Silent Emily

Streets

It was a tough life, I knew that.

No one but the people who had lived through it understood.

Everyone watched the mini interviews people posted on YouTube and TikTok of the hookers and the druggies and the losers but they would never actually understand.

Fuck, I didn't. Not until It was my last option.

You did what you had to do to survive, everyone out here knew that. Chicago was tough as nails, old as hell and dangerous.

Shootings, stabbings, muggings, rapes. You name it, we had it.

"Emily!" A soft voice called out. I turned, grinning as Arnya walked up to me. She was the first person I met out here, the first girl like me.
Arnya was Russian, pretty and skinny with a single tattoo of a red rose on her arm. She got it so if she ever disappeared and a body was found, she could be identified.
That was the problem with our line of work, so many girls disappearing only to be found days later hacked up into pieces.

"Arnya!" I called out in a similar tone. Her heels clacked against the sidewalk as she came to my side, linking her arm through mine as we walked. She had on a red one piece lingerie dress and her heels were huge, like 7 inches tall.

"How are you, my sweet?" She asked me. Her accent was thick but it definitely had a twing of American added to it now.

"Fine, looking. How about you?"

"Fine, fine. Had a run in with Carlos again. That fucking idiot dumbed me out of twenty dollars. Never again. His penis smells of gasoline anyways." She laughed, deep. I followed along, giggling at her statement.

It was true, he did smell like gasoline.

"Had any luck?" She asked me. Her heels still made sounds as we turned down our alley, making our way to our tents.
I shook my head, feeling the hair on my head shake as we came to our makeshift home. Arnya entered first, slipping her arm out of mine and intwining our fingers pulling me behind her. It wasn't much but it was enough. Kept us out of the rain, snow and away from the weirdos that lived around us. I sat down, watching as she dug through her bag. She pulled out a Snickers bar, moving it around in front of my face. My mouth filled with saliva.

"I know these are your favorite, my sweet." She said. She tore open the wrapping, ripping it in half and handing me one part. I pushed it into my mouth, biting into the chocolatey sweetness. My tooth cried in pain but I ignored it. Cavities had no place on the streets of Chicago.

"I'll work tonight," I told her. "You can sleep if you'd like." Arnya nodded and laid back, slipping her feet out of her heels and tossing them into the corner. We had a small collection we shared. Heels, outfits, earrings, makeup. Pretty much anything we had, we shared.

The streets were rough but they were manageable if you could find a sister. Someone who watched after you and reported you missing to the local police if you disappeared. Someone who looked for you themself when the police deemed you "no humans involved."

It fell to night soon, Arnya was passed out and I got dressed. I put on a pink slip lingerie dress and short pink heels to match. I rubbed on pink eyeshadow to finish the look along with a pink gloss Arnya had found in one of her john's cars.

Crawling out of the tent, I made sure the flap was completely shut so if someone tried to come in, it would wake Arnya. We had tied some empty cans with strings to the inside, a makeshift booby trap if you could call it that. A noise maker so if someone tried to invade us we'd know. Arnya kept a collection of pocket knives under our outfits, concealing them so if someone did unfortunately enter, she could do to them as she pleased.