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Dance with me.

Bring my demons, to their knees.

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-Chapter 23- Inside these dusty dark walls-

This stupid bitch expression soured when she noticed Leo's hard cold eyes that dangerously blazed with fury.

This bitch took the wrong day to be stupid.

By his dark eyes alone, I could already imagine what is going through his head as he openly glares at her in such a way... And I'm pretty sure it's anything but pretty.

If she wasn't a woman... At this precise moment, she would have probably been on the concrete floor receiving Leo's wrath... for talking about someone else's hardship with a hint of amusement in her disrespectful passive tone.

His whole stance changed from a passive one to a defensive one in seconds the more he heard her talk.

It seems like... Someone here is taking everything this intoxicated bitch is spilling out straight to the heart. I mean this bitch is too inebriated to even stand on her own two feet.

Where in her slumped body posture screams sober?

I don't believe a word that's coming out of her mouth, to be honest. For all, we know there could be some lies mixed with some truth inside her sluggish words.

We both know first hand not to trust words that spew out from drunk fools.

Sometimes, it's difficult to know when they're telling the truth or... When they're fabricating lies. Especially when the person is intoxicated out of their right state of mind.

"Keep on talking. What do you mean by young pretty bitch?" Leo persisted on that as he took a few steps towards her.

She seemed to sober up a little— because she took a few alarmed steps back... Her grey eyes slightly widen with a hint of fear reflected in them. Those eyes don't dare to stray away from Leo's tall frame.

"Well— Ummm. The majority of my loaded customers..." She took a few steps back as she continued. " You know the fellows with the big bucks were taken from me by her innocent, pretty face..." Her shaky voice got lower— the more she let out words... Almost contemplating if she should honestly say what's on her mind, right now or keep it to herself and make a run for it.

" Hiccup... Her mother earned money that way. If it wasn't her taking them away from me it was her arrogant whore of a mother.

That— That pretty face of hers was very popular with the wealthy couples that came here to live out their sick fantasies...

Her… Her mother called her pretty young bitch… hiccup —whenever she introduced one of my well-off clients to her... " She hesitantly mumbles the last words out as she seems ready to sprint out of here if things start heading south.

Supposedly, My little toy was pimped out by her mother. No wonder, she's so easy to mess with... And also easy to push around. She has been like that her whole life.

Oddly enough I felt a hint of pity for that girl… Who always seems afraid of everything and everyone.

The only reason I came here in the first place was to look for something I could use against her when she misbehaves... Just to keep her in check.

But... If what this bitch is saying is the utmost truth.

Then Leo was once again right about me going easy on the new toy. There's no choice but to patiently wait a little bit longer until she seems healthy in body, mind, and soul.

But I doubt her soul will heal anytime soon.

Looks like all three of us have something in common… And that's being born from unfit mothers who don't deserve to have the title of "mother" at all.

The bitch gets startled by a young high pitched voice screaming out " Mom, I'm hungry. Can I eat cereal?! "

All our attention was pulled towards a young boy... Who looked to be about six or seven years old. He has the same shade of grey eyes as the woman who is standing sluggishly in front of us.

His small head hangs out of the front door from the house next door to the shabby-looking home.

If you could call that rubbish a home.

The woman of course took the opportunity that the gods gave her to make herself vanish from our sight.

"Leo, Let's go before it gets dark." Leo closely followed behind me without saying a word. Curiosity and Anger still clearly displayed on his face... My brother surely wanted to keep on questioning her more on Emma.

Entering the rundown house wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be to enter... The front red door was oddly open. It seems like we weren't the first ones to break in.

The first sound that bounced off these thin walls was the annoying squeaky noise creaking from the dark wooden floor. It annoyingly creaked every time we took a step forward.

The first thing that caught my eye was the big dark stain on the dark wooden floor in front of the flight of stairs.

It seems like whoever tried cleaning it up gave up halfway on doing so... They also left the yellow tape surrounding the crime scene on the floor.

There must be where her stepfather killed the landlord... Shit, I would have done the same thing if that bastard got me paying monthly rent for this trash that he called home.

"Damn, this place is small... "Leo's voice echoed through the long dark hallway as he entered the living room.

The interior was no different from the exterior, everything looked like it needed a paint job and some remodeling too.

The walls had this ugly yellowish-white color that was chipping away... The only source of light we had was the faint yellow glow flowing in through the yellow dusty curtains that hung from the black rods on the wall.

This place is the definition of the word .

Damn... No wonder, she's always having nightmares every night. Who wouldn't if they lived in a place like this.

Oddly enough there was still some old furniture here. In the center of the living room, there's an old brown couch covered in a thin layer of dust.

