From: OneSickPuppy@HotMail.com   
      
   Story: Only To Get By 2 of 3   
   by Cactus   
      
      
   Chapter 2: Friends in Low Places   
      
   Jennifer sat on the ground of the bus terminal, her arms holding her   
   knees up to her chest and her backpack lying against the brick wall   
   beside her. She had been out of her house for five days now, and still   
   she hadn’t found a place to live or spend her life, and she hadn’t heard   
   or seen anything about where her mother might have ended up. Most of her   
   nights away from home were spent sleeping in alleys and behind buildings   
   – anywhere she felt relatively safe. On her second night she slept at a   
   friend’s house while her mother and father were out of town, and two   
   nights later she slept in an open, abandoned car that was parked in an   
   abandoned lot. Thankfully is was still early in the fall and the   
   temperature was still fairly cool, not cold.   
      
   Now she sat in the local bus terminal, watching the people go by and   
   wondering where she would go from here. She could try to sneak onto a   
   bus – she didn’t have enough money for a ticket yet. She could try to   
   get someone to buy one for her. Or did she want to go that route at all?   
   She still had the sinking feeling in her stomach because of the whole   
   situation. The buses came and went all around her, pulling up to and   
   leaving from the large overhang that projected from the main building.   
   She sat under the overhang, her face nearly covered by her knees as the   
   soft wind blew through her black hair. Her dark eyes seemed lost as she   
   passively watched the buses and the passing people. Hours had passes   
   since she wandered to this spot and not a thing had happened yet.   
      
   Not much longer passed before her view was blocked by a pair of legs   
   that stepped up in front of her. When they didn’t move she slowly looked   
   up so see the face of a tall man with a tanned complexion looking down   
   at her. His hair was dark as well as his eyes, and he seemed   
   Mediterranean in descent. He looked at Jennifer with kind eyes that   
   almost seemed to laugh within themselves.   
      
   “Hi…are you waiting for someone?” he said, his form almost silhouetted   
   by the bright sunlight that seemed all the brighter outside the shadow   
   of the terminal overhang.   
      
   “Ummm…” Jennifer began, unsure of how to answer, “Yes…I’m waiting for my   
   dad.” She lied, hoping to defend herself against any possible advances   
   he might try to make to a lonely young girl.   
      
   “I’m waiting for someone too…mind if I wait with you?”   
      
   Jennifer wasn’t expecting that response, but she didn’t know what else   
   to say. She nodded slowly and the man leaned against the wall opposite   
   her bag. For a moment the two were silent, but the man broke that a few   
   moments after arriving.   
      
   “What’s your name?” he asked, looking down at the beautiful 11-year-old.   
      
   Jennifer continued looking ahead, thoughts racing through her mind of   
   stories she’d seen on the news about little girls being kidnapped and   
   raped and murdered. She was silent for a moment, then said quietly “Meghan…”   
      
   The man nodded and smiled. “My name’s Gary. I’m waiting for my   
   daughter…she’s a little younger than you, I think. How old are you?”   
      
   “Eleven.” Jennifer didn’t feel a need to lie about that much. Besides,   
   if the man really had a daughter, he couldn’t be that bad. He didn’t   
   seem like her own father.   
      
   The young girl and the man talked for what seemed like a long while. She   
   ended up telling him anyway about how she ran away from home and what   
   her father had done. He told her about his daughter and how pretty she   
   was and how she would probably like her. After a while Jennifer noticed   
   a young girl who looked to be no older than seven walking up the street   
   towards them. Gary smiled and opened his arms to her, and the little   
   girl ran up and hugged him tightly. Gary had said her name was Christy,   
   and he wasn’t kidding when he said how beautiful she was. At 4’9,   
   Christy was as beautiful as Jennifer could imagine a young girl.   
   Chestnut brown hair pulled back in a ponytail accented her similar brown   
   eyes. Tiny soft lips and creamy skin gave her face an angelic look, and   
   her tiny, baby-fat hinted body was desirable even to the young runaway.   
      
   Gary looked to Jennifer with an arm around his young daughter. “If you   
   have nowhere to go maybe you can come with us…I’m sure Christy would   
   love getting to know you.”   
      
   Jennifer smiled and nodded. Maybe the kind man and his daughter could   
   get her mind off all of her recent troubles, and even offer her a decent   
   place to stay for a while until she could find her mother. She stood up   
   and slung her backpack over one shoulder, then followed Gary and Christy   
   as they walked down the street towards their home.   
      
   * * * * * * *   
      
   Jennifer entered the small apartment after her two hosts. The place was   
   dimly lit and not what some might consider very well off, expense-wise,   
   but it was cozy and she was glad to be in a place other than the   
   streets. Gary patted his little girl on her cute little rear and told   
   her to take Jennifer up to her room while he made snacks. The two girls   
   laughed and ran to Christy’s bedroom, closing the door behind them.   
      
   The bedroom was much smaller then Jenny’s old one, but she liked it a   
   lot. It was plain – a small single bed with pink sheets and blankets, a   
   table with crayons and paper, some posters and a nightstand with a cheap   
   radio. They sat on the small but comfy bed and began to talk. As the   
   conversation went on, Jennifer began to wonder about Christ’s   
   relationship with her dad. It didn’t sound like any other father and   
   daughter Jenny knew, but they seemed to love each other a lot. Finally,   
   Christy said something that confirmed Jennifer’s suspicions.   
      
   “You know, Gary isn’t my real daddy…my real daddy died a long time ago   
   and my mommy stopped caring about me, so when I met Gary he let me live   
   with him. He loves me a lot and I love him.”   
      
   Jennifer envied the relationship the two had, and wished that her own   
   father was as kind. Christy continued, and surprised her guest even more.   
      
   “Gary says that we can move to a nicer place when I make enough money   
   for him.”   
      
   “Make money for him? How?”   
      
   Christy smiled and bounced on the bed a little “Gary lets men touch me   
   and play with me, and they pay us for it. It’s fun cause it feels really   
   good, and Gary always makes sure they treat me right.”   
      
   As the conversation deepened, it was apparent that Gary was selling out   
   Christy as a little child prostitute. Jennifer learned that Gary had   
   other such girls too, and that some lived with them and some lived with   
   their unknowing – and in some cases knowing, parents.   
      
   Jennifer didn’t know what to think of all this. From what she knew of   
   sex, what her father had done to her, she didn’t like it much at all.   
   But Christy seemed to enjoy it a lot, and so did the other girls she said.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)