Dreams of a Whore

At first she did it because she desperately needed the money. Lately though, the share she got wasn't even enough to cover both food and rent.

Things were bad before her husband died but they were starting to look up. For the five years they had been married they both worked full time to make enough money to afford food and their little apartment. After years of hard work and patience, he had chanced upon a much better paying job. It was such an improvement that she didn't even need to work anymore and they could start planning for their family.

The timing couldn't have been better. Only days after his promotion she had found out that she was pregnant and what would have been bad news was now greeted with joy. They spent four months saving and searching for a better home before they found the perfect place. It was cozy, safe, and big enough for at least four so there would even be room for their next child.

Things couldn't stay so happy for long though. The day before they were scheduled to take out a mortgage he had gotten up early. She assumed it was because he was nervous but upon waking up later that morning she found him passed out in the kitchen. Two weeks later he was dead and the money they had saved for the house and their baby was gone because of the hospital bills. To make things worse, she had quit her job when she had gotten pregnant and was finding it hard to find a new one.

Now, no one had a job.

Her family had supported her for a little while but that stopped as soon as they realized she was planning on keeping the baby. So there she was, nine months pregnant with no money and a family that had disowned her.

But even that could get worse. Fate refused to allow her to keep what little of her husband she had left; when the drugs finally wore off after giving birth the doctors were forced to tell her that she had miscarried. Now she was completely alone.

That was three months ago.

Now she worked for a man she knew only as Diego. He had been a friend of a friend of a friend, but so far down the chain she wasn't even sure how she had even managed to met him. That didn't really matter to her though. She had been desperate for money and he provided her with a way to get it.

When her husband was alive she would have never let herself become a whore, but now she sat, smiling slightly, in the corner of her dilapidated apartment as her favorite customer came in the door.

Diego or her other customers would have never suspected that this was her favorite customer. He was nothing to look at: his hair was always unkept, his clothes disorganized, he didn't shave often enough, and his teeth were yellow. Still, he was her favorite and she had even starting to love him. Every time he arrived to be with her they would sit together and he would tell her about his plan to steal her away from Diego. He was planning on taking her out to his home in the suburbs. He had even bought the house she had looked at with her husband months ago, just because she wanted it. He had even arranged their master bedroom already; silk sheets, dark curtains, with the warmest blankets and softest pillows that could be found.

A new dress and a warm bath to wash off the musk and sluttish perfume and Diego wouldn't even recognize her, let alone find her. And in time they would have children together and eventually even grandchildren and he would make sure they were all well cared for.

They had even picked out names for the first little product of their love. If it was a girl, they would name it Nancy Ann after his grandmother and if it was boy they would name it after her late husband. One child wasn't enough though; their first would need someone to play with. But then, third times a charm right?

At some point though the fantasy always faded away. No man like that would ever come and visit her, Diego made sure of that. This phantom was merely a daydream to distract her from her real life and her real customers.

Only in her dreams was she free. Only in her dreams was she happy.

Everyday the dream lasted longer and longer. If nothing changed, soon she would never awaken from the daydream. Every night, when all of the customers had finally left, she prayed for that day to be soon.