The Beautiful and the Psychotic

Chapter Two

Warning: mature themes throughout the rest of the story. Not scenes really, just themes.

Bella walked around me as she explained, occasionally asking questions.

"Welcome to Silver Gardens. To outsiders this is a hotel. People check in, most of them leaving without knowledge of what's going on here. Some come for our.... services, and some come and never leave, like you probably did. A couple of people, reffered to as VIPs, know what's really here." She stopped and used a few sample bras to find my bra size, concluded 18B and continued. "In reality, you're at, well... there's no real word for it.  We capture girls and occasionally boys, make them work, prostitute them, and experiment. I don't like it one bit, but I'm just as trapped as you are. I just gained 16's trust and became evaluator and stylist." She picked up the measuring tape and started measuring my legs.

"Wait a moment. Prostitute? Experiment?" I panicked.

David came in at this point. "It's okay! We rarely get experimented on. Experiments only happen maybe four or five at a time when 16's testing something, about once every few years. As for prostituting, most girls only get clients 2-4 times a year. But trust me, I hate it too. We're all trapped here, but we have to do our job, or 16 might kill us."

"Who's 16?" I asked as Bella started measuring my arms.

"16 is the boss. The guy who started this. I will warn you, don't cross him, and certainly try to be in his good books. Now, I know you have a bad memory, but let's see how much you can remember," Bella said, straightening up. "Age?"

My memory was starting to come back, although some things were fuzzy still. "15, I think."

"Well, that's something," Bella sighed, grabbing a note off the table and neatly making a note of it- 15?

"Virgin?"

"I think so."

"Do you remember your name yet?"

"No."

Bella sighed. "You're not very sure, are you?"

I laughed a little.

"Well, we best take you to meet 16 before dinner. Maybe he has something somewhere to counter the drugs. Plus, he has your bracelets."

As Bella lead me to 16, David in tow, I asked her some questions about Silver Gardens.

"So is it really that bad here?"

"Well, most days it's just breakfast, work, dinner, talk, sleep, which isn't too bad. On birthdays, Christmas and other special occasions we're allowed out into the pool, which is great. But we have to wear these bracelets, which if we leave, tighten so much our hands are cut off.... and our life expectancy is only about 35. When we start to get old, we're thrown away like rag dolls."

She sighed. I lowered my head, not sure how to respond.

"How old are you?"

"24. I've been here six years. David's 18."

"Hey, we still have plenty of years to go!" David said, running up behind her and punching her shoulder.

Just like that, she snapped into "fun" mode. Bella grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hallway until we came to a room labeled B403.

"How many rooms are here?" I asked.

"Around 1500," David said as he pushed open the door.

As soon as I saw the man behind the desk, my blood froze.