WARNING: There are moments of rape in this chapter. Please know this before reading. Thank you.

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Knock knock. I paused, tears filling my eyes and a lump coming up into my throat. Knock knock knock. Five times. That's what he said to do, was knock five times on this door.

I waited for probably three minutes, but it felt even longer than that, before I heard footsteps coming toward me. The door opened a little enough for him to peek his face out, and he yanked me in. "Change into this." He said, tossing a piece of material at me.

I startled again, I was too stunned by the fact he had no shirt on. I'd never seen anyone without a shirt before. "O-okay." I whispered, heading to find a bathroom or something to change in.

He grabbed my wrist, "Change here." He said, staring me in the eye for a few moments before walking to the couch and pulling his pants down. I gulped. I'd never seen someone without a shirt, let alone someone without pants or...anything. I never felt more naive and incredibly scared in my life. I had no idea what he was about to do, but the two naked girls on the couch seemed to enjoy...whatever that was that was exposed when he took his pants off. I hadn't even noticed the women until they started to climb on his lap. He pushed them off, taking his hand and wrapping it around the thing sticking straight up. He gestured for me to undress, and I finally got my limbs to move and take everything off.

My eyes momentarily left his hand, doing...whatever to that...thing. Those girls were just in awe of him, but I was terrified of him. Why was I the only one scared?

One of the girls suddenly comes down, putting that thing in her mouth and sucking in. I could tell by the loud pop. I wasn't sure if he liked it or not, because the sound that came from his mouth was loud and almost made it seem like he was in pain. I shuddered, wondering if I would have to do whatever she was doing. He pulled her off by her hair, though, and soon ordered them to leave with his booming voice.

"But Leopold..." One whines, the one opposite of the one who just had her mouth around him.

He shot her a look, "Arianna, no." He said sternly. "Get out so Regina and I can have our privacy."

And just like that, they started moving to get dressed. Meanwhile, I was looking down at my scantily clad body, wrapped in white lace everywhere except where it mattered. My breasts stuck through two holes in the lace, and my private parts weren't covered at all, exposing a bushy appearance contrasting the white lace.

He gestured once they were gone for me to come closer, but my legs wouldn't hardly move. I was terrified, feeling disgustingly aware of my body.

When I walked over, he swooped me up and threw me over his shoulder like I was some kind of toy, then stood up and walked into another room, slamming the door behind him.

He threw me down onto the bed, and I let out a whimper. "Hush, girl." He snapped, spitting a little on me purposely. My whole body trembled, but I nodded in compliance to him. I didn't want to upset him, he seemed to be angered easily, too.

He crawled onto the end of the bed, spreading my legs so far that it hurt the back and inside of them, my toes almost touching the bed beside my head. I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood, but if I wouldn't have, I would've screamed. I was afraid he'd kill me for that, too.

Still naked, he pushed his hips to mine, and I swallowed that lump. I wanted to cry, but crying wouldn't help. Just be nice to him, Regina. I had to keep telling myself the only advice Mother had given me. "You're mine now." He hissed, grabbing that thing and pushing it into me.

"Ah!" I screamed out, I couldn't help it. Nothing he could've done would have prepared me for the pain I felt in that moment. I didn't understand what was going on. "Please! You're hurting me!" I cried.

His hips move, pushing into mine even further. "Shut up!" He yelled, slapping my face. It stung across my cheek so badly, and I felt so embarrassed on top of it all that it made it sting worse. "Don't talk to me like that!"

"Please, I-" I got that much out before he grabbed the pillow behind me and stuffed the pillow case into my mouth so hard I choked. Tears were pouring from my eyes, both from the pain and from not being able to breathe well. My toes curled from how badly this was hurting me.

"You're going to listen to me now. I'm not going to say it again." He hissed, still holding the pillow case in my mouth and pushing it back into my throat. I tried so hard to not choke. "You're going to walk the streets in the dresses I'll be buying you. You're going to find men, sometimes even women, who want something in exchange for money. You're going to lay there for them just like this," He hissed, slamming into my hips even harder and picking up his pace. "And you're going to get paid for sex, and not tell anyone, unless you want to be killed. Got it?" He hissed, spitting on my face again.

I cried again, but nodded. I just wanted to go home.

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Dirty. That's all that I felt. I scrubbed my skin in the bath tub until it was burning and red, I scrubbed my hair where he had gotten...whatever that was in my hair. I had cried so much in the past hour that he was finally through with me that my eyes were red too. Or maybe it was the lack of air earlier. Either way, I wanted to be home more than ever.

