CHAPTER ONE - THE BEGINNING OF THE END



Note: during the investigation and the night of the murder are all flashforwards while the story takes the normal penultimate format that'll eventually lead to the crime.

And it has the povs of the four girls because i felt the need to each get an insight into their lives, from their perspective.

Meanwhile, there is an occasional narrator that is ultimately revealed at the end...

After all, this is all a story-

****

01

Flowers everywhere, a bunch of sad, long faces winging the lingering eerie of death...

and a moment of silence for the deceased.

We stood at the front row, not a word to be uttered nor a movement to be made in honor. In love.

Just our attention, our moist eyes through which we grieved our loss and accepted our gruesome fate.

To everyone, she was different person. A different side of her to fall in love in love with.

To some, she was a stranger, to whom still loved her, a friend to a few, a relative but to us, she was more.

She was family.

Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it-- Soon.

But in the meantime,

-our story begins not to long a while back.

¦SIX MONTHS BACK¦

--RUBY--

With a click on her glass with either a cutlery or a pen, Maria successfully drifted our attentions to her.

We all sat up in unison, perplexed by her signature smile the contagious one that was filled with mischief-

-the one she used to lure men into contempt.

"To us" She cheered, hefting her tequila filled glass into the air before inadvertently taking an sip.

Most of us were drunk as hell in the back of the bar, as we chuckled irrationally, while the men waited for each of our rounds.

"Cheers" We consequently yelled, raising our glasses like some sort of pact. "To us, the pole strippers" She yelled, rather loudly before bursting into laughter.

"That gives us away too easily" Aaliyah replied before we were unconsciously pulled into an argument to what name really suited us-

-when we actually really gathered to welcome Wu back from her rehabilitation center.

"I like a little mystery, we-" Wu had started out before Jacqueline clicked her glass to gather our attention.

"-the vamps" She interrupted with a slight shrug of her shoulders and we hesitantly held up our glasses this time-- "Too cliché" Wu eye rolled.

We looked to her as she brought out her blow, it was to no surprise to us that even after rehab, Wu still had no plan to stay clean-

The smiles wiped off our faces as she prepared to take a sniff of the powder she tiled on the table beside her.

"Wu, you can't do that" Maria called out and she let out a scoff. "What?" She looked up after the sniff.

"You're up for another performance, you can't be that high" Aaliyah said from across the room where she touched up her makeup.

"We are high. Plus it's just weed-" She said with a pout.

"Not weed high" Maria snatched the powder before standing to walk away. "You did all the time then-"

"Wu-" I called out before she rolled her eyes. "I have my dealer closeby-" She hissed, leaving us to stare at each other before downing the shot of tequila.

We weren't hypocrites for calling her out because Wu and drugs were a deadly combination--

-she didn't see drugs as a one time club thing, she saw it as an easy way out whenever reality came knocking on her door and that was what scared us-

-her, falling too deep that she might not get up.

"Besides, your grandmother is in town. You know she's the one that forced you to rehab"  Jacqueline said.

"Maybe i should tell you what i tell her-"

"I'm not a fucking addict" She wiped beneath her nose as she walked towards the curtains.

"You know it helps with my performance" She whispered with a smile that we both shared.

Maria exhaled as W bent forward to adjust her fishnet stockings and Aal painted her lips to match her marooned colored hijab--

--and Jacq, she just stood to wear her jackets just as Amelia, one of performers had rounded off the stage.

"Give it up for one of our favorites-" Jones yelled into the microphone, loudly above the music and the most of the crowds cheered--

-some of whom were either unsatisfied from their partners or just unhappy from their draining jobs or just the old fashioned creeps that couldn't get a girl.

Either way, the crowds cheering was all we looked forward to--

"Wu!" Jones had called before the music loudened and Wu bounced the edges of hair in front the mirror.

"Go girl" Aaliyah slapped her ass as she walked out.

"Wu!" They chanted as she made her way to the pole.

As she walked off, Maria rolled her eyes before picking up her glass and turning to me-

-her blue-black colored nails holding firm to the glass as she cleared her throat.

