Chapter 1
It's hard to see as I stumble down the street, still coming down from my latest high. I stumble and fall but before I could get up, I feel a hand on my arm and I flinch. "It's okay chica. I'm not going to hurt you." the guy says. "Louie, what the fuck man?" another man asks. "Dude, we can't leave her here. She's too fucked up." Louie says. He turns to me and asks "What's your name chica?" he asks. "Corrin." I slur. "Corrin. I'm Louie. What did you take?" he asks. "Cocaine." I mumble. "Dude, we need to take her to Gracie." the other guy says. "Yeah." Louie says. Turning back to me he says "Corrin, look at me chica." he says and I look up at him and I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes opened. "I need you to stay awake. We're going to get you help." he says. "No hospital. Please." I mumble. "No hospital. We have a friend that can help." Louie says. They put me in his car and take me to this Gracie woman.
I feel the car stop and hear Louie again. I feel someone grab me and I flinch again. "Corrin, I'm picking you up and carrying you inside. You're safe chica." he says. I just nod. He carries me inside and I hear a woman's voice. "Dogwood, how can I help you?" she says. "Gracie, we found her stumbling down the street. She's fucked up. She told us her name and what she took." Louie says. "Bring her to the back." Gracie says. "Her name's Corrin and she said she was on cocaine." the guy with Louie says. "I got her. Put her on that mattress." Gracie says. Louie does what's asked and he says "Call me if she needs anything." Louie says. He leans down to me and says "Corrin, Gracie will take care of you. You can trust her." I nod my head to show him I was listening and hear him walk away. "Corrin, I'm Gracie. I'm going to give you some medicine to help bring you back down okay." she says and I nod my okay. "Thank you." I mumble.
After getting some rest, and coming down more from my high, Gracie is still by my side. When I wake up, she asks "How long have you been using?" I cough before answering. "About a year." I say. "How'd you get hooked?" she asks. "Boyfriend was beating me and pimping me to his buddies. Drugged me so I wouldn't fight back." I say softly. "What's the last thing you remember before Louie found you?" she asks. "Waking up naked on the floor of my bedroom." I tell her. "Do you remember how many there were?" she asks and I shake my head no. "Get some rest. I'll come check on your in a bit." she tells me and I nod again before saying "Thank you." one more time and going back to sleep.
I wake up the next morning to Gracie shaking me awake. "You need to eat doll." she says. I nod and eat the toast she brought me. I start to shake and she says "Let's get you a warm bath. We need to try to keep you awake some today." she tells me and I nod. She helps me from the cage and into the bathroom where there was a tub and she runs the water while I get undressed. She looks at me and sees all of the bruises. "You're boyfriend do that?" she asks. I nod and say "Him and his friends." I tell her. She helps me into the tub and helps me bathe before getting me out and putting some clean clothes on me. "He's going to find me." I tell her. "No he won't. Only a few people know this place is here and I put you under a fake name." she tells me and I nod again.
She helps me back into the cage and I lean against the back of the cage and try to stay awake. I listen to what's going on around me. There's a bucket in the cage with me for when I start getting sick and I know it's coming. I take deep breaths in the hopes to hold it off as long as possible but my stomach is doing flips. I keep hearing people coming in and out and I hear Louie's voice. He walks over to the cage and asks "How are you holding up chica?" I look up at him and say "I'll be okay. I have to be, right." I say. "You will be." he tells me. "Thank you for helping me." I say. "Anytime chica. Dogwood's got you." he tells me and I nod. He tells me he will check on me later and heads back out to talk to Gracie.
A few hours later, I am laying down on the mattress, trying to get my stomach to settle and I hear Gracie walk in with a group of men. I hear them talking about some of the other people here and then I hear my name. "Corrin?" the voic asks. I open my eyes and sit up a little and see his face. "Michael?" I rasp out. "You know her?" Gracie asks. "Yeah. I do." he says. "When did she get brought in?" Riz asks. "I can hear you Michael." I rasp. Gracie opens the cage and Michael walks in. Kneeling in front of me, he cups my chin and asks "Are you okay?" I look into his eyes and nod slightly. "How do you know her?" another man asks. "She's familia." Riz says. "How much longer she got?" Riz asks Gracie. "She just got here last night. She was pretty high. She's past most of it." Gracie says. "Can she leave?" Riz asks and Gracie says "She'll need someone to stay with her because she's not completely past it but she's not being forced to stay here." Gracie says. "Cori, I'm carrying you to the van okay." Riz says and I nod. He picks me up and I wrap my arms around his neck as he carries me out of the cage and to the van that's parked outside. Once he puts me in the passenger seat he stands there talking to me a minute while we wait on the rest of the guys. "What are you on Cori?" he asks. "Coke." I tell him. "How long?" he asks softly. "About a year." I tell him. "What happened?" he asks. I look at him and say "You really don't want to know the answer to that Michael." I say. He cups my face and says "Cori, what happened?" I feel a tear fall and he says "Boyfriend beating me and him and his friends taking turns on me. Would get me high to keep me from fighting back." I tell him. Pulling me into a hug, he says "You're safe now Cori." I nod and hug him back just as tight.