There is also a broken painted-colored lamp on the floor in the corner of the small room and a small outdated chimney that seems like it has never been used before.

Just imagining a battered malnutrition Emma wandering inside this place just doesn't sit right with me. The more I searched around the house the more this odd feeling inside my chest kept growing.

We both separated to cover the place much quicker. Leo took the basement while I took the second floor.

As carefully as I could I went up the shrieking wooden stairs... Just like the first floor, the second floor was coated in a thin layer of dust.

My eyes began to slightly water due to the number of dust particles floating in the air.

The first bedroom was a few steps away from the flight of stairs. When I entered the so-called bedroom, the first thing I noticed was the peeling white paint on the ceiling and walls.

In the corner of the small bedroom, there's an old mattress stained with... What seems like dried-up blood. On top of it, there's an old little blue jay beanie baby plush toy. The plush toy was missing one of its little wings.

This must've been Emma's bedroom. It's three-time smaller than the one she has now. There wasn't even a bathroom inside here.

The windows were covered with wooden boards, Why do I get the feeling that those wooden boards have always been nailed to the windows?

This bedroom looked more like a jail cell from a third-world country than a bedroom for a young girl.

On the left side of the bedroom, there's a small closet. I checked inside, and strangely enough, there was a little pink box placed on the corner of the small closet also blanketed in a thin layer of dust. Thin threads of web dangled from the small corner of the closet.

What immediately caught my eye from inside the box was an old rip picture of her dad and her sitting in the park on a sunny bright day. Both of them wore an enormous smile plastered on their faces... She looked around 4 or 5 in the picture.

Damn, tragedy does change a person.

She doesn't hold the same innocent bright spark ignited in those brown eyes anymore.

Where her mother was supposed to be was ripped off clean.

"Kevin, come down here. You must see this—"Leo's voice dies down when he enters the small bedroom.

His eyes immediately locked on the old mattress at the corner of the room.

He seems to be having an eternal battle within himself. I wonder... What's going through his head right now as he stares at the old blood-stained mattress.

"Look at this," I walked towards him with the dark pink box in my hand. The first thing he took was the ripped photo from my hand and examined it carefully.

"This is probably the only baby picture she has of herself. "A pitiful smile appeared on Leo's face as he let out those words while he stared at the photo in his hand.

A few police sirens filled the air for a few seconds grabbing our attention for a minute and then the sound gradually faded away.

My hand outstretched towards him, waiting for him to pass me back the ripped photo... But it seemed like he wasn't going to give it back to me. "Are you going to keep that?"

"Yeah," Leo admitted with no shame as he started taking out his black leather wallet and placing the small ripped picture in the clear ID pocket.

"Dude, wouldn't she freak out if she knows you have her precious picture."

"She won't know if you don't tell her..." He retorted quietly.

My head slightly shook in disbelief as my focus returned back to the pink box in my hands.

A small white birthday card with little bluebirds stood out to me.

It had a little white flower dried up inside the small card.

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Happy birthday, Sweetheart.

Today, you're turning eight. I hope you're not mad at me for not coming to visit you on your special day.

You know, your Mommy is having a hard time right now. And we can't see each other.

You know your mom and I love you very much right?

Please never forget daddy loves you with all his heart. And I will always love you no matter what sweetheart.

💮Sincerely, Dad.💮

───────•••───────

From the date written on the birthday card... If I could recall correctly... Richard was already together with Nancy when he sent Emma this little colorful birthday card.

My eyes redirected towards the pink box expecting to see the other birthday cards... But it seemed like she never received another one from Richard, again.

Then we went to the master bedroom. Just like the first bedroom, this bedroom had no bathroom. There still was the old bed set here, with some of their belongings still scattered on the floor.

Unlike Emma's bedroom windows this bedroom had all the windows unbarricaded.

We made ourselves downstairs... Not dwelling too much with her little box or... On... The master bedroom.

And we stopped right in front of the basement door.

One of the many things I detest in this world is dark dirty basements.

Withdrawing my smartphone out of my jeans pocket, I immediately turned the flashlight on... And down the dark eerie basement... We go.

Seeing this dark place provoked some dark memories to vividly resurface in the forefront of my mind… Just recalling all the time our mother used to lock us up in a cage in the dark dirty basement for misbehaving.

At least I had my twin brother who helped me not to go completely insane... But Emma had no one...

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I want to take a moment and thank everyone who voted in my story and kept reading this far into the book.

FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT 🙌👏❤

Please leave a comment, I would love to know what you guys think of this chapter. It would keep me more motivated🥳💘.

-Bye, See you next time👋-