Image : Pixabay
I’ve changed since that night. There’s a separation – a severance – between the me before and the me after.
Before Me loved celebrity gossip – break-ups, breakdowns, photos of actresses at the beach, dimpled thighs like sausage skins stuffed full of porridge. I loved talent shows, trolling no-talent names on Twitter or girls I went to school, the ones with flat chests and acne and B.O. The ones I used to despise for not being attractive enough, popular enough – for not being me.
After Me looks the same, wears her hair the same, watches the same shows. But now I stare at the screen, unseeing, the lights and songs, the baiting and criticism no longer make me laugh, no longer has me reaching to add to the verbal slurry – #uglybitch.
Now all I see are the same things, reflected back from every surface, hidden in every TV programme …
The car. Me. Him.
There is nothing else. There will never be anything else.
Written for Stephanie at Word Adventure’s #tuesdayuseitinasentence. Today’s word is SEVERANCE. See here to join in and to read the other tales.
Word Shamble 
Genius, Lynn, just genius. Haunting too.
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Thanks so much for the kind comment Chris! Let’s hope that car brings something good 🙂
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Not sure whether she’s the victim or the perpetrator but this was phenomenal 👌🏻👌🏻
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Thanks Stephanie. I’m not sure either – I began thinking she accidentally killed someone, then wondered if she was attacked – either way, something happened that changed the way she thinks about life. Thank you – always good to take part
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Like the dark tension and possibilities, the use of the word severance I don’t see enough, that’s more a “severance package,” with its own dark tensions and weirdness. Like the cold sound of that word and how you paused on it.
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Thanks Bill – felt like I had to crowbar the word in a little for the sake of the prompt. Good to dip my toe into the seedy under belly of street life (oh, the mixed metaphors!) from time to time. A cold word for a cold world
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Another vote for the tension and possibilities — clearly something very upsetting, and my imagination can think of many horrible options. Interesting to think how different they would be if it was, “The car. Her. Him.” But your way feels less predictable, and even more horrifying to the narrator. Well done!
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Yes, not sure what happened that night, whether she did something awful or something was done to her. Either way, she’s changed, but survived. Maybe things will improve with time. Thanks Joy
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