A House of Dreams and Nightmares

"You have to pay up front. There's a bank machine down the hall. You give the money directly to the girls when you get to the room. You can sleep here anonymously until tomorrow." The manager of the brothel went on with her same standard introductory speech which she must have given hundreds of thousands of times, failing to neglect even the smallest detail. I had heard that same spiel many times as well to the point where I had it memorized almost as thoroughly as she did. I had never gotten any further than that. Something inside of me always convinced me to turn and leave before agreeing to the conditions. Frankly, my interest lied with the proprietor who was talking to me, but I knew I couldn't pursue those feelings. She was actually very young - maybe the same age as me, or at least close to it. But no matter how strong those feelings were and no matter how beautiful the girl was, I could only imagine how many men must try and flirt with her on any given day, and if I offended her or was otherwise banned from this place, I wasn't sure what other options I had available to me.

"Okay. I'll take a room," I agreed once the girl had finished her pitch. This wasn't really anything new, but despite the countless number of times I had put the girl through this, she still didn't allow herself to appear annoyed or as though I wasn't worth her time. She remained patient and still kept the same, cheerful, upbeat attitude, allowing me to feel very invited. She retrieved a folder from her desk that she stood behind. This was typically the point where I abruptly changed my mind and turned to leave, but not on this day. I looked around the foyer. The owner scribbled something down in the folder and then requested that I follow her. She led me down the long, main corridor, explaining the final details as we walked.

"You have to be checked out by quarter after ten tomorrow morning. If you're awake before that, you do get a complimentary breakfast. It's going to be five hundred dollars for the stay." The corridor was very dark, dimly lit with dark carpeting and darkly painted walls. We passed the bank machine and reached the end, where another door lay off to our right. The mistress opened the door for me, following immediately behind me as I was led into a different, slightly better lit hallway, lined with several doors on either side. She led me to the first immediate door on our right and opened it. Inside were two gorgeous, young girls. "This is your new client," announced the owner as I slowly stepped into the room. "Make him feel at home." She didn't have any interest in staying around, and immediately closed the door behind me once I was in the room, leaving me alone with the two girls. It almost felt to me like a prison cell, and I was being locked in. Neither girl seemed too interested. One had straight, long, black hair and the other's was blonde and slightly curly. They both had hard facial features and well-matured bodies, though the blonde's soft blue eyes appeared to have a greater sense of understanding and compassion behind them than her counterpart. They had been both together on one bed when I had entered. The girl with the darker hair stood up, half naked, scoffed at me, and proceeded over to a second bed on the other side of the room. For a moment I stood there uncomfortably, feeling extremely out of place. I walked over to the edge of the blonde girl's bed, sort of hoping that she would agree to let me sit down, but neither of them acknowledged me.

"What's your name?" I spoke across the room to the girl with the more aggressive attitude, trying to make myself sound as confident as possible, though my voice cracked when I spoke and I was certain that they could pick up on my nerves. Finally I just walked back to the door and slumped down against it to the floor.

"It's always the same," the girl with the black hair said in a disgruntled tone, apparently continuing her previous conversation with her friend that I had interrupted. "They always promise that they'll come back for me. They have sex with me - even at breakfast they make me do such dirty things. And I always go along with it because I'm foolish enough to believe that they really will come back. Then I never see them again. It's the same every time." I just sat there on the floor with my knees pulled up to my chest, watching them. The darker haired girl finally stood up and slowly approached me after a long moment. Both of them wore pajamas and had extraordinary bodies, and that girl was topless. They both looked like absolute goddesses, and I could hardly even believe my own eyes. I considered for a moment that I was dreaming - that there was no possible way for girls to look this elegant in real life. "Well we might as well get on with it," said the one girl standing over me, partially clothed. "You have our money?" I immediately withdrew the wad of cash from my pocket and passed it to her. She paced across the room and slipped it into a dresser drawer before returning to me. "So what's your name?" she asked and I told her truthfully in a tone that was barely audible. I could hardly even force the words from my mouth, and I was sure that they could both read me like a book. By this time I felt it was no secret that I was a virgin, whether I necessarily told them those specific words or not. The blonde haired girl now rose from her bed for the first time and joined her friend in front of me and they both gradually took a seat on the floor on either side of me. "Well, Clyde," the dark haired girl continued still. She stripped her bottoms off without warning, revealing her fully naked body to me and I stared at her, entranced as the overwhelming power of the female body took a stranglehold on me. "Is this really all that matters to you?"

I pondered the question carefully, thinking back on the first twenty one years of my life and how much I had missed out on during that time already just because of how insecure I was because of this curse. I nodded after much careful thought. "Yes," I answered flatly, my voice still as soft as a whisper. Both the girls exchanged looks and let out a collective, irritated sigh. I wondered how many times they had heard this same old story, and how many boys they had helped by offering this great favor for - this fucking act that meant so much and so little at the same time.

The blonde girl spoke for the first time. "How can that be all that matters when this is what your wall looks like?" She gestured to the decorated walls of the room with her right hand, and although I didn't quite understand her question, I understood she was trying to tell me something important. I looked around. The walls were covered with posters of classic artists, musical and otherwise including the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Hunter Thompson, and Bob Dylan among several others. In between these posters hung pictures of the two girls in various locations and in front of several major landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China. It forced me to wonder what type of life that would be to work in a brothel dealing constantly with pigs like myself. The pictures on the wall provided them with a reminder of their lives of freedom that they used to have and I couldn't help but wonder how they had ended up there. If I felt like I was in a jail cell and I was only there for one night by my own choice, I couldn't help but think of how it must feel to the girls. The more that I thought about it, the more remorseful I became. These girls were daughters, and possibly had brothers or sisters. How could they do this to themselves?I thought. At the same time however, this was nothing new to them, and I had to think of my own welfare for once in my life. The three of us sat there in silence for what felt like an eternity as they waited for me to make my decision. I had come this far. What was stopping me now? No matter what I did, I was fucked and knew I would regret either decision in the long run.