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Leah sat on her bed sitting there worrying about Rose she had usually always gotten the creeps on the street and Rose was a nice girl and didn't deserve this but what could she do T was the one who did this to all of them.
Leah sometimes wonders if her parents ever thought about what happened to her like if she died or ran away she thought about them everyday imagining what they would say if they saw her again if they would be even happy to see her what if they were glad that she was gone and ever time she thought these bad thoughts she started crying because she was scared that they might be true in some weird and unlikely way.



While Leah was waiting up for Rose to get home she started hearing an alarm go off across the street it seemed to be a cop going by for just a second she sat there knowing right now if she said something these police could take her away all she had to do was say something Say something, anything, yell scream you have to get out of here you don't want this say something she thought as she kept on thinking this the cop drove pass and she knew she again had missed her chance of getting out of here but she didn't know what to do she knew if she did escape she wouldn't get far with her being so tried and T might come after her parents at least like this she knew they were alright.



While Leah was waiting she remembered closing her eyes being so tried not to be able to resit sleep so she feel into a sleep, a dream state of sleep. As Leah was sleeping she heard a jingle of keys and suddenly sat up hearing some talking in the halls then the door opened and she saw Rose standing there looking extremely tried and ready probably for a shower. She looked at Rose and got up out of bed saying "Are you okay I was worried about you." pulling out a chair for Rose to sit down on.

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Dialogue and thoughts are in #3333FF

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"Eight-thirty tonight? That'll do just fine," the bearded man drawled. "I trust they'll be in the best condition." He lifted the slat of the blinds with a finger and peered through it as he half-listened to the man on the other end ramble his assurances. Of course they'd be in perfect condition, for what you paid only the best, what do you take me for, et cetera et cetera. Hooey. They wouldn't be. Not by his standards. The best condition for those girls would be not being there at all. The best condition for those girls would be safe at home with their families. That simple.

"Good, good," he said absentmindedly into the phone. "Until next time, then." And the line went dead. The bearded man kept his gaze on the gap in the window slats, looking out in silence.

The view from this new room wasn't nearly as nice as the view from his old apartment. From there he had a perfect view of the apartment across the street and the church steeple above it. Whenever he was angry, he looked out that window, and saw the cross high above everything, and he remembered who had the power in the end. In ev'ry age, O God, you have been our refuge, you have been our hope.

Instead he was here, in a fake home for a fake man, for Edward Shaw the mysterious gentleman caller. According to the history he had memorized (and helped create), he had made his fortune in business consultation, improving several businesses' inner workings through sociological analysis. It was simple, believable thanks to the crash course in sociology, and utterly false. Hopefully he would not need it for long: his accent was starting to irritate himself, and he had only been speaking in it for a few days of warming up so far. The beard, too, itched, reminding him why he hadn't grown one since Savannah.

He glanced at the clock. Eight AM. About time to head to Holy Spirit. He took a piece of paper from the desk and scrawled on it:

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If you're reading this, I've gone for a walk. I should be back by 9:30. Don't worry, but don't do anything stupid. -E

---

And done. He took the black knotted cane from its resting place by the door and left, locking the door behind him.

Walking out in public as Edward Shaw felt weird, he realized. He felt like his limp was overdone, didn't look realistic. He wondered if the shillelagh was too obvious. He didn't want Shaw to be too ostentatious: after all, if Shaw were to be shot, Lije McCloud would be the one really shot. Fat lot of good the facade would do him then.

He arrived at the church a few minutes before half-past. He silenced his cell phone, then took a seat midway to the back, knelt, and prayed. Lord, he muttered, "I'm going to be walking in the shadow of perdition for the next few weeks. Maybe longer." He paused, sighed. "I just want to help them. That's what You'd do, right?"

The bell rang, and the ten others in the church stood. The bearded man stood with them. Was it Lije McCloud who was going to Mass, or Edward Shaw? He didn't want to think about it.

---

The light turned green as Mason pressed on the gas. He was just driving around with no real destination in mind, mostly because he was feeling sick to his stomach. He didn't know how to handle it and he needed time to think, hence the driving. I need a beer He shakes his head, No, no not now. Not after I've been so good.

Mason had been sober for three months, and trying to get sober for much longer. It's true what they say; an addict never stops being an addict. At work, at home, anywhere really he still feels as though he needs to have a beer.

He glances at the clock, "Shit, it's already 10:30. I should get back to the house." The house was not really his, but it was rented by the department for the duration of the case they were on. They were entering the underground of Atlanta, a dark place filled with drugs, prostitutes, and pimps, a veritable hell on earth. The thought of it all made Mason sick to his stomach, he wanted to help them, he really did. However, something are just too hard to stare at. Nietzsche once said, "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares at you." And Mason was not impressed at the feeling of being watched, of being found out.

The reason for all this inner turmoil and tumultuous monologue? At 8:30 tonight, Mason and his partner, Elijah McCloud, were going to be "visiting" a small group of women held by a specter with no known identity. Tonight, they are going to gather evidence and hopefully to bring him down quickly. But they are stepping into a world they don't understand. A shadow world, where they must play by shadow rules.

---

Robin often found herself in this position, curled into the warmth of her covers while listening to the oddly comforting sounds of the bustling nightlife -the inaudible murmurs, gentle rumbling of vehicles and even the odd bark of a dog-, but being unable to allow her eyelids to droop down and call it a night. Sleep, of course, was nothing to be wasted in a profession such as hers; the job itself was so draining and left one wanting to do nothing else but sleep. Yet, it was nights like this one, nights in which Hope was out late, that Robin's eyes remained open, staring blankly at the cracks of the ceiling. She knew that Leah had to still be awake as well, bless that sweet girl's heart.

