The Stripper Alliance

Chapter 12

I get off the stage. Rose follows closely behind me. We both run backstage and burst out giggling like a bunch of teenage girls. Rose squints at me and cheerfully says, “I cannot believe we just did that!”

I grab the money from my thong and then the money from my bra and count it. I unhappily say, “Hundred and forty seven dollars.”

She frowns playfully and takes out all of her cash. Her face brightens up and she yells, “Two-hundred and one dollars!”

My face perks up. I calculate how much each of us should get for it to be equal, and then I ask, “Can I have twenty-seven dollars?”

She grins and pulls out two ten dollar bills, a five dollar bill, and two one dollar bills. I am pleased. Very pleased with how well we did tonight. I flash her a smile and then get up. As I pass the chair she is sitting on Rose grabs my hand and turns me around to face her. She puts on a convincing puppy dog face and asks, “Cam we do the twin act more often?”

Trying to mess with her I laugh and say, “I don’t know Candy. You kind of cramp my style!”

She laughs and waves goodbye. I say goodbye back and then head to the dressing room. I push the door open and find that no one is in here except for me and the currently lifeless mirrors. I sit down at my chair and sigh. I find my purse that I tucked under my chair and pull out my cell phone. I am pretty sure my stalker has left me alone for a little while. I click a button on my phone. It says that the message was sent at 7:45 P.M., and I look at the clock and it says that it’s 7: 45.

I cautiously open the text message. It says, “Look behind you.”

I am about to look behind me but then Rose and Melanie walk in. Rose yells, “Onyx look behind you!”

I turn around to see a tall, skinny man dressed in all black. He is holding a napkin and a butcher knife. He creepily says, “Nice to see you, Onyx!”

Rose takes the army knife from before and throws it right at his stomach. The knife pierces through his stomach. It barely takes off more than two inches of skin.

The knife starts to drop from his stomach and I grab it. I plunge it deep into his stomach. He grabs the knife from his stomach. To replace the knife he holds his hand over the wound. He lifts the knife above his head and he attempts to thrust it into my shoulder. I move just in time. The knife goes straight through the chair.

Before he can wiggle his hand, I take it and flip him over the chair. He crashes to the ground with the knife still in his hand. He takes the knife and pushes it in my foot. He barely nicks my big toe. I wince in pain, but stay focused for the rest of this fight. I take his head in both of my hands and I thrust it to the floor.

He moans in his creepy voice. I try to take his mask off, but he grabs my hand and pulls me over him. I topple to the ground. In my moment of need, Rose and Melanie finally step into the fight. Melanie takes his left arm and steps on it. He cringes and turns to face me. All I see is a ski mask with a few slivers for him to breathe. Rose, who used to be an amateur female wrestler, taps her elbow and performs an elbow drop. On his side.

He stiffens up. He can barely breathe. I hold my hand up and say, “Guys don’t kill him because that is my job.”

I grin into the mysterious mask before I take the army knife from my shoe. I manage to lift my body over the man’s body, and whisper in his ear, “Fuck you!”

Then I take the dull army knife and plunge it deep into his head. Just to make sure I have finished the job, I plunge the knife once more, except this time the knife goes through his neck. I stand up and wipe my hands on my dress. They are filled with evidence. I say, “Before we try to hide the body, let’s find out who this bastard is.”

I lean down in front of the man and pull off his mask. I can’t believe my eyes. It’s my best friend, Hannah Fleming. I gasp and slap the dead body in anger and disgust. Before I can start to cry I notice a yellow slip of paper in the hood of her jacket. I reach my hand into the bloody mess and pull out another sadistic love poem. I open it and read it in my head.

Dear naïve Onyx

How dumb can you be

You killed your best friend

But you still haven’t caught me! ~Secret Admirer

 

I scream and thrust the note deep into my purse. Rose sees my pain and politely asks, “What is it?”

I shake my head and answer, “Nothing. What should we do with this body?”

Rose quietly says, “We need to show Estelle. He assaulted you, and there are cameras all over this room, so it should be easy for us to defend ourselves.”

I sigh and say, “Okay.”

Rose turns to run for the door and then the door swings open. It just happens to be Estelle. She notices the corpse and yells, “What the hell happened here?”

I try to speak and Rose says, “We were assaulted. Well actually Rose was assaulted, but we helped in killing her.”

Estelle pulls out a cigarette and lights it. She holds it in her fingers and says, “Call the cops!”

She furiously storms out of the room. I sigh and mumble, “Great!”