The Coney Island Harlots - Part 9

[KissTheRain]

The news of Robin's miscarriage had spread quickly through the Warriors, Harlots and Satans Mothers. It took Vermin a week to finally leave his apartment. When he did emerge he looked like a completely broken man, large dark circles hung under his eyes and his face was shadowed with stubble.
"Hey Vermin" Mercy said quietly as she walked into his apartment. She had been coming round every day, tidying a little and genenrally checking to make sure he hadn't done something stupid.  He nodded in reply to her, closing the door behind herself she walked over to where he was sitting.
"how you feeling today?" she asked. His eyes were red and she could tell he'd been crying. He shrugged.
"I'm ok" He said, his voice scratchy.
"Have you spoken to Robin yet?" She asked. Every day since, she asked him that question and every day he shook his head. She knew he was cut up and quite rightly so but this wasn't healthy. He shook his head.
"Are you going to?" she asked. He shrugged again.
"I don't think i'd know what to say..." He said. This was the first comment he'd made on the subject of contacting Robin in a week. Mercy hoped this was an imporvement.
"I should have been there you know? I'm the one whos supposed to take care of them...her and I left her there" He said. Mercy shook her head.
"You did that for her own good, you thought it would be better" Mercy said, trying to make him see sense. Suddenly he shot up and started pacing the room, the built up anger finally breaking out.
"Oh come on! I did it so that I would have one less thing to worry about! I did it cause I was selfish!" He snapped. Mercy took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten, reminding herself that he was hurting and these reactions were to be expected.
"Vermin, listen to me" She said calmly. He turned to look at her, "I want you to think about how you're feeling right now..."
"Come on I don't need this therepy bullsiht!!" he shouted. Mercy suddenly shot up.
"LISTEN TO ME! Think about how upset and hurt you are, Robin is feeling the exact same way...but she's doing it alone. She doesn't have her gang around her and she doesn't have you to hold her hand" He began to calm down slightly and then started to feel guilty. Mercy was right.
"I know it's hard but you need to go and see your girlfriend" Mercy said. Vermin nodded and  was about to make for the door but felt Mercy's hand on his arm.
"Oh but....have a shave first..."

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Her room was still in total darkness even at one in the afternoon, the thick curtains blocking out any hint of sunshine. She didn't mind though, it wasn't like she had a reason to get up. Her baby was gone. She was almost certain that Jack had told Vermin, there was no way he wouldn't have but she had heard nothing from her Warrior boyfriend in just over a week since she it had happened.
She looked terrible, she was pale and tired looking. When she wasn't sleeping she was crying, and she didn't sleep often. Only when she was totally worn out from crying did she sleep. There was a gentle knock at her door and she heard the light creak as it slowly opened.
"Robin honey, theres someone here you should talk to" she heard her mother say. Vermin stood in the door frame and watched the tiny bundle of quilt and duvet on the bed hardly move as she spoke.
"Please...just..Go away.." She said, her voice was so small and worn out. She was almost pleading for them to leave. Vermin almost didn't recognise her, she seemed a shadow of the strong gang leader she used to be.
He walked inside silently, closing the door behind himself so it was once again pitch black and he navigated his way to the bed, lying down on the side Robin wasn't on. She could tell who it was almost instantly, so used to his weight and how it felt when she shifted around on the bed next to her but she didn't turn around to face him. It was so dark she couldn't make out his features anyway but she felt like she couldn't look at him yet.
"Hey" he said quietly. That was it, half the battle. He had said the first word. He felt Robin take in a deep breath and a long exhale before answering him.
"Hi" she said. They sat in silence for a minute or so but it felt like hours. Vermin didn't want to push the conversation, she'd talk when she was ready.
"I'm really sorry..." She said, her eyes getting ready for another tidal wave worth of tears. Vermin put his hand on her side and couldn't help but feel a little rejected when she went stiff.
"It's not your fault..." He said. Truth was in the very back of his mind his head was thinking dark thoughts, maybe it was her fault. He told her to be careful. He told her to give up leadership until she was fit. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind, that was just the grief talking. 
"I know but..." She started, not sure what she was going to say. She did think it was her fault, if she hadn't set that building on fire then she wouldn't have inhaled so much smoke and everything would have been fine. She would still have her baby and wouldn't have been banished to Hells Kitchen.
"I'm sorry I left you..." Vermin said,"I should have been here" Robin smiled for the first time in a week. It was nice to hear that he regretted leaving her hear.
"There wasn't anything you could have done. It's not your fault either" She said matter of factly. Vermin was suddenly taken by surprise when she turned around and moved herself into his arms so quickly. That was all she had really been looking for. Someone who wasn't her damn parents to hold on to her and tell her that everything was going to be fine.

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It had been over two weeks since Vermin had made contact with Robin again and things hadn't gotten any better. He watched as she drove herself into a pit of despair and self loathing, covincing herself that it was her fault. Weight had dropped off her already slender frame and she looked white as a sheet. Vermin was the only person who could go into her room without her telling him to go away. That didn't mean they were close.
The once happy couple who were always laughing and having fun were now completely torn apart. Robin refusing to accept that it was anything other than her doing and Vermin desperately trying to get through to her. Most days she just sat in her room, mascara streaks down her face now a permanent fixture and her hair hanging limp over her shoulders.
The Destoryers, Furies and Lizzies were rampaging through Coney and Vermin was torn between going home and staying with his traumatised girlfriend. Sure the Satans Mothers were making the odd a little better but it was still a blood bath down there. Everyones ranks were being cut down and there were riots most nights. Even the police were helpless to do anything, most of them too scared incase they got wrecked themselves.

