The Last Straw

It wasn’t really the last straw that did it; it was all of the other straws that were piled on before that.

- Kimberley Jonas

What happened today wasn’t something that hadn’t happened before. The day began like hundred others before it, the events that led to a confrontation weren’t new either. The reasons and the explanations were stale as well. We had lived this life, this day several times before and each time the words were caught in a whirlwind of emotions and spiralled downwards till they no turned into senseless screeching screams.

What hadn’t happened before though was that today you walked out before I did. I sat there by the window and watched you drive away. I waited long enough and then quietly finished my dinner. Perhaps I wanted to assure myself that I will be fine and will go about plodding away my days, just the way I have always done.

Perhaps, it wasn’t about today at all. Maybe all that had happened over the years culminated into one giant drop that finally flooded the house. All we ever put together was washed away in that sudden gush leaving the eyes dry and our insides empty. We had been walking in circles until today and finally spiralled out with a force that threw us off the trajectory in separate directions.

Maybe it was for the best that we threw in the towel and hollered for the rollercoaster to be stopped in time. Thankfully we could get off before we started puking the rancid pieces of a lifeless emotion over each other.

For now, I will bury the corpse in the lawn and will let it rot and be a part of the ground and let wild grass take over. Later, I will just burn the house down with all its belongings and will allow all threads that tied us together burn to ashes with it.

I will invite you to stand and enjoy the show with me. We will watch the bricks choke on their own smoke and the doors crumble down to dust and the carpets fume and curtains charr to shreds. I know you will enjoy the dance of the raging flames as they gnaw and devour everything that we ever owned.

I will not bid you farewell or write an obituary for this dead relationship. Do not bother stopping by or indulging in any fancy formalities for public appearance.  I will step out when I want to. I will see you when I see you.

It is what it is.