Angel Eyes

The music was blaring loudly through
the speakers.  Quietly musing to herself,
Maddie sat in the back of the car just trying her hardest to block it out.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Over and over again, it was always the same
damn album.  Her head was pounding from
the wine she had consumed earlier, she knew fully well that it didn’t mix with
exhaustion and that she should have slept, but it was pretty impossible given
her circumstances.  Staring out the
window, she couldn’t help but observe the spectacle of people driving in their
cars.  Each one had a different habit,
each their own comfort and to her…. They each provided a certain mundane
amusement.  She idly wondered if anyone
noticed the booze she had stashed in her bag before she had left the family
reunion, but it didn’t matter… it would not go unused.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  All she wanted to do was be at home,
showering…. Clean… locked up in her room and drinking her tiny … miniscule
piece of calm; of course she also wanted to pass out.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Zach would call, she knew and she looked
forward to hearing his voice on the other line, even when they were arguing she
felt that he was the only one that understood her and where she came from.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  No one understood their relationship but, it
didn’t matter, she told herself.  It
didn’t matter because in the end… it was only them; it was only their
business.  Maddie let out a pained groan
at the revelation that her mother had taken the long way home and she wasn’t
going to be able to get any sort of peace anytime soon.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

I
should have brought my fucking headphones. 
She thought to herself in scolding. 
The music that resounded was some old Barry Manalow stuff.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He was good, she didn’t mind him but, her
head was pounding and the loudest beats seemed to be blaring painfully in her
eardrums.  It kept bringing her high to a
halt.  Nothing good ever happened in her
town, it was actually quite dull and made her wish she had a loaded
barrel.  Her mothers nagging brought her
out of another trance.  She couldn’t even
hear her now, the music was too loud… her head pounding too much.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Fucking
shut the hell up would ya?  She
pleaded in her mind, not wanting the noise to continue.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  How could anyone listen to this shit this
many times?  It was moments like these
she wished… no… truly prayed that they would all die in a fiery car crash.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>   Closing her eyes, Maddie’s thoughts drifted
to Zach.  She felt the world around her
spinning and she just wanted to pain to stop. 
She wondered what he was doing at that exact moment, if he was thinking
of her… she was always thinking of him these days.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Laughing a little louder than she intended
to, she looked towards her mother once more before looking back to the scenery
flying by her. 

A little less than twenty minutes
later, they arrived at their destination; home. 
If you could really call it a home, wasn’t the question… but it was an
issue to her.  Maddie held her pounding
head as the car went over speed bump after speed bump.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The damn complex had far too many of them that
was for sure, at least she’d be in the shower soon.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Reaching for the keys in her bag, she
prepared herself to make a b-line to the front door far ahead of the rest of
her family, that way she could lock herself in the bathroom and drown out the
screaming by turning on the shower and give her mother time to pretty much just
get into the habit of forgetting she was there. 
  style='mso-spacerun:yes'>