Life of a Dragon: Chapter One

Chapter One
Finding Your Way Down the Rabbit Hole

As a prostitute in the large metropolis urban areas in China, you survive by doing what you are told and being compliant. Head down, never look anyone in the eye, and above all else do not resist. Everything in my spirit as a small child is gone. A passion for life is now just an avoidance of pain. Most days that hope is never realized. As a young child my mother died and her second husband, not my father sold me without my family knowing to some man who cam to our village. He took me into his life as a slave and then when he was bored with me he passed me off to a friend he owed a gambling debt to. That man kept me long enough to beat me near death and then passed me off to someone else. I have lived this existence since I was nine year sold. I have never stopped hoping for more. I am not sure why my spirit is not completely broke. At the worst time I close my eyes and I see my mother cooking in our small home, singing songs to me. Making small crowns of flowers and placing them on my head. At night I will sit on my bed and rock back and forth just like she used to hold me it and it all comes back to me.

I am now in debt to man who supposedly is having me work my debt off as if I can somehow be free some day. I was on the run for some time and he helped me once I got to Hong Kong. I now am under contract like an animal. He owns a small club where businessmen frequent for meetings with clients from all over the world. I live in an apartment building with locked barred doors at the end of the hallways with plenty of other girls. Each room has a small cot, a closet that you share among several girls and a blanket. I have a bag I brought with me and it contains everything I have in this world.
It is just another night at Club Moonlight. I am driven from the small apartment to the club with several other girls in the back of an old van. Once there in the back of the club like a delivery, we are ushered inside to the party rooms where ugly men grab and paw at you until they are so drunk that they simply force themselves on you. At the end of the night, if you are lucky, you walk away, get shuttled back to the apartment and cry on the shower floor and then fall asleep exhausted and alone. This is the life of a party girl. Most people think of you as a pet or a slutty girl who likes or somehow deserves it. Most people don't even know you exist or put they put it so far out of your mind that no one will ever come and rescue you. Even if they do, you will wish they hadn't.
         I slowly walk with my head down along the hallway of the party rooms and there is some discussion ahead of me outside a room. The manager is talking with one of his many bouncers whose job it is to keep peace in the club. Drunken men always get out of hand and fights are common. It sounds mostly like an argument over the pay. Each room is a flat rate, which includes karaoke, girls on demand, and certain amount booze. Food is extra by the platter, but there are full menus to order from. The more liquor I get them to order, the more money I make for the club, and the lower my debt goes. Instead of being told a room number, the manage turns to me and tells me I will help out at the bar until the crowd dies down. He needs help with a rush of young professionals just in from the financial district.
In order to keep my mind busy and forget the horrible nights, I learned early on to adopt new skills to be helpful. Two of the most useful talents I had were learning other languages to translate for foreign men and the other was making drinks at the bar. I could mix and pour drinks with the right amount of alcohol, which meant less was lost to customers from over pouring. It is a counting system. You count as you pour the alcohol and a certain number is an ounce or two ounces etc. The bar is always overwhelmed after businesses get out for the evening and some nights large groups of foreign men speaking Japanese, Chinese and English. I used my time with these men knowing that talking to them always has a way of having them treat you better. I have taught myself all these languages for the most part and watch large amounts of foreign movies and shows back at the apartment to help me.
         I excitedly make my way to the main floor. I am getting older now. I am somewhere around my late twenties so I am not the young girl most men are looking for. As long as you are useful they will not throw you out on the street, sell you off, or just kill you. I go to the bar to make drinks hoping my night will stay behind the bar. I flow through smiling and making gestures at men to encourage them to buy more drinks. They paw at my arms and face slimy hands sweat pouring off their brows. My body is not my own. I no longer jerk back in response. I simply survive. At one point through the crowd at the bar I see a women with three men at a table just off from the bar. She is a foreigner, but not a woman She is not a girlfriend or another party girl. She was exquisite. I could not help, but look at her as people moved by. She was dressed in an expensive black business suit. Long flowing wide pants dangled over boots and a cream colored silk blouse peeked out from under her jacket. Her brown hair flowed along her shoulders and she word silver jewelry that sparkled from her neck and arms in the dance lights of the club. For a moment I catch her looking at me and I shy away to the other side of the bar to clean up glasses. I was excited from her supposed interest. Getting women as work is always easier. Most do not hurt you and it can be a break from the brutality of your life. I walked back to the other side of the bar in view of her table where she is sitting with a few other men. They are all vying for her attention but she isn't looking at them. She is looking at me.
