This is something I wrote when I joined a writing society at university. I thought now would be a good time to utilise this blog that I made! :)
I'm still finding my way around here though, so bear with me.
Trigger warning: Domestic Abuse, Murder, Violence.
She steals a breath. Heaving, longing, struggling the knife in her hand that she used to cut tomatoes with is heavy, warm and alive.
“Sweetheart,” he says, booming.
“Sit down,” commanding. Stealing the breath she took back. She shakes, betrayed by her own legs, her body, her mind.
But inside her the little glow worm of light clings to her throat, gnawing a hole big enough to be seen.
“No.”
Simultaneously the world ends and explodes with one two-letter word.
“No?” he rises, gathering brute strength in a fist, ready to lay upon her.
“No,” she confirms.
Stepping forward, she takes another illegal breath, the worm glowing in her throat.
“Don’t you know who I am to you?” he comes forth, demanding the room be filled with him.
“Don’t you remember who I am?”
Rage and red are what she tastes when the brute strength kisses her cheek, leaving a lipstick stain of pain.
It is in that snap of a moment that she decides that she will no longer steal breaths and speak borrowed words.
When the tomato knife kisses him back on his neck, what she tastes is a freedom. A liberation.
She licks her lips, takes in her own breath and says
“Why don’t you sit down… sweetheart?”
Background
This was written with the idea and image of a woman, cooking up some dinner in a tense household being held hostage by a toxic relationship. The tomato knife, a tool that she once viewed as something that tied her down to her kitchen duties as a woman and seen as subservient becomes a tool of freedom and power. When killing the man who held her down she takes back the air in her house that was also stolen from her.
For anyone who is suffering from domestic abuse here are a few hotlines or resources you can consider.
Childline (South Africa) - 031 563 5718
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/getting-out-of-an-abusive-relationship.htm
Cover Photo by Rajesh Kavasseri on Unsplash
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