"Well, we can certainly cheer to one thing-" She took a pause before raising the glass in the air.

"None of our lives is really a cliché" She added and i nodded, knowing how true that was.

****

¦DURING THE INVESTIGATION¦

--MARIA--

"Where were you last night?" She asked the question as my hands quivered on the other side of the table.

"Maria Esteban Ramos" The investigator fluently called out, snapping me out of my anxious thoughts.

In a frail attempt not to make eye contact, she stood before walking over to me.

"Which of them?" She leaned against the side of the table as i slowly tilted my head to look at her.

"It was none of them. None of my girls are capable of murder" I said convincingly, mostly to myself.

"Then maybe you are. You all had lots of enemies, probably even amongst yourselves" She replied dryly.

I narrowed my eyes at the papers that laid on the documents in front of me one including a picture of him-- "Mateo" I called my child's name with frailty.

"Maria, I assume you have children" She started as she placed her palms unto the photos, causing me to look into her sour eyes and i nodded.

"Telling the truth is the only hope you have of ever seeing them again" She threatened.

****

¦THE PRESENT¦

WU

I slowly walked towards the pole, holding unto the strings that bound my jacket temptressly to my name being chanted from my lips-

I shut my eyes and my thoughts as I reached the stage.

Knowing i was as high as a kite, i firmly pinned myself to the ground and my eyes to the pole in front of me.

"Wu! Wu!" A few of them chanted as I teased around the ropes before letting go of the loose jacket.

Falling loosely to the ground, i stepped out of the fabric with my moist skin finally reflecting the strobe lights that beamed in a variety of colors.

The music followed the seductive stroking of my hair before i finally reached for the pole with an exotic clothing that barely passed my oiled thighs-

-and a feathery brassiere around my chest as i raised my knees to where my hands gripped the pole.

My legs brushed up against the cold metallic pole that moved slowly from its joints before i began slowly lift myself, letting my legs curl around the pole for balance before falling back, not letting go off the pole.

I finally acknowledged my blurred vision as i stained to see Aaliyah cheering backstage before i flipped my head around-

-letting my hair float in the air for a second-- A style that she had taught me when her hair was out.

I remained suspended in the air before I let go of the pole and then slowly I bent backwards, my only support being my legs as i lowered to the grounds.

I let my hands fall to wedge my body before I dropped to the ground acrobatically and it took a while before i reached for my thongs, a smile reaching my lips as I navigated the wailing crowds for a willing subject.

Slowly, I rolled my flexible waist around before falling to the ground like a hungry tiger and rolling over to where a middle aged man sat, almost comfortably.

Giving him a wink as the money pumped into the air, I grabbed unto his leather jacket as I moved round him.

I held unto his chiseled chin before pulling him closer to my tits, an act you could tell he enjoyed by his muffled groan and that was before i climbed on him.

Letting my hands fall to his well knotted tie and his structured chest and then to into his jacket pockets when he nodded to me. "Take it all-" He whispered.

He slid some cash in the strings of my tightly fitted brassiere as i flashed him a smile, my hands finding its way further down his torso and close to his approving member before i pulled away-

-deriving enough joy from leaving him half satisfied.

And it was when the music loudened that i climbed back to the stage, sweeping across the money that laid capriciously around-

-and then back to the man that excused his embarrassed self from the crowd and into the room.

I made my way back to the pole, dropping off the wad of cash from my waists to the ground and in an attempt to conclude with a carousel, I reached again.

I raised my knees but this time, I immediately swung around the pole to the cheering of the crowds and i couldn't stop at the sounds and the blurring vision of my environment that just seemd like smeared colors.

My ankles clinging to the lower pole, i suddenly began to feel myself let go and it was when the lights flashed across the stage and the music boomed its loudest

-that I dropped. I let go and that was it.

****

¦DURING THE INVESTIGATION¦

WU

"Tell us what you knew about the her" The fbi agent said as she adjusted her glasses across the bridge of her nose. I gnashed my teeth fidgetively before wiping across my moist eyes to her deliberate chuckle. 

