The Children of Darthbrooke

After the drooling monster had finished giving me a lecture about how I shall 'pay' for my father's debts, he cradled me in his arms like a baby and jumped out the window of the tower. I squeezed my eyes extremely tight, preparing for the fall. But nothing happened. Not the slightest jiggle, or rustle. Nothing.

I slowly, and cautiously opened my eyes. Only the horizon was in front of me. I shifted my gaze to below us, and saw the tops of trees that surrounded Darthbrooke Valley. I tilted my head in confusion, and looked at the monster. He was currently flying. Long, dragon-like wings had sprouted from his back. There was a spike, almost like a claw, at the tip of each wing. I had never noticed any of the monsters' wings before.

There was a long silence as we flew over the many more trees, rivers, lakes and bushes. The whole time he was drooling on my head. It was damp, cold, and stung a little. I fidgeted a little bit before I realized that I should probably ask where we're going. So I did, all the while afraid of how he would react to my questioning.

He chuckled. Not the reaction I was expecting. "I was waiting for you to ask me that... It's the least I could expect from Rufus Payne's daughter. I'm surprised you haven't tried to escape from my hands," he answered, voice still raspy as ever.

I cleared my throat. "Well... That would be kind of idiotic, considering how high up we are... I would fall to my death."

I met his cold eyes that were being revealed only because the wind was blowing his hair out of his face. He looked confused.

"You sure you're Payne's daughter?"

I returned his confused look. "Um... Yes."

He just shook his head and looked away from my face. Strange monster, this one, I thought.

We had been flying for what seemed to be about half an hour when I dozed off.

"Honey?!" father called. "Lacey?! Oh god, Lacey where are you?!"

I ignored his calls. I just continued to stare into Madeline's empty eyes. Staring. No thoughts were running through my head at the time.

"Oh, Lacey. There you are." My father sighed, relived to find me. I heard him walk up to me from behind. "Where have you been? What in the world are you doing here?"

I didn't answer. I just continued staring at my lost best friend. I suddenly felt my father's presence directly behind me. All of a sudden he went silent. I couldn't even hear his breath.

"She's gone..." Father whispered. He looked into my eyes, sorrow evident in his gaze. "I'm sorry, Lacey." I still didn't answer. I just stared into his eyes and felt a pain in my chest. It felt like someone had placed nails face up in my heart, and they were now digging into it, going deeper and deeper with every beat.

My father put my face in his hand. "It'll be alright, Hun." And embraced me in a hug. I cried into his shoulder.

I told myself I would shed no more tears, but I couldn't help it. I just cried and cried. There was something about Father that just made me comfortable. Not even Mother, when she was alive, made me feel so at ease. It was strange.

"I'm sorry," he repeated over and over. "I'm sorry..."

My father's comforting words slowly faded as a new voice from deep in the forest called to me.

"Get up, you stupid brat! Stop screaming and dry those damn tears!"

I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was a very tanned woman. She had dark auburn hair and forest green eyes. She was glaring at me. "What the hell is your problem? You've been crying and screaming for five whole minutes! Jesus! No one'll want someone like you!"

I frowned. She bruised my ego, but I agreed. I was never beautiful like Madeline, who had long, gorgeous black hair, and bright sparkly blue eyes. Along with that came beautiful porcelain skin.

All I had was long, pale, lifeless blonde hair that constantly covered my face, and a patch of light golden freckles along my nose. My skin was deathly pale, and not the beautiful kind. The kind that would make people question if I'd ever seen the sun. The weird thing is, I was in the sun every day. We didn't have electronics to play with in Darthbrooke, because there were no plug-ins. I was just born awkward and gross looking. All the boys in Darthbrooke Valley favored Madeline over me. Even Jeremy. Although he pretended to hate us both, he had a huge crush on Madeline. One day we were having an egg war, and he just blurted it out to me.

"Ah! You got me in the ear!" I shouted, as I threw an egg at Jeremy. It hit him square in the chest. He paused for a moment and looked at the ground. I knew he was only thirteen, but Jeremy had really started to mature lately. And I liked it. I really did not hate him anymore. I was in love with Jeremy.

He opened his mouth and closed it, as if searching for the right words. I smiled at him encouragingly. "What do you want to say?"

He returned the smile and told me, "I... Want to marry Madeline! I'm going to ask her father if I can this afternoon... I was wondering if you could put in a good word for me...?" he asked.

Of course we couldn't get married at this age, but I knew he meant in the future.

I put on my most fake, encouraging face. "Sure!" I said with fake enthusiasm. All the while, my heart was really actually slicing into pieces.

