| PART ONE Duo Mawell quietly shut the door of the dingy hotel room with a click, and made his way down the corridor, clutching a few notes in his hand. They usually liked him to leave before they woke up. He smiled bitterly, and exited out onto the street, the artificial �daylight� of the colony only just starting to kick in. After all, who would want someone like him to stick around past daybreak? Duo had been an orphan since he was seven. He had lived on the streets as long as he could remember, but it was when he was eight that his life really took a turn for the worse. He had been all alone...standing lost on a street corner. People milled around him, the street humming with activity because everyone had places to be, people to see. But not him. Forlorn and ignored, he was passed by as though invisible. No-one had time to be helping these street kids, they were common enough, so no point wasting any money on them, right? Unless, of course, something was wanted in return. So he had been surprised when a man approached him. At first he gratefully welcomed the attention, looking up at the man with his big amethyst eyes to gain sympathy. But sympathy was not what the man wanted to give. Duo soon found himself in a sidestreet, cornered in the dark shadows by someone he had thought to befriend. He had looked up at the man uncertainly, and tried to edge away, but found an arm blocking his path. �You�re not going anywhere.� His voice was husky, and had a tone of something else in the expression, but Duo didn�t know what. �Pretty little angel...� Duo jumped and recoiled in fear as the man reached out and touched the side of his face. He tried to move away, but found that his shoulder was being held roughly by the man�s other arm. His heart sped up in fear; at eight years old he was too young to know what the stranger wanted...but knew for sure that he wanted to get away. He had not yet learned to recognise the expression of lust in someone�s eyes. A lot of what happened afterwards was a blur to him, but he remembered that first the man had forced something into his mouth...he had choked, but could do nothing about it. Then he remembered the pain. Hot, searing thrusts of pain, rivers of fire lancing through his body. He had been so caught up in agony he couldn�t even scream, defenceless and alone as the stranger used his body to satisfy his need. Even after the man had gone away, his body left limp and lifeless on the floor, the pain had stayed. It still stayed with him even to this day, but he had learned to live with it. He had to. Some years later, after having survived by scavenging and stealing, he discovered how he could make a lot more money quicker. You see he realised he could make people *pay* to hurt him, rather than just going ahead and letting them do it for free, like his first time with that strange man. It still hurt like hell every time, and he loathed having to pleasure them, but at least it kept him fed and alive. He was twelve. ************************************* Duo was now seventeen. After leaving the hotel, he headed back to his small apartment. It was small and dirty, but at least it was a place he could call home. Getting a real job was something he had only pondered briefly about; he had no qualifications, and besides, this was the only way of life he knew. He sighed and sat on the creaky bed, letting his long chestnut hair out of the ponytail he had quickly fixed up back at the hotel. What he truly longed for was to cut it off. He detested his hair; it stood for everything he was, and so was a constant reminder of everything he could never be. But he couldn�t - he knew where his appeal lay, and his hair was a big part of it. |