I smile to make a connection and she smiles back. I allow myself a small amount of hope for an easy night and continue with drinks as groups of young businessmen flood the club all night. The small group at the table does not ask for anything, but a steady supply of drinks. She does not drink, but she pays the bill. She sits and quietly talks with one of the men with her. The other two seem like security but are sitting at the table. So much about the small group seems normal on the surface, but actually they are very different from the usual foreigners. One of the VIPS yanks at my arm and demands a dance. I comply and allow him to drag me to the center floor. He swirls me around the floor, grabbing and mouthing at me. The club smells like cigarette smoke and bodies. I catch glances of the woman. Her sad eyes watch me, but yet interest is there. Why does she not ask for me then?
An hour goes by and I am exhausted. I begin to slow and he pushes me further and then grabs my arm towards the rooms. What little hope I had for an easy night melts away. As we approach the rooms though one of the staff pulls him off of me. He pushes me aside and gives him two younger girls to occupy his room with him. He then takes me by the arm saying nothing and I am quickly brought down the hall to the office. I have done nothing wrong yet I fear punishment. Anything outside your routine brings fear of the unknown.
I sit in the office chair in the manager's office and wait. The manager walks into the room and tells him to wait outside. Another man who helps with managing the girls come sin with some paperwork and the paperwork is passed back and forth and no one spoke to me. More discussion outside in the hallway and then more paperwork.
"Sign here." The manager demands in stern voice.
"what?" I asked confused. I had not been paying attention.
He lost his patience and threw the pen at me before sitting behind his desk again.
"Sign it!"
I signed my name where he jabbed his finger at the papers. I did not get to read what I was signing. I assumed in my gut that I was being sold again, but I was so much older now that I could not imagine being sold anymore.
         Then another man entered and threw three bags down.
'My belongings.' I thought my fear confirmed. In tears I looked up. They have nothing to say. The assistant manager grabbed of my arm and the bags and I was carried down the hall down the stairs and out the back door. For a moment I am shattered. I cannot do this again. When you are first sold, the newer owner always starts off brutal no matter how nice they may be to you later.
A horrifying thought enters my mind as I see a large black car in the parking lot.
' He has found me. Finally after all my fight and attempts to keep hidden. At the very least my secret is safe and I, all of this, will finally be over.' I think to myself as the world begins to spin. I sink to the ground unable to walk. My last hope is gone. They drag me towards the car and dump me on the concrete. Tears pour down my face as the wet ground soaks my dress.
"It can not end like this." I whisper.
"It hasn't ended." A man's voice says and I see a hand extended toward me. He waits patiently. I blinked and looked up toward the outstretched hand. Fear grips me as I see a grown man of Japanese decent. The tattoos covering his neck out from under his collar and along his wrists give his gangster background away like a calling card. Yet his mannerisms are not quitter right. His long hair is pulled back into intricate braids and then held with a large decorative pin. His face was...serene, kind even. I sit up tears still pour from my eyes.
"You'll never find him." I said defiantly with bitter anger in me welling up.
His face remained unchanged by my comment. His arm was still outreached. I cocked my head to one side unable to understand what was going on. My life was a horrific set of events, but they were predictable events. If I am sold then the men cannot wait to put their hands on me. If I am to be killed they do not touch you nor offer me a hand.
"He is safe." His face softened and he reached his arm out further forward towards me. A kindness showed on his face again. A light of sincerity flickered behind those deep, brown eyes.
"May I help you up?" His low voice was emotionless. I could not read his intentions. I looked at his hand. No one ever has offered me a hand instead of grabbing at me. I slowly moved my hand into his. He softly gripped mine and raised my arm up. My knees buckle as I rose and I fell forward. Then his arm was around me and he picked me up.
"Steady. You are so close to the light yet. Just a moment longer. Hold on for just a moment longer."
Tears began again.
'This is it isn't it he will drive me to someplace put a bullet in my head and it will all be over.'
I had lost. I slowly fell back into the open car door into a plush seat, but the man that I expected was not there. Instead I was alone. The man placed the bags inside and then closed the door. My mind raced.
'If he were to kill me than why these bags.'
I opened them as the car pulled away. He turned out of the parking lot and onto the busy streets weaving through traffic at a steady pace. They were my belongings from my room. Not everything just mostly things grabbed and shoved in. Clothes. A few pieces of makeup and then nothing. My treasure is not there. I would like to look upon once more. I sit back and breathe. Look out the window and relax on the soft cushion seat of the car. It enveloped me and I rested for the first time in a long time. After a few minutes I fell asleep. A peaceful sleep like a terminally ill patient does at the end of their life.
