life happened: chapter two.

Tory opened her eyes and looked at the dark blue silk drapes wrapped around her bed. She rubbed her eyes to chase away the haunting memories of her dreams. For so long she had dreamt of that fateful night when everything had changed so drastically. How long has it been? She wondered. She last saw her sister seven years ago as they took her and she had never found out who the ‘they’ were. “What is wrong?” she asked the person who had stepped into her room.

“The boss called and said he wanted you to visit his office this evening,” the person said. Tory rolled off the bed silently to look at Mercy. Mercy was tall, slim with a chocolate brown completion. She was beautiful as was everyone who lived in the mansion.
“Did he by any chance mention why he wanted to see me?”
“No you know he never gives any excuses,” Mercy said with a smile. Tory smiled back at her friend. “Same dream huh?”
“Yes and I am not complaining or anything because I know they are the key to finding my sister. Maybe I am missing something and if I continue remembering it in such detail will be able to see something I missed then.”
“Why did you choose this kind of life Tory?”
“Because just like you I was never given a chance to refuse. I got used to this life a long time ago after all I started it younger than you. I was only fourteen when I received my first client he was a perverted asshole who liked them young and so the boss gave me a choice I accept to be a paid escort for the perverted government officials who had perversions to explore and gain information without anyone suspecting or lose my chance to find my sister. There was truly no choice it had already been made for me.”

“I thought he was the one who had sent his men to save you and your sister on that night?”
“True but that doesn’t mean that he pays for my school fees or what I need to survive. I had to earn money to get what I want. I do what he asks of me as a way to protect someone and repay the kindness he once showed me. I can’t die I have to find what they did to my sister.”
“Where will you look? You have searched everywhere for seven years.”
“I will search forever Mercy if it takes me that long but I will find her.”
“But what you do for him don’t you feel guilty?”
“I gave that emotion up a long time ago.” She walked to the window and looked outside at the golf course. “I have seen it all.” All there is to see of the Nairobi underworld the slave auctions, the prostitution dens, the drug clubs, the gambling, the crime that happen and are swept under the rag by some high ranking government official with a sick twisted side that enjoyed the perversion that goes on and the money that goes to lining his pockets and then there is this club that she worked for. They call it a gentleman’s club where only the rich can afford to be members of such an exclusive club. Only they can afford to pay for the drinks and the women they want. The boss says that the girls working in the club were paid escorts but that was just a fancy word for prostitutes only the pay is higher. In a month an escort can earn up to half a million in cash tax free although half of that goes to the club for the accommodations and the food and the use of the clubs facility. It was funny really because the club was a mansion in Karen very remote with a big enough compound to think of it as someone’s residence. Who would have thought such a beautiful place would hold such perversion inside its walls. A club? She thought with disdain, no that was also a fancy word for a sex den. It didn’t matter where it is situated even if it is in one of the most exclusive part of Nairobi. A sex den is a sex den. “I will be late for school if I don’t get ready.”
“You are lucky that you are the manager of this club at such a young age,” Mercy said walking to the door.
“Luck has nothing to do with it. Tell Lang'at I want my car up front,” she said. That was the one perk she liked about the job as her boss was a minister in the government he had pulled some strings and she had been given her driving licence immediately she turned sixteen.

Of course the licence lied about her real age and her name. She looked at the red driving license on the table her photo on it and the name on it was ‘Scarlet Wairimu’. She closed her eyes to block that name that everyone used apart from Mercy and her boss. She understood that using her real name was dangerous but by refusing to use it it was kind of renouncing her family.

“He is asleep as usual,” Marianne told Scarlet in a sotto voce. “He is always asleep during class what exactly does he do at night and he is way too old to be in high school don’t you think?” Scarlet looked at the guy her friend was pointing at.
“He doesn’t look that old,” she said smiling cheekily. “But he is handsome.”
“He looks like a model doll,” Marianne said dreamily. “How did you two become friends anyway?”
“He saved my life once and from then on we became tight I guess,” she said which was no lie per se because that night seven years ago he had been the one to lead the assault team that had saved her life and taken her to his father. He joined high school so he could take care of her because his father the boss wanted her ‘protected’ at all time and she liked torturing him. She walked to where he slept and hit him hard on the head he jumped up falling back with his chair rubbing his head. “What on earth do you think you are doing waking me up like that,” he snarled looking up at her.
“Well you are the one who was snoring in class you know,” she scoffed smiling smugly. “For a good looking guy you have no charm at all. Seriously right now you should be outside charming some girl or other and yet you are in here sleeping. Must I teach you everything?”
“You would know after all you are my father’s escort,” he said with a sneer. She did everything in her power to hold the smile on her lips. That is what his father had wanted him to believe and that is what she had wanted him to think so he might not find out the love she felt for him. She had watched him since that night secretly wishing that they would have a chance but what chance would they have really. Any chance they would have had was lost the day she had agreed to become a prostitute. But she had never slept with his father not even once and yet that didn’t change the fact that he hated her anyway.

“I escort every man your father sends my way at the club so don’t be so bitter it is my job to be beautiful and accommodating,” she said smiling as if she enjoyed her job. “They give me beautiful jewellery and pretty trinkets so I don’t mind what I do.”
“I can’t believe my father wishes me to follow you around and protect you. You are air headed and rely on men to take care of you. I had thought that due to what you went through when you were a child you would grow up to be intelligent and able to survive but I was wrong. Why do you even insist on going to school so that my father can spend more money on you?” he asked and then suddenly he smiled when he saw Marianne approach them. “I will walk you home today so don’t worry. I will even buy you dinner to make up for ditching you yesterday,” he said cheerfully to her.
“You don’t have to I brought my car with me today,” she said turning to Marianne. “Let’s go Marianne I will drop you home I have some business to attend to in town,” Scarlet said turning away from the hurtful words of the only man she had loved.
“What are you going to do in town?” he asked holding her hand to stop her. She looked at him for a long time before she answered simply. “To pay rent.” He understood her meaning immediately and he let go of her as if he had been burnt.
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