madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-don't even ask atp-

"Dad..." Arlo whispered loudly, pulling on his dad's sleeve. "Is that girl in a music video? Are we gonna go viral?"

"Not now buddy," The tall man said absentmindedly, looking between the two brands of cheese flavoured corn chips. He scratched his head and pulled his glasses down to read the packaging. "Which brand is it your sister likes?"

Arlo stared at the music video girl, who was now kicking a trashcan. She looked like she would be in the video his sister kept watching on repeat. These two girls kept throwing clothes around. He only paid attention to the part with the bulldozer. It was a great bulldozer. "The green packet."

Tim squinted at the figure parading down the relatively quiet street with the dramatic ambling only liquor could give.

The girl spun around a stop sign, dark red wine from the open bottle as she did so. Why couldn't teens just stay in school? Instead, they had to wear knee high leather boots and stomp to music no one else with an inch of sanity could hear. Young people these days d just didn't respect their elders enough. The parents were probably drunks.

A group of tipsy sun tanned adults burst into bubble induced laughter as the girl strutted past, waving an inappropriate gesture to the cloudless sky. Tim folded his arms and shook his head, the newspaper tucked underneath his arm.

Then he watched with disdain as the giddy fierce-eyed girl with blotched skin wobbled past the community church, trip over a pinecone, take a swig of the bottle in her hand and drape herself over the wooden cross like Jesus himself.

"Blasphemy!" He protested, coughing.

"Bold words coming from a guy who only gets one chapter!" The delinquent said with a smile. 

"Hot dam," Stacey said aloud. She took her earbud out of one ear and watched the most deranged but pretty looking girl she'd ever seen [not including her Arcane League of Legends marathons] walk past her. Like an alley cat.

I am a dark red liver stretched out on the rocks

She elbowed her friend, "Yo, look at that girl."

All the poison, I convert it and I turn it to love

Teqi's heel got stuck in the styrofoam box she stomped on. She kicked at it until it came loose and carried on down the street, blood boiling. The right to refuse service? THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE?

Here comes the feminine urge, I know it so well

It wasn't like she'd spent her entire life protecting everyone she could and taking on all the pain and rejection from their father just so her siblings could grow up without holding the sky of misery. It wasn't like Teqi had been stretched in every direction while the gods of the earth themselves squabbled over what to do with her.  

To nurture the wounds my mother held

She marched through the open automatic doors of a supermarket, dirty shoes clicking on the grey and white floor. It wasn't like she'd lost everything and was still choosing to keep all these people who were terrified of her, safe!

Give me that dark red liquor stretched out on the rocks