Running Away

She stands on the edge of the dark lake, blackness