I pulled up my hoodie over my head as my eyes narrowed at the the cameras built into the walls. I was immediately agitated, wrestled by the thought of having to go to jail and my knuckles dug into the edges of the tables in anxiety. 

All that remained in my mind was the drugs.

They were all I craved in this time, because i was raw, i was open to feel all my overwhelming emotions.

"Ms Chan-"

"She was my friend" I interrupted with a crack in my voice whilst she arched her brows. "Are you okay?" And for that once we made eye contact, she closed up her books with bother in her glassed eyes--

"Are you high?" She suddenly asked.

****

¦THE PRESENT¦

AALIYAH

Her eyes slowly parted as a groan escaped her feebly pale lips. I had sat up as she restlessly moved. 

"Aal" She called with frailty. 

I placed a moist towel across her forehead before she relaxed. "Fucking Wu" Maria paced around, pissed.

"I told you not to fucking screw this up and that was exactly what you did" She stopped before looking back at her, not a shred of sympathy for her. "We're going to be loosing clients and people ain't going to be chanting your name for a whack ass performance-" Jacqueline added. 

"If we can't put up one good show, we're not that only ones here" She warned as i looked to the wad of cash. "I managed to bring something to the table" Wu said as she struggled to sit up.

"Fucking Wu" Jacq scolded. 

"That doesn't justify this" Ruby paused, as she raised her fingers to her temples. "You're going to have to get your shit together or you're out-" Maria finally said. "Honestly, your skills around that pole is the only reason we are not letting you go" She continued before eventually storming off with the girls--

-leaving me a ton of disappointed faces.

"You gotta be that better person" Ruby whispered.

Wu looked to me as i tried to hide the disappointment in my own eyes. "You know you could yell at me too-"

"Aal" She called as i stood. "Just get well soon" I said. "You don't really have to look away" She whispered. 

"Then stop giving me reasons to" I replied and she let out an exhale. "Everyone just keeps judging me-"

A soft beat boomed from the stage as i walked across the room as i finally decided to speak.

"When I first met you, you were good. You had your shit together and you were okay-" I suddenly said. "Honestly" I nodded. "Aali-" 

"Then suddenly, you began spiraling down this dark path that I don't even recognize you anymore" I said, eventually raising my voice. 

"We all started this as different peopl-" "Bullshit" She interrupted. "I don't believe that crap" Wu added. "It's not for you to believe. It happens. We were good at a point in our lives" I said. 

"I'm good, Wu" I replied, throwing the towel into the drawer and slamming it shut. "I'm good-"

"You can tell yourself that, look at what we do-" She said with an accusing finger. "We extort money from people, we are the reason for cheating men-" "The reason why they don't show up at night and their wives showing up here, yelling-" She continued. 

"Then it's not our fault-" I replied through my teeth.

"You try your best to be a good person but you're not. We all aren't and that's why i need the drugs-" "Maybe to feel like a less shitty human because i don't get my mind overworked. I don't get ridden by this anxiety--Call me damn for wanting a way out" She said and i scoffed. 

"Then why don't you quit? Leave it all behind" I asked.

"Because there is no way out" Wu paused.

"Because deep down, you love it. You love all of it. The ecstasy, the euphoria. You love the colors and the cash. You love the look on the men's faces-" "You love the chants. Because for most of us, this is home- This is where we fit in. Where we belong--" 

****

¦DURING THE INVESTIGATION¦

AALIYAH

"You were the last person she came in contact with that night-" She started with a glint of suspicion.

"And from the content of the text messages you exchanged, you didn't seem too happy with her-" She said, laying emphasis on that night.

"You said and I quote, you lying son of bitch" She read off the printed paper in her hands.

"I didn't do it, I swear" I suddenly said.

"I hope you die soon and I get to do it" She didn't take her eyes off the paper and it was then I broke.

"Why shouldn't that be considered as a motive for murder?" She said. "I.." I stammered as I snifled.

"She was my friend" I said with an exhale.

"Such friendly conversation that was" She remarked sarcastically. "I'm going to need my lawyer before i say another word-" I said as I wiped across my sweaty face and for the first time we made eye contact.

"You're going to need to come clean. It's just a matter of when" She said as she closed her documents.

