I was kidnapped and forced to be a maid for a wealthy man in Thailand. This is my story.

The Kidnapping and the Windowless Room

I was kidnapped and forced to be a maid for a wealthy man in Thailand; this is my story. I went solo traveling around Asia seven years ago, and Bangkok was my second last destination.

It was at a street market that I met an extremely attractive European man who asked to take me out to dinner, and he was so charming I said yes.

That night he swooned me. He said he too lived in the US, not too far from me, and was also just on vacation here. After dinner, he took me to the best club in the city, and at the end of the night he called us a taxi.

It was in the taxi that he offered me water, and upon drinking it my world went black. I woke up the next morning in the middle of a windowless room that I assumed was a basement. No one was there when I woke up, and I felt scared. I began screaming, crying, and banging at the walls for help.

Eventually I saw someone come in, a man who was not the same man I went on a date with. He was very tall and slim. He brought me food and water to drink.

I took it and asked where the man I went to dinner with was, but he did not reply and left the room.

Silence filled the room again. I ate the rice and meat they gave me because I didn’t know the next time I would eat again.

After hours went by, the silence was broken by more men entering the room. Each of them started inspecting me from a distance and then inched closer to me. I couldn’t fight back; I was too scared so I stayed in place. They checked my teeth and shined a flashlight in my face.

The most horrifying part, they began to search me. They did it thoroughly, leaving no part unexplored. No words were exchanged between us, but they would talk to each other in another language that I didn’t understand. I assumed it was Thai. Then soon after, they left.

The day after those men inspected me was really tough. I sat on the cold floor and hugged my knees close. My mind was full of questions, but I had no answers.

I cried a lot to myself, wondering if I was going to pass away here, and if I was, would at least let me say goodbye? Was I held hostage? I had no idea.

No one came into the room all day, which was a relief, but also made me feel more alone. The silence was deafening. It was hard to breathe.

As the day went on, I kept thinking about the day before, trying to remember any small detail that might help me understand why I was here, but everything was a blur. Their faces and their voices, none of it stuck in my mind.

Days went by, and my sense of time was completely out of whack. I didn’t know whether it was day or night. The only thing that I had to entertain myself was the food and water they’d bring every once in a while.

The room was big and bare and had a singular light bulb on the ceiling that barely illuminated the room. I felt like I was losing my mind. Every time I’d turn around, I thought I saw people in the room with me. I started hallucinating.

At what I assumed was nighttime, I would dream about being home with my family, and then I would wake up to the nightmare. I cried most of the time. I regretted meeting with the man.

I felt stupid for meeting with a guy I didn’t know. I blamed myself for everything.