A City That Burned Me down

Elegant; that’s the word people used to describe me. I thought they were dead wrong, but that’s what people saw in me as I danced across the floor. Fire twirling around me, to the beat of either quick paced Hawaiian drums, or a slow, beat to a wooden flute, and some soft instrumental in the background. Today, the owner had told me that someone important was going to be watching me dance today, so I had to look nice. I didn’t know what to wear, so I had one of the other girls pick out my outfit. She was honored, and she picked out a beautiful red outfit. It matched the color of my hair, and made a great contrast with my naturally tanned skin.

I sucked in a deep breath and peeked my head out from behind the curtain, to get a glimpse of my audience. There were a couple regulars, and in the back I saw a man standing there with his arms crossed, aviators covering his eyes. He looked mean, but when he caught my eye, he smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile either; it was an ‘I know who you are, but you don’t know who I am’ smile. I moved back behind the curtain and smiled, getting my tools ready for me to use. The lights went out and I slid on stage, bare foot as some crew members placed my things on the floor, with a lighter. I bent down and stayed in a cradled position as I quickly lit fire to the small balls sticking out of the outside of the hula-hoop in front of me.

The drums started to play, and I spun the hula-hoop in the air above my head as I rose from my cradled position. The lights came back on and I slid across the floor, spinning and twirling the hula hoop. People cheered as I tossed it in the air, and caught it swiftly, spinning it around my thin body, swinging my hips.

The show was a success, people loved it. As I bowed to the crowd, I glanced up, to see if the man was still standing there. He was, but he raised a bottle of beer to me and winked, turning to another man standing beside him. The two left the room and I blew out the fire and rushed off the stage, putting everything down as I ran out of the back, in the hallway only employees could use. I sucked in a breath as I quickly walked down the hallway, my bare feet slapping against the cold concrete. I entered the gambling part of the casino and I looked around for the owner, seeing him laughing at a table full of beautiful young girls. I walked over to him, and pushed my hair over my shoulder.

“Boss,” I breathed, looking up at him as he turned, towering over my small frame.

“Good job Lulu, I heard that your show was a success!” He smirked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“Thanks… I was wondering-”

“Boss! You’re clients are here!” A girl shouted.

The owner turned away and raised his hand to show her he heard her, he quickly turned back to me and kissed my cheek, and he muttered another good job to me and he ran towards the girl and put his arm around her, leaving the room. I sighed and made my way back to my room, wondering how the other show girls were doing; they were pressured to look their best and do their best tonight also. The pressure didn’t bother me because I’ve been here for a while, but for the new girls, it was hell.