My body rocked back and forth as the gravel road passed below me. My hands tied to the truck bed, eyes blindfolded, and the cold evening air blowing in my face. I listened to the two girls younger than me, and in my position, quietly whimpering to each other. Yet, I was silent. Silent and thinking of how I came to be in this position. For all my life I had been completely in control, and somehow there I was, helpless and alone.
10 Hours Earlier
“You know the drill Em, straight to school and straight home for the rest of the week.”
“Mom, Mom, I get it, I am completely grounded because sometime in the last 24 hours having fun became illegal.” I added a smirk at the end of my sentence just to get my mom going a little bit.
“Emily Jane you..” My mom started.
“Mom I’m kidding ok? I’ll be home after school. Love you.” I grabbed keys and jumped into my car. As soon as the keys entered the ignition the radio started blaring and I could feel the bass pulsing in my chest. Whipping out of the garage and screaming along to 102.4 I headed off to school. Day 112 of junior year to be exact. I arrived to first block two minutes early and settled into my usual position. I managed to half sleep my way through seven hours and 15 minutes of teachers lecturing and kids acting like they should be rewarded for doing their hair and not wearing their pajamas to school. Pathetic is what I would classify Amster High as, just plain pathetic.
I will admit I did feel a little bad for sassing my mom before school today, so to make up for it I took a tiny detour on the way home, stopping by the closest Target. Yes I realized I was breaking my grounding, but it would be worth it in the end.
I headed to the back right of the store, the dairy section, and picked out my mom’s favorite ice-cream: chocolate cookie crunch. Letting the freezer door slam behind me I turned around right into a tall bulky man.
“Oh my bad.” I said to him. He looked to be about 40, with deep skin and hair blacker than the night. He started to speak to me in a language I didn’t understand, and his expression changed from forgiving to fawning. He stepped closer to me, I took a step back, he stepped closer again, and I backed up again but this time straight into the freezer door, the ice-cream in my hand dropping to the floor. Again he spoke, and this time another man came up to him, quickly shifting his glance from the dark haired man to me.
Every nerve in my body was telling me to scream or run or anything to get out of this situation. The grocery store was deserted, so there was nobody around to see me. I forcefully launched my body forward, making an attempt to fit between the two mens bodies, but the man whom had just entered grabbed my arm just above the elbow and pulled me close to him. He whispered two sentences into my ear in an accented english.
“There is a black truck straight out the front door. Get in or I kill you.” My entire body shook as I stepped toward the door. The employee near the front cashier nodded me goodbye and I tried to mouth to him ‘help me’ but the dark haired man stepped in front of me. I was trapped, and with every second I was inching closer and closer to not escaping.
/ / /
I had lost track of time, but I figured we had been driving about three hours. The jarring of gravel against the trucks wheels had given me a migraine, but it helped numb the fear in my body. We had made one stop earlier. There another man joined the truck, and along with him two younger girls that looked to be about 12. They had followed him out of an old abandoned barn just off the gravel road we had been travelling, both blindfolded and bound together. This man, shorter in stature, hauled them into the bed of the truck, then opened the door next to me and pulled me out. He bound my wrists and feet, blindfolded my eyes, and then hauled me into the bed along with the new girls.
We stayed in this position through the setting of the sun, all the way until morning. By now I was 15 hours from home with three violent and armed men whom could kill me at anytime. All of a sudden the truck stopped and my head slammed into the window behind me. I could hear many pairs of boots approaching me, and one of the other girls, whom I had learned were twins named Lily and Lauren, started to whimper again. Once again the three of us were picked up roughly and moved. This time, when I was dropped by one of the men, I could feel cold concrete through my dirtied jeans. I felt a hand grab my hair and the blindfold still shielding my eyes from my surroundings. Next, followed by the severe pain from the loss of a chunk of my blonde hair, I’m exposed to where I really am. Tall concrete walls surround me on all sides, and the sudden slam of the door from the exiting man echos around my cell. Next to me, one of the twins is laying down on her side still blindfolded. I crawl over to her as well as I can with my hands and legs still bound, and tell her to sit up. I pushed the blindfold up just above her eyebrows, and for the first time since we had been together I saw her big blue eyes staring back at me: worried and uneasy. She spoke to me in a quaint, unsteady voice.
“Emily do you know where we are? Have you seen Lauren? Are we going to be okay?”
