Chapter 1: The stripper

It was another night on the lonely street of Michigan Avenue where the infamous foster house was located home to 87 unwanted kids, all under one guardian, Mr. Daniel.

To the outside world, Mr. Daniel was a reputable man with a kind heart to house kids that had nowhere else to go to, but it was only the kids that knew his true nature within the four corners of the house.

“Where is that bloody imbecile?” A gruff voice could be heard shouted, as his voice slurred and broke, showing evidence that he was drunk and the sound of the footsteps showed that he could barely keep his balance together.

It was no other person than Mr. Daniel, the man in charge of the foster house where an unfortunate child by the name of Josie, had been so unfortunate to be dropped in, by social services.

She had a lot of bad luck, following her, losing her mum at the age of 3; abused by her father till she killed him in self-defense. Then she had been dropped here, by social services and she had been here for three years now and these three years had been the worst nightmares of her life.

Josie was hiding in the wardrobe, shaking as her hair was scattered all over her face, unbrushed and unwashed. She hadn't eaten or bathed in three days now, because the master of the house was angry with her for breaking one of his beer bottles as she stumbled and fell after hitting a stone.

The only thing that she had received was constant beating for the three past days. She was trembling in fear watching through the crack in the wall as she saw Mr. Daniel, stumble over the steps, waving his hands around as if he was fighting an unknown assailant. She knew that he would find her. He always did, find her and he never wasted a chance to exploit her again.

She gripped her rosary beads tightly, whispering the Hail Mary praying for a miracle to happen. The rest of the kids were playing outside and it was not as if they gave a damn about her. If she wasn’t being exploited by the man, she was being bullied by the kids, both older and bigger than her. Truly it was only one person that cared about her and that was Ivy.

Ivy was one of the kids that got moved to the house same time as she was, so they quickly clicked…as Ivy was loud and boisterous while she was the shy one.

Closing her eyes so that she wouldn’t see him, advance to where she was hiding with speed, she focused on saying the rosary, but she was caught short by the hard pull on her hair, as Daniel dragged her out of the wardrobe and flung across the room, as she crashed into the vase and broke it, earning more injuries.

Someone was running on the steps hurriedly as the door quickly opened allowing the only ray of light into the room, as Josie looked up at the newcomer.

“You came?” She said, surprised and relieved as blood spilled out of her mouth.

“Of course, I will. I told you, I always have your back right?” Ivy said as she stood in front of her and their foster dad.

“What do you think, you are doing. Get out of the way and let me teach that little brat a lesson.” Daniel said as he slurred his words, taking a huge gulp of his beer as Ivy tightened her hold on the baseball bat.

“You can assault me as much as you want, but I won't stand still and see you do the same for my best friend. I won't let it happen.” She said, waiting for him to come closer so that she could swing the bat at him, as Josie struggled to stand up from the ground as she removed the broken pieces that had pierced her body.

“I will teach you both a lesson there. You think that you can do anything, you little brat. I will show you that I am the owner of the house and you all shall follow my rules.” He said as he hit Ivy’s head with his bottle as it shattered on her head before she could have a chance to swing the bat.

She fell to the ground as Josie gasped out in fear, scuffling backward as she tried to get out of the room and away from the monster in front of her.

Ivy held her head as she looked at Josie from where she was lying down with broken pieces of glass in her hair as she yelled out loud,

“Josie!!!!! Run!!!”

That was the only motivation Josie needed as her legs suddenly stopped being numb and she dashed out of the room, without looking back.

PRESENT-DAY

“Helen!!!!!! Helen!!!!” The makeup artist Nora said as she waved her hands over her face who seemed lost in thoughts.

Helen blinked her eyes as she jerked up from her reverie as she turned to look at the painted whore in front of her and said,

“What is it? Why are you calling my name?” She said as she sighed.

“I am done with your makeup. Remaining for you to wear your mask.” The clients on the floor are waiting for you and your exquisite show of pole dancing, so what were you thinking about? Nora said, chewing her gum like the full-blown prostitute she was as Harley shook her head.

“Nothing, just nostalgic after all. Today was the day I lost my mum, but memories am I right.” Helen said with a broad smile as she patted her hands, on a very shocked, mouth opened Nora and picked up her mask before wearing it on her face.

“And tonight, the stripper comes to life once more.” She said as she stared at the mirror as Nora quickly brushed off what Helen had told her, and started packing up her make-up cosmetics back in her make-up kit.

“You know I never did get while you reveal your identity to only me, and still wear a mask to get clients. I mean probably during the sex, the mask is still taken off, so why wear one in the first place.” Nora said twisting her neck to see Helen who chuckled and shook her head.