Ms. Beth had kept her along with ten other girls on the upper deck in a dark room for the entire trip, giving them food every six hours. Liberty had cried so much that she had red marks beneath her swollen eyes. The soldiers hurried them off the ship at gunpoint. They had already explained to them before they opened the door that if they tried to run they would be shot. All of the young children were petrified, so running was not an option. Liberty looked for A’shai but his group had already been escorted to the warehouse where the kids were housed.

Ms. Beth shook the hand of El Garza, an overweight Mexican man. Then she accepted the bag with about six million pesos inside of it, which was about half a million dollars in American currency. She smiled knowing that she had enough to return to the States and relax off the money she had just made. She looked at what she did as nothing more than a job. She left her feelings and morals at home while she stole unknowing victims from their native third world countries.

The children were herded into a factory where the immigrants were kept. Liberty looked frantically for A’shai as she entered the gigantic, open-spaced building that had cots set up everywhere. It was full of people of different ethnicities. The loud chatter from everyone was overwhelming as Liberty timidly looked around. The armed men closed the door, leaving them in the warehouse amongst the pandemonium. Young Mexican guards walked around with guns to keep everyone in order.

“Liberty!” a familiar voice yelled, catching her attention. She looked around and saw A’shai heading her way. She hurried to him, and they hugged once they got close.

“Shai, I’m scared,” she said as she broke down crying.

“I will protect you. I promise,” A’shai stated as he hugged her tightly. He guided Liberty over to a less crowded corner and they sat down while holding each other wondering what was to come next. Their lives had taken an unexpected turn for the worse in such a short time and the only thing they had was each other. They both knew that things would never be the same again.