episode 16 - children are a curse (1)

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Thanks to her adoptive billionaire father, Mindy lived in a hacienda on the outskirts of East Ramere. It had a huge ranch with more than twenty horses in the stables, and a plantation for coffee growth. Her father got into the cash crop business with a few investors and he wanted Mindy to look over the large estate.

She was in charge of paying the workers and making sure production went smoothly. 

Joe had only been there once, spending most of his time with Mindy at her apartment near the city center. Getting out of Jojo's black SUV, he gaped at the large mansion set beyond the sidewalk. It intimidatingly towered over him, with the chalky coating of the paint shining as the sun beat down on it, causing Joe (and everyone else) to squint. 

It was an open field, with the coffee plantation on the right side of it, while the stables and small houses where the workers lived on the left. 

As Joe stepped on the sidewalk, Sly (who he had to invite to remove suspicion) pointed at a marble fountain sitting on the right side of the neatly trimmed lawn. A creature with two horns and wings was perched on top, looking at the clear blue sky. Water spurted out of its horns and mouth and fell gently towards the crystal blue pool beneath it.

On the left side of the lawn, the bushes were trimmed into five life sized animals; lion, giraffe, rhino, elephant and crocodile. 

They look so real, Joe thought, finding the need to step out of the sidewalk and go touch them. But he stopped himself after seeing one of the female workers, a Latin woman in a white shirt and jeans, staring at him. 

Daisy stabbed the doorbell which flickered with red light around the white button. A faint ding-dong caused her to huff, waiting for someone to open the door. 

Joe understood her frustration. They were far away from the city center, and if Slenderman was to attack, they wouldn't be able to go and stop him in time. 

A young woman, seeming to be around the age of eighteen to twenty, opened the door. She wore a black and white uniform. "Hola, are you the guests of Ms. Flint?" she asked, taking a closer look at Sly, Daisy, Moon, Jojo and Somo. "Joe, como estas?" she said to the young man with a smile. 

"I am good, Maria. And you?"

"I caught my boyfriend cheating on me with Isabella yesterday when I went to visit him at his home and..." Maria stopped herself, realizing she was telling a bunch of strangers about her personal life. "Come inside, Ms. Flint is expecting you."

Joe was the last to go in. He stopped next to Maria and said, "Isabella is a slut. You deserve better than a man who sleeps with a woman like her. Go out, have fun, and you'll find yourself falling for someone who will treat you right. OK?"

"Yes." Maria nodded.

Though Joe had only met her once, the girl had taken him for her therapist and dumped all her relationship woes on him. She wasn't shy too, seeing fit to describe every detail of her sex life, hoping to get advice on how she could keep a man, instead of chasing him away.

"How rich is Mindy's dad exactly?" Sly asked, staring at the turquoise colored walls with silver brush swipes crossing over it, causing a shimmer effect. Stairs lay across the room, leading up to the second floor. A doorway was on either side, one admitting you into the living room, and the other leading to the kitchen. 

"It's stupid that we had to come all this way just so we could be told about what you and Mindy discovered yesterday," Jojo said, folding her arms. "Couldn't we know this over the phone? Skype? Facetime? It feels like Mindy wanted to show off her house more than anything else." She frowned, before mumbling more words. 

Footsteps could be heard coming from upstairs. Moments later, Mindy showed up, walking down the steps in a large, white t-shirt and tight, red retro shorts. "Guys, you made it," she said with a smile, while her hands tied her hair into a messy bun.

Somo, Sly and Joe had their mouths open, staring at her. No words could come out of Joe's mouth. Not only did Mindy look beautiful without her makeup, her provocative dressing tempted him. His cheeks flashed red in embarrassment. The same happened to Sly and Somo.

"Is that how you dress when you walk around this place?" asked Moon, looking less pleased. 

Mindy checked herself. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Moon shook her head. "Apart from your hard nipples showing, not really. But it does explain why I haven't seen any male workers."

Mindy smiled. "Oh, silly, Moon. Only females work for me. The only man in my life is Joe."

Moon turned to Joe and chuckled. "Best of luck, friend."  

Friend. That word sent a sour feeling in Joe's chest, but he kept a straight face. 

Mindy walked into the living room and the rest followed. Purple curtains draped over the large windows. There was a fireplace and a dining table at the side. A large screen TV set above the fireplace, but the dust on it implied it hadn't been used in ages. 