"Robin you can't keep doing this to yourself" He said one day as he watched her sit and stare off into space. She blinked once or twice and then turned her attention to him.
"And why not? I don't have anything left" She said. Vermin felt a sting in his chest at her words and found himself growing angry for no reason. He knew she wasn't thinking straight.
"What about us huh? As far as I can remember we had a good realtionship before this baby. Are you gonna let that go now?" He asked. Robin didn't answer, she just sat there, avoiding his gaze.
"You're the leader of a gang, you have a whole street family out there thats getting slaughtered. You're going to lose everything if you don't snap out of it!" He shouted. Robin let the familiar tears roll down her cheeks as he spoke. She knew it was true, but nothing mattered to her anymore. That baby represented her future and now it was dead.
"I just...I can't do it.." Vermin said suddenly, almost not believing his own words. Robin snapped her head towards him.
"What do you mean?" She asked. He shook his head.
"I can't watch someone I love self destruct like this. I'm going back home" he said. Robin felt an all too familiar crushing pain in her chest. She couldn't cry, she couldn't breath. Vermin was leaving her? She heard the door shut and then it began to sink in. She had hit rock bottom and it didn't look like it was going to get any better.

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Vermin came home to a blood bath. In the Warriors hang out there were people lying everywhere, some almost wasted and some just badly injured. The Furies, Destoryers and Lizzies were pounding the streets and beating down anyone they wanted to. It was just as Larson had planned it and it was getting even better now he heard that the Harlots leader had gone loopy.  Shops were wrecked and trashed, even the fair ground wasn't a safe place to go and it was classed as neutral ground back in the day of the original Destroyers but then, Larson didn't have many standards.
"Oh My God" Vermin muttered as he burst into the hangout.
"Vermin! Thank fcuk you're here" Swan shouted as he helped Snow clean a cut on his face, "It's been getting worse, this place has been bombed at least 4 times" he said. He wasn't wrong, there was an odd acidic charred smell in the air and lots of burned patches around the place.
"I'm sorry, Things got a bit messy" Vermin said deadpan. Swan gave him a sympathetic look and nodded in understanding.
"Did Robin not come back with you?" Mercy asked from behind him. Vermin looked grave and just shook his head, hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions. Mercy made a silent "Oh" shape with her mouth and looked down the the floor, feeling equally as awkward about the questions as Vermin did.

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So that was it. She had lost her baby. Her boyfriend had left her and now she didn't have the strength to even get out of her bed in her parents apartment in Hells Kitchen while her own gang was being slaughtered in a gang war. She could hear the door open and heavy footsteps walk inside and the bed dip as her fathers weight dropped on it.
"Robin Andrews" He snapped. This was the first time Robin had heard her fathers voice be anything other than understanding and gentle in a few weeks. It disturbed her. He must have had a good reason.
"I'm so disappointed in you. You know when you started your own gang and convinced the Riffs to turf share, I swear, there wasn't a father who was more proud. You had money coming in and you were your own person" He started. Robin lifted the sheet from over her head and looked up at Jack, the light from the bedside lamp burning her eyes since she hadn't seen proper light in at least a week.
"I...I'm still that person..." She said quietly. Jack shook his head and let out a short splutter of a laugh.
"Come on, Look at you! You lie around in bed all day, not wanting to talk to anyone! You're boyfriend has left you and your gang is getting killed out there and you don't wanna do anything about it!" He spat. Robin scowled and threw her covers off, sitting up on her knees and staring at her father.
"Thats not true!" She shouted. Jack stood up, towering above her and glaring down.
"Oh yeah? Then fcuking prove it! I know you think that losing that child is your fault but it's not and the best way for you to get some closure on this is to use that anger that I know you have in you and you get those bastards!" He shouted.
Robin suddenly felt a fire in her stomach and a determination that had been burried since she had lost her baby. She stood up off the bed and looked at her father. He was writing something down on a piece of paper and after he folded it and handed it to her.
"You go to this place and ask for Ghost. He'll sort you out" He said quietly. Robin raised an eyebrow.
"Whats this for?" Jack smiled.
"Sweetie, you're not going to be able to do this on your own. You're going to need help. Tell him Jack sent you and who you are. He'll co-operate no problem" He said before walking out of the room. Robin unfolded the paper and read the address out loud.
"China Town?"

[ajax the warrior]

Great work ktr i love the story it is great i love that chapter.

[The Swan]

Oh Vermin... Vermin... Vermin...
Well, you're writing a very good story Kiss (I mean all the parts)... don't worry about!!! I give you my 5 with pleasure!!!

BRAVO is the same 4 COOL!!! 8)

[Swan 1979]

Awesome chapter The Warriors are going to get some serious backup.

[KingOfConey]

oh my fcuking god thats so sad but apart from almost making me cry these last to chapters u are such a good writer