Carmen - H.S

Chapter 5

so this chapter is about Lucy, Carmen's sister. It gives you some more background info about her and their relationship. I actually like this chapter.

Anyway, I talk too much so just read this and vote and comment and love me. And thank you so much for all the reads and votes!

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Lucy stooped over to pick up the pile of discarded clothing on the floor. It was wrinkled beyond repair and stank vaguely of sweat. She almost vomited right then and there. But she managed to suppress her nausea and continue the tedious job.

She could have never imagined in her wildest dreams, or really nightmares, a room so hopelessly filthy. This room was the kind of scene you would see in an old sitcom that over exaggerated the simple, average things that ocurred everyday.

In fact, the mess only appeared to be expanding. Maybe her fragile brain couldn't handle it, so it spoon fed the information to her in slivers and pieces, tiny bites and sips, enough to taste the general flavor but not enough to gorge on the whole meal. So as time crawled by, the clutter only got more chaotic.

Lucy was an immaculate woman, pristine and collected in every way. She could not stand messes of any kind, whether they were literal or figurative. Her life had always been spotless, devoid of even a speck of dust or strife. Except Carmen, of course. But her little sister was an exception, always had been. Lucy was not fond of irregularities or abnormalities or anything even slightly out of the ordinary.

But she still found herself loving Carmen more than she deserved. Growing up,  Lucy hadn't been the smartest, the prettiest, the funniest, or even the nicest. Those honors had belonged to Carmen, in a way. Carmen had certainly seemed intelligent - all A's every year - but if you peered closer, you might've caught sight of her using her charms to get some nerd to do her homework for her.

She had definitely seemed hilarious and sweet, but only in the presence of guys she wanted to hook up with, and she had always gotten what she wanted. However, Carmen truly had been gorgeous. Still was. Probably always would be.

Lucy had always been the most responsible. She never turned in anything even a second late, listened to every authority figure in her life, and had never strayed from the ramrod straight path she'd set for herself. Go to Stanford, receive a degree, and become a civil engineer. But somewhere along the way, she found herself between jobs and babysitting her tiring, unkempt little sister.

She had never wanted to be stuck taking care of Carmen. Of course, she loved her dearly with all her heart. She was her sister after all. However, supervising her ended up being a full time job, as her sister became more wild and irresponsible every day that her stardom grew.

After Lucy had been cut from her high-paying job halfway across the country, she'd uprooted her life and moved back to the small, dinky town of Bloomville, Ohio where her aging mother and father gleefully waited for her. She'd resided there for only a couple of weeks before her mother had asked her, or really guilted her into, going to New York City and staying with Carmen. It would only be a month or two, she'd said. Just until she gets her life together.

So off she'd flown off to the Big Apple, an entirely too fast-paced city filled with cloying cigarette smoke, packed with dingy buildings, and blanketed with an ever-present air of haste. And worst of all, the clutter. New York was like one big mess, and Lucy hated it. She'd been here for seven endless months, and Carmen was still a rude, unpredictable child who definitely had not gotten her life together. 

Lucy wasn't sure she could deal with Carmen's hard partying, underage drinking, and harmful smoking for much longer. Her darling little sister threw too much discord into her measured life. Deep inside, Lucy could almost feel her very soul being ripped into minuscule pieces and scattered to the wind. She was dying in New York City. She had to get out.

The door opened with a bang as the object of her frustration stormed in, brow furrowed in anger.

"Ron is trying to ruin my life!" she screeched piercingly, and Lucy assumed that she was talking to her, since there was no one else in the room.

"What are you talking about?" she sighed, already exhausted with Carmen's theatrics.

"He's not letting me go to Daniel's party."

Lucy raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

"He literally said, you are not going to that party, young lady. Like he's my fucking dad or something." Carmen was fumbling through her purse for something, and Lucy knew full well what it was.

"He's your manager," Lucy began gently. "He's just trying to do what's best for you."

"How would he know what's best for me?" she snapped. "He's just a pathetic, old man that's gonna die alone." She finally extracted the pack of cigarettes from her bag, pulled one out, and began searching again for a lighter.

"I mean, just because his life sucks doesn't mean he has to take it out on me."

"Carmen," she scolded gently. "You're being rude."

Carmen stopped rummaging through her purse and looked Lucy straight in the eye, her gaze cold and unblinking. "I don't give a fuck," she said through gritted teeth, before continuing her hunt once more.

Lucy flushed slightly at this blatant affront to her authority and tried again. "Maybe it's a good idea to stay home tonight. We could watch a movie together. You know, like we used to."

"No," she stated flatly, not even lifting her head to acknowledge her. She located the lighter, lit the thin stick of death between her fingers, and took a slow drag, closing her eyes as she did so. Lucy felt the overwhelming urge to pluck it from her hands and toss it to the ground, grinding it underneath her dull heels. "I'm going to that party."

"But what about Ron?" Lucy protested. She could feel the situation quickly slipping out of her fingers, though she wasn't sure if she'd even been grasping it in the first place.

"Well, he's not going to find out, is he?" Carmen chirped, her voice now dripping with the sickening sweetness Lucy had never been able to become accustomed to. She smiled demurely at her before practically skipping out of the room, the picture of innocence, excepting of course, the lit cigarette in her hands.

Lucy dropped the bundle of filthy clothing she'd been holding the entire time and slumped to the floor. She could feel an onslaught of oncoming tears threaten to drench her cheeks. She didn't know why her sister wouldn't listen to or respect her. Why was she not assertive enough? She basically let Carmen get away with murder right before her eyes.

All her life, she'd done what she was supposed to do and succeeded at it. But now she was failing, something she was utterly unused to, and her entire essence felt off kilter. Because of Carmen, everything she'd ever held dear to herself was falling apart and she could only watch it come crashing down, as she lay sobbing in the ruins, coated with the dust of her failures. 

Outside, she could hear the faint sounds of heavy traffic, the shouts of random passerby, the stomping of weathered boots on the pavement. Inside, the odor of Carmen's cigarette still lingered in the air, painfully clawing its way down her nose and throat. She glanced out the window and glimpsed towering skyscrapers blocking out the setting sun, the wispy clouds, the brilliant hues of red, orange, and pink that colored the sky. She was dying here. She had to get out.