The smell of urine permeated the air. Dusty wind surged from the vent on the sidewalk as the sound of the subway below became louder and clunking. The lights of the city were dimmed but still prevalent in the highest of buildings that were only a mere ten blocks or so away. A rattle started to get closer. A shadow appeared from a distance walking slowly with a shuffle. As the figure grew closer, the streetlights shined upon him as if he were being interrogated. Of course, New York City was used to putting people on trial. The man, one would assume, was an older gentleman with a white beard that was unkempt and dingy. His face was consumed with wrinkles and desecrated by scars. He stopped a couple feet away and the smell of urine was now masked by the stench of booze and vomit.
"Spare one?" he wheezed out, pointing a shaky finger at the cigarette.
"Sorry man," the young woman said shaking her head slowly, "But this is the last one I got."
The old man inhaled deeply the second hand smoke, letting it out with a barking cough. He doubled over with his hands on his knees and took almost a minute to catch his breath and once more continue on his way. The young woman took a hit of her cigarette and threw the butt into the road which kay in front of her, watching the orange glow of ash dance down the street. The door behind her opened and a well built man bellowed "you're almost up Mimi." She turned around and walked through the doors and into the club.
The inside was almost as mysterious as the outside; It's own little world which had been created for the highlife and manipulated by the lowlifes. Mimi made her way to the dressing room where she took off her tattered coat and glanced intensely at the mirror. She quickly slathered on a shade of red lipstick which complimented her dark skin tone. She adjusted her breasts in the tightly fitted corset of an outfit and strapped on her tall heels. Mimi thought back to when she first learned how to wear heels. It had not been her mother who had taught her. But rather, her best boy friend from elementary school, Angel. Even back then they knew he would be the brightest color in the rainbow.
Mimi closed her eyes as she spritzed on her melon scented body spray. She opened her eyes, did a twirl and nodded to herself. The music that had been blaring in the background came to a sudden halt and Mimi scurried towards the stage. It was her turn to "entertain".
"From right here in New York City. She started off as a shy Catholic Schoolgirl and ended as a slutty seductress. Meet the talented and oh so tantalizing... Mimi!" Mimi hated her enterance. She was never Catholic. As a matter of fact, her parents were the most atheistic people she had ever met. But of course, there was something about the stereotypes that people absolutely adored, and if a meaningless story gave her a couple extra twenties when she headed out the door at the end of the night, then she was willing to go along with it.
She emerged from the curtain and slowly walked towards the stage. The music began and it took everything in her not to burst out laughing. How many times was she going to have to work to "crazy bitch"? She had dreamed many times of sabotaging the DJ and slipping in something a little more original. Irregardless, the crowd was going wild and immediately men started filling up the seats on the side of the stage. Mimi, with no hesitation grabbed the pole and did her best to scan the audience as she twirled and grinded, humped and danced. She paid close attention to those in the seats in front of her, and the reward was crumpled cash that she took from the groin of their pants and out of their mouths. She threw the money on stage behind her to free up some room for more. She turned her back to the audience and bent over shaking her ass which was only covered now by a red lacy g string. Staged smoke started to fill around her, making it hard to see, but she had done this soo many times that she could do it blindfolded and handcuffed– which she had done on occasion. She crawled up to the person who had just taken a seat in the front row. She stepped off of the stage and straddled him in the chair. She began to rub her body against him when the smoke started to clear, as well as the song beginning to end, and that is when she noticed Roger.
The smirk on his face was condescending. Mimi wanted to slap him right then and storm away, but she knew that she couldn't. She was supposed to have a second act in an hour. She carefully got off of him and whispered in his ear. "You fucking bastard. You better be out of here before I kick your ass." She could say that here. With all of the security and strength in numbers, she knew that there was no way that he could harm her. When she was at home though, that was a completely different story.
Mimi grabbed her clothes from the stage and began to race to the dressing room. She could hear Roger calling out her name. Luckily for her, the people were standing shoulder to shoulder and Roger had to maneuver his way around them. He couldn't push them as that would only cause a scene, and he was no longer supposed to be entering the Cat Scratch club as it was. One thing about the help though, you could buy anyone with a couple hundred dollar bills.
Roger was starting to make something of himself. He had finally written that "one big hit" that he had been working on and Mimi had been there to share the moment with. They had promised to be with one another through thick and thin, better or worse. Roger had even proposed to Mimi and watching her leap through the room with squeals and laughter was one of the best moments of his life. The music business was harsh though, and the schedule was hectic. When Roger's agent had announced that he would be going on his first tour there was a small sinking in Mimi's stomach. Sure she trusted him, but she had heard all of the VH1 Behind The Scene shows on various rockstars and she knew that there would be plenty of women throwing themselves at him, just begging for a one night stand with the man that she had vowed to grow old with. But not wanting to seem clingy or insensitive to his sudden fame, Mimi had pushed her fears aside and gave her consent. Days went by. Weeks. The phone calls were becoming more scarce and the conversations began lacking any real content. Mimi stopped calling altogether when every call for a week had went straight to voicemail. Mimi had given up hope and she was certain that she would leave him. The nail went into the coffin when he returned home with an aggressive demeanor and a nasty case of the clap. This only made things worse as he started stalking her and breaking into her newly gotten apartment in Greenwich Village, which had been the only place she could afford on such short notice. She tried to get a restraining order, but with no concrete evidence, it was merely hearsay, and no one would believe a stripper from the village. This was the first time she had seen him in nearly a month and she had started to believe that maybe she was finally rid of him.