Joe took notice of the large painting on the wall. It was of a man in a green suit. He had a red tie around his collar, and a green top hat with a red and maroon band at the bottom of the crown. But the most shocking thing was that he had no face. 

"What is that thing?" Jojo asked, looking disgusted. "You're into some freaky shit, Mindy."

"That's my father," Mindy said, causing a gasp among the group. "I wanted to have a painting of him to show that I won in the end. Everything he did to me is in the past and I have a new family that loves me, friends that support me and a wonderful life."

"What did he do to you?" Jojo asked, seeming the only one to not get what Mindy meant by what she said. "Did Daddy spank you from time to time because you were a naughty little girl?"  

Staring at the painting, Mindy replied, "Something like that." She took a seat on the single sofa next to the fire place. The rest had sat down on the two couches beside her. "For those that don't know, I have been on the hunt for the leaders of the Dead Dealers here in Ramere."

Somo raised his hand.

"Yes," said Mindy.

"What... um..." he coughed. "Sorry for my clumsiness, but... um... what are... um...  the Dead Dealers?" he asked.

"You've never heard of The Dead Dealers?" a shocked Mindy stared at Somo, then took a glance at Jojo. 

"Are you going to answer him or what?" Jojo told Mindy.

"The Dead Dealers are a group of Leprechauns who steal dead bodies and sell them in the black market. They are the reason I am like this." She pointed at herself. "The leaders of The Dead Dealers, Yoko and Uno, used to work with the..." she paused, troubled to mention the woman's name. "They um... used to work with the..." she coughed, tears in her eyes now. "Excuse me, I never thought it would be this hard to tell this story to the rest of ya'll."

Joe touched her arm and smiled at her when she looked at him. "I got this," he told her, then focused on the rest. "Yoko and Uno used to work with The Doll Maker."

"You mean the woman who made Mindy a joy to look at?" Jojo asked.

"Jojo, be nice," said Daisy.

"What? I'm just speaking the truth here. We have all heard the stories about The Doll Maker's victims. She kidnapped boys and girls who she deemed to have unpleasing faces and bodies, and turned them into supermodels." Jojo gazed at Daisy. "If that's not me being nice, then screw you and your niceness."

Joe shook her head. Why was she even invited here? I know her skills could prove useful against Slenderman, but do we really need her though? Too bad if we kick her out, Somo will leave too. And I like the guy.  

"Joe, you were saying?" Sly reminded his best friend.

"Right." Joe took a deep breath, then proceeded, "When working with The Doll Maker, Yoko and Uno stole the dead body of a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and suggested she used it on Mindy. With a few alterations and comparisons to the real Marilyn, The Doll Maker was able to make Mindy a carbon copy of her."

Joe observed Mindy with a side-eye and caught her rubbing off tears flowing down her face. She was silent, probably reminiscing everything that happened to her during her captivity. Trauma was a hard thing to escape, no matter how many times someone lied to themselves that they were over it. 

It was a mental battle. And although Mindy had been able to subdue it for a while, the bombshell Taavi dropped on them opened up her old wounds. 

"Is that all?" asked Jojo, giving a fake yawn. "I mean, apart from seeing Mindy's hard nipples, there's nothing important we came here for. I feel a little sad for you though, Mindy. What would your father think if he saw you dressed like a whore right now? Don't you have any decency around company?"

And with that, Mindy stood and ran away sobbing. 

"You're such a bitch," Daisy told Jojo, before following Mindy. Moon wasn't far behind. 

"What did I do?" Jojo was genuinely puzzled. 

"You... you really don't... don't know?" Somo asked her.

"If I did, would I ask, dumbface?"

"Sorry." Somo cowered at his sister's words. 

 "What's your problem, Jojo!" Joe screamed at her, his chest heaving back and forth in frustration. "I swear, sometimes it feels like you want people not to like you. What kind of person does that?"

"I'm sorry, Joseph Turner. Not all of us get to be pampered by our grandparents our whole lives. Unlike you, I don't have a mother. And my father? Well, he's basically not there. You have all of those and still decide to be an overgrown baby and fight them whenever you get the chance. I don't have time to construct my words to make you or anyone else feel better. If you can't handle the truth, die. It's that simple."

Joe got up. "Fuck you, Jojo." He showed her the middle finger.

"I will when you decide to grow up and depend on yourself, instead of living off your rich girlfriend!" she shouted, but Joe had already left.

Sly looked at her with a smile on his face.

"What?" she asked, intimidatingly.

"You are... fascinating," he replied.

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