The only illumination came from the streetlight on the corner that shone through the filthy windowpanes. It was the fifth floor of a cheap hotel that had delusions of grandeur. Called itself the King's Rest. Just the usual rundown dirty hotel found in the urban jungle of every big city. Inhabited by winos and streetwalkers too old to make a living at the oldest profession in the book. If you can stand the smell of the carpet in the lobby long enough to sign the book, you get a room with a view, no questions asked. Windows covered with soot and faded red drapes of some heavy material that is so old it's no longer recognisable. Chair, table, bed with threadbare sheets, nightstand and a lamp. All the amenities. Just don't turn on the lamp. Looks better this way.

She moved to the window, drawing aside the drapes to get a better look at the street below. There still was no sign of him and it was getting late. He said he'd be back before midnight and it was now 3 a.m. She didn't know what to do. There wasn't anyone she could call to ask, and she couldn't go back home. All she could do was wait, and hope he'd be in a better mood if he did come back. She supposed it should be when he came back, not if. She knew he'd come back, she was all he had. Just like he was all there was for her. Get some sleep, and when he came back she would try again, and again, until there was nothing left. Just the ashes of her dreams.

What did she do so wrong that this nightmare became her life? Her family hadn't liked Jeff. They felt that there was something missing in him, something that he was hiding. Her sister felt that he was too glib, too easy with the answers for everything. Momma refused to let him in the house. She couldn't abide snake oil salesmen and she wasn't letting one into her home to spread their oily charm. She was forbidden to have anything to do with him, but he made her feel so special. No one had ever paid the least bit of attention to her before. So she snuck out of the house at night to meet him. They would drive in his expensive car to the Overlook and talk and make love until it was time for her to sneak back in and get ready for her job.

She quit school the year before and had to go to work to help support her Momma and her sister. It wasn't much, counter help at the local diner, but the tips were good and meant that she could contribute to the household and have a few dollars left for herself. That's where she met Jeff. At the diner during the breakfast rush, what feels like years ago, but was really only a few weeks. He said he was a talent scout for a modelling agency. They were looking for a new face for an upcoming campaign for some big cosmetic manufacturer. She had the perfect face and figure. He wanted her to go with him to try out for the campaign. She believed him, she was so sure that her Momma and Sis were being selfish. They just wanted her to stay and work to take care of them. They didn't want her to have a life, they couldn't see how much more money she'd make as a model.

"Crystal Lynn, if you leave with that man,. don't you never come back. I won't have no slut in my house. This here's a christian house and don't you go forgettin it. " So, here she sits, waiting for Jeff to come back. No money to get away, no friends to help her, no family to go home to. Just the way he planned it. Real fancy car, real handsome man, too bad he's a pimp and she's going to get added to his stable when they get to where they are going. "You like it with me, you'll like it with any man, especially since your going to get paid. All beautiful women want is money, and you got the goods to get it" That's what he said to her, and then he left.

She's tired of fighting, tired of trying to tell him that it's different with him. Tired of telling him she loves him. "Prove it", that's what he said. "Prove that you love me, do what I tell you to. I need you to do this for me Baby, just until I get back on my feet." She doesn't think she can do it, she always thought making love was just that. What you did with someone you loved, somehow even doing it with Jeff is making her feel cheap. Very cheap, now that she knows what he is. She can't even cry anymore, last time she did it made it worse. She had no idea that anyone could ever be treated this way. Momma always told her that men were no good. Crystal thought that it was the way Momma was that made Daddy leave. Now she's not so sure.

Maybe if she continues to say no, he'll leave her. She can get a job, maybe the diner across the street need help. She was a good counter person, her boss said so. Maybe she could convince Jeff that she could support them that way, that she doesn't need to turn tricks to make money. She just wished she knew what to do. It's so lonely here without Jeff. Why doesn't he come back? Why doesn't he love her the way he said he did? How could he do this to her? If only she could leave this awful room, but Jeff took all her clothes with him when he left.
"Can't have you running away from me , no, we can't have that, can we? Need to have my Crystal Baby right here where she belongs when her Daddy Man gets back."

She sits in the chair, staring at the tenements across the street, now visible in the dim gray light of dawn. Ugly broken brick buildings with boarded up windows. Only those inhabited places have windows open to coax what passes for a cooling breeze to enter. Someone set a flowerpot on a windowsill. An attempt to make their otherwise dreary existance more attractive? A gift from an admirer? Don't know, doesn't matter. It isn't going to make her life any better. It isn't going to change a thing. She still is locked into room 502 of the Kings Rest Hotel, naked and alone, waiting for Jeff and trying to figure out what she needs to do. At the corner, a red Cadillac turns onto the street and the girl in the chair sobs. One lonely tear escapes and trickles down her cheek.