         Lights awakened me as the car door opened and I braced myself, scared waiting for a hand to grab me and yank me out. But it never comes. The man stands outside holding the door but does not move. After a few moments I slinked out and strain my eyes against the lights under an apartment canopy. His gaze did not move. I turned around and look inside the building over the top of the car. There standing outside the doorway standing with the wind whipping her hair was the woman I had seen earlier at the club. . I breathed out a sigh of relief. Maybe my hope is not dashed. But why my things? She picks her arm up and waved me over to her. The man closed the door behind me and handed the key to a valet to park the car. He had my things and carried them over. She whispered something in his ear before went inside the large lobby of the towering building.
"Mei?" She knows my name. The shock blows me back. No one ever uses my name. It is a way to dehumanize prostitutes. They may call you girl or even worse names, but never your given name.
"I know you are tired and afraid. I would explain what is going on here, but I fear you would not hear me right now. You look exhausted. Let me leave it at this. Go inside and upstairs to the room I have picked out for you. Take a long bath change and eat something. Then go to sleep. You will be left alone and your secret is safe."
"The man who drove you here is my security. He is completely loyal and has nothing to do with your past. " 'She knows!' I felt dizzy.
"If you will allow me I could help you inside." And another arm is gestured toward me. This time I quickly grasp for her as if she is some sort of safe area. She pulls me toward her.
"It is going to be ok Mei." Her voice holds a warm confidence and a slink along her. She smelled of roses. Clean and warm. She grabbed me and whispered in my ear.
"Mei just a few more moments. Everyone will see you inside. Pull everything you feel inside and stand up and walk in like you are someone else. Look around."
I lifted my head and saw two people exited the building were staring at me. I saw my reflexion as the doors closed. For a moment I am motionless.
"I know you can do this." Another whisper. A low voice with kindness and strength. Her accent is American, but I cannot tell where from. I took a deep breath and stood up. My legs aches, but I slowly stepped forward. I focused on the area jus tin front of me. First on the door and reached my arm out to it, but it opens automatically. Another lift from the woman and I regained my balance now I looked ahead and the lobby of the hotel is full of people bustling around. Stand straight and let go of the woman. Another breath and I straighten my hair. Wipe my face and then turned to my right to look at her.
"Now you've got it." She says and begins to walk in. I follow her and walk slowly and purposefully.
The staff bows as she passes and then to me. I am a little taken back, but gather myself and look straight ahead. The man is standing at the elevator holding it open. With my bags over his arm. The lobby seems bigger than the club. It is a nice place with marble floors and gold trim not the walls. A large television is playing news to one side with plush couches and armchairs. The long desk with staff attending to people needs was to the other side. I entered the elevator and turn around. Leaning against the back of the elevator I feel dizzy. The two stand in front of me and she again whispers something to him. The pull of the elevator is more than I can handle and everything fades always from me. I awake to the sensation of being carried. I blink and find the woman walk in front with my bags and the man is carrying me I jerk back he stumbles and then corrects.
"Easy Mei." He simply says in a thick accent and I calm and relax. The woman opens a hotel door and he carries me slide and to the bed. The woman picks up the phone and speaks, but I cannot hear her. He takes my bags from her and places them to the side. He then checks the bathroom and closet and then retreats outside. I lean on the bed dizzy as the woman takes my things places them in drawers and then turns to me.
"Are you alright?"
"Sleep." I say softly.
"Yes I think maybe an order of change is needed. How about small amount of food, sleep then shower and food." She smiles and a man is at the door. I straighten up and sit on the corn of the bed. A hotel employee enters the room with some food. With a word from the woman he nods and places food into a small refrigerator in the cabinet and then one plate on my bedside table. He bows and exits. I look at the dish and then away at the woman blankly.
"I will see you at 10 am tomorrow morning. He will be outside your door all night. If you need anything call down stairs or ask him ok/"
"Yes."
"Good now eat and we will talk in the morning."
Before I could say anything she was out the door. I heard murmurs outside the door and then nothing. I leaned back against the bed and opened the cover of the plate. It was white rice and tofu with vegetable with a light sauce. I sat against the headboard ate half a then slinked down. Before I could think of anything else. I drifted into a sleep. I deathly quiet sleep where my body gave in before the anxiety in my mind could say run, run yet again.
         I awoke the next morning before dawn. Sat up in the bed dragging my aching legs to a sitting position. I sat looking around the room. It was so beautiful. I walked to the bathroom, switched on the light and saw toiletries, not the hotel verity but real brands from a high end store. I smelled a few of the bottles and then looked lovingly at the bath. A smile snuck up on me and before I knew it I was soaking in the bath smelling of jasmine and roses. I shocked myself back to reality wondering what time it was.
