The next three years seemed to take a long time to pass, very slowly, but sure enough, graduation day had come, as Dave watched Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, while Miss Miller watched Brittany and Eleanor step up on the stage in the school auditorium, in their caps and gowns, each accepting their diplomas on their final day of high school. After the ceremony, the students, and their parents, met up in the gymnasium, where the graduation party was being held.
"I can't even begin to tell you kids how proud I am of all of you!" Dave said.
"Yes, I don't believe I would be able to find the right words either." Miss Miller said, with a tear in her eye.
The kids all thanked them, proud of themselves for finishing school, though Brittany promptly frowned.
"What's the matter, Brittany?" Miss Miller asked, expecting to hear her say she's not ready to leave home, and enter the real world just yet.
"Jeanette should be here..." Brittany said, sadly, "this would be the biggest night in her life for her!"
The others agreed, Jeanette would've been very proud of herself on graduation night.
"She would've looked wonderful in her cap and gown," Eleanor commented, "with her glasses and everything, she'd look like a professor!"
"It wouldn't surprise me if Jeanette had become a professor of sorts, later in life..." Simon said, with a sigh.
The school did, however, name Jeanette an honorary graduate, with her solid 4.0 grade-point-average while she was attending school, the faculty had no doubts she'd still maintain a high grade-point-average, and as a result, gave Jeanette the honor due to her disappearance. Something Miss Miller, and her sisters, appreciated very much. Everybody was sure that once she was finished with grade school, that Jeanette would work hard to get into the university of her choice. Brittany on the other hand, she decided she was fed up with school, and would just as soon find herself a day job. Brittany strolled through town one day, with the classifieds in hand, searching for a job. She came up to a corner, and waited among other pedestrians to cross the street, while across the street, a very young prostitute grabbed a seat on the bus stop bench, and lit up a cigarette. Something about the prostitute, with her flowing brown hair, her black and red striped tube tob, her black and gray plaid skirt, the fishnet stockings, and leather knee-high boots, intriqued Brittany for some reason. When the red hand turned into a green walker, and the pedestrians crossed the street, Brittany slowly approached the prostitute, and suddenly felt her heart sink into her stomach.
"... Jeanette?" Brittany asked.
The prostitute looked up at Brittany, making eye contact with her. The prostitute stared into Brittany's blue eyes, while Brittany stared into her green eyes, until the prostitute spoke up.
"Nah, you got the wrong person." She said, going back to her cigarette.
Brittany could've easily said 'my mistake', and move on. Jeanette's not the the only girl with brown hair, and green eyes, but for some reason, Brittany was so sure this prostitute was her missing sister.
"Jeanette, it's me, Brittany!" Brittany said.
"My name's not Jeanette," the prostitute said, sounding annoyed, "it's Tina, you've got the wrong person."
Brittany grabbed Tina's arm, and started pulling her away from the bench. "I know it's you Jeanette, you need to come on home!"
Tina resisted. "Look you dumb bitch, will you get lost?! You're crampin' my style here!"
"Nothing doing," Brittany said, as she began to run off, dragging Tina along with her, "you're coming home where you belong!"
"I only get in bed with men," Tina said, "but if you're wantin' my services that badly, I charge 500 extra for women!"
Moments later, Brittany drug Tina all the way home, and as soon as she set her foot through the front door, she began calling frantically for her mother, and her youngest sister, who was about to leave for college herself.
"Miss Miller!" Brittany yelled. "Eleanor! Come quick! Miss Miller, Eleanor!"
Miss Miller and Eleanor both rushed to the front door.
"What in the world's the matter?!" Miss Miller asked, before pausing to see who Brittany was with. "Who is this... this... this skank?"
"It's Jeanette!" Brittany insisted.
"Jeanette?!" Miss Miller asked, clutching her heart.
"For the hundreth time, my name is Tina," Tina yelled, breaking away from Brittany's grip, "I'm not this Jeanette broad you keep mistaking me for!"
Eleanor stood there, staring at Tina, not believing what she was seeing, and not going unoticed by her.
"Jealous?" Tina asked Eleanor.
Eleanor rubbed her eyes.
"What is going on here?" Miss Miler asked.
Tina snapped. "Look, I honestly don't know what's going on here, but this little bitch here kept saying I was some chick named Jeanette, and..."
"Don't you talk about my daughter that way to me, young lady!" Miss Miller commanded.
"Whatever..." Tina mumbled. "Can I go now, I've got customers waiting for me in the south side of town..."
"It's her, Miss Miller!" Brittany insisted. "It's her, I know it is!"
