Freewrite Day 162: Ash

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

“Tell me what to do, Priya! Tell me what you need!”

“I need this to end, Ethan! I need us to end.”

The words tasted like ashes on her tongue, gritty and unwelcoming. Priya wished almost immediately that she could take them back, but of course she could not. He had already heard them, his face had already fallen, and he was already turning away. Worst of all, she hadn’t lied. If she recalled him now that would be a lie, and she respected him too much for such an action.

She slumped into the closest chair, eyes downcast so that she did not have to look at his wounded, retreating figure. They had been together for years, a childhood friendship blooming into romance, marriage, a family. She had thought they would always have each other, but that was before the Reapers came. Before she woke into a world of unimaginable pain. Before the hills came alive with shadowy figures that stole her joy away into darkness.

The world was a hard place, she knew that now. And after the loss of their son, she was meant to...what? To go on? To forget her boy, to replace him? He asked too much of her. No, it was time she said these words. She needed space, needed to escape this stifling silence. The love had drained out of her as the spirit of her only child had fled. She and Ethan, they weren’t strong enough to get through this together. Maybe in another world they could lean on each other, but she was too cold here. Grief chilled her mind and body, and she needed to leave.

In truth, she had left already—saying the words merely formalized the rupture between them. She had moved beyond the reach of his arms, past the warmth of his skin against her own. Even as he held her, she was gone. Her soul rattled through the woods of the hills in the west, calling for her sweet boy. She haunted two places at once: her spirit roamed the hills while her body drifted through her once-beloved home. She would reunite the two and leave her husband to a mourning he must surely have begun already. He could be a widower in truth now. He could grieve and move on, as he seemed to have done for their child.

She rose, her purpose renewed. Ethan would move on, and she would follow her baby into the arms of the Reapers. She would reclaim Jay, or lose herself entirely. Without another thought, she snatched up her keys and left.