In an essence, the young brunette of only fifteen reminded Robin of herself in her earlier days. She can vividly recall being only fourteen herself, being thrown into a world of filth and scum that no one should have to deal with. It wasn't just scary, it was horrifyingly frightening in every way. It's not an easy transition to go from sitting at home, comfortable and living with all of those little luxuries such as being able to take a walk in the park or take a hot shower whenever you wanted, to suddenly being immersed in the dirty aspects of the underground sex trade. Not at sixteen, not at fifteen, not at fourteen should anyone have to go through this.

However, it seems that despite Robin being a veteran of the field for almost four years, she's still finding herself unable to fall asleep until she knows Hope is safe at home, just as Leah is. It just goes to show how camaraderie never fades.

Thankfully, it wasn't long until she heard the familiar jangle of keys and the rough twisting of a doorknob, followed by the pitter patter of Leah's feet against the floor. There were words exchanged between the two other girls of the apartment and they drifted towards Robin, beckoning her. Robin had enough of looking at the ugly cracks of her ceiling, herself, as she climbed out from the baby blue of her sheets and followed suit.

Standing at the doorway, looking admittedly exhausted, was her closest and dearest friend: Hope.

Leah didn't know what to say she couldn't let her two friends go without her it wouldn't be fair and Hope just went with a guy she was speechless she wanted to say she would do it but she hated it a lot but both those girl didn't deserve the treatment "I can't let you guys do that for me especially you Hope you just came back take a shower and rest I can't let either of you do this for me." Leah knew both girls would deny her to come so to add "But I know you both will say no so before you leave is there anything I can do for you?" she asked to see if they wanted anything or needed anything.






Leah looked at Robin and Hope and waited for them to reply but as she waited she went to the stove and grabbed the kettle. She poured in hot water and put it on medium and waited for it to boil.







Once it was done Leah took out the tea cups and poured the boiling hot water into the tea cups and set one in front of Robin and Hope. "Which flavor of tea would you like?" she asked. Grabbing herself a mango.

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Dialogue and thoughts are in #3333FF

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"Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life."

"Thanks be to God," Lije said with the others. The congregation began reciting the prayer to St Michael, and Lije joined them. As he continued through it, it felt more and more apt to his situation. He was confronting one of the rawest evils in the world, short of murder. He'd seen plenty of murder in his time, both in Savannah and Atlanta. That was bad enough. The victims were dead, hopefully in the light of God. Beyond that, he could not say. But they were dead. These girls were alive.

He gave a short nod to the priest as he shook his hand. "Enjoyed your homily, Father."

"Thank you," the priest said. "Are you new to this parish?"

"Sort of," Lije said in his Edward Shaw voice. "I'm staying around for a few weeks. Business."

"I see," the priest said. "I hope you'll come by Sunday."

"Oh yes," Lije said with a smile. "I'll come by every Sunday when I'm here, Father. You can count on that." Assuming nothing forces me into hiding, he added in his head.

"Excellent," the priest said. "God bless you."

"You too, Father."

With that, he set off for home—the closest thing to home, anyway.

---

The apartment was empty when he returned. Odd, he thought to himself as he crumpled up the note and tossed it, then sat down to wait for Mason's return.

---

After muttering a soft, "Earl gray" to Leah in response to her inquiry, Robin quickly followed Hope's lead and grabbed another one of the rickety stools and sat down. The chair squeaked, one of the poorly painted legs wobbling, threatening to give out and send Robin to the hardwood flooring. Under Hope's expectant gaze, Robin bit her cheek thoughtfully; her own gaze flickered from Hope's face to the young girl preparing the trio tea. Softly, she began, "You know I'd rather you not have to come with us, Leah."

Robin would rather have Leah not have to do anything at all, to be frank. Robin would be content with simply taking care of the other girl, babying her and giving her a life that would make her happy. However, it was something that Robin knew was entirely impossible given their circumstances. Leah lived their at the apartment with them because she did her job and she did her job well. That doesn't stop Robin from wanting Leah to just be a teenager, but, she supposes, she hasn't got much of a say in this matter. "If you really want to come with us, you can. I'd rather not have you put in the front lines, but if you say that you want to learn a few things, you can come along."

She hoped that Leah would remain passive, trying not to catch the attention of either of the two men. Robin and Hope would do their best to entertain the two guys and the job would be over before the three of them knew it. It was simply the matter of keeping Leah safe.

"It's you decision, Lee." Robin sighed.

---

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Leah was pretty surprised they said yes Robin and Hope loved to shelter Leah under there wing Leah didn't mind it though without parents she loved having Robin and Hope they were like her two big sisters. Leah looked at both girls as they sat down and said "I understand I'll stay out of the way and just learn some tricks." said Leah trying to sound a little happy even though they were talking about slavery she kept a smile on her face to make sure she kept living a fact of life she told herself she was just going to have a really difficult one with struggling to have a good happy time so she looked at the girls and said "I'm sorry about this but I hate being alone in the apartment by myself I hear noises sometimes and it freaks me out."





Leah scooted closer to the table in her chair and took two cubes of sugar and put it in her tea, grabbed the tea cup and took a sip of it carefully because it was still quite hot.

"Thank you, you guys are the best and I don't know what I would do with out you." she said looking at Robin and Hope she stepped up and walked to her bed. Lying down she took off her slippers and hoped into bed she pulled over her covers and grabbed her little bear, hugged it tight and closed her eyes.

Leah tried to keep her eyes shut but truthfully ever since she was gone she can never sleep like a normal person she had nightmares of the men she slept with and couldn't imagine what it was like before all of this stuff but she shock it off and kept her eyes shut and fell asleep thinking about Hope and Robin and her old home.