Tantrum

This is my first nonpoetic piece I’m putting up here. Enjoy and let me know what you think :).
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She was scared..

They had just had one of their shouting matches. She was in the bedroom, softly crying. He sat on the couch in the living room, reading.

As long as he responded he cared, as long as he responded he cared, as long as he responded he cared…

This had become her mantra of late. At least once a week they fought, so much so it had become a script, neither of them saying much different from the last time. A script or a well-rehearsed tango with all the passion and fury in tow. Except that now said passion and fury… Let’s just say it had become familiar, like a well-worn coat and it served its purpose well.
Purpose? It reassured her. Strange as it might sound she believed that as long as they “vented” on each other, they would be alright.

Next morning she was at the island in the kitchen nursing her cup of coffee, she never really woke up without it, when her head snapped up. She realised she had put two cubes of sugar in her coffee. She never did that. It was one, only a cube and a little cream for as long as she could remember.

She set down the mug. A part of her found it mildly curious that her hand wasn’t shaking. The rest of her was, almost violently, as gut-wrenching sobs racked through her.

She sank down, legs folding under her, head in hands making them wet too. She did not want change, she wasn’t ready for it, would never be! He was all she wanted, all she had. No one else would have her.

Yet a little voice in her mind reminded her that it had been over for a while now. It had been since he stopped kissing her forehead when he got home from work, since she found cooking for him to be more chore than pleasure, since their bed was cool 80% of the time. Not even regular makeup sex she thought with a near hysterical giggle breaking through the sobs.

The little things were just cracks showing after a system fail, like coughing up blood after taking a beating. She didn’t know what she’d do, she wasn’t sure how, but she knew now that she’d opened her eyes to the wound she could begin to heal. Looks like she has a New Year Resolution after all.