"Good lord girl! Get in the game and stop spacing out!" the woman screeched at me again. My gaze was cast to the ground. "Sorry..." I stuttered,

"Whatever. Just stand up and get out of that damn chair."

"Yes Ma'am," I said, and stood up.

I didn't know who she was, but she still scared me. I wasn't about to disobey her.

I was standing in what looked to be a dressing room.

"Um... If you don't mind me asking... Where am I, and what am I doing here?" Yet again my curiosity got the best of me.

"Number one, we're at the Medium Centre. Number two, if ya don't know now, then you'll find out soon enough, girly."

I wrinkled my nose. I didn't really like the way she talked to me.

"Stay put," she ordered. I did as she said, watching as she walked to a desk that had a mirror attached to it. She pulled open a bottom drawer and took out what looked to be measuring tape, but didn't have a little box attached, like what my dad used to use.

She wiggled her finger at me, as a sign to come to her. I shuffled up to her, in my worn out sneakers.

The moment I reached her, she put the measuring tape around my waist. "Hmmm..." she muttered. "Average sized waist..." She moved the tape to my hips. "Hips are a bit too small but that can be changed..."

My eyes widened and my body stiffened as she put the measuring tape around my bust. Really awkward. "How old are you?"

I smiled awkwardly. "Sixteen.."

She laughed and said, "Well, for fucks sakes. You'd think you'd have a bigger bust size by now. What are you? An A cup?"

Yet another bruise to my ego. "I don't know.." I muttered.

She shook her head. "Boy, you're clueless. Never mind." She paused and inspected my body. "What the hell are you wearing?" I squinted my eyes at her disapproval, and looked down at my dirty, worn out overalls. "Erm... Overalls?"

"Nope. Ugly. That's what you're wearing.. Now take it off."

I was slightly hurt by her comment. This was my favorite pair of overalls.

I paused. "Right... In front of you?" The woman rolled her eyes. "Oh god. You are the worst of all the girls I have seen today, I swear. Spaced out and disrespectful!" She glared. I was surprised and confused. People usually said I was one of the best behaved girls they had ever met. Not worst.

Regardless, she gestured her hand to a white door and handed me a new set of clothes. I inspected the articles of clothing. She had given me a short, pleated, plaid skirt, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, knee high socks, and a pair of Mary Jane's. I also noticed she had given me a little black thong underwear that could barely be counted as a garment, and a matching bra. I was a little skeptical.

It looked a little like my old school uniform from Darthbrooke Valley that Jeremy's mother had made for all the children. The only difference being that the skirt was a bit shorted than ours were.

"Get into the bathroom," she ordered impatiently and gestured, once again, to the white door.

I skittered to the door and opened it. Once I got in, I made sure to lock it. everything was off-white in the bathroom, mainly due to filth. I took off my overalls and dusty, worn out sneakers, underneath laid the underwear and bra that my mother had given me a couple days before she died.

'A gorgeous young lady like yourself needs some young lady underclothes!" Mother smiled, teasingly. Every time she would smile, her pale green eyes would sparkle, and little wrinkles would appear around her eyes. I took the white pair of underwear and tiny bra from her. "I knew your father wouldn't buy them for you, so I did. He still thinks you're his little girl from back before we moved to The Valley." That's what she called it. The Valley. It's also what she called a special spot she found that had a lake with a waterfall and fresh vegetables all around. Mother told me she would take me some day, but it was very far off in the woods, so she never had time.

"Hurry up in there!" the woman shouted. I apologized and quickened my dressing.

As soon as I was done, I walked out with my old clothes in hand. The woman smiled approvingly. I smiled weakly back at her, regardless of the fact that it didn't meet my eyes. The memories of my mother were still fresh in my mind.

"You look much better than before..."

She looked me over, then walked up to me and undid the top two buttons of my shirt. "That's better. You may not have much under there, but you may as well show off what you do have."

She smiled sarcastically. "Now...We definitely need to give you a haircut... And we also need to style your hair and wash your face. Then maybe give you some make-up, okay?"

I nodded, but was terrified when she said haircut. I had ever gotten a haircut before. Trims, yes, but a haircut? No! I had worked hard for my hair to get all the way down to my upper thighs!

"Umm.. Can we maybe n-not um... Cut too much of my hair off?" I asked, nervously. I was afraid she would get angry, but all she did was smirk.

"Wasn't planning on cutting too much off, girly. Just to your waist. Thigh is far too long," she said, and began my transformation.

