The Stripper Alliance

Chapter 3

"Help! Somebody please help me!" I scream and shout.

I can't shake myself from this person. He's haunting me. He's in my brain, my heart, my dreams, and there's no way of removing him. Again, I'm dreaming of the night that everything went wrong, but this time I cannot shake myself awake. Everything's happening just as it did that horrific night. Just like a flashback.

He's about to catch me and then I sit up on the ground and scream. My heart is racing, and sweat is pouring down my face. I blink a couple of times, and become even more scared once I notice the three teenage girls standing in front of me. Their expressions were more horrified than mine. I probably look like a bloody mutant right now.

One of the girls slowly approaches me, like I'm some kind of wild, untameable beast. She's a gorgeous, stylish red head. She looks no older than sixteen. She removes the sunglasses from her eyes and asks, "Are you okay? Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

I shake my head no and try to speak, but then realize my throat is too dry to talk. I point at my mouth, and one of the other girls pulls out some vitamin water and hands it to the red head. The red head placed the bottle in my hands, and I sucked it dry.

Once I finished the bottle, I half expected the girl to be angry about her expensive vitamin water being gone, but she actually looked more worried. I cleared my throat and said, "Hi, my name is Onyx. Can I just have a ride back into town?"

The red head led me to the expensive looking Ferrari and sat me down in the back.  She sat down next to me. They all introduced themselves as we drove. The red head was named Brandi. The airy blonde driving was named Veronica, and the down-to-earth girl with black hair was named Natasha.

I started to doze off in the car, and then Veronica startled me by asking, "So what happened?"

I took a deep breath. I had no problem with telling them, but Natasha seemed to think that it was my business and not theirs. I cleared my throat again and said, "Last night I was stripping and this mysterious man took me to his house. After that it's a blur. I wake up this morning on a boat, and then he tries to drown me, but I actually ended up drowning him."

All that Veronica took out of my story was that I am a stripper. She asked, "Stripper? I'm a stripper. I work at Catalyst. Where do you work?"

I smirk and say, "The Cherry Axe."

Before she says anything I see a sign that read Denver. I'm finally back home. I censor out what Veronica is saying, and just think of the reunion that I'm going to have with my mother. She is going to be so happy, and angry. The Ferrari weaves through the busy streets of Denver, and then we pull into my driveway in the outskirts of Denver. I stumble out oft the car and wave the girls goodbye before going up to my door.

I knock three times and ignorantly wait for my mother to answer the door. I hear footsteps coming from the inside and then the door slowly swings open. My mother sis tanding there and she is holding a damp handkerchief in her left hand.

She raises her arms, and I embrace her. She leads me inside, and I sit down on the beloved family couch that has been in our family for sixty years. My mother heats up a pot of green tea, my favorite, and then comes out with a tray holding two dainty cups. She hands me a cup, and I take it. My hand is shaking. My mother sits down and looks at my face. A clear tear streams down her face and she barely sputters out the words, "What happened?"

I want to cry right alongside her, but I want to be strong for her. I want to tell her every detail, but I want to make a long story short. I take in a deep breath of air and then say, "Mom I was raped, by a man over eighteen."

She reached for the phone and I leaped in her direction, and snatched the from her hands. She looks up at me dazed, confused, and worried. She stands up and says, "Onyx, let me call the police. They will find this man and arrest him."

I go back to my chair and before I sit down I whisper, "You can't call the police."

Her face says it all. The nurturing side of her is coming out and she wants to defend her child. I don't blame her, but I just don't want the police to get involved in this. She asks, "Why not, Onyx?"

I sit her down and then say, "Because I did something wrong too."

Her tone goes from worried to angry in the blink of her brown eyes. "Mom it was in self defense. This morning I wake up, and we are on a boat. He is tying my feet to a cement block. I lifted my fist and punched him. He was unconscious. During that time I was confused, and I tied the cement blocks to his feet and threw him overboard. In three words, I murdered him."

She comes and sits next to me and then says, "I love you, and I'm just happy that you are safe. We don't have to call the police if you don't want to."

I look her in the eyes and sincerely say, "Mom you can't tell anyone. Not even dad."

She starts to argue back, but then she realizes how dire this is to me. Her and I just embrace and then she whispers in my ear, "You can't go back there."

"Where?"

She sighs and then says, "The Cherry Axe. It's too dangerous."

I shake my head no and say, "I have to, and there are no ifs', ands', or buts' about it."

Before she can retaliate, I walk out of the room and up to my room.