THE INDUSTRY

BY THE ONE

[ part 11 ]

NOTE: ‘The Industry’ is a series of 11 chapters. It will only make sense if you read them in order!

Sisters

At last, they pulled into Nicole’s driveway. Though they had slept in the car, the ride had only lasted two hours. Not nearly enough rest for the two drained girls.

Nicole and Amy crawled out of the backseat. It was around midnight; far too late for any decent person to be awake. Nicole’s mother ushered them through the front door.

“We can talk in the morning, girls. Get some sleep for now. You’ve had a rough day to say the least.”

Amy thought, I’ve had a rough two years! She followed Nicole upstairs.

“You can share my room,” Nicole said sleepily, “It’s not like it’ll be anything new.”

They smiled, remembering the nights spent together in their cell.

Nicole’s parents checked on them to make sure they were set for the night, then went to bed themselves.

Once she and Amy were settled in her room, Nicole dropped her robe and eagerly took off her uniform corset and thong. Amy again experienced her rush of desire for Nicole.

“Oh, that feels good!” Nicole sighed, sliding into her own soft pajamas. She offered another set to Amy, who gratefully shed her robe in exchange for normal clothes.

As they crawled into bed together, Amy pulled her friend into a huge hug. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me. I think you saved my life again!”

“It was the least I could do after everything you helped me through back there. I probably owe my life…or at least my sanity…to you. We’re even.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do without you. I don’t think I’ll ever find a friend as caring…or as pretty…as you.” Amy immediately regretted saying the part about Nicole being pretty. It had definitely come out wrong.

But, Nicole didn’t seem to mind. “I’ll miss you when you get a permanent home, Amy. I really wish we had more time together; you’ll probably have a new family within a week.” Then an idea struck her. “Hey! What if you just stayed here?”

“What?” Amy was astonished.

“Yeah! We could be your new family! You could just stay here with us!”

“Oh Nicole, I couldn’t do that! I’d be a burden!”

Nicole was already formulating how to ask her parents if Amy could live with them permanently. She didn’t think they would object, seeing how quickly they had let her stay this time. “No you won’t! My brother’s leaving for college soon, and I’m sure my parents would love having someone new around.”

“Really? You think so?” Amy didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“Sure! I’ll ask them tomorrow! I would be great! I always wanted a sister!”

Amy was elated. Nicole’s enthusiasm at the idea of her staying permanently filled her with a new love for her friend. It was kindness that Amy had never seen in her life. For the first time in ages, she went to sleep excited, and feeling hopeful.

When Nicole brought her idea before her parents, they were apprehensive. Amy wasn’t present; she was up in Nicole’s room.

“Please!? She has no family anymore, and no friends except me!”

“Nicole, if we wanted a third child, we would’ve had one ourselves,” said her mother. “This will throw off everything we’ve planned so carefully for, like you going to college, you getting married, you buying your own house… Remember all that?”

“I know, I know. But she’s so sweet and no one’s ever been nice to her before; her real parents kicked her out and then disappeared!”

“She got pregnant.”

“That was an accident!”

Nicole’s father grew very serious. “Nicole, if we’re going to take in a third person, we have to be guaranteed she won’t produce a fourth. That’s just too much for our income to handle.”

“She’s changed, I promise! Please? She really needs this right now.”

From the doorway of Nicole’s room, Amy listened with growing despair. When she got pregnant and started this whole mess, it had cost her one home. Was it going to cost her yet another?

“Did she ask to stay with us?”

“No!”

“So you invited a girl who you’ve only known for a few days to live permanently with us? What’s gotten into you, Nicole?”

“Please! I know her better than you think! She won’t cause any trouble. I promise! In fact, she’s worried she’ll be a burden if she does get to stay!”

“Well, she definitely will be.”

Nicole was finished. She was losing this battle. She desperately tried one more time to convince her parents to let Amy stay. “Please!? She’s spent the last two years of her life locked up in a warehouse as a…a sex slave! Believe me, I know. And she had been homeless for almost a year before that! I couldn’t bear to see her just plopped down by the government to live the rest of her life with people she’s never met before! We don’t know what kind of people they’ll be! They could be a bunch of drug addicts or something awful like that. Her life could just keep going downhill!”

“Let us talk about it, honey. Go back up and spend some time with her. We’ll have an answer for you in a little while.”

Unable to say anything more, Nicole trudged back upstairs. Amy was waiting on the bed.

“I heard you talking,” she said quietly, “I’m not going to be able to stay, am I?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole sighed, exasperated, “I really don’t know.”

They spent several hours there together, waiting for the verdict. Most of the time, Amy just rested her head against Nicole’s shoulder and tried not to cry.

Finally, Nicole’s parents opened her bedroom door. Nicole and Amy both looked up; Nicole silently pleading.

“She can stay,” said her father.

They were shocked. Amy couldn’t contain herself anymore. She started to cry, but for the first time, from happiness. She couldn’t believe it! She had a home, and a family! And a sister.

She and Nicole both rushed to their parents and threw their arms around them, Nicole spilling an endless stream of thanks, Amy too overjoyed to speak. She could finally say she was home…

During the next two weeks, the legal work was done. Amy was officially part of Nicole’s family. By law, the government had to contact Amy’s real parents and inform them, but they were never located. It was assumed they had left the country.

