Her name was Eleanor. I liked her very much, her wrinkled, smiley face, her flowery hats and her saggy skin. The only thing that didn't sag downwards on her face was her smile, and she always wore one for me.
Her house was in Chinatown. It was a lovely duplex, and she lived on the bottom floor. On the top, which had 5 rooms and a living room, she rented out rooms.
It was a lovely house, and she gave me the loveliest room for free. I didn't know why, but Ms. Eleanor took a shine to me from the moment she sat next to me on that bus.
She gave me a month to find a job, and didn't charge me a penny.
I had money enough, since I had stolen all my head-shrinks money, but I wasn't about to tell her that. Oh no, that money was for special occasions.
The other tenants were lovely. The room to my right was occupied by a Swedish girl named Susy, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. On my left lived Jane, who was from London, with short brown hair and a plane face. In the other two rooms lived Noemi and Natalia, two Italian girls who both had beautiful long dark hair and pale faces with big brown eyes. They were both beautiful and sexy, which just made them hate each other more. There were no men. This suited me perfectly, never having live with a man before. It was a cozy home, and we were undisturbed by the presence of men.
The girls always ate upstairs in our living room, but I had struck a deal with Eleanor. I would cook and clean for he downstairs in exchange for not paying the months rent.
The first night I made pasta. Truth be said,I had never cooked before, but I downloaded the recipe off Susie's laptop. Luckily, Ms. Eleanor didn't have many taste buds left in her old mouth.
She made me sit down and eat with her.
"Mmmm, this is lovely, darling". She smacked her lips.
"Why, thank you, Mrs. Eleanor"
"Oh no! Not Mrs! I was never married, dear, the time never came for me". She smiled and her wrinkles lifted. "Do you want to get married, dear?"
"Oh, well, I'm not sure. Can men be honest, reliable, kind and take care of you?"
"No".

I am a monkey child. It is not important how I came to be so, be it because of my upbringing, where I lived, or who I encountered on my way here. Where is here?
Well, wouldn't you like to know. Honestly, it's none of your business, but I'll tell you anyhow. I live in a mental institute.
Oh, don't look that way. It's a very nice mental institute, just for monkey girls like me. I have friends, and they're sweet girls, some young, some old. All monkeys like me. The institute is very big, and is separated in three buildings. Each building is painted a different tone of pink. I live in what I call the "Cherry Blossom" house. It was painted beige and the windows pink. The door was pink, the veranda was pink, our balconies were pink, the window frames were pink. Our head shrink called us students, but I have no idea what that was about.
I had been living in this mental institute since I was ten. I was 17 when it all happened. What happened? The fire did. Did I start it? Maybe. The important part is that everything burnt down. The fire started at 19:45, and by 20:01 I was sitting on a bus to London, with a bad full of bills from under our head shrinks mattress.
Ah, freedom. Even sitting on a crummy bus driving through the middle of bloody nowhere I felt more at home. The bus stopped and an old lady came on. Even though the whole bus was empty, she sat next to me. Her smell slapped me, and only a while later did I realize what it was. Old lady smell, that's it. It has been a while since I'd smelled it.
"Where are you travelling to?" She smiled at me.
"I'm going to London, to find a job" I told her matter-of-factly.
"Oh, well, where are you staying then?" She asked. I looked at her, her saggy face lit up in a smile just as cheery as her flowery hat.
"I'll see when I get there" I smiled at her.
"Well, my dear, I have rooms for rent, if you're looking" She hesitated, "How old are you?"
"I'm 19" I lied, "and I'd love to rent a room, if it's not too expensive".
I must've looked desperate and she must've took pity, because her next answer was completely unexpected.
"Oh, I wouldn't charge a sweet girl like you without even a job! You come and stay, and when you find work, we can figure out a price darling." Darling. The word sounded safe and sound, and it rang in my ears.
"Here's our stop!" She pulled me up excitedly, surprisingly strong for such an old lady.
And out we stepped, straight into Chinatown.