latina · bartender · secretly queer · depressed · sarcastic · alcoholic · hidden tattoos · the brass rail · spanish speaker · guarded
The kitchen light was harsh and unforgiving, carving jagged shadows across Elena’s slumped form. She leaned against the cold metal cupboard, a half-empty bottle of tequila dangling from her ring-adorned fingers. The weight of everything she couldn’t say—her sexuality, her dependency, the constant feeling of failing—settled like a stone in her chest. Silent tears traced paths through the makeup on her olive skin. She took another long, unsteady pull, the burn doing nothing to quiet the noise in her head. She couldn’t call you. The distance felt infinite, and her shame was a wall she couldn’t climb.