Once she was done, I looked completely different. She had given me slightly shorter hair, with bangs, and styled them into long, low pig tails. My skin was no longer caked with dirt, and somehow, she had covered up or perhaps even removed my freckles. I was astonished that she could do that. She had put what she had called eyeliner all around my eyes and gave me 'the smokey eye look'. She also made my skin darker by spraying this stuff onto my skin, wish I could say I liked the look. I had told her how I didn't like it, and all all she said that the people will.

I don't really care what people think of me, but she said that for the rest of my life I'm going to have to, as it will be important.

"Okay, you can sit back down in the chair now. My masterpiece is finished!" she sighed dramatically. I walked over and sat in one of the two wooden chairs that were placed on a wall near the door. The lady sat beside me, causing an awkward silence, until she asked me what my name was.

"..Lacey," I said with hesitation. I still didn't know this woman. Who she was, what she wanted with me.

"Cute name, chick. Quite girly. Wish I had a name like that. Name's Jessie. More of a boys name, I know, but I guess it suits me." Over the time that she had been giving me a make-over I had realized that Jessie was very talkative, and that she had kind of warmed up to me.

"Well-" I was interrupted by the creaking of a door. I whipped my head to the right to see who it was. I was hoping it was my father, coming to whisk me away, and apologize for leaving me in Darthbrooke Valley all by myself.

But no, it wasn't Father, it was a handsome man who looked to be about twenty. He had jet black hair, that reached a little past the middle of his ear. He also looked to have a bit of a side bang too, like the girls from my old town, but a little shorter. I wasn't sure what I would call it. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black colour, and he looked like there was a tiny bit of Asian in him. He was wearing casual blue jeans and a black button-up shirt, neither with any creases or wrinkles.

"Where is the girl, Jessie?" the man asked, causing Jessie to laugh.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up!" she smirked. The man rolled his eyes. "Look, I do not have time for games," his eyes finally landed on me. "Who is that? You're supposed to be working with Lacey, not this child! Damnit, Jessie!"

Jessie laughed, yet again. "That, Zero, is little Lacey. She doesn't look so little anymore does she?"

Zero rose an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose. She looks much better than when I found her."

My jaw dropped Was he around when the hideous monster abducted me? He helped the thing steal me away into the night?! Hate boiled in my veins.

"Anyways, hurry up. Come on, child. We need to take you to the show room."

"Okay!" I squealed, and followed the stranger, all prior feelings forgotten. The man slowly trudged out the door, like he had a five thousand pound weight on his back, and rolled his eyes at my excitement as I followed.. "Now don't get too excited..." he remarked sarcastically

His words caused the giddy feeling I got to die down slightly. "Sor.. Sorry. I just haven't seen a movie in so long."
.
He stared at me like I was stupid. "Whatever kid," he said, as he shook his head.

Finally a large, foggy glass door appeared and we walked into it. The room that we were in looked like the back stage of a theater. The floors were wooden and people were scampering around everywhere in a rush, putting make-up on girls and touching up clothing.

Not one head turned to greet us as we walked in and the door slammed loudly. It was like I had an invisibility cloak on. I smirked at the idea.

Zero roughly grabbed my arm and yanked me forward. "Come on, come on. We gotta get going." With his other hand, Zero thrust his hand, face up, into my face. On it, was a small, round, white ball.

"What's this?" I asked, slowly.

"A breath mint. Quick, eat it," he ordered, still pulling me along.

I popped the Mint into my mouth and tasted the peppermint spread all through my mouth.

We walked past possibly hundreds of girls, and about twenty rooms until we finally came to a halt. This room was hardly different that the others. The only difference really being that all the girls were standing in lines behind a huge, red velvet curtain.
Each girl was silent, and had an apathetic look on their faces. Zero pushed me into the first line behind a very short girl with black hair. I couldn't see her face.

"Just stand here, okay kid? don't say a word -ever. Understand?"
I nodded my head to show I understood.

Seconds later, the line began to move. The first girl in my line was pushed through the velvet curtain onto the other side. Once she stepped out I heard auction like voices going at a mile per hour.

I was confused and had no clue about what was happening. A tremor shook my body as I tapped on the short girl in front of me's shoulder. She didn't turn around, but turned her head the slightest bit, so I knew she was listening. I knew something was wrong here, and I had to know what. This crowd definitely wasn't here to see a movie.

"What." I swallowed hard. "Are we doing here?"

The girl's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "If I knew, I wouldn't be standin' here in line. If I knew I wouldn't have been starvin' myself in a cage for three days 'cause I was too 'fat'" she whispered in a southern accent.

I nodded. Having gotten no help from her, I decided to just wait in line and find out what was happening later.