I felt disgusting, my skin stung but I still kept scrubbing. I only stopped when I heard a knock on my door. In high hopes, I was hoping it was Mother. Maybe she changed her mind, maybe she didn't want this life for me. I wouldn't hate her if she came back for me, I would forgive her for what had already been done.

I get out of the tub, feeling self conscious of my body again as I wrapped the towel around me. "Who is it?" I asked nervously.

"Melanie." I heard a voice that I'd never heard before. I was thankful it wasn't Leo, but wanted to cry again over the fact that it wasn't Mother.

"Coming." I strangled out, walking to the door. My apartment wasn't much nicer than the shack I just got out of at home. It didn't feel like home, though, so it was worse than just being in that horrible shack.

I opened the door cautiously, holding my towel up to my body nervously. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice sounding like someone else's.

"My name is Melanie. Call me Mel." She said, pushing her way into the door and closing it behind her.

I stood there in fear again, afraid that she would hurt me like Leo has. I realized that I was shaking again, but then wondered if I ever actually had stopped shaking from him hurting me.

"I'm not here to hurt you." She said, chewing what sounded like a piece of gum. "I'm here to help you out." She said, handing me a piece of paper that read:

Leopold is a bastard. We all hate him, but none of us can leave. Don't try, his threats aren't empty. And I'm not speaking any of this to you because he has microphones placed everywhere in these apartments, even in your shoes. Don't say anything bad about him unless you have a death wish.

It was so neatly written, I almost couldn't read it. I was an avid reader, or I tried to be, but with dropping out of school at such a young age, I never really could read cursive well. Melanie was a pro at it, it seemed.

I nod to her in a thank you, and she continued aloud. "So anyway, about that help." She said, moving her head to let me know she was staging it. "Your first night on the streets won't be tonight. Us girls have tonight covered, but you start walking tomorrow. Wear your skimpiest and-"

"What am I doing? On the streets, I mean, when I'm walking?" I asked, feeling naive and stupid again. "I-I don't understand why I was brought here or what happened, even when-"

She stood, grabbing me by the wrist. "Leo was just showing you what's to come. He had sex with you, I'm guessing, since your skin is beat red. You scrubbed just like the rest of us, but it won't ever do anything good, hun." She said, frowning when she felt how hot my skin was still from the bath. "Anyway-"

"So that was sex?" I asked. "I'd never-"

"We know you'd never had sex before. He bragged to us all that he took your virginity." She explained.

I frowned, confused about it all. Who would brag about such a painful thing? "I don't even know what that is."

"Sex?"

"Sex, virginity!" I cried out, getting frustrated, embarrassed, and scared all at the same time again. "I just-"

"Okay, calm down." She warns, gesturing toward the note she had written me, reminding me about the microphones I supposed. "Listen, all you need to do for the first few guys is lay there, spread your legs wide, and look pretty. Shut up, I might add. Don't talk back and when they ask you to speak, just say that's extra money. Which it is."

"Money?" I asked. "I'm getting paid to do what I did with Leo?"

"Well, you don't get paid to do it with Leo." She said, "But you get paid a portion of it when you do it with other people. After a little while, you can even have women clients." She explained, and my eyes widened in horror. I'd never heard of such a thing. But then again, Mother had always kept me couped up in that shack. "We make good money. We can buy ourselves nice things. We sleep with Leo – well, we want to sleep with Leo and do a good job so that way he'll give us the best jobs, the ones that pay more. He shows a lot of favoritism."

"So I should want to do what he just made me do?" I asked, my voice breaking as I tried to not cry.

She stepped forward and took my hand, "It's going to be alright." She said, rubbing my shoulder with her free hand. "We're all okay. Some of us have been out here since we were your age, some are even younger than you."

"Isn't that illegal?" I asked.

She nodded, "But you know nothing. Okay? We all look out for each other around here. You look out for us, we look out for you. It works out well that way, because we've never been caught." She said. "Now, come on, you have a lot to learn about sex."

She dragged me by my hand, toward my bedroom. I didn't know how she knew where she was going, but she seemed to know exactly where to take me. She laid me on the bed and took my towel off. I was just frozen, laying there still. Was she going to hurt me too?

She frowned when she looked at my face, I must've looked terrified. "I'm not here to hurt you." She repeated, pulling something from her pocket. It was a jar-like thing, and she opened the top and stuck her finger inside to get the gel stuff out. "This is going to help you heal a bit so you don't bleed tomorrow when you have your first client." She said, spreading my legs gently. It made the memories come back so vividly of what Leo did to me, and it made tears come out of my eyes again. "Hey, it's alright. I'm here to help." She assured again, but I simply nodded and wiped my tear. If anyone was here to help, they'd get me out of here. This wasn't real help.

