He lied. I was at my favourite cafe. It was a bright sunny afternoon. I was wearing a black top he had chosen for me when we were on one of my shopping sprees. It’s strange how I look so perfect when I wear the dresses he selects for me.
This time too, all my flaws were invisible, my drooping shoulders, the result of an improper posture, were redefined by the square cut of the top. I was feeling beautiful that day. And I was with him, I was complete until our conversation crossed the forbidden boundaries and landed in a place we had turned our backs on, knowing we could never find good there. We would never walk together there. That was something we were not ready to accept. But as they say, fear comes back stronger, with all its monstrosity when you choose to ignore it for long.
He had to repeat himself because he was sure I hadn’t heard. But I had, I just didn’t want to believe I had. I had trained myself to run away from feelings which shook my trust in “us”, even when my mind registered that I should stop running. It took me a while to stop. Sheer inertia, maybe. Suddenly, everything was at a stand still. I could feel a thud in the centre of my heart. Something which was magically afloat within me, had lost it’s power to go against gravity. The magic was gone. And there it lay, the bare truth. Naked and despicable. Where do we go now? There can be no place for “us”. I had lost us. He had lost us. It could never be the same. We had lost the promised forever.
image courtesy http://www.myteadrop.com/
***This piece was written in response to a writing prompt at an Unboxed Writers’ workshop
Praisy Joseph is a techie but is passionate about writing and hopes to keep the fire within, alive.