned was a chore she was expected to perform every day. Her toys were nothing more than training devices for the work she would be expected to perform in exchange for a roof over her head and some basic nourishment from time to time. Her world was a gray monotone reaching from the walls of her surroundings to the dress she wore and food she ate. Her size was her saving grace allowing her to quickly rise to a position of dominance over her fellow unfortunates. Force and violence were the second language of the orphanage and Lavinia was a gifted practitioner of both. She was never mean or a bully but those around her quickly learned that you never crossed her. Lavinia took no shit.

A high starch diet, poor medical care, genetic heritage and a metabolism prone to weight gain produced a large, ungainly youngster with bad teeth. Her education was rudimentary and geared to producing a menial worker rather than an academic. If you had to predict her future path in life the term, 'factory laborer' would spring to mind. With the collapse of the Soviet Union things became worse. Food, never plentiful, became scarce. Lavinia's caretakers became more harsh and uncaring while the scant education she was receiving skidded to a halt. Within a few months the administrators decide that the only humanitarian option was to focus on the youngest and send those physically able to work out into the world to fend for themselves. For Lavinia it was root hog or die. Fortunately for Lavinia, uneducated is not the same thing as stupid: Lavinia was wickedly smart.

She found employment at a tractor factory pushing a mop but that job only lasted a few weeks as her supervisors recognized her strength and work ethic were a large cut above the usual factory waif. She was moved to the assembly line working along side of women 5 to 20 years older than her. They educated her in things mostly overlooked in an orphanage education. By the time she turned 18 she was supervising workers far older and more experienced than herself.

Working for a factory in an impoverished country ruled by a tyrant is not exactly a day at the beach and Lavinia heard stories about this place on the other side of the world where the pay was high, life was easy and opportunities abounded. Her Iron Curtain schooling had taught her that America was a horrible place but the stories she heard from the women she worked with told a far different tale. America was the land of plenty where an adventurous and motivated woman could make a fortune. There was even this man who would show up from time to time just outside the factory gates who some of the girls said had a way to get there. She made up her mind to meet this man the next time he showed up.

That time came a few days later and when she saw him just outside the gate there were already two other women talking to him. She stood behind them and listened as he told them that big American companies were looking for models, especially good looking foreign women who they would use on television to sell their products. Lavinia was not sure what a model was but she understood what good looking meant and she was certain that the phrase had never been used to describe her. Still, she thought there might be other jobs in America for a strong, hard working woman like herself. She patiently waited her turn.

When he finished talking to the other women the man simply turned and began to walk away apparently not even noticing Lavinia's efforts to attract his attention. When she followed him and grabbed his arm to get his attention he responded with a fast turn and a slap to her face followed by a string of Slavic curses that left no doubt in her mind what he thought about her attractiveness or suitability for employment in America. Lavinia was quite aware that her looks did not attract men but the words he used stung her far more than the slap to her face. A less determined woman would have slunk off into the shadows but his words only made her more determined to find another way to the promised land.

She was on speaking terms with Tatyana, one of the women that had been speaking with the man outside the gate and Lavinia approached her the next day to see what she could learn. The woman was friendly but laughed when Lavinia told her about approaching the man.

"What you did was very silly," Tatyana told her. "You have seen yourself in the mirror, yes? You must know that no man would look at you long enough to buy something you were selling. Models must be attractive and wear sexy clothes on American television."

"I not want to be model," Lavinina responded. "I just want to go to America where I can work hard. I am as strong as any man and I can do any man's job."

"This man is not looking for strong men or strong women. He only wants pretty women for American television. You need to look for someone else."

"There is no one else," Lavinia answered.

"Then find another way. Now I can not talk anymore. This is my last day and I need to go home and pack my things. Tomorrow I am going to America."

After Tatyana walked away Lavinia began to think about finding another way. She had only a vague idea of where America was and almost no knowledge of how a person could get there. It must be far away because none of the women who had gone there ever came back to visit. She decided to miss work tomorrow and follow her to see just how a person could get to America.

The next morning Lavinia awoke early and left her small, one room flat to get to Tatyana's similar flat a few buildings away. She found a place well out of view where she could watch the front door. The day dragged on but Lavinia refused to leave her post even though she was growing quite thirsty and hungry. It was late in day with shadows deepening before Tatyana came out into the street with a medium sized suitcase and walked towards the center of the town. Keeping well back, Lavinia followed her to where there were about a dozen other women waiting alongside an aging green bus. She was about to get closer when she noticed the man from outside the factory emerge from around the other side of the bus holding a clipboard. He knocked on the bus door and it folded open.

Reading from the clip board, he called out a woman's name and she boarded the bus as he made a check mark on the list. One name was called without a response and the man repeated it several times getting louder with each utterance. Finally he shouted a curse and moved onto the rest of names until all the women were on board. Then he said something to the driver, stepped back and watched the bus slowly start to leave.

