My Hidden Love Child

Chapter 5: Alicia

Before it was time for me to hit the club tonight, I decided to go do a little shopping and get pampered. My brows were long overdue for some arching and I was tired of seeing gold on my nails. I just needed some me time and a day to relax without the stress and drama of Derrick complaining about his children and his little wife or my mother calling me and complaining about me giving her a bad image because I chose to be a stripper. Before she even married Fred, she was the main one telling me I needed to use my body and show it off and now I'm taking her advice and she's upset. She knows first hand how it feels not to get a great job because she had Ashleigh at fifteen and me at eighteen, so stripping was all she knew until Fred came along when I was twelve and Ashleigh was fifteen. I can remember the days and nights me and Ash would have to fend for ourselves because my mother was either passed out drunk, or didn't come home for four days straight. Luckily at the old apartment complex we lived in there was this older woman named Mrs. Ruby, God bless her resting soul, that took care of us and made sure we had food to eat and clean clothes. Then Alaejah moved in with us and at first Mrs. Ruby wanted to take her in, but my mother insisted she stayed at our small apartment. We didn't have the best of anything. If you knew our background, you'd think "how in the hell did they make it out of that?" There's been plenty of nights I was bitten by bed bugs, ants and all kinds of other foreign bugs that I'd never seen before. Before Mrs. Ruby started doing for us, me and Ashleigh had to share the little bit of clothes we had. When Ashleigh took off a pair of jeans, the next day I'd wear them. We didn't have a washer and drier so we had to wash clothes in the tub and dry them with a hair drier. Now I know many of you are thinking, "if your mother was a stripper where was her money going?" Right? Yea, I thought that too, plenty of times. She was always a selfish person. We were only taken care of by her during the holidays, I guess to make it seem like she's been doing her job all year. That's why I was always so ready for Christmas and birthdays because I knew that's when I would get a good meal and something new. Any other time, my mother would be buying liquor, weed and spending money on herself while me and Ashleigh went without. Although I am grateful for Fred when he came along and got my mother out of the strip club and moved us to a better environment, that still doesn't take away the fact that I basically grew up without any parents. I never knew who my father was, every time I ask my mother would tell me don't worry about it or he's not around and Ashleigh's dad was in prison on three robbery charges, a rape charge and attempted murder. We basically raised ourselves, so whatever went wrong I can honestly blame my mother. She should have been there. She never taught us the necessary things that a woman should know. When my period started, she was laid out in her room drowning in her own vomit while Alaejah and Ashleigh had to steal pads and tampons from the local corner store. From the ages of eight and ten, we were pros at smuggling shit. It's a miracle we never gotten caught.

Finally pulling into the nail salon, I was glad my girl Trina's station was empty. Lord knows I did not feel like waiting. I wanted to get what I needed to get done and get out.

"Hey Trina, you ready for me girl." I gave her a warm smile and she came from around the booth and hugged me.

"Ya know meh booth is always open fi yuh." She said in her strong Haitian accent. "So what we doin today gorgeous?"

"Hmm, I was thinking about black, red bottom coffin nails and a chrome nail on my ring finger."

"Oooh trying something new today eh?" She giggled at me.

"Yea, trying to come out of my comfort zone."

"That's all yuh can do. So how is that zozo santi bwoy yuh always talkin bout eh?"