A Strip In Time

Chapter 1

A Strip In Time

"Dress to impress" mother always said. How would she feel if she knew I was undressing to impress? That's right mom, your only baby girl now undresses in front of men and the occasional woman for money all thanks to Daddy. Wait. I know what you're thinking. He owed people a very large sum of money and I just so happened to be around when they came to collect. With both of our lives being threatened, I said I would take over and pay him the full amount and then some as long as he would allow me to do so in payments. My father didn't even try to stop me so this put a bad vibe between us and now I don't even know where he is. So, I quit my cashier job making barely $400 a week to making an easy $500 any night I worked by dancing.

Where is my mother you're asking? She died ten years ago, when I was 13 from smoke inhalation at her art studio when it caught on fire and she got trapped inside. They found her by the door and was able to recover her body. Once my father started gambling, we had to move away from all our friends and family. They used to say I looked just like her. Especially my eyes. They're the same shade of green and just as big as hers were. She had long bright blonde hair but I picked up my father's light brown. I have only one picture left of her from the sudden moves my father and I made to get away from people he owed money to and I look at it every day.

While many of the men that come through the club are jerks, they pay me well. This isn't a strip club where just anyone can come in, you have to know the right people or at least show you have some money. The private dances pay the best but many of the men that come here assume that means sex and I do NOT sleep with people from the club. No thank you. I usually just dance on stage and give public lap dances in the crowd. This also pays well because in a group, I intentionally try to give more attention to the guy who's willing to pay more, which causes the other guys to want to pay even more.

The thing I hate the most is when I have to walk home. It has crossed my mind to call an Uber on the nights my friend Erin (or Candy as she is known in the club) doesn't walk with me, it just feels like a waste of money because I live so close. While I do not sleep with the men from the club, Erin often does but hey, what she wants to do is her business. I don't think she actually has a place to live but she knows she can stay with me any time she wants because of my extra bedroom as long as she doesn't bring guys over. Erin is one of the few people I actually like in the world and is really my only friend. So with me being alone so much on my walk, I always keep a thing of pepper spray in my hand ready to go just in case anything was to happen. When the club closes at three, sometimes the drunks hang around until the girls come out to see if they can get any of them to go home with them. This can result in endless catcalling and unwanted fondling. Luckly, our bouncers stay around a while and help deal with those jerks.

There's an ally on my way home that I pass that always really scares me. The week I started working at the club, a girl that worked there ended up dead. She was strangled. So I guess if I had the choice of maybe dying from someone that COULD come kill me or definetly dying by people who want their money, what choice do I have?

I walk a little faster when I approach the ally and the click of my heels echo, making it sound like there could be people following me. Wait... I walk a little slower and listen. I think there really is someone following me. I turn around slightly and see a tall figure walking towards me. Maybe he is just walking the same direction as me but just in case, I pick up my speed by a lot. I hear the change in his speed which causes me to break out into a run. Well... as much of a run as I can while wearing heels. I applaud people who can run in heels because being the klutz that I am, I can only sort of walk in them. Usually I don't wear my heels home but I forgot my gym bag that had my sweats and shoes in it.

I try to run as fast as I can without losing my balance but then I'm suddenly jerked by my long ponytail and let out a scream.