Chapter 1

Macey

Macey Smith always started her day at 11am.

It was the earliest she could get up without making herself feel groggy and grumpy when she got up.

She would go on to stretch while her old radio played music she did not know the names of but always loved to hum. Stretching was always a good way to work out the kinks in her muscle that a Tylenol and warm milk couldn’t. afterwards, she would take a quick shower, never more than five minutes. She needed to save water, or her bills would skyrocket.

She would take a brush to her long wavy brown hair. Her hair was one of the little things that had not changed much over the years; never coloured or bleached, never highlighted, and always kept at waist length. Macey loved her hair, and guys she had previously dated had always complimented her gorgeous hair. Therefore, she took pride in it.

Right after the long hair-brushing, she would dress up in something non-descript, or as some would call it, the grey man’s uniform. She would be running errands, paying bills, going to the bank, etc, and she did not want to be noticed as any woman out of the ordinary. Therefore, she put on a dark wash jean, and a grey hoodie which said ‘LEAGUE’ on the front, and a pair of her most comfortable, well-worn grey (used-to-be-white) sneakers. She put her hair in a ponytail with a small blue scrunchie.

Then, Macey would go to her miniscule living room space and press the button on the answering machine to listen to voicemails. There usually were never any voicemails apart from one or two telemarketers who somehow got hold of her phone number. But this time, like a few other rare occasions, her mother had left a message.

“You haven’t called me in a while, or come to visit me.” no greeting, just straight to the point, just like her mother. She sounded terse and cutting, her voice bringing memories of the disappointment on her face to Macey’s mind. She cringed, trying to tune out the tone of the voice and get the most important parts of the message. “…has been out of commission, so. You should come to visit, soon. There’s someone I would like you to meet.” The beep that signalled the end of the message rang, screeching loud in the silence of the apartment.

Macey shrugged, as if brushing off her mother’s words, grabbing her trusty tote bag for the grocery shopping, and leaving her apartment.

The day was sunny as usual, and the young woman blended right in with the crowd as she moved on the pavement, cutting through the passers by and heading to the bus stop. She took the bus every time, except for when she worked – those times, she called a cab instead.

Her journey to the post office was extremely short, and she went in to retrieve the package she had not had a chance to collect all week until then. After paying her fine for overdue packages, and depositing her small package into the canvas tote bag, she just walked down to where the grocery shop was. It was a mom-and-pop corner shop that was good with their prices – sure they often sold almost expired goods, but it was good enough in Macey’s opinion.

Her mind whirled as she moved through the small shop, trying to compare prices mentally and decide what she could afford to buy from the chain supermarket near her apartment, and what she just had to buy here and now. Macey was like that – always trying to save as much money as possible so she would rather eat foods that were just days from reaching the best before date than go to expensive and luxurious restaurants and grocery shops.

It was not always like this. There was a time that Macey remembered being given the best of everything. The best education, the best foods, the best clothes and the best of whatever else she desired. She had several nannies, for God’s sake. Her parents’ divorce changed everything.

As a child, Macey did not know or care much about her parents’ loving relationship, or their marriage. All that mattered to her was that they were together. But in truth, her mother did not exactly have the best intentions in getting married to her dad. In fact, she was not in love at all, and was only after marrying into wealth. Macey’s dad not only had the means through his business, but a very sizeable inheritance which had given him a boost and ensured that him and his growing family would not want for any necessities until the day they died.

She had no idea how quickly or how badly her parents’ marriage deteriorated; it happened almost overnight to her, because they had never shown her any sign of disunity or loathing for one another. But to Macey, she feels like her father just finally noticed how her other was all about the money, and nothing much else. She knew very well, that until her parents’ divorce, her mother had not shown more than a cursory interest in her life for any reason. She had nannies and chauffeurs and her dad. But, her mum was never really present.

Then one day, while she was getting in her dad’s car at the tender age of 14, she was informed by him bluntly that him and her mother would be getting a divorce. Macey did not believe him at first, after all, no one wants to believe that their parents will get divorced. But they did.

Macey had to go with her mum, her dad giving up the custody battle to spite them both, and instead, sending child support money every month like it meant something. Their lifestyle went from a rich Mc Mansion in the high-class suburban area, to a cheap apartment in one of the poorest boroughs in the city.

Once Macey turned 18, her child support stopped, and so did her dreams of college. Macey was unable to even get through a year of college because of fees and stress from working two jobs to not only pay for her schooling but also help out her mum.

That was why she got this job.

As soon as her phone alarm rang for 7pm, Macey began to get ready. She would be working extra late tonight, until the early hours of the morning. She prepared accordingly, placing an extra bottle of water and protein bars in her duffle bag; for all that her and her colleagues were provided good food, she almost never found the time to stomach more than water and protein bars during work hours.

Once she was done with shaving, primping and applying heavy waterproof and sweatproof makeup, she was ready. She had gotten into her first uniform of the day, sure that she would not have time to change once she got to the club. She had worn a black coat over it, and as she got into the cab she hailed and gave the address of Neon Strip Club, she was sure she saw the man’s eyes look over her through the rear-view mirror.

Macey rolled her eyes at the clearly judgemental behaviour. “Drive,” she told the man, to which he complied. She pretended not to notice the glances through the rear-view mirror at her. She had lost the shame of the stigma associated with stripping a long time ago.

After she dropped out of college, she had been trying to keep herself on her feet, working two jobs at once and getting paid the equivalent of pennies when her bills were increasing by the hundreds. When she passed by the signage that advertised for dancers at the newest and high-class strip club known as Neon, she went for it. The job, she got almost immediately, and since then, she had been keeping herself at a manageable and stable financial position.

Her mother did not approve, and had kicked her out in fact, having been pushing for Macey to get in touch with her former middle school friends. Her intentions had been for her to land a wealthy man who would take care of them both. Macey did not like that idea one bit. She refused to put herself in the situation that her mother had put her into. Therefore, Macey had always refused the wealthy prospects that her mother pushed onto her. if she was to marry, she had promised herself, it would be because of love, and not money.

Soon enough, Macey could see the flashing pink, red and blue signage of her workplace. The music was loud enough to spill out onto the street. She could see the bouncers, Orville and Harry at the front. That was not her entry point, but when she dropped from the car, she waved to them and they saw her, waving back. Macey made her way to the back of the strip club, going in through the small door that was the back entrance. She moved down a long, well-lit hallway down to the lockers. There, she unlocked her locker (number 203) and unceremoniously dumped her bag into it, locking it once more.

She greeted the girls who responded with varying amounts of enthusiasm. Moving towards one of the empty dressing tables, she began to adjust her makeup and hair, perfecting everything as much as possible. Then she removed her overcoat, letting the purple and red sequined two-piece drape delicately over her slim yet curvy frame. She quickly put on her heels, aware that Mandy, their manager, could call on any one of them at that moment.

True to form, a blonde woman entered the locker room, clicking her fingers at a few girls, Macey being one of them. She had 5 more minutes to prep.

After a quick glance at her face, she reapplied the lip gloss she saw on the dressing table, spraying a few spritzes of perfume. She sneezed a bit, her nose irritated. Then, she made her way out of the locker room and to the back of the stage.

She was ready to perform.