Circles - Post Malone

Two

It takes Dahlia twenty minutes to walk back to the trailer park after work and that's including a stop at the bottle store for a six-pack of beer. It's been a long fucking day so she opens a beer along the road, stopping for a second to appreciate how good it feels going down. She suspects she will be a full-blown alcoholic by the time she is thirty-five. Well, at least that's what her father says. Being an alcoholic is just a way of life where she's from.

A young boy comes racing down the park road, skidding in front of her and shooting dirt on her already dirty trainers. "Can I have a beer?" he asks, sticking out his hand. "You are ten," Dahlia says walking around him and taking another sip of her beer. "I am old enough," the boy complains. "Fuck off, Tim. Even if you were of age I would still not share my beer with you," Dahlia scoffs. "You are a whore," Tim says. Dahlia stops and turns around to look at Tim. "Have you met your sister, Tim? If you were in doubt as to what a whore is, that pregnant cow is a perfect example."

"Bullshit. My mom says she is just very loving. She is a good girl," Tim says now on the verge of tears. Dahlia leans over so her face is inches from his. "That may be so, Timmy-boy. But she is still a whore and so is your mother," she says. Tim bursts into tears and runs off crying leaving his bike lying on the road. Dahlia downs her beer and throws the empty can at him, just missing him. "Little asshole," she mumbles as she opens another beer.

"You know one day he will be bigger and stronger than you. Then you'll have a real problem on your hands,"  a voice from behind her says. Dahlia turns to see old lady Lucy sitting on her porch steps sporting a shiny new black eye. "Ricky in jail for the evening, Miss Lucy?" Dahlia asks and then hands her a beer and sits down on the step beside her. "Yup. Like clockwork...same story every payday," Lucy answers and takes a sip of her beer.

"When are you going to leave that wife beating asshole?"

"I am not. I have a roof over my head and food in my belly. A punch in the face once a month when he is drunk? That's easy to deal with," Lucy says matter-of-factly. Dahlia doesn't try and reason with her. Lucy is right, she has got it easy compared to some of the women here. That's how her mother died. Her father was a violent drunk. She will spare the gory details but when she was fifteen she had to sit with her bloody and battered mother, hoping like fuck the ambulance got to them in time. They did not. Her father has been in prison ever since and she was raised by her grandmother.

Her and Lucy sit in silence, sipping on their beers and watching the sky turn slowly from blue to pretty shades of pinks and oranges. "There is only one thing more beautiful than that sunset...you," Lucy says out of the blue. "That man has given you a concussion, Miss Lucy," Dahlia laughs out. "Maybe so but still, I am not lying. Your beauty is often a topic of discussion. You are very beautiful...just like your mother was," Lucy says. Dahlia rolls her eyes. She had always been complimented on her looks, people would often say she has an old Hollywood beauty look - a carbon copy of Audrey Hepburn.

"You fucking bitch! Come out here!" Dahlia and Lucy look toward the sound of the shouting. Tim's mother and sister are standing outside a trailer - Dahlia's trailer. It's directly across the road from Lucy's so the two stupid pregnant women are shouting at an empty house while the target of their verbal abuse is sitting on Lucy's steps sniggering at them as she opens a new beer. After at least ten minutes of them shouting at an empty house and a finished beer, Dahlia stretches her arms and legs.

"Well thank you for a lovely evening, Miss Lucy. But I really must be on my way. I have some packing to do."

"Packing?"

"Yup. I am going to New York. Gonna try and make a go of getting out of here."

"Oh, Dahlia I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that," Lucy says with a genuine grin on her face. Dahlia nods and grabs the metal baseball bat from under the step she knows Lucy hides there in case things get really bad. "Yo, behind you," she shouts out. Tim's heavily pregnant mother and sister turn around and glare at her. "How dare you call us whores! We demand an apology!" Tim's sister demands. "I will give you an apology if you can tell me two things. One, who the fathers of your babies are, and two, that they definitely don't have the same father," Dahlia challenges them while Lucy cackles beside her.

Both women go red in the face. "Watch your fucking back, Dahlia," Tim's mother spits out and then storms away with her daughter got on her heels. "Goodbye, Miss Lucy," Dahlia says handing the bat to her, "I will not miss this place, but I will miss you." Lucy shrugs, "I am nothing to miss, sweet girl. You are going to live a good life. You will be the one that got out...that's what your grandmother always said," Lucy says as she climbs back up her steps and then disappears into her trailer.

Dahlia goes to her own trailer and starts packing. She remembers her grandmother going on and on about how Dahlia was a clever girl and that her beauty could be her ticket out if nothing else could. She constantly made Dahlia promise that when the opportunity arises to leave that she would take it. There is a piece of Dahlia that believes she will ultimately land up back here because she is not going for the reasons people think. She is not going for the reasons her grandmother made her promise she would go for.

No, she is going because she is still very much in love with Austin and now given the chance to see him even if only for a moment - she will take it.