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Written-Anonymously - Good! I knew that this was a boring way to kinda start the story but I mean, gotta start somewhere, but it picks up I promise! xD Not much can be promised right now because this is as far as I have written but I wanted to thank you for fighting with my laptop and this is the best way I can think of lmao.

WARNING: LOTS of coarse language and mature themes. You have been warned.

Here we go! :)

Chapter Two

She ran to the familiar house right by the train tracks. The only consistent place in her life she could count on. "Come back you little bitch!" The blonde ran as fast as her legs would pump her. If she got caught by those guys… well, she just couldn't. She jumped at the tall fence and climbed over it. Hitting the grassy ground with sharp pains in her ankles.

"You gotta come out sometime! We'll be waiting when you do!" She stayed crouched behind the fence, she thought if she stayed put, they'd think they lost her. "Fuckin' bitch stole the money we made from sales tonight."

"She got it all?"

"Yeah, for fuck sakes."

She was proud of herself for being so bold… though she was sure it would get her killed someday. The sound of footsteps becoming distant allowed her to let out the breath she wasn't aware she held in.

Once she got inside, she'd be safe. She was always safe here. The Lee Residence. She lifted the welcome mat and picked up the key under it. She tucked the mat back in place and used the key. She shoved it into her torn hoodie pocket.

After cautiously looking around, she finally entered the home and locked the door behind her. It wasn't breaking and entering when you a) knew the family personally and b) they hid a spare key on the porch for your use exclusively.

It was dark inside, but even though the lights were off, she could feel the love and warmth in this home. Man, he was so lucky. "Finora?!"

"AH FUCK!" She cried out, with the night she had, her best friend Eitan Lee nearly made her shit her pants, exactly where she stood.

"Shhh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He apologized quickly yet sincerely. "Are… are you hurt?"

She did a quick check of herself. "Nah, not this time." Her weary blue eyes connected with Eitan's friendly brown. "I'm lucky though… kinda got some guys after me so… can I stay here for a bit?"

Eitan nodded. His parents knew how crazy Finora's life was, they sympathized and offered her a safe place to stay whenever and however long she needed to. "Of course, c'mon… let's get you cleaned up."

Soon Finora had showered and was sitting on Eitan's bed attempting to comb out the merciless knots in her hair in nothing but his t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. He had put her clothes in the washer, even though he'd rather throw them out and buy her new stuff… "How's it going?"

She sighed. "Horrible. Chick hair sucks."

He chuckled and sat down on his bed next to her. "Gimme?" She tossed the brush at him and turned her back to him. He began to brush through her long knots. Eitan had far more patience than Finora herself.

Once he untangled her hair, he put it into a tight french braid. "That should keep the knots out."

She inspected it quickly in his full-length mirror. "Bang up job, still not sure how a guy knows how to french braid but I won't argue."

Eitan's eyes trailed down her bare legs, they were just covered in bruises. He wasn't really sure what was fresh and what had previously scarred. "C'mon, lay down. You must be exhausted."

She obliged and lay down beside him in his bed. They used to do this all the time when they were younger… only it got a little weird when all the sudden she had boobs about three and a half years ago. "Yeah I am, fuck."

Eitan's brown eyes searched her blue as he looked down at her lips and reconnected their gaze. It was his cute way of asking her permission. Finora smiled and pulled Eitan down to her, kissing his lightly chapped lips.

After they parted he studied her face. With her brows furrowed, she then sniffled. It wasn't long before she broke down in heavy sobs. "What's wrong? Finora… Nora please… I'm sorry!"

It took a few minutes before she could catch her breath. "No, it's not you Eitan… it was terrible. My mom… you know my dad's in prison and my mom, mom was just trying to make ends meet… she was, she was selling her sex because we didn't have anything else… we lost the trailer… she had no choice..."

He bit his lip and pulled her close to hug her. She buried her face into his shoulder. He had no idea what to say.

"She had… these clients… they're brothers and… they're rich. But she was there… when one wife came home… and she fuckin' shot my mother! My mom's dead… I told her she had to leave… she couldn't have them as clients anymore… I knew it."

Eitan's heart was racing, as if he were there when it happened. "Holy shit."

"Some jealous wife of a scumbag shot my mother…" She cried harder. "Mom was only trying to distract them… while I stole their wallets… it killed her..." The sobs wracked her body. "she told me there was enough money for us to get the trailer back… she did it for me and I hate myself!"

:: ~ * ~ :: f-a-m-e :: ~ * ~ ::

Finora awoke in a cold sweat on the sofa of her tour bus. Timothy looked to be just as startled as she did. Of course her feet kicked him in a rather sensitive area. He narrowed his eyes but then realized she must have had a bad dream. "Hey, are you good?" He asked her, giving her socked foot a gentle pat.