Miss Miller wasn't so sure. The young prostitute looked, and acted nothing like Jeanette, but Brittany kept insisting it was. "Well, there's one way we can find out..."
"DNA test?" Eleanor asked.
"Oh, hell no!" Tina said. "I'm not pissing in no cup in the middle of the afternoon!"
"I have a better idea..." Miss Miller said, taking the girls to a psychiatrist's office. "You see, this girl keeps telling my daughter she's not the girl she's mistaking her for, but Brittany keeps insisting this is her missing sister."
The psychiatrist looked at the last known photo taken of Jeanette, then looked at Tina.
"Well, I have to admit, there's really not much resemblance..."
"There, you heard from the doctor," Tina said, "can I go now?!"
"You wouldn't mind if I asked you just some random questions anyway, would you?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Pff, might as well," Tina barked, "doesn't look like I'll be keeping my appointments today, anyway."
The psychiatrist had his assistant take the Miller ladies into the next room, where the mirror was actually a window peering into the psychiatrist's office, so they could both see and hear the progress being made.
"Won't you lie down?" The psychiatrist offered to let her lie on the couch, rather than sit at the table.
"Only if you're gonna cough up some dough afterwards." Tina grumbled, still only focusing on her work.
"That's okay, you can stay seated if you want to, it doesn't matter." The psychiatrist rolled his chair over to where Tina was sitting, and pulled out a pen from his coat pocket. "Now, would please look at this pen?"
"Why?" Tina asked.
"I want to put you under, see if I can get to the root of any problem you have." The psychiatrist explained.
"The only problem I have is that little bitch, claiming I'm her sister!" Tina barked.
"Please," the psychiatrist pressed, "just stare at this pen."
Tina scoffed, and rolled her eyes before doing so.
"All your thoughts are on the pen." The psychiatrist said, slowly. "Only the pen..."
Tina stared at the pen.
"You're feeling very relaxed... almost sleepy... your eyelids are getting heavy... you can't stay awake..."
Surprisingly, Tina did start feeling very sleepy, and within a few second, fell asleep.
"Now open your eyes." The psychiatrist asked, as Tina obeyed. "I just want to ask you a few simple questions... get to know you a little better... why don't we start with your name?"
"My name..." Tina began, in a trance, "... my name is Jeanette Miller..."
Miss Miller's and Eleanor's eyes widened, and their jaws dropped. Brittany was right, she was Jeanette. They couldn't believe it.
"Jeanette, when was the last time you saw any of your family?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Three years ago." Tina said.
"What happened?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I offered to work off money that belonged to a pair of drug dealers... I was afraid they were going to kill me if I didn't..." Tina explained.
"What happened to that money?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I don't know," Tina said, "it just disappeared, but I was watching the money before it went missing... since it was my responsibility, I had to pay the consequences..."
"So did they let you work it off?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Yes, both of them... and their gunman... each took their turn... at having sex with me..." Tina explained, as Miss Miller, Brittany, and Eleanor turned paler by the minute, listening to the story. "They gave me 500 dollars each... and told me it was a start..."
"What happened after that?" The psychiatrist asked.
"They sent me away..." Tina said, "they called a contact, who paid fifty thousand dollars for me to work at his whore house..."
"What was that like?" The psychiatrist asked.
"It was hard... it was painful... it was scary..." Tina said, "when I first got there... I was treated very badly... I started out as a 'discount' prostitute... people who were short on cash, yet still wanted sexual favors, had to put up with me... they said it was because I was too dorky looking, and not as valuable as the other girls there."
"How many people did you usually see?" The psychiatrist asked.
"On most days," Tina began, "maybe five... eight at the most."
"Did you ever want to escape?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Everyday I was there... I'd try to write letters... make phone calls... make any contact I could with the outside world... but I was always caught, and always punished. I hated it there so much... until they re-educated me." Tina said.
"Re-educate?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I kept fighting too much... resisting... crying... acting like a baby... they said if I ever wanted to make it, I would have to clean up my act... I had to go through a training process... had to learn to go with the flow... give the people their money's worth... only then could I get promoted, and get treated better..." Tina went on.
"How did that work out?" The psychiatrist asked.
"It was odd at first... but... once I got used to it, it wasn't so bad... as a matter of fact, once I was finally able to move up, I started to like it... I liked it even better when they gave me my makeover..."
"Makeover?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I had to change my appearance," Tina said, "my glasses were ugly, my hair was always tied up in a ridiculous bun, my clothes were too big for me... they showed me how to make myself look more appealing, and in turn how it would help me get even more customers... Jeanette was too stupid sounding a name, so they changed it to Tina... they gave me contact lenses, I started letting my hair down... I wore figure friendly clothes... I used to trip over my own feet... I'm so graceful now..."
