My Number One (001/Henry Creel/Vecna x Reader)

Unemployed

Eleven looked up at me, fear on her face.

"You stay here," I said. "You'll be safe here."

She shook her head.

"I know a place where I can go. I'll be safe there, and I can get us help. Start our new life."

"Then can I come, too?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. You're too young, you won't be allowed to go where I'll go. These boys will look after you. They mean well, I can tell."

Eleven nodded reluctantly.

When I looked away from Eleven, I noticed everyone staring. Lucas looked torn, Dustin looked disappointed, and Mike looked a little guilty.

"Do you want a shower or something before you leave...?" he asked, but his tone of voice told me he didn't want to offer, but felt he had to. "I could give you some of my sister's clothes, or something."

I couldn't turn down the offer. I looked like I had camped out in the woods under the pouring rain for almost two nights straight...exactly what I had done.

*

The shower was one thing I was used to from the lab. Though it was a lot cleaner...and a lot warmer, it was the same thing, for the most part. The clothes Mike gave me were soft and comfortable—I almost didn't want to go outside in them not to dirty them up. He also gave me some food which fit in the 'pocket'—another new thing I had learned the existence of—of my coat.

Outside, the rain had stopped, but once I was there, I hadn't a clue where to set off to. I had convinced Eleven that I had a plan, one that would keep me safe and help us out in the long run, but it was all a facade to convince her to stay at the house with the boys.

One part of me wanted not to stray far from the house—the was where Eleven and the boys were, and I assumed I could go back in there when Mike's mum wasn't around. But, the other part of me wanted to explore. There was so much to this world I hadn't experience. In fact, almost all of it I hadn't experienced. I was sure that, with all of this potential, I could figure something out. I felt so done with being trapped in one place, not experiencing anything of my own. It also felt like the perfect opportunity now that Eleven was in safe hands, not being my responsibility right that moment.

So, I decided to walk, and I walked far. It was nearing morning, so there wasn't a point in sleeping until the next night. The walk was so enjoyable. I appreciated every blow of wind against my skin, every step where my foot hit the floor. The feeling, the gratitude, was inexplainable.

Soon enough, I reached a place with lots of buildings, but not houses. I could see through the windows that they were filled with different things, and most of them had signs out front saying 'shop'.

I found a long wooden seat on the side of the road and decided to sit on it and wait for sunrise. Though I was tired, I didn't want to sleep. I wanted to appreciate this. And I did. I watched the sun come up behind the buildings, turning from black, to navy, then quite suddenly to orange, then yellow, and finally back to blue, but this time light in shade.

That was about the time people appeared, and vehicles began riding the roads. I knew what they were, because sometimes they were used as transport around the halls of the lab, which suddenly I was grateful for.

When the streets became busy, and it was time for me to figure something out, like I had told myself I would, I realised I had far, far less of a clue than what I had thought. I had nothing. The only thing I could think of doing was asking. I stood up, glanced around, and noticed a building across the road with lots of pictures on the front window. As I crossed and got closer, I noticed they were all pictures of houses. The door was propped open—I had actually watched it open earlier on in the morning. I walked in and over to the lady I'd seen enter stood behind a table.

"Are these for sale?" I asked, gesturing to all of the house photos plastered around the walls.

The woman looked at me miserably, raising her eyebrows. "Yes, they are, but I doubt within your price range."

"Pardon?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh, you know what I mean. Don't pretend I'm wrong. I saw you on that bench at five o'clock in the morning. You're homeless, and unless you have a job you've been working exceptionally hard at, you don't have enough money for any of the houses we have advertised here.

"Money?" I asked.

The woman laughed under her breath. "Yes, I didn't doubt you weren't familiar with that concept."

"What?"

The woman smiled and raised her eyebrows, higher this time, and widened her eyes. She spoke in a slow, enunciated manner, saying, "M-o-n-e-y. The thing you earn with a job, and use to buy things, such as food and a house. Got it?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Good," she said, smiling and clapping her hands together. "Now run along back to your bench."

I backed out of the building in a daze. I really wasn't cut out for this society. The words she said sounded like gibberish to me.

When I stepped back out into the pavement, I also accidentally stepped straight into the path of a grey-haired man dressed in a suit. He stopped at a halt, and looked taken aback. "Can I help you?" he said.

"Yes, thank you." I said. "Do you know how I can get a home? A shelter?"

The man looked baffled for a moment, but then his expression changed to satisfaction. "Why, yes," he said. "Would you be interested in a brothel?"

"Brothel?" I asked, the word unheard of to me.

"Apologies, I shouldn't have suggested it," he said once seeing my baffled expression, and he shook his head and began to walk away.

"No," I said, catching his arm. "I'm interested."

"Oh," he said, smiling, looking sort of relieved. "Well, I own a stripclub and brothel. Lots of the women live and work there, and the money is fantastic."

I grinned, and almost laughed with delight. How could life be this easy? I was so lucky! I had already found a place for women to live and make money in one. Everything just seemed to fall into place. I could make money, too, and with a home provided, I could spend it on all I wanted. I wondered what the work entailed, but I knew it couldn't be worse than all I had done so far because, after all, this was society, not the lab. I was seen as a person. I was safe here.