The Darkest Days

2. Privacy

Kate gets out of bed and goes to Lana's room. She shakes her little sister and places a hand on her mouth, knowing her sister would scream otherwise and wake everyone up.

"Shut up and follow me." She whispers. "You want to see that packet or not?"

Lana takes a few seconds to register Kate's words and then she nods.

"Cool, now don't make a sound. They're sleeping downstairs."

The girls quietly tiptoe through the dark towards Kate's room. Lana switches the lights on and sees the time. 1:00AM.

She has never been up so late and the realisation gives her an adrenaline rush.

Kate sits on her bed comfortably and pulls out what is inside the packet.

"Papers?" She raises her eyebrow. "Mom's hiding a bunch of papers from us."

Lana sits down beside her and asks, "what does it say?"

Kate flips through a few pages. "It's a story.." She trails off. "Must have written some time ago but why hide it?"

"She doesn't want us to read it."

"Obviously but why?" Kate bites her lip. She flips back to the first page. "The most famous bar in the city-"

She starts reading but Lana stops her. "Are you sure you wanna read? And what's a bar?"

"It's a- uh, a place where adults go to have adult drinks."

"Oh.. coffee?"

"Sort of. Anyways, I've changed my mind. This is boring, just a story of hers. You should go now and sleep."

Lana pouts. "I'm not sleepy anymore.."

"Try counting sheep or something. I am sleepy so go."

Kate quickly sends her sister back to her room. Of course, she wants to read the story but she has seen a few words ahead and the starting line itself was clear why Veronica didn't want them to read it.

And that's exactly why Kate would read it.

But alone, she doesn't want to explain everything to her little sister.

And so she begins..

...

The most famous bar in the city of Portlake was Red's. Loud dance music played inside as three girls wearing short clothes which showed off their long legs and toned midriff walked on the beat along the stage which was levitated a little.

Three of them were blonde and wearing masks to conceal their faces, only their lips and eyes could be seen.

The overcrowded place, which usually was pleasant and posh was not so decent on the weekends.

It was crowded every night; but especially on the weekends. Not just because people went out the most on those two nights of the week but because Red's had a special event on Friday and Saturday nights.

It was known as the Dancing Divas.

Pretty female dancers were hired by the owner of the bar to give jaw dropping performances on the weekends, for which they had the whole week to prepare.

The weekly event was highly successful and in demand as girls would have to audition to get a place in the group. The pay was high and employee benefits were also received. It was the pride of Red's.

It was extravagant too. Red's was no cheap bar after all, it was posh. All the rich and high class men and women would come there to relax and spend their evenings and on weekends, it'll just explode into bigger crowds and craziness. So lots was spent for their entertainment and especially since this was their main attraction.

From fancy costumes, to choreography, to exotic girls and big stage production, everything was taken into consideration.

As the three spotlights chased the girls around the stage while they did all kinds of impressive poses and steps, people cheered on. The upbeat music came to an end as the girls gathered together at the back and flipped their hair to give a daring stare to the audience.

They stood still in their ending poses until the lights went off. Once it was dark, they quickly got down the stage and took off their masks.

The middle one of them breathed in deep.

"You were great, Audrey." The girl behind her commented.

"Thanks." She smiled and proceeded to take off her blonde wig to reveal her brown hair. "But this was the first and last time, it's nerve wracking up there!"

"Initially."

They walked out through the back door and got inside the big trailer at the back of the bar.

"My ear is still ringing." The third girl laughed as she removed her earrings.

"Maybe Dee had the volume higher than usual because he was so excited to have you dance to his music, Audrey."

Audrey narrowed her blue eyes. "Wherever did you get that from?"

"Please," the girl giggled as she slowly removed the makeup from her face, "we saw how happy he was when you finally agreed to fill in the missing girl."

"That was because the show would've flopped. I had set a three dancer choreography. He was happy that the show will go on."

"You know that's not true-"

"Audrey!" There was a knock on the trailer door and Audrey stepped out.

A man in his early fifties hugged her immediately. "You saved my reputation tonight, Audrey. Thank you for agreeing to fill in."

She pulled away and gave a weak smile. "This was the last time, Tony. My job contract is to teach the dancers, not be the dancer."

"But you were excellent up there! I got people asking for you."

"Exactly. No offense to the dancers but it's not in me to provide those men with visual sex. They literally stared at me like some animal they're ready to devour."

"They're here for entertainment, we provide 'em." Tony smiled.

"Not my type. I'm happy with behind the scenes choreography. Besides, none of them know my true age. They thought I was twenty four like those two."

"Nineteen isn't too young for them." He smirked and Audrey shivered.

"Anyways," Tony cleared his throat, "here's your cash. For the choreography and the performance."

He handed her a bundle of cash. She felt uneasy taking it. She never wanted to perform in an atmosphere like that one, but she had so she took it.

"No more performing." She reminded Tony.

"Yes, yes. Look, the girl fell sick, it's not my fault. I just thank the stars, you were here. My bar is the only thing I have and if people don't get want they want, they riot."

Audrey just nodded in understanding.

"Well," he backed up. "I'll let you change into something fuller." He gestured towards her clothes and walked away.

She counted the cash and smiled. The next month should comfortably pass with this much, she thought.

******************************

And Audrey's here! *cheers*

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