Page 15 of Collide

Vanished into thin air.

The last time anyone saw her was about a week ago when she wasseen heading out the back with a customer and then it was like she fell off the face of the earth. No one had seen or heard from her and when Diana went to her apartment, her roommates said they had no clue as to where she was, nor did they care. Apparently, she was a lousy roommate, and they’d wanted rid of her anyway.

The girls and I speculated that she was probably passed out in acocaine haze somewhere, completely clueless as to what day of the week it was, but Diana wasn't convinced so visited the local police station to report her missing.

Of course, the police gave zero fucks about a missing stripper,especially with one who had a rap sheet as checkered as Leandra’s. Diana was sent on her merry way with a,‘We’ll look into it’and Diana hadn’t heard anything from them since.

But thanks to Leandra's disappearing act, we were having to pick upher extra slots. I didn't mind too much because it meant extra tips, but the additional practice and routines were beginning to take their toll, exhaustion was setting in and my body ached all over. I think I would have givenanythingfor a soak in a nice warm bath to ease my aches and pains.

Shame I had to settle for the crappy shower in my apartment that wasno more than a trickle of tepid water.

My evening started off shitty when I'd been dancing in oneof Leandra's slots and a customer decided he wanted a piece of my ass before hauling himself on stage and making an attempt to grope me. Jamie, the security guard charged with keeping the over enthusiastic customers away from the stage had been trying to restrain two other customers from beating the shit out of each other so it was a good few seconds before anyone was able to come to my rescue.

Clive, another security guard, flew through the club when he realizedwhat was going on on stage, but his presence was practically pointless. My knee found its way into the groin of the customer who was writhing on the floor in pain by the time Clive reached us.

Still, Clive did manage to get in on some of the action, he promptlyfolded the customer up like a pretzel and not so gently tossed him out.

My second dance was just as disastrous, although at least I wasn'tgroped this time.

Nope, instead my heel decided to snap on my stilettos causing me toface plant in front of everyone. I kinda styled it out and ditched my shoes so I could carry on with the routine but my pride was dented, my knees were sore, and I was so damn tired.

Thankfully, the group dance with Kendra, Charlotte, and Harriet wentwell and the audience went crazy for us, especially when it looked like Kendra and I were about to make out.

Men really were one-track minded sometimes.

To top my night, there was yet another fight between brawling drunks,resulting in one of the waitresses being pushed into me and spilling beer all down me. I was soaked through, sticky and stinking like a brewery, and quite frankly, I'd had enough.

Home time couldn't come soon enough.

Finally, the last patron was escorted out of the club at closing timeand I said my goodbyes to Diana and the other girls, ready to walk the twenty minutes back to the apartment Angel and I called home.

I couldn’t wait to get under the pathetic excuse we called a showerand wash the sticky beer from my skin. Diana didn't like me walking home in the early hours but she also accepted it was just as dangerous getting a taxi in this part of the city so neither option was ideal, at least by walking I wasn’t wasting money.

I headed out the door, thanking Clive one last time for coming to myrescue, and started in the direction of home.

We were just coming to the end of summer and the nights weregetting cooler, it wouldn’t be long until my walks home would turn bitterly cold and it wasn’t something I particularly looked forward to. It also meant extra heating would be needed in the apartment to keep Angel warm, which meant an increase in my monthly heating budget. I internally cursed at the weather and the changes in the season which I knew was irrational but it’s not like I had much else to think about on my walks home.

I pulled my jumper tighter to protect myself from the chill in the air as Iwalked along the empty streets. I always put leggings and a jumper on along with my comfy sneakers before I left the club, no freaking way was I going to walk home in my dance wear, that was asking for trouble.

A shiver passed through me and I realized it wasn't necessarily fromthe cold, I had an eerie feeling I was being watched. I couldn't say what it was that made me feel that way, but there wassomething.I upped my pace despite protests from my achy muscles and I quickly looked behind me to make sure I wasn't being followed.

I wasn't, but I wouldn't be the first girl to have some weirdo trail herfrom the club.

I took my usual route which included cutting through the park. Itwas my least favorite part of the walk home but it was the most direct and saved an additional ten minutes to my journey. There were always drunks and druggies lurking in the park, sometimes they'd ignore me, other times, depending on how off their faces they were, they'd try to engage me in some form of conversation.

One time, a guy was hallucinating so badly that he thought the parkbench was a spaceship that had just landed and I was the alien who had come to take him away. Aside from witnessing firsthand the damage drugs did to someone, the smackheads in the park would be a good enough warning for me to steer clear of any illicit substances.

I always kept my head down and ignored them regardless. I wasn'tbeing rude, I just didn't want to become the next victim of a robbery or a rape.

Or something worse.

As I entered the park, the feeling of being watched intensified andnerves tingled in my entire body. I didn't know if I was being paranoid or if someone was actually watching me, but I sure as hell wasn't going to find out.

Once again, I quickened my pace and headed through the park,avoiding looking left and right and keeping my gaze focused on the other side of the park where I knew the gate was. My calves burned from the speed I was walking, and my mind started to play tricks on me, fear taking over.

Leaves rustled as the wind blew, the trees lurked ominouslyin the dark and the blasted street lights flickered on and off causing shadows all around me to look like they were moving. At one point I thought I heard footsteps behind me, I tentatively peeked behind but still, there was no one there. I should have carried a weapon or something but if a time came that I needed to use it, I wasn’t sure I’d actually have the balls.

When the gate finally came into view, I damn near sprinted to it, andwhen I burst back out onto the main street where the odd car was still driving around, relief like I’d never felt before flooded through me and I let myself relax a little. I even giggled at what a silly, paranoid idiot I'd been.

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