Mimi's walking turned into a sprint as she nearly ran over another stripper named Jewel. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Mimi said as she picked up the feather boa that had fallen to the ground. "I just. I need... Remember Roger?" It was almost all that she could say without bursting into tears or punching a wall, she could not sort out her feelings enough to decide which one was more appropriate at this time.
"Yes." Jewel responded nodding her head with a confused look on her face. "Oh!" She responded after a short silence. "Oh. I see. Umm... Don't worry about the other act. I will tell Humphrey some lie for you. Of course, it is going to cost you." The young woman held out her hand and smiled crookedly.
Mimi sighed and reached into her bra pulling out a couple tens. "This enough?" She said, hoping that it would be, missing out on half a night on a Saturday was going to cut things really close for the month.
"Well, it's enough for atleast a bump." Jewel replied no longer looking at Mimi.
Mimi plowed through the door to the dressing room and threw the costume onto the small chair beside her. There was a loud banging at her door and when she ignored it, it only became louder until she was sure that her door would soon fall into a pile of splinters before her. She locked the extra chain lock for more precaution. She grabbed her street clothes and quickly put them on.
"Mimi!" Came the loud, angry yell from outside her door. Roger. "You open this fucking door right now you stupid bitch. You know it's me. You know that I am not going to hurt you. I only want to talk to you."
She took her cell phone out of the left pocket of her jeans and dialed the only number she could think of in that moment. Benny.
Benny and Mimi had stopped talking the day that Mimi said yes to Roger's proposal. It was only the right thing to do in Mimi's eyes. Benny had loved her from the very start when she was nothing more than a bean pole with mismatched socks. It was the summer of sophomore year of highschool when Benny finally confessed his love for her. Mimi had only thought of him as a friend and Benny didn't want to lose her completely, so the subject was never brought up again. Mimi had always ran to Benny when things got hard for her. When Roger started working late on his second single, Mimi became lonely and showed up on Benny's doorstep with a pathetic half smile, a movie and an inexpensive bottle of wine. That night, Mimi crossed the line emotionally and almost phsyically. She left the house the next morning feeling guilty. She vowed it would never happen again and she vowed that she would never speak a word of it to Roger. He was the man of her dreams and she wasn't going to do anything to sabotage that. Not anymore. Two days later, Roger asked her to marry him. That is when she said yes and broke poor Benny's heart.
Much to her surprise, it was only two rings until Benny picked up the other line. He didn't speak a word. Not even a hello. Mimi took a deep breathe in and started to ramble. "Roger started abusing me, the cops won't believe me, now he is at my work at the backdoor of my dressing room. I think he is going to hurt me." she felt almost selfish having these be the first words that she had spoken to him in months. After everything that she had put him through, this was how she greeted him. She wondered, for a moment, if maybe this was her punishment. If maybe she deserved what was inevitably coming to her. There was a long silence. "Benny?" she began to worry that maybe he had hung up on her.
"Okay," he finally responded "I am coming around to the back of the club. I can be there in half an hour. I want you to find a way to that exit. Do not come any sooner. He is probably going to follow you, and I don't want you to facing him alone. Can you promise me this?"
"Yes. I promise." Mimi said as she hung up the phone and looked at the clock. Thirty minutes. How was she going to stall for another ten minutes?
There was another bang on the door and a groan from Roger. "Bitch, you mess up my hand and you are going to be even more sorry. You better answer this damn door before I blow the lock right off."
Mimi did not respond. Instead, she curled herself up in a ball in the corner of the room and softly cried to herself. She watched each minute tick passed and slowly the banging started to become less frequent, the threats less scary.
"You know what? Fuck you. I don't need this shit." With that, Mimi heard Roger walk away from the door and walk down the hall and out the back door of the club. She waited a few minutes before she opened the dressing room door. She wanted to make sure that he had not been tricking her. She had four minutes left until Benny was supposed to arrive. She cautiously closed her door behind her and opened up the back door. She looked both ways before she stepped both feet out and closed the door. She watched for Benny's car from the direction that she was sure he would come in.
"About damn fucking time" She heard from behind her. He must have been hiding where she couldn't see him. She was afraid to move. She felt cold metal against her right temple. Mimi winced at the memory of the gun. The one that he had purchased a week after the cops had told her that she was denied a restraining order. Mimi let out a small whimper.
It was then that the lights of a car came racing towards her. Benny.