| Fan Fiction |
by miss_tiff15/teechung
I walked out of the bedroom, cardboard boxes in tow. I made my way through the kitchen and stared at the spot grandma fell. The floors were clean, blood no longer spilled across it. The funeral was small, we didn't know a lot of people. I stared at the peeling walls. I couldn't face this place anymore. There were too many memories that were unhappy. I left the key on the coffee table and closed the door behind me. There were only two boxes filled with poh poh and my things. I already found a small place, much tinier than the one I was living in, but enough for me to live. I sighed. I was born into this house. Or at least from my memory. Every picture of me was taken in this house. Grandma always by my side. I heaved the two boxes and walked down the stairs, and out of the apartment. I also quit my three jobs. One was handing out newspapers to our apartment building, that was no longer possible. The other job was waitressing downstairs. I couldn't do that either, once I moved. And finally the last one was cleaning the toilets at the buldings across from our building. I kept all my jobs near grandma, but now that she was gone, these jobs weren't really great. I never made much money anyways.
As I waited for the bus, I pulled out the letter grandma wrote to me before she left. Tears swarmed my eyes before I could even start. The words were so familiar, so sweet, so... never to be seen again. I took a breath and read,
Dear Lai Lai,
Grandma's really sorry. I'm sorry that I left. I really fought Lai Lai, but my body was just eating away. I'm old. And I knew there was one day I would have to leave. I guess, now that you're reading this letter, I've gone. Don't worry about me. Lai Lai, go find Charlene Choi, she's the grandaughter of my friend, you know, Sera? I used to tell you about her. Charlene will help you. Best wishes. I'm happy wherever I am. I hope you will be too.
Forever loving you,
Your poh poh.
I gasped at how the words hit me even when I read it hundreds of times. There was more to the letter, but I couldn't finish it. The bus stopped in front of me, and I placed the letter back into my pocket, heaved my boxes and got on the bus to look for Charlene Choi.
~
I slowly stepped off the bus and found an apartment building. It was an old building, nothing much. Almost like the one I used to live in. I took the stairs to the third floor, the highest of the building. I walked down the corridor, the lights blinking, the walls grey, the floor bumpy. I scanned the numbers and found what I was looking for, Suite 32A. My fingers reached for the doorbell, but there wasn't one. I gently knocked between the rusty gate that covered the door. A young girl, around my age opened it, and slowly pushed the gate. The creak of it made my ears hurt. "You must be Gillian Chung." The girl stated.
I nodded, "Charlene Choi?"
She nodded and walked back inside, sitting in front of the TV. I dragged my two boxes in and looked at the surroundings. The place was slightly bigger than the one I used to live in. One you entered, it was the living room, with a couch and a tv. The kitchen was right behind it, small, but nice looking. There was a dinner table on one wall, and on the other side were two doors. I made my way into one of them. It was the bathroom. There were nice tiles and a small showering area. It was much prettier than what I was used to. I reached for the other door. Inside was a bunk bed. There was a small dresser, and a lamp. "That's where we'll be living." Charlene piped up, never taking her eyes off the tv. I nodded.
"Can I unpack?"
"Do whatever you want."
I pushed the two boxes inside. There was actual floor space in this room. That was a first for me. The dresser was already completely filled. I left the box of clothes on the floor, and took the other one in the kitchen. There were already utensils so I decided to just take out my photo frames. I looked up at Charlene, "May I put these around?"
Charlene glared at me, "I said do whatever you want."
I nodded and started placing photos of grandma and myself everywhere. Charlene didn't seem to like me much. I slowly reached into a drawer, but Charlene's voice snapped at me across the room, "Don't touch that!" She ran over and snatched my hand away, "This is off-limits, got it?"
I slowly nodded, "I'll go to the bedroom then."
Charlene looked up at the clock, "No time for that. Your grandma left me to take care of you. I got you a job at the place I work."
I smiled, "Thank you."
"Don't get all sappy on me. Here's the uniform." She threw me a pile of clothes. "We're leaving in five minutes."
I grabbed the clothes and walked into the bathroom to change. I placed them on myself, but it felt like I wasn't wearing anything. I looked at my reflection in the cracked mirror. The top was a white dress shirt type of thing, but it was sleeveless. There were no buttons, and it just hung in front of my chest. The bottom wasn't any better. It was a pleated mini skirt in black plaid. So that when I twirled, the skirt would rise up. When I leaned down, my breasts would spill out from the top and my underwear would show from the bottom. A knock on the door dragged my eyes away from the exposing outfit. "Are you done yet?" Charlene called.
"I'm coming." I opened the door and Charlene bursted out in laughter.
