Lady Venom, Ms. DoGooder

She believed that life had made a fool out of her, so she set her appointment each day to go and make a fool out of life. Unable to recognise nature’s call to sleep. She made it a point to be up before the sun even bothered to shine.

It didn’t take long for her to convince herself that the fallacies she created each day were fact. Looking down at everyone she spoke of the local business, and how run down they are. She spoke of her neighbour who she believed ought to tie her kids to the front door, so that they might not run so loose.

It had started with a couple stories a day, just to prove her life was too pleasant to talk to even want to speak on. A fallacy that remained stuck in her throat. Causing her to choke if she spoke too quickly. It wasn’t too long before she discovered that the lives of others were hard to keep decent hold of. Soon her lips began to run away from her. Rummaging through the houses of others, and leaving the mess on her front garden.

It came out so far out in the street that people started to find alternative routes around it. One night she heard the voice of kids trailing from around the corner.

“Mum said she has venom in her eyes.” They spoke too loudly, “Not even the angels could remain clean under her watch.”

Soon enough she began to wonder if it was true.

The nights came to be soothing in one way, and painfully lonesome in another. However, she always found herself being grateful, because it was also the only time her lips seemed to be hers again. They remained silent. Resting from the stramineous mess they had created throughout the day. But it’s when her lips remain still that her thoughts began to run. Confronting her with truths she tried so hard to ignore. Forcing her to pry her lips open once again and cry as she waited for weights to be lifted.

The moon became her only confidant as it looked down at her every night. It seemed to be there only for her. Each day, in the back of her mind she was waiting just to have her talk to with the moon. To clear her own room, throw all her mess out of the window. As an offering to the moon to keep it in place and shining. But the moon always got bored, and would have her keep the rest of what she had to say until it came back.

When the sun came up, she’d already be waiting for it on the porch. Spending the brief lapse to pick up all that she had thrown out the night before. Holding it tight in her hands, no matter how heavy. It was safer with her, rather than any stray dogs or cats that might come grab it and run away.

Throughout the days she only knew herself as the lady with venom in her eyes. Something she believed was too quickly becoming true. But like the roles she had given to others. She had to settle into the roles they had given to her in return.

“Lady Venom eyes. Ms. DoGooder.”

Just until the moon came back into the sky, and her faults became too much to carry. She dropped them again in hopes Moon would carry them for her.

Even if, every morning she had to retrieve them from her garden. Because she would never, could never, leave them to join the sale in her front garden for others to inspect.

— Mahalia Otshudy