" Not really, Mom!" I replied with a bit of exasperation. "Sure thingsare different down there, but nothing really changed. I'm still thesame person. ... still like the same things. I'm still the girl I wasborn as! My life hasn't really changed."I shouldn't have snapped at her, but I was too tired to do anythingelse. I could see the hurt look in her eyes as she finished pulling outthe last pin and then removed the wig. I felt regret as I watched herplace it into the armoire."Look, Mom," I said in. I was puzzled by the meaning of these things. Someone had gone to a lot of time and effort to tie all of these things across the trail. The further we went up the hill the more there were. It suddenly hit me that we might have to duck. Maybe there was a fallen tree across the trail. ‘Everybody duck!’ I yelled. We all ducked our heads down, even Jarhead. We continued to climb the hillside and break through the now hundreds of grass barriers. I noticed light seemed to be coming from ahead.. . The general..."Rachael had heard rumour of the sons appetite for torturing whores and street runaways. Many had been kidnapped and brought here to play in the young mans dungeon. She had on many occasions felt her stomach turn knowing this while she had dined with him and his family. She had played games with evil itself for a story and had gotten too close.The madam showed her no pity just annoyance at having to explain later to the general himself. Madam Chui noticed this one seemed more. I compensated by putting as much overtime in at my job as I could, saving the money for my dream of college. I still took community college classes and was almost done with my associate degree.I dated from time to time, and had a couple of short relationships, never anything serious. Got laid fairly regularly too, thanks to my teachers. I realized it was not just the sexual experience that helped me, but the tremendous boost in self confidence they had given me that made the difference.This was.