"You've never dressed yourself, have you?" She glanced at my clothes in the cardboard boxes, "Not really your style?" I nodded. Charlene laughed, "Here, let me help you." She walked to her drawers and pulled out two tiny black pieces of cloth, that wouldn't be able to cover my hand. "Let's go a bit conservative for you. It is your first day." I nodded. "Put it on."
I stared at the offending clothes, "Where do I put them?"
Charlene laughed, "You'll figure it out." She looked at me, "Yeah, you're about my size anyways. They'll be a gift from me."
I smiled, "Thank you."
Charlene rolled her eyes, "We're late. Go change."
I nodded as she pushed me back into the bathroom. I stared at the clothes, and figured out that one of them was a black bra with pink lace across the top. The sides were made of only lace, and made it see through. I stared at the item. It was so slutty. "Do I have to?"
"If you want to make money."
I nodded. "Okay." I slipped it on, replacing my modest beige bra, with the black and pink lacy pushup bra. I stared at the mirror. My breasts were practically falling out. Was I even wearing this white shirt right? I stared at the other cloth. It was a piece of string with a small triangle in the front. "How do I put on the thing that's stringy?"
Charlene laughed, "It's a thong, sweetie."
I stared at it. No way, it looked less than the usual ones I see in the stores, "Are you sure?"
Charlene started to sound slightly pissed, "Yes, now put it on before we get fired."
I slipped it on underneath my skirt, replacing my white panties. I felt like I had a wedgie. I pushed the door open and Charlene laughed. "Do you not know how to put this shirt on?" I shook my head. She reached over and tied the hanging shirt into a knot right under my breasts. The shirt now exposed everything but my breasts. I stared at the mirror in the bathroom. The white shirt was so see through that my black bra was sitting very obviously inside. And even if it wasn't see through, you could still see my breasts if you looked down at me. The shirt cut a deep V that hit my breasts. Now that the knot was tied, my stomach was completely exposed. I kept pulling my skirt down without trying to do any sudden movements. It twirled out when I turned around. I looked horrible. Charlene grabbed my hands, "Let's go. Put these shoes on. I'm going to have to explain to the manager why we're late." I stared at Charlene's outfit. It was exactly the same as mine, but instead of a black bra, she had on a hot pink one. And it didn't even look like she had on any underwear. I gasped. Charlene looked at me, "Put your shoes on." I looked down at the shoes she was handing to me.
"Can I not put them on?"
"These are the easy ones. You're going to have to switch to my shoes within a few weeks." I stared at the ones she had on, black strappy four inch heels. They were all straps that started from her foot and crisscrossed up her calves. I would trip on those. I stared back at the ones I had to put on. Black, thigh high boots, three inches high. I'd trip on these too.
I looked at Charlene, "What exactly are we doing?"
Charlene walked out and motioned me to follow her. I stared down at myself. I wasn't walking out of here like this. Charlene glared at me, "Do you want to make money or not?"
"Not like this."
Charlene rolled her eyes, "Your not going to sell your body, don't worry." She walked down the stairs. I wasn't going to make it down these stairs. Charlene yelled from the bottom, "You have to pay me rent."
I took a breath, grabbed a pill for good measure, and teetered down the stairs. By the time I reached the bottom, Charlene was already much ahead of me. I pulled down my skirt and ran after her, trying not to trip myself. A car horn beeped, and a man whistled. I ignored their comments and kept walking. "Where are we going Charlene?"
Charlene looked at me, "There's a logo on your shirt."
I stared down at the white see through dress shirt. Forgetful. "What's Forgetful?"
"We're here." Charlene stopped and pulled open the door. I stared up at the sign. Forgetful was written in cursive as the logo. The outside was white, with purple seats in the front. Charlene pushed open the door, "come in, and meet the manager."
I walked in to see a young man in his twenties smiling and chatting with another man. I looked around. The place was empty. Everything was white and purple. There were couches and tables and pillows.
Charlene smiled, "Juno, this is Gillian."
The young man turned around and smiled, "Hi." Juno held his hand out. I shook it.
Charlene kept smiling at Juno, "She'll be the one working here in replacement of Stephy."
Juno looked at me from head to toe, my hands flew up to cover myself. Juno laughed, "You better get used to that." I squeaked. What kind of place was this? Juno walked over to the man he was talking to before, "This is Alex."
The guy smiled at me, "Hey, I'm the bartender here."
I nodded.
Charlene looked at me, "We're the waitresses. You have experiene with that. We take orders, and then give them their drinks. Got it?"
I nodded again. Juno smiled, "Alright. We open at 9:00." He stared at the clock, "It's 8:30. Get ready."
I stared at my reflection in the bar table top. How was I going to get through this?