"How many people did you see then?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I don't know," Tina said, "after a while, I stopped counting."
"How much did you usually receive on a daily basis?" The psychiatrist.
"On average, anywhere between 10 and 15K." Tina said.
"Did you like what you were doing?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I sure did..." Tina began, "I was the only brunette in the operation... except for one redhead, all the other girls were mostly different shades of blonde... Being the only brunette, and whenever I wore dark clothes, I was mysterious, and they loved it... and it was so amazing... pretty soon I had people lined up waiting to spend thirty minutes with me..."
Miss Miller grimmaced, as did Brittany and Eleanor, as they continued to watch, and listen.
"Pretty soon, I was on top..." Tina said, "I was the most valuable girl in the entire operation... very valuable. Very important."
"Important?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Very important." Tina said. "Pretty soon, I was given my own private room, staff members would tend to me inbetween sessions... if a new girl was having trouble I'd mentor her."
"How long did this go on?" The psychiatrist.
"I'm not sure..." Tina thought for a bit, "maybe about a year and a half, or so... it took several months for me to get to where I was, though..."
"Then what?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I finally got to leave the house," Tina said, "I got to work the streets... it was really exciting..."
"Is this what you're doing now?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Yes." Tina said. "Most of my territory covers the western side of the city, but occasionally, word of my services is spread, so I find myself pretty much all over town."
"Where do you live now?" The psychiatrist asked.
"I still live at the whore house," Tina said, "but I only return late at night, get a few hours of actual sleep, then leave the next morning for work."
"I want to ask you something else, now..." the psychiatrist began, "have you given any thought to your family, at all?"
"Are you kidding?" Tina asked. "My family is what held me back!"
"Surly you don't believe that?" The psychiatrist asked.
"It's the truth!" Tina snapped. "... that Brittany... always kicking me around like a sick dog, always walking over me like a welcome mat, always treating me like bullshit... whenever she was through shitting on me, then'd come that pig, Eleanor, treating me like some poor little baby who couldn't tie it's own shoes, while the old crone always had her head in the clouds..."
"From what I understand, they were all really, really fond of you," the psychiatrist said, "they seem to really miss you, and want you home."
"Oh, please." Tina said. "Who gives a shit about them? I don't need them, I've made it on my own now, no thanks to them."
"You don't belong out there," the psychiatrist said, "you belong home with them... where they really love you..." the psychiatrist said.
"Quit lyin'!" Tina said, as she tried to get out of her seat, only to have the psychiatrist hold her down. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"Listen to me..." the psychiatrist pressed, "you're not a prostitute, you're not Tina... you're Jeanette Miller..."
"No!" Tina screamed. "I'm not that stupid, idiotic, dork anymore! I'm a valuable person now! You better let me go, I've connections who'll rub you out!"
"You don't want to sell yourself for sex, you want to return to your family..." the psychiatrist said, as Tina continued screaming, "now listen very carefully... I'm going to bring you out now... and when I do... you're going to be the exact same girl you always were... the girl your family has been looking for, the girl your family misses..."
Tina screamed harder, and louder, as she continued to try and worm her way out of the psychiatrist's grip, and leave the room, desperately not wanting to become the dorky, little pushover she was led to believe she once was. The psychiatrist brought his fingers up, and began the countdown.
"One... two... three..." he snapped his fingers.
The second he snapped his fingers, the screaming stopped, and the poor girl woke up, observing the room around her, unsure of what she was doing there.
"Where am I?" She asked, before realizing she was being held down in her chair. "Who are you?"
"Just someone trying to help you, but let me ask you... what's your name?" The psychiatrist asked.
"Jeanette..." Jeanette said, back to normal, "Jeanette Miller."
"Jeanette," the psychiatrist began, "when is the last time you saw your family?"
"I... I don't know... I can't remember" she said, sadly. "It... it's been so long... years, in fact..."
"Would you like to see them again?" He asked.
"More than anything," Jeanette said, as she began sniffling, "I really miss them... I just want to go home... I want to be with my family again..."
"I don't believe you'll have to look any further..." the psychiatrist said.
The door to his office was opened, as Miss Miller, Brittany, and Eleanor stepped back inside. Jeanette couldn't believe her eyes. She saw her family again for the first time in years. Without hesitation, Jeanette jumped out of her seat, and ran over to them, as they all extended their arms to embrace her, as she wept uncontrolably, so happy to finally be reunited with her loved ones again.
The end.