"Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires.”

• • •

More often than not, it will start off with a sixteen year-old girl who claims she has no other choice. She'll tell everyone how "Daddy was always drunk" and "Mummy was always abusive". She will insist that she has no other choice but to sell her body to sleazy men who can't get it up and will readily pay for a night of . And of course, the boss will accept her. He'll her, he'll sell her to other men, he'll earn the easy, dirty money - but he'll accept her.

I thought she was the same. I thought she was like the other young, desperate girls who had come here with the same story. But I was wrong.

I still remember the first time I met her. Just like everyone else, she was sitting there with a blank expression. Just like everyone else, she was sitting beside the only window in the whole damn place. Just like everyone else, she was surrounded by a bunch of crack dealers. Just like everyone else, she was being touched by strange men who wanted her clothes off.

I hadn't realised how long I had been staring at her until she looked at me. In the split second our eyes had met, I could feel every drop of pain and suffering that she had ever experienced. Normally, they cry and scream for help - but she didn't. I only saw a sad smile and it was enough to make everything disappear. It was enough to make me realise something: she was not like everyone else. She was different.

My Kim Ahri was different.

If I could go back, I never would have let anyone touch her and I never would have let anyone hurt her. I would have saved her. I would have saved my Kim Ahri.

• • •

Author's Note:

This story was originally written with HeavensDescent (originally named 'We Were There') and, unfortunately, we never got the chance to see this fic to its end. Part of the credit definitely goes to her. I'm re-uploading and finishing this for you. #xoxo