Lavinia saw that her opportunity was quickly disappearing and decided make a bold move. Her lip was still swollen from where the man had hit her and that memory only made what she did next that much easier. Picking up a rock from the street she moved quickly and quietly towards the man's back and without a sound brought the rock to the back of his head, knocking him down and out cold. While he still breathed, it would be awhile before he could hit her or anyone else and best of all, he would have no idea about what happened or who did it. It was the perfect crime.

The bus was still just a dozen meters away and apparently unaware of the assault that had just taken place. Lavinia quickly ran to catch it and pounded on the door. The bus stopped and the door opened.

"So sorry to be late," Lavinia explained, "I am Sasha Gregorovich and I am supposed to get on this bus." The driver checked the name against his list and motioned her aboard. As she passed him he thought to himself that if this woman was going along with those others, Americans sure had some strange ideas about beauty.

One of the other women stood up as Lavinia moved past and said, "I know Sasha, you are not Sasha..."

Before she could say anything else, Lavinia slapped her meaty hand over the woman's mouth and pushed her back into her seat, moving her ample body into the seat next to her. Still holding her head tightly she whispered into her ear, "Say one more word and I will snap your neck like a chicken. Sasha said I could have her place. From now on I am Sasha. Do you understand?"

The woman nodded her agreement and Lavinia continued. "Good, now say nothing more but remember that I can reach you faster than the bus driver can stop this bus. Besides, what do you care? I know Sasha and she would not spit on you if you were on fire. You owe her nothing and yet, if you keep my secret, I will owe you. I always pay what I owe. Agreed?"

The woman nodded again and Lavinia removed her hand and quietly settled back into her seat to enjoy the ride. As the kilometers drifted by she wondered where she was going and if she could keep her secret long enough to get to America.

A few hours later the bus stopped at a house where the women were instructed to use the toilet and to get a box of food from the kitchen before getting back on the bus. He would have paper cups and a jug of water for them to drink as they finished the rest of their ride. Lavinia was starved and she greedily took two of the boxed meals with her back onto the bus. If anyone cared that she did so, they said nothing. As she ate and drank, the stress of her long day began to overcome her hunger and she soon fell into a deep sleep. Had she noticed, she would have seen the other woman doing the same.

She awoke to the sound of crying in a pitch black room. She was laying on a foam pad of some sort and the room was gently rocking. She was extremely hungry and thirsty as if she had not had food or drink for a few days. There were smells of sweat and urine. She tried calling out, asking if anyone knew what had happened and was answered by a few scattered voices who offered little more than nonsense as an answer.

Getting to her feet and stumbling over the feet and bodies of others, she found her way to a wall that was cool to the touch and made of metal. Using the wall to guide her, she moved along until she came to something to felt like a switch. When she flicked it, a single bare bulb hanging by its wires from the ceiling revealed that she was in some sort of long metal box with about 30 women including the women from her bus. The one end of the box appeared to be a set of door but without any means of opening them from the inside. She tried pounding on them and shouting until one of the women told her to stop and explained that she had done the same thing until her hands were sore without any response. The woman went on to explain that she thought they were on some sort of ship and inside one of those big steel containers that were sometimes seen being pulled by trucks. Lavinia considered this and quickly concluded that the woman's explanation was better than anything she could guess and decided that no matter what, she was going to survive the experience.

There was no way to tell one day from the next inside the container. After what must have been a day, some male voices shouted in Russian for the woman to move to the back of the container and to carry the four buckets that had served as toilets up to the doors if they wanted food and water. Some of the women mumbled about rushing out once the doors opened but when when the doors did open they were confronted by four husky men armed with rifles who shouted at them to stay to the back or they would shoot. Clean buckets and a box of food along with bottles of water were shoved inside and the doors quickly closed. Shouted questions and pleas to be let go were answered with guns fired into the air and instructions to stay quiet and not make trouble if they want to get any more to eat or drink.

With no daylight or watches to judge the passing of time the women were left to making guesses about where they were going. All had been told that they were going to get on a plane to America to become models, secretaries or other occupations for rich Americans. One was even given pictures and letters from an American who said he wanted to marry her. All now realized that they had been lied to, drugged and kidnapped and while some could guess, they all worried that some of the horror stories they had heard about America were true. They passed their days discussing their imagined fates, marking time by the changing of the toilet pails and food deliveries. There were many guesses but most agreed that they had been sealed inside for about two weeks.

Finally, they felt the movement of the ship change along with the bumps and sounds of it moving into a dock. Once again the Russian speaking men with guns came to the doors and warned the women to pass the buckets to the front and to stay to the back unless they wanted to be shot. Then the doors closed and the men outside shouted to the women to sit on the floor and be quiet while their container was lifted off the ship. They were told that they were now in America and if they behaved and remained quiet all that they had been promised would be made true. Having no other choice, the women obeyed and Lavinia swore to herself that if this were truly America, she was going to do whatever it took to make her dreams come true.