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Mariella was the straight-man. She set em up and Ruthann knocked em down. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to. Mariella had played this role for so long now that it felt old, comfortable. Effortless. She didn't have to think about it.
Which was precisely why she hung around with Ruthann. So she didn't have to think.

Mariella's mother would tell you that her daughter was an escapist. She would be right but not for the reason she thought.

Her life is a tangle of wires on the floor.

If Karen and David weren't fighting with eachother, the were fighting with her. Usually if she was in her room when they started, they wouldn't drag her into it. Usually.
But sometimes...."Hey Karen, why don't you tell her why you didn't marry me 'til she was four?" and..." You wanna know why I didn't marry him 'til you were four? Cuz I was on public aid, that's why!"
" Got anything to say about that smartass?"

When the parents fought in the movies you could at least leave the theater. Or just not pay for it in the first place. You can't leave your life or choose which nutjobs to get to play your parents.
And yes, they are all nutjobs.

Days choked by too many of the same USB chord.

And so, When Ruthann called her up on Saturday to ask her to come to the mall, Mariella jumped on the chance to get the hell out of dodge.
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The guitar sat in the corner of her room for months. She'd just had to have it for Christmas. But when she looked at the lesson book that taught you how to play, she had no idea what she was doing.

Useless wires.

So when she saw the boy in the music store, she was amazed at the things this guy could make it do.
But when Mariella tried to show Ruthann what she'd learned to play so far, she wasn't surprised to find Ruthann unimpressed.

They wind up her legs and trip her while she passes.

She had never loved anything at first sight. She tried things and would usually come to like them. Sometimes even love them.
When she got her guitar, the hope had been that, after a stuttering start, a love of music would be born.
And while Mariella loved to listen to music, she wasn't really getting in to creating it.

But that boy...
He made her want to rush home and learn to play her guitar.
He made her want to fell the brush of the strings against her fingers. To get hard calluses like he had.
It was the feeling that had made Mariella want an instument in the first place.

For all they want to see is,
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Gettin home, she rushed to her room while ignoring Ruthann's "I'll call you tomorrow!"
The feeling hadn't gone away like she expected. The longer she was at the mall, the stronger the feeling grew.

Shoving the clothes away from the corner, she unearthed her long negleted guitar. Making sure the strings were still supple, she sat down at her desk and plucked
tentatively,
Satisfied that the strings weren't brittle, she began to shove DVDs and CD jewel cases off her desk.


Weren't Karen and David surprised to hear the-at first hesitant-notes coming from Mariella's room.....
She didn't stop till almost one in the morning.

The monitors light glint off her glasses.





(Her life is a tangle of wires on the floor.
Days choked by too many of the same USB chord.
Useless wires.
They wind up her leg and trip her while she passes.
For all they want to see is,
The monitors light glint off her glasses.)