She took a moment to breathe it out. She hated that dream so much. It reminded her of everything and everyone she lost. "Yeah, think so." No wonder she felt like she was being strangled… her hair was down all around her. She shifted on the sofa and grabbed the hair brush off the near-by end table she got to work of brushing her long hair. It was down to her waist.

"You've been waking up like that a lot lately..." Tim glared over at Christopher, whom was satisfied playing the PS4 on the other side of the bus.

She sighed… the movements of hair brushing got harsher. They knew her long enough to know when they struck chords with her and this one was dissonance. Yikes! "Don't mean to make you guys worry. It's just some woman shit." She told them, hoping that maybe if she said it enough, she'd start to believe it too.

"You're probably exhausted from our last performance, love." Keith ran a hand through his soft black hair. The texture of his hair made every woman from here to the end of the earth jealous.

He had a point, they finished up with the last performance a couple weeks ago… but they took some time to sight see and party but she hadn't caught a lot of sleep. How could she when that stupid nightmare kept haunting her? "Yeah… must be it."

"Something was weird about your dream though..." Timothy reached over for his now-cold mug of coffee. "who's Eitan? You kept saying that name..."

Finora's cheeks blushed heavily. "Well, he ah… was my first kiss."

"Ooh, it was that kinda dream huh?" Christopher teased her with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

She smiled briefly. "Nah… well, we kissed… the night my mother was shot."

Timothy nearly spit out his coffee. "Holy fuck Fi! You come out with the harshest shit."

Finora smirked. She was very rough around the edges and she was rather proud of it. It took a lot of trauma to not give a shit the way she did. "It's true."

Christopher put the wireless controller down. "The fuck happened?"

Finora was a private person, but her band mates had been loyal to her since they were discovered by her… so she owed it to them to be honest for once. "I'm only gonna say this shit once so pay the fuck attention." She brought her hair over her shoulder and began to fishtail braid it, she needed something to busy herself while she told this pitiful story. "So… my old man was always in prison. He'd get out and be a good guy for a week or two… then he'd get drinking and beat us… never long until he got himself thrown back in again. Mom tried to be legit, she tried to get a real job but no one would hire her… so she had to use her body to get money."

Keith had forgotten he put the kettle on and it was going. He burnt himself briefly before he shut it up. "Good lord Fifi..." that was his personal nickname for her that only he was allowed to use. "Did mom get mixed in with some bad customers?"

She nodded her head just approaching the half-way point of her braid. "Yeah… she was involved with this pair of rich brothers. They were filthy rich. She wasn't going to bother with them anymore… but she wanted to one last time. Our plan was supposed to go off without a hitch… I was supposed to steal their wallets while mom kept them busy and we'd have enough to get the trailer back that we were kicked out of… but the idiot's jealous ass wife comes in with a gun and she just point blank shoots my mother, who's in bed with her perverted husband… she should've shot him. I'm sure he just found himself a slut after that."

It was a lot to take in, they had no idea that she had been through something like that. But what they didn't know is that it was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to her life before fame. "But where does this Eitan come in?"

Finora shifted and was near the end of her braid now. "Honestly… Eitan was my only friend when my life was that shitty. His house was a safe haven for me. His parents, bless their hearts, fed me and kept me sometimes for a couple weeks at a time. We grew up together. That night… I went ahead and took off with their wallets and they chased me. I ran to his house, wallets in my possession and they kept the door key under the welcome mat whenever I needed somewhere safe to be and they weren't home or sleeping. I go in, he greets me and I'll tell you, I nearly shit myself. So I shower, borrow his clothes and we lay down together."

"Did you bang?" Christopher asked, hoping to be spared the gory details.

"No you perv," she told him as she wrapped the hair elastic around the end of her braid. "we didn't bang, he kissed me. Then I felt horrible and kept seeing images of my mom shot and I broke down crying. I told him. That's where the dream ends every time… I shouldn't call it a dream, it's a reconstruction of the last time I saw Eitan. Never saw him again after that."

Timothy had gotten up to make himself another coffee, only he hoped this one would be hotter than the last. "Shit Nora… I don't know what the hell to say. Why was it the last time you saw him? Did he move?" He opened a couple sugar packets and put them in, stirring the coffee gently.

"Nah, I was discovered shortly after that. So our manager, Elizabeth, took me in and got me all cleaned up. She introduced me to her team of experts and they worked on developing my voice… shit, she wouldn't even let me start the band until I finished my online high school courses and got my diploma. But – she let me post song covers online to gain some exposure." Finora smiled. "If it wasn't for Liz… I'd probably dead in a ditch somewhere."

All three of her band members cringed. They had never met anyone with a harsher vocabulary than Finora Bennett, stage name 'Memphis'. "Well I'm grateful Liz found you sweet pea," Keith sat down on the sofa next to Finora and sipped his chamomile tea. "because you found us and we're just all kinds of complete, aren't we?"

She gave them a warm smile. "Yeah, I would be sad if I didn't have you assholes for a replacement family." Timothy joined the hug but Christoper passed. He had a game to resume.