"She will be back t ten." Frantically getting out of the tub sliding across the floor with each step and then dripping across the plush carpet to grab the clock beside the bed. It read 9 am.
"Oh my." Panic began to build. I vaguely remember the bags and she put my belongings away right? I searched the drawers and found my things rest quietly in the bottom drawer. I got dressed combed my hair back. Clean the bath and room made the bed and gathered my things into my bags and placed them neatly by the wall to the outside door. I sat on the corner of the bed nervously rubbing my hands waiting for the knock. Instead a chime sounded in what seemed longer than an hour. I walked nervously to the door looked through the pep hole and saw the man from last night. I had completely forgotten he had been there all night.
I opened the door and bowed respectively and obediently. He still had his hair up, this time he wore a white suit with a light lavender shirt. He had one a simple silver chain with a small bird on it. I saw for a moment that is was a crane. My bow was respectful, Low and bent at the waist I waited for a reply. He smiled when I raised my head since he had not responded.
"Yes?" I asked quietly
"The president is waiting for you downstairs. Are you ready to eat?"
"Yes, I guess I am." I straightened out my clothes with my hands
He smiled again this time raising one side of his mouth as if he knew a secret but wasn't going to tell. He turned and began to walk toward the elevator. My face blushed remembering that he carried me last night. I looked from the open door of the room and toward him.
"Are you coming?" he said after hitting the button.
"Should I get my things now?"
"No." He simply stated. I closed the door and followed him into the elevator horridly. I fixed my hair in the reflex ion. The wayward strands just would not stay behind my ears.
"She doesn't care about such things. Don't bother with that just now."
I looked over perplexed by his statement but there he stood staring forward motionless. Even the resting of the elevator at floors to let people on and off did not move him. Last night he had been dressed in the same type of expensive suit last night it was charcoal grey with tiny stippling on the sleeves and legs of the pants. The body of the suit and center of the pants did not show striping, which was odd. His shirt underneath what a deep purple and had an exaggerated collar for the style of today. Today his white suit looked as expensive. I could see a chain glittering like gold hanging from what could be an inside pocket of his pant of a low pocket of his jacket on his left side. The tattoos peeking out from his wrists were of the faces of snarling dogs and the tattoo on his neck was hard to make out but looked like water maybe waves. The tattoos made me tense and I caught him glance at my reflex ion in the door of the elevator and felt ashamed to be staring. More people got on and off and finally we arrived at the second floor area. He got off and ushered me toward an elegant restaurant. 30 to 40 tables filled the floor with a wall of windows in front of us letting in the mooring sun plants and trees were everywhere and the chirping of birds could be heard. It was like a garden. He continued to walk to the far corner where she sat at a table by the window. Her back to the wall.
         She was a vision. Her hair was pulled back to her neck. A small pin of a bird in her hair. Simple makeup and silver hoops in her ears. The light glowed off her brown hair with golden highlights. As she stood at my approach the man veered off to the table nearby where a place was set and began eating. I looked back at her bowed and when I stood upright again I saw her clear the table in jeans and a long flowing blouse maybe one size to big in a sky blue it was longer at the sides than the front and it flowed around her as she mode. She wore ankle boots with dragons on the bucks at the ankle. Not your usual style for down town Hong Kong business district. Then again I was not either. Suddenly realizing that I was dressed in a tight fitting cocktail dress in red and high heels made me conscious of eyes.
"Do not mind them sit and eat with me."
She pulled out a chair and I dutifully sat.
"You must be completely taken back by everything by now but I did not see you in any condition to talk last night."
"I am so sorry mam."
"I know, but I am going to give you some room of understanding because your life is about to change forever."
My eyes grew large. A waiter interrupted the moment by arriving with a palter and placed a meal before us. Noodles with chicken and vegetables in front of me and what looked sort of like a scallion pancakes for her. She nodded at his requests from more drinks and he backed away.
"First and I will attempt to explain what is really unexplainable. You will have to take me at my word for now, but I hope in time this will all become real for you. Mei."
I looked dup from tithe bowl.
"How do you know my name?"
"I guessed no one used it since the well lets call them gentlemen at the bar didn't seem to know it either. It was on paperwork they had on you. Please eat."
I did not need moor prompting and began to lift small amounts of noodles out and eat slowly.
"The whole story is very long and we can unfold that as we go, but for now lets just focus on you. To be straight to the point I bought out your contract with those well you know. Surprised?"
"Yes." I said in between mouthfuls eating as if it would be taken from me at any moment. She tilted her head watching me.