Amy didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, Nicole’s parents were more real than hers had ever been. She knew she would be loved and cared for. Finally.

She enrolled at Nicole’s high school. It didn’t take her long to catch up; Nicole found out that Amy was in fact very intelligent, and a fast learner. She was soon at the same level as Nicole, and doing just as well.

What was more, everyone loved her, especially Jeremy, who had been thrilled beyond words when Nicole had returned. When they were reunited, they had grabbed each other and didn’t let go for a long time. Nicole was glad he had only had to wait five days and not five years.

As for Amy, no one seemed to care about her history, and that was perfectly fine with her. They asked and listened intently to her story, but it didn’t affect anyone’s perception of her. She didn’t want to remember her past. It didn’t matter anymore.

Life began to return to normal as the story of Nicole’s mysterious disappearance, and her sudden return with an extra person, became old news. After interest died down, the pair spoke little of the Industry, even to each other. Amy was no longer a stranger to most people, and everyone talked as if she and Nicole had been sisters forever.

Sisters. The thought was so welcome to Amy, who had been alone for such a long time. At last, she had a home.

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About half a year had elapsed since the fall of the Industry. Nicole’s brother Joe had gone to college, and Amy had taken up residence in his old room. It felt to her like things had been this way forever. She barely thought of her old family anymore, or of her old life in the city. She was much happier here.

School had let out a month ago. It was now the beginning of July, and it was hot! Generally Nicole enjoyed the summer heat, but the sun had grown very intense lately. Amy had received a rude reminder of her time as a captive when, after a few hours outside at a friend’s pool party, she had been badly sunburned. No one had ever thought that as a result of being inside the warehouse for two years on end, her skin had grown unaccustomed to natural light. Her body was not prepared for a day of sunbathing.

So, the new sisters were spending the day inside watching TV. Suddenly, Nicole exclaimed, “Hey! Look!”

A commercial had aired for a new musical making its debut on Broadway. And there, singing on the stage, was Katrina. She was radiantly beautiful; the darkness that had settled on her during her time at the Industry was completely gone.

Amy said, “I wonder if she ever found her family?”

An idea dawned on Nicole. “I bet we can find out!”

“How?”

“She’s in New York, right? If we know where she is, maybe we can get an address, or maybe even go to see her!”

“Oh sure, because New York is just down the street,” said Amy sarcastically.

“Even so, actors and actresses always get fan mail and stuff like that. Maybe if we sent her a letter and said it was us, she’d remember us and write back! Wouldn’t that be awesome to see her again?”

“Yeah, it would be!” said Amy. She was absently wondering what had become of all the others they had met around the cafeteria table at the Industry; Jennifer, Caitlin, Samantha, Becky, and Leanne. With a pang of guilt, she wondered if any of them had been as lucky as she had been.

Returning from her thoughts, she saw that Nicole had copied the name of the show and was already logging onto the Internet to try and locate an address to contact their old friend…

That night in bed, Nicole waited in the darkness. She was waiting for the sound of Amy’s bedroom door silently opening, and then her feet padding down the hall. There it was! In a moment, her door opened and Amy stood in the doorway, shimmering in her silk pajamas. They had bought similar pairs on their last trip to the mall; Amy’s were gold and Nicole’s were blue. A nightlight provided enough subtle glow to make them both shine.

Amy quietly closed the door behind her and glided across the room and into bed beside her friend. No. Not just her friend anymore. Her sister.

“Hello, Amy,” Nicole purred.

Amy said nothing, only pulled Nicole into a full kiss. They didn’t release each other for a long moment. Then, Amy slid out of her pajamas, revealing the glimmering silver satin bra and thong that had once belonged to Nicole.

Nicole returned the gesture, removing her clothes until she sat covered only in black satin. She had long ago disposed of the horribly uncomfortable corset she had worn in the Industry. When they had thrown it in a dumpster behind the mall, it had given both girls a sense of closure to the ordeal they’d been through.

The two sat on the bed, admiring each other. When they were too overcome by desire to remain still, they reached around each other’s backs and unclasped their bras. When they sat back, they let their upper coverings slide off.

Now before each other naked, they kissed again. Then again, and again. Finally, they grasped one another, sealing their lips together. Their bodies entwined as they ducked under the sheets and let their passion take over.

At last, both were too exhausted to continue. Amy would have loved to stay and sleep with Nicole, but if their parents saw them laying together in each other’s arms it could arouse suspicion. So she dressed and bade her sister a reluctant goodnight. They kissed one last time, and Amy slunk back to her own room.

Nicole fell immediately to sleep, but Amy lay awake for a few minutes more. She was still amazed by the generosity that had been shown to her, and the acceptance. She reveled in the joy of having a loving family. From now on, she knew, hers would be a wonderful life. Amy smiled to herself and drifted off to sleep, her sister’s sweet taste still lingering on her lips…

Thank you to everyone who read this series. It’s definitely my most complex single work to date, and I would enjoy reading your reviews and/or comments. Thanks. -The One