Vignette Story

Pounding Part 2

    I stood outside the door watching the crack grow. It grew like a vine, wrapping itself around the door and stretching out onto the walls. All I could hear was the sound of him yelling “Let me go. I hate you.” in a way that caused tears to gather in my eyes. 

    “You can't.” She spoke in a hushed tone but it was the saddest thing my ears had ever been witness to. As if she was begging for her life even though she knew she would be killed. I always thought she was so strong but I suppose even the strong go through times of weakness. You could hear his fists and feet slamming against the door. With each new smack against the cracked wood a new one immediately followed. The sound was so horrible it felt as if my ears began to bleed. Blood dripping from my ears like the tears that dripped down my cheeks. Blood that drowned me and put up a wall between myself and the surrounding sounds. I felt like I was underwater, isolated from everything that went on above the thick darkness of my tears that submerged me. 

“Don’t make me hurt you.” He said this hesitantly. He didn't want to but it had come to that point for him. His breaking point. When his body took the form of a vase and it threw itself to the ground.

“It won't make a difference. I’ve already done more damage than you can do.” She spoke in a tired voice. She was only holding on by a thread. It sounded as if her soul was collapsing like a house of cards. 

“Let him go.” I had come up from under my tears and clotted the blood raining from my ears. I said this in a way that I had never spoken before. Not in the warm, careless way I had always spoke. My voice was cold. So cold I could see my breath as I spoke those words. Completely and utterly unfeeling. Then, the pounding stopped. My mother dragged herself from her spot against the other side of the closed door and the broken door knob turned slowly. The door opened to reveal his face. He was red and his eyes were wet. He looked down at me and met my eyes. He looked down and began walking towards the stairs. He stopped next to me and touched my shoulder as if he wanted to hug me like he always had when he was going somewhere. He let his hand fall back to his side and continued walking. Down the stairs and out the door.