"I am in need a someone I can trust to help me run my affairs."
Now the Chopsticks rested on the bowl in my hands.
"Me?"
"I know it seems odd but really you are ideal. I have watched you for several nights. You know how to handle almost any situation. You have learned three languages and you seems to have an incredible ability to read men and react to their desires."
"Survival I said softly."
"I know. All women learn to survive in man's world. You learned din a particularly brutal aspect of it. But I assure you high level business is no less brutal. They can be brutal too."
Her eye trailed off and I watched her look outside the window.
"And you bought me to."
"No Mei. I did not buy you or your secret."
I froze and looked away.
"DO you remember last night at all?"
"Yes." Barely escaped my lips.
"I said not to worry you and your secret is safe. Now and forever. I promise. " She elaned forward.
"Looked t me."
I turned and tear streamed down my eyes.
"I know. You need time. I cannot be to fathom the depth of the emotion you are feeling. I won't lie. It will only get worse for awhile and then like a wave it will wash over you and you will be able to leave it behind if you move constantly forward."
SH took papers out from a bag on the floor and handed them to me.
"These are you contract paid in full. You re free Mei. I know because of your past you are not unattached from danger, but no one owns you not them, not me and this gentlemen is all you need to stand between this safe place and them for now."
She point to the left where the man sat I looked over and then back at the papers I pulled the toward me and held them close. She smiled.
"His name is Diasuke."
I bowed my head toward him but he never moved.
"No much of a talker. You get used to it He does what tis necessary nothing more. But he is compelty loyal and devote in his protection of me and since you are in my circle you as well if someone cn get to you then they can get to me. Understand"
"no not completely."
"I nknow like I said this is such a big change. You will have to give it time. In the meantime elt us take this in steps. My name is Te Fuinn I am from America. I am a writer in the movie industry and I am looking to hire you."
"Hire?"
"Yes as I said I am looking for someone independent, smart and cunning to be well everything to me for awhile. I am not from here. I have not worked in this industry for long and I do not live by the norms and rules that are common here. I need someone to navigate through tit with me and in return you can save money up gain some more skills and build a new life. In time when you feel enough time and space has passed I can help you get settled. As many people have helped me. I pass it on to you."
"Are you Buddhist?"
"Nice question I like that. But no. You got the idea though."
" First I would like you to recover and then when you are ready you can join me at work give it a say two week trial time and see if you think you can do the job."
"Job?"
"Yeah this is a lot at once. For now your job will be to stay here. Sleep, eat, and rest. Then in a few days Daisuke can escort you to my office and we can start from there. "
She pulled out a folder and handed it to me
"Do you read English as well?"
"Yes mam."
"Well good then here is a basic idea of the company and who I am It is of course more complicated than this but you'll at least get the idea. And as for your secret."
My head jerked up.
"Your secret is safe far away and in good hands, although I would like you to deal with that part of your life it is not safe now, but anytime you wish just say the word."
"No safe is well. I am not safe for." my voice trailed off.
"Like I said safe." And she slid a photo across the table. I looked around and then lifted the corner. I quickly put it down slid it into the folder and then collected my thoughts.
"Would you lie to tell me how you got to this point?"
"I guess you should know."
We sat there for some time as I told her everything I remembered from my childhood in a small farming village and then my time moving form place to place. I told her about my secret and why I had been running. She seemed to know about this part of my life. Maybe my previous manager had explained some if it to her. She nodded several times and listened to me. As a spoke I felt a great weigh come off my soul. I felt calm and in a peaceful place. She seemed moved by my story, but did not offer me anything, which was good because I was not ready for any offer of grief and sorrow or pity. After some time I finished and we sat quietly sipping some tea. She thanked me for telling her my story and she hoped there would be more time where she could fill me in on hers Finally she got up and straighten her outfit.
"Well. I have got to go many things to do. But Diasuke is at your service. He will get you anything you need. Ok?"
"Not really."
"Good speaking your mind is a good first step."
She got up as did she and then I did something no one has done. She smiled, bowed deeply to me and then said.
"I am grateful you came into my life Mei. I don't believe in coincidences. I believe people are put into your life for a reason. I think I know this one ahead of time. But again it is still a guess. ."
She stopped briefly a the next table with Daisuke leaned over and talked briefly with him and then place a hand on his arm. An odd gesture but then everything seemed odd to me. Is at and ate and then returned into my room to read and decide whether to spend a few days and then run again or whether to take her at her word and walk forward into a dream that could not possibly be real. Two words and my mind was made up for me. If it was real then it could not possibly be something shadyy. The two words were John Tsai.