****

¦THE PRESENT¦

JACQUELINE

"Maybe Maria was right, none of our lives are really a cliché" I turned to Ruby who remained invested in her face, so invested she just mumbled a reply.

"Are you even listening to me?" I asked as I snatched the phone from her hands. 

She gasped, interrupting the smile she wore on before and her cheeks turned red. "Don't you dare" She said.

"Who's Jeff?" I asked as I peeked into her phone, using my height as an advantage against her. 

"I have a right to my privacy" She yelled before she snatched it right out of my hands or at least i let her. 

"You're seeing someone? Is he cute?" I asked and she smiled. "I don't know. You've seen him" She said.

"Hold on. The Jeff from the club?" I asked whilst my jaw dropped. "Oh he's cute" I nodded. 

"You're turning a sour red" I joked while she playfully punched me in the arm. "But are you sure?" I asked. 

"You know what Maria says about the guys here-"

She maintained a lopsided smile as she held unto the phone. "He's different. I think" She whispered.

"You know you're still the one who's life keeps turning around for good. Somehow you still manage to find the light in darkness" I said. 

"Isn't that what it's meant to be?" She replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "I try-" She smirked.

****

¦DURING THE INVESTIGATION¦

JACQUELINE

"Was it true you were also her confidant?" She asked.

"We were pretty close, I guess" I whispered as I held my hands in a tight clench.

"She told you everything?" She asked again and my eyes narrowed to the documents.

"Is this about Jeff?" I asked.

"The autopsy results came back. Was she seeing someone?" She asked as she pulled forward the file.

"That is for you to investigate and am i going to need a lawyer?" I asked.

"You can help us, this isn't like the last time" She said and I scoffed in her face.

"Really?"  I turned to agent Miller. "Bullshit, this system is broken. And there's no guarantee that I won't end up behind bars like the last time" I said.

"And no, I didn't kill my friend" I added.

"But maybe you might know who did" She insisted. "And you're covering up for the person"  Miller added.

"She was gruesomely stabbed and pushed off a balcony to fall to her death-"  She immediately pushed the graphic images to me before i shut my eyes.

And i shut my eyes to the flashing memories of that night and i gasped. "I need my lawyer-" I yelled.

"And she was pregnant" My eyes narrowed at her moving lips before she walked out, picking her papers.

"We hope to hear from you soon-" She walked through the door before i yelled at the top of my voice, and slamming my fists into the table-

-remembering alot from that night.

The vicious crime scene.

The splattered of dried blood and the running detectives, desperate for the littlest piece of evidence.

I had always wandered what it felt like for the whole world to stop. For time to stop.

And once the paramedics closed her eyes and zipped close that bag, everything suspended.

"She's gone"  A shrill whisper pierced had pierced my eyes before an arm wrapped around me- "She's gone"

And that was when i opened my eyes as Agent Miller walked out and i looked to these four surrounding walls with so much fear and regret what i had done.

For what we all did that night.

****

SIX MONTHS LATER

Flowers everywhere, a bunch of sad, long faces winging the lingering eerie of death...

and a moment of silence for the deceased. 

We stood at the front row, not a word to be uttered nor a movement to be made in honor. In love. 

Just our attention, our moist eyes through which we grieved our loss and accepted our gruesome fate. 

To everyone, she was different person. A different side of her to fall in love in love with.

To some, she was a stranger, to whom still loved her, a friend to a few, a relative but to us, she was more. She was family. 

We lost one of us that day, and as soon as we held our hands together. We knew weren't weak, that even we were one man down.

It was a sign that we had to be even stronger in the wake of such terror.

That zeal was our bond.

And we all knew she was good.

We all stood back as we watched her coffin close and there laid the most bitter reality.

The loss of family.

And it hurt that there was no see you later, or see you soon or i'll call you.

There was none because now she was gone, forever.

"May the Lord bless her and keep her and shine forth on her and be gracious to her..."

"We ask oh lord that you lift up our dearly departed Ruby Kaleo Smith and give her peace..."

Ruby was the best.

And in was in that, we buried our fears and found our comfort.

To be continued...