Garcia, Hottest Gossip
for telling them I lived.
i wanted a cigarette.
c-store run.
nothing holy.
marlboro menthol shorts.
my cousin said, take me—
ended up outside a vape shop.
i left the vape world long before
they even felt shame
trashing their old stained boxers—
as if they clean any better now.
he said he had secrets
saved for me
but i’d already betrayed him once—
thought he was hard using,
told the aunts.
he wasn’t.
i lost his trust.
so when he asked?
what’s a gummy?
i handed it over,
too blind to touch myself.
i paid.
the clerk gave me a “mystery” gummy—
whatever the fuck that means.
she delivered.
it was delicious.
the best mystery
i ever swallowed.
and just like that—
i was hot gossip again.
left my gummy bag loose.
it got passed around
like curiosity killed for candy
and regret was still not enough.
even the men in blue
seemed
little.
she took a nibble.
empty stomach, cocky tongue.
said she’d done this before.
and then made herself
the biggest joke
in a family full of ’em.
don’t take what you can’t take.
you’re an adult.
think for yourself.
i didn’t shove knives down your throat—
no.
you were already
at the morgue.
stone cold.
i’m not this story’s saint.
but i don’t need wings to fly.
i’ve earned my right
to fight
flights to heights
no one in this house
will fight just bites
she started to sink—
slumped.
pale.
wide-eyed.
and my aunt screamed “ER”
like she was finally getting
her second-worst family drama
i’m just hotter.
i didn’t panic.
didn’t run.
stayed like i always do—
cigarette unlit,
label already burned.
i didn’t lace shit.
didn’t lie.
i just stopped pretending i’m innocent
in a family full of people
who hide their sins
in casseroles
and prayer chains.
now i’m the scandal.
yael, the cautionary tale.
yael, the family jewel martyr.
they will whisper again
like i don’t speak fluent braille.
my favorite cousin?
quiet as god.
but i remember:
nosebleeds.
hot tub stories.
twitching fingers.
the baby she made
her redemption
i ask myself sometimes—
she has the baby now.
is she really happy now?
they all wanna forget
what they’ve choked on.
but i remember.
crystal clear.
so tell it.
loud.
say i passed the gummies.
say i paid.
say i let the night burn
and didn’t pray.
i let the cigarette burn a sermon
through a hole
too deep
it prolapsed
but don’t rewrite me
as the storm or just weak fury
when i was the only one
who couldn’t run