“Lily take a breathe.” I continued in a reassuring  voice. “Lauren will be in here soon, and then we can figure this out. Put on a strong face, and don’t let anyone see you are scared. We are going to be okay.” I paused. “We are going to be okay.” I repeated the last line twice, the first was for Lily, and the second time for me. In the last 20 minutes I had taken on the task of protecting these two girls I had never met before, and I was not going to let anything happen to them.
/ / /
For three days Lauren, Lily and I had been left in our cell. Once a day a man dressed in all black his face shielded, would bring in three tin cans of water and one small dish holding dried bread. Usually about an hour after that we could hear disruptions outside, the female cry for help, and slamming doors. I wondered just how many people these men had stolen, but more pressingly I worried about what it was they were going to do to us.
/ / /
It had been a week and finally I had a plan of escape. From listening to the daily shipment of new girls into our prison I knew that our cell was near an exit: out the door and to the left. In order to make it out we were going to have to escape either before or safely after the new girls arrived, to make sure that the hallways were clear. I told the twins about what I was thinking, and after a few words of encouragement they were on board.
We were about 15 minutes from recieving our daily meal, and thus about 15 minutes from escaping. My heart was pulsing with excitement and fear. This plan had two outcomes; either we made it out unseen, which would be very difficult, or we would be shot before we could make it to the door. All of these thoughts were silenced when the door handle to our container started to jingle as it unlocked. I sent a consoling look toward Lily, whom was sitting just behind where the door would open. Abruptly the door swung open and the plan was in action. Lily grabbed the door pushing it closed quickly behind the man entering. Lauren went straight for his legs and pulled him down with what looked to be like effortless strength. I guess the situations you are in can make you do unimaginable things.
Without thinking I went for his gun, successfully grabbing it from his belt. At this point Lily was on top of him too, punching his chest over and over. Groans and words in another language escaped his mouth, they got louder and louder until there was a loud pop. Then there was silence. I looked up and there was Lauren, gun in hand and paralyzed look on her face. The man lay motionless on the floor.
“I, I, uhh I don’t..” Lauren started.
“Lauren there isn’t time. Give me the gun, we have to go.” She handed me the gun and I opened the door a crack. Peeking my head out, the coast looked to be clear. The perks of being kept in a stone cellar is that it serves to be almost completely soundproof from the inside, but I knew better; men were going to come after us soon if we didn't hurry.
I motioned to the girls and started out the door, staying along the wall and doing my best to be as silent as possible. I could see a glimpse of sunlight spilling onto the floor about 50 meters away from me. Abruptly men's voices started to echo, coming closer and closer to us. Lauren screamed, and Lily hit her in the arm to be quiet. We picked up the pace, the light getting closer and closer to us. Finally we reached it and took a hard left turn, expecting to see a door, but we were faced with only a small window about six feet up from the ground.
“What are we going to do now?” Lily cried.
“Quick step on my knee, I’ll lift you up.” I told her, as the sound of many  men's footsteps neared. I hoisted her up and she was able to open the window just enough to fit her small figure through.
“You’re next Lu.” I said, sticking my knee out again, just as Lily yelled over to us that she had made it through to the outside. Lauren escaped the same way, but as she was about to drop, her body suspended in the window, she yelled down to me.
“How are you going to get through?” She was barely holding on and worry filled her voice.
“I’ll find a way, and meet up with you later. Be smart and get out of here. Find the nearest place where you can get help and find a way to get home. You can do this; now hurry and jump down.” The twins were out, and all I could do now was tell myself that they were on their way to safety, soon to be reunited with their families. They were going to be safe. I had saved them.

That is what should have happened. In reality, this story is far different. My name was supposed to be Emily Jane Michael, child of Kim Johnson and Cooper Michael. However Cooper never knew I existed. Kim found out about me, and decided that she didn’t think she could parent me yet, after all she was only 20 years old. So, on November 14th, 1998 I was aborted in the Mercy Medical Center just a few miles from Kim’s house. I was never born, and never given the chance to live a life and make a difference. 
Today, Lily and Lauren Campbell’s whereabouts are unknown, and their family continues to try and find any leads as to who abducted them. I was never given the opportunity to save them, and because of this two young girls will continue to be mistreated in the human trafficking system. Things could have been different, but they weren’t. Just because of a decision a young uneducated women made to end my life, before it even began.

Visit http://www.humantrafficking.org for more information on combating Human Trafficing.

Education can be the most important weapon in withstanding abortion. Know the facts before you or your loved one makes a life altering decision. Visit http://www.nrlc.org for more details.