Childhood Age 8 Part 1 (**)

Warning the next few chapters contains elements that are not suited for the sensitive people. Contains scene of ****, sex ,violence, drugs, and abuse.

End of warning.

[Brackets are Wrath's talking thoughts]

(Parenthesis are Darkness Talking thoughts)

....

A year passed since I awoke, and since then I have learned many things about my new life.

Firstly, the brothel we reside in is owned by both the Penitente Cartel and the Calabreses. The two made a partnership not long after Batman started exposing and helping to lock up the gangs mid level and higher level people. The Cartel provides drugs to the Calabreses who then use their nightclubs to lure young women in and get them hooked , after awhile the women become both broke and addicted and are brought here to 'work'. Only they don't get paid a dime instead Gareth takes all the money and gives the girls drugs so they keep on doing whatever the customers want.

Gareth is gay so he was seen as an ideal boss for the operation as he tends to not give a fuck how pretty a woman is, if she doesn't get enough screws he withholds all or part of her daily allowance .

Ashraf has had this happen a few times and these are usually the worst times to be home as she will mercilessly beat, whip, and hit me and Crystal until we are huddled together on the floor bleeding.

I asked Crystal once why we don't just run away and she plainly told me that even if we did we have almost no money and no way to get any, short of her whoring herself on the street. If she did that she would probably just get picked up by a local pimp or worse end up back here with a room next to dear old mother and matching needle sets.

I then asked why we didn't got to the police and claim to be orphans or something to which she started laughing hysterically saying she would rather whore herself out in order not to be separated from me. It was over a week before I could even piss by myself after that.

After that I discovered more about the layout of the place. It is a six floor building with the bottom floor serving as a public lobby with decent looks if you use the elevator. They front as an Herbal shop and do actual business to not arouse suspicion to the upper floors, which are all claimed as apartments for rent.

Customers looking for more than herbs request special stock and are taken up an elevator in the back.

The second floor is where the fresher more popular girls are located for quicker access. The third floor is where the less popular whores are as such they get less drugs and less hospitality. The fourth floor is the training floor, the new girls are brought here to 'break' them into their new lives and not all of them survive the experience. On this floor acid barrels are delivered under the guise of "Herbal consumption preparation". Then there is the fifth floor, the floor that both me and Crystal fear the most. It is the floor that orphans are sold off, kids are brought there and forced to do whatever the customers want. It often ends with them broken and being put into the same acid barrels.

I found out that the local cops and vice are regulars here and the vice in charge of the investigation regularly goes up to the 5th floor and is promptly followed by an emergency acid delivery.

The sixth floor is where Gareth and his top thugs live and make their money. It is also where he holds his latest 'toys', that range in age from 15 to 30, depending on looks he doesn't mind age as long as he gets to break them in first. He likes to single out the pretty guys with less money and offer them credit lines they eventually cant afford, afterwards he has them pay him back personally with promises that if they make him happy he will forgive the whole debt. So far I have not heard of a single one who has been forgiven before ending up in an acid barrel.

I also learned that Ashraf used to be a street 'worker' before she had me. She was picked up when her then pimp died in a gang war and the area fell under new management.

Finally I learned that my sister is a little obsessive towards me.

Ok maybe more than a little as if I deviate from the daily routine to stay after school for example she will become a little crazy and starts a one girl manhunt for me.

All I wanted to do was read current events on the school library computer. I found her outside the gate arguing with a security guard that I am now sure she was five seconds away from stabbing.

I pity the man or woman she ends up with.

And so my life has continued with almost nothing significant save for the encounter with Duela.

I talk with the twins a lot and spend time with my sister, other than that life has been pretty miserable. We stay away from 'home' as long as we can but, if Ashraf doesn't get a full dose and we are late getting 'home' she gets even more vicious. The worst so far was when she had a whip that she keeps for a certain customer and she beat mine and Crystal's backs bloody.

It's my birthday today I'm officially eight in this world so my sister says we will go somewhere special after school.

