beauty behind the madness | the weeknd

10

Rose

A couple of hours later, my house is full of people. They all laugh and drink and cheer. The house looks like trash, with cups thrown on the floors and a spillage in the kitchen.

Ugh. Why'd I agree to this?

Emma is in the living room, dancing with a boy, who has his hands all over her. She has a blunt in her hand and she smokes it as she dances with the boy. In the other hand, she holds a plastic cup, which she takes a huge swig from.

Someone picks up my mum's vase and starts swinging it around.

"Hey!" I scream, almost tripping over as I make my way over to him. "Put that down!" The words just come out as slurs. He holds it higher and I try to grab it, jumping. I finally manage to grab it and I roll my eyes and let out a huff, placing it back where it's meant to be. I turn back to the boy. "You ass! That's my mum's! If that broke, I swear I would've made you pay! Do you know how much that costs?"

He lets out a laugh.  "Relax!" he tells me. He hands me his drink. "Just drink this!" Without questioning, I take the cup from him and down it in one go. He then grabs my hand and we start dancing.

Beside me, Emma swings her arm over my shoulder. "Aren't you glad that you changed your mind?" she slurs. Her eyes are closed and she smiles at me.

I laugh. "Definitely!" I say and take the fresh, new blunt out of her hand. I take a drag from it, feeling it calming me down.

"I need to go to the loo," Emma says happily. She downs the last of her fifth or sixth drink - I've lost count - and starts stumbling out the room, laughing to herself.

All of a sudden, the music stops.

I twist my neck. "Hey! Who cut the music?" I yell out, slurring again. I blink before making out a familiar figure standing across the room from me. My face falls.

"Shit!" someone says.

"It's Mr Tesfaye!" another says.

"What the fuck is he doing here?"

"He got invited, too?"

"Everybody!" Tesfaye shouts. "Get. Out. Now." He shoots me a venomous look and I feel myself shrivel. He's so angry, I can practically see the flames coming out of his ears. No one moves. "Did you not just hear me?" he snaps. Everyone starts scrambling out of the house.

When I'm the only one left, Tesfaye looks at me, eyes blazing. "What the fuck are you doing?" he asks, his voice dripping with venom.

"What does it look like? I'm having, well I was having, a party. Until you came and ruined it!"

Tesfaye's mouth twists and he curses under his breath. "What the fuck?!" he screams. He punches something beside him. "After what happened today? Our conversation? You go and do something like this?"

I grab another cup and start drinking from it. "Spare me the lecture," I tell him, rolling my eyes. "I don't need this right now."

He walks towards me and knocks the cup out of my hand, causing it to spill. "No, what you need is help, Rose!" he tells me.

"What you need is help, Rose!" I mimic, and then I look at him. "From who? You? The teacher that plays all these weird games with me?"

"What are you talking about?" Tesfaye snaps.

"You know what I'm talking about!" I snap back.

"You know what, Rose? I'm not doing this with you," he tells me, pointing a finger at me. "Clean this shit up!"

I scoff. "I don't think so!"

Tesfaye's eyes blaze with anger again. His breathing becomes more heavier and he clenches his jaw. "Do it now!" he shouts. "Or I swear, I'll tell your mum everything!"

Here he goes with the threats again. Meaningless threats.

I shake my head. "No," I tell him pointedly.

"Rose, if you don't fucking -"

"Alright , alright!" I finally give up. The only reason I've agreed is so that I don't hear him speak anymore - his voice is making my head pound.

"Make sure you put everything back where it was," he says.

God, this guy's acting like it's his house. Who lives here again? Oh yeah, me!

"Yes, daddy!" I say, rolling my eyes.

When I'm done with the living room and kitchen, I head upstairs to the bathroom. Luckily, I locked the other doors in the house, so no one could get it.

I switch on the bathroom light and blink a million times, trying to get my eyes to adjust to it.

When I take in the image in front of me, a loud scream escapes my throat. My lungs start burning and the tears are running down my face. My legs feel numb - I can't move. Tesfaye comes to my side and takes in the scene in front of him.

We both look at Emma's lifeless body in horror.