It burned when she put the cool salve on my aching skin. I had just finished scrubbing all of the blood away. There was so much of it. She grabs another thing from her bag that was hanging around her shoulder and neck. I'd seen something like it in Mother's bathroom before, she used to shave her legs with it. I've never done that before.

She got down from my bed and went to the bathroom. I heard running water and she came back, digging something out of her bag again. This time it was a can, something she sprayed on my legs. "I'm only doing this just this one time. From now on, you'll need to learn to do this. And you're not going to get any men if you don't at least shave your legs." She instructed, and I nodded again. I felt like I couldn't do anything but nod.

She started using the razor and shaved the long hair from my legs. I felt embarrassed again. I knew it was something I should've learned to do, but Mother never taught me. She dug in her bag again, and it made me wonder how many times she had done this before. How many girls she's mothered like this after they had to have sex with Leo. She seemed so prepared.

She brought out a pair of scissors, and starts gently trimming the hair around where he hurt me. I didn't know what that was called, and without even thinking it blurted out, "What is that called?" I asked, immediately hating myself for asking.

She frowned, "These?" She asked, holding the scissors. I shook my head, sitting up and pointing to everything down there. She explained so slowly. I'd never met someone so patient in my life.

Once she had me trimmed, shaved, and salved, she sat up beside me at the head of my bed. "You'll need a good night's rest." She says softly, patting my thigh. She let me get dressed, too, which I was thankful for. "You'll be fine. Just be nice to them, and do what I said."

I looked at her, nodding sadly. "I'm scared." I admitted, and she wrapped me in a hug.

At that moment, I'd never felt safer. She was the only person I could trust in this world. I couldn't even trust Mother. I hugged her back, crying into her shoulder. Would I ever actually stop crying in my lifetime here? Would I ever get away from here?

Melanie rubbed my back, kissing my head. She was a touchy-feely person, I could tell. "I know you are. We all get scared here and there, but it does get better. The money helps too, once you start making it. You'll be okay." She said, pulling away again and giving me an attempt at a reassuring smile. "Now, get some sleep." She said, patting my leg and gathering her things, standing up and leaving without another word.

Again, I cried myself to sleep.

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The next morning, I got up and went outside to get some food with the little bit of money Melanie gave me last night. I couldn't have been more thankful for her, because I was absolutely starving. I ended up with a danish from a gas station right around the corner. I was too afraid to go anywhere else by myself. I'd never been in a big city like this, especially not alone.

When I got back to my apartment, I quickly scurried in and locked the door. Not sure what I thought I was protecting myself from, but I couldn't begin to think of Leo popping in right now. I needed recovery.

Thankfully, that's what I got. I had the whole day to myself, and mostly spent it cleaning the nasty apartment. I had no idea who lived here before, but I couldn't bare the fact that it was disgusting. It just made me feel even worse.

At about four thirty, I hear a knock on my door. "It's me." Melanie said, and I quickly go unlock the door to let her in. I was feeling only a little better, but still hurt and ached. Plus, I knew what was coming tonight. "Hey, Leo wants you. He said he's ready for you to go out." She explained.

I gulped, tears coming into my eyes again. "Okay." I whispered.

She hugged me again, making me feel safe. "Just remember what I told you, and you'll do fine."

I nodded, hugging onto her even tighter. I wished she could always be with me.

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The heels hurt my feet, the dress was so short and kept riding up, and my thighs rubbed together so badly that they chapped. I just wanted Melanie back again. I was scared I wouldn't find anyone, and I wouldn't make any money, and Leo would throw me out. Then what would I do? I didn't know my way back home, plus my mother would probably just give me away again.

A car slows down before coming to a stop, rolling its window down. "Hey." A man says, and I looked in the window.

This was where it began. "Hi." I said innocently, mostly because Melanie didn't tell me what to do to actually get the man. She just told me what to do once I got him. "You looking for someone?" I asked nervously.

He nodded, "How much for the night, sexy?" He asked, pulling out his wallet and showing me a few hundred dollars. I told him the price that Leo set for me, pocketed the money into my new purse, and then got into his car.

On the way there, I happened to look over to one of the many giant billboards, seeing Leo's face.

In big, white letters it said, "Re-elect Senator Blanchard!"