Oh and one other weird thing is that some kid transferred in 4 months ago and seemed to immediately try to bully me but a week later his parents were at the school in hysterics after he didn't come home one day. We never found out what happened to him and when I asked the twins they just laughed and said it had nothing to do with them.

So here we are at the end of the day and waiting on a surprise guest in the auditorium.

[ I hope it's not another stupid crime mascot] I said bored out of my mind sitting between two girls who looked like they were ready to either hit me or run away from me after the teacher caught me trying to sneak away from the assembly and made me sit here where she could see me.

(I think if they had sent that giant dog one to the neighborhood it would have been far more useful) Nero said playfully

[The guys on our street would have gutted him and hung him still breathing from the traffic lights by his small intestine while the cops would have watched and laughed, how would that have been useful?] I asked wondering what possible use an anti-crime mascot would be on a street full of pimps, thugs, drug dealers, and prostitution.

(Entertainment) Xavera said in the most serious voice she could

[.....]

Finally the principal walks out on stage in his usual mottled brown suit that looked like it belonged as an upholstery to an elderly lady's sewing chair.

"Alright settle down kids ,we have a special guest here today to talk to you about doing your part to help prevent and report crimes you see" He said sounding as excited as drying paint on a shed "Please join me in welcoming Batman"

[...]

(.....)

Into the stage walked a man dressed in a Halloween store costume of batman who upon closer look was obviously our gym teacher Mrs. Cramer.

Yeah Mrs. Cramer was the most butch woman ever and most people mistook her for a man from her profile.

"This is so stupid" I whispered to myself wondering why I couldn't just go to the library and read .

"Yeah your right" said a girl next to me in a similar bored manner while the kids around us and towards the stage laugh and cheer at our gym teacher doing acrobatics on stage and talking to everyone about crime prevention and drugs are bad for you .

I looked at the girl who is older than me looking about 11 and probably in the 5th grade with long red hair and green eyes behind a pair of small cute glasses. She wore fairly expensive clothes and seemed to be reading a book about flowers before she had turned toward me and commented .

"You got anything else to read in your bag I'm bored." I asked hopefully as she stared at me curiously .

"I don't have any picture books for you sorry just big books with big words" she replied back matter of fact sounding and kind of annoyingly.

(Ha ha ha) Nero and Xavera snickered in my mind.

[Shut it] I snapped at them but it just caused them to laugh harder and make me more annoyed.

Feeling belittled I opened my bag and pulled out a middle school physics book my teacher had given me recently after, I had easily shown I was more advanced in almost all subjects thanks to my past memories. She had given up on getting my mother down to the school in order to put me into more advanced classes she felt were suitable to my ability.

My teacher had asked me where my home was at one point to try and visit my mother personally, but after I told her, she quickly dropped the idea feeling it was to dangerous for her and had settled with giving me different work from everyone else.

When the girl saw the book she looked slightly surprised and the look made it worth the time.

"So your not just a pretty dumb kid I guess." She said looking at me seriously, "Well the only other book I have is a book Psychoactive Plants and Ethnopharmacology but you can borrow it till this is over."

[....Huh?] I thought dumbfounded.

(Don't look at us) Nero said plainly.

"That's fine I guess and you can't really call me a kid I'm not much younger than you" I finally said reaching out for the book.

She looked at me curiously for a second and then as if deciding to not respond turned and grabbed the book from her bag before handing it to me .

"I want that back before we leave." She said as I grabbed the book, "I'm Pamela by the way Pamela Isley, what's your name?"

"I'm Wrath " I said with slight disdain. I hated my name almost as much as my sister seemed to hate hers. ~We would often spend long nights whisper name to each other and dreaming about what it would be like to get out of that hellhole of a home.~

"That's a stupid name." She responded quickly and I couldn't retort to it at all.

I sat their and browsed through the book not understanding a lot of it but it didn't matter Nero and Xavira memorized everything and were very quick to understand stuff even I couldn't, so it was still educational for them.

After another thirty minutes the assembly finally came to an end and we were dismissed for the day. I handed the book back to Pamela and thanked her.

"Did you even understand any of what was in that book." She asked as she packed it away and prepared to leave .

In truth I really didn't and was about to admit such but Xavira spoke up.

(Tell her this....)

"I was interested in Calea Ternifolia and its use to both create vivid dreams when asleep and not cause any other effect while awake. Its other uses as medicinal treatment for asthma seemed interesting as well." I said spouting every word Xavira fed me.

"I never met someone as interested in plants as I am. I will find you during free time from now on and lend you some of my books as well." She said happily as I was about to board my bus .

"Sounds fun see you tomorrow then." I said to her as I boarded my bus and began the ride "home".

The ride itself was uneventful as nobody really messed with me or talked to me and as usual at the end my sister stood waiting for me to arrive . She had only not met me a handful of times and I still wondered how she was always here before me.

"C'mon Wrath we are gonna celebrate your birthday today." She said to me grabbing me and pulling me towards the closer shops and offering to buy me this or that or wanting to know if I was hungry . The overall experience was fun and I was happy. I ended up with a few second hand books that I had to haggle her down to as she seemed intent on buying me new ones, then we ate at a nearby restaurant ending with one of those chocolate sparkler cakes and a bunch of overly enthusiastic waiters singing happy birthday to me. This caused Nero and Xavira to laugh at my embarrassment though they were happy for me as even in my past life I didn't really have anyone to celebrate my birthday with except Chela, but sometimes that ended with me regretting every life decision ever made. It was fun she may have been a sadistic weirdo but she stuck around for as long as I could remember. The thoughts of her brought a smile to my face as I sat there eating the cake.

I looked across the table to my sister who sat there with a big smile on her face and offered her some but she refused it saying she was happy just watching me eat.

If it wasn't for her violent tendencies towards others I would believe my sister was as innocent as could be when she sat there like that but, I had seen her put face to pavement before when people made her mad or tried to push us around so, i knew she was a firecracker despite her beautiful sweet outer looks. Speaking of looks she was looking older than her age of 15 and had filled out quite a bit over the last year which made it disturbing to still bath with her or wake up to find her D size chest pressed against me like I was some sort of anime lucky perv.

I tried many times to bathe alone. More often than not I didn't know where to put my eyes when she stood naked in front of me even if I was physically 8. I mean my brain was still a healthy young man and that had caused certain reactions that were hard to hide sometimes.

My biggest thanks was she had bought some underwear/sleepwear a few months ago after I had begged her after waking up with our shirts hiked up from the heat and her holding me like a body pillow. Ashraf hadn't really questioned it as she had thought Gareth or Jack had got them for us as the sizes were a bit big on both of us.

As it started getting dark we quickly made our way back to the brothel and up the rear entrance where Jack was waiting with the door open while smoking a joint.

"Your late." He said looking at Crystal.

"Did she not get enough customers today?" My sister asked holding my arm tightly as she asked that question.

"No, but she managed to earn her drugs doing a favor for Gareth." He replied as he stared at us a slight look of pity in his eyes.

"Thanks for heads up Jack does she have customers right now or can we head in?" She asked not caring about the pity of others or whatever Ashraf had done.

"Yeah, but they will probably take awhile so just head in," he replied.

My sister nodded and started to drag me up the stairs and down the hall towards our room

(Somethings wrong) Neros said to me.

[What?]

(He isn't acting as jovial as usual and normally he only smokes when he has to clean the kids corpses up) Xavira replied.

I realized too late she was right as we entered our room and saw six guys standing around with one of them aggressively plowing a bloody and broken Ashraf on the bed with her eyes rolled back.

"Finally you are back Crystal we have been waiting for you. " A seventh man tall and muscular said walking out from the kitchen followed by a shirtless man covered in scars and trembling with a downcast face.

It was Gareth and I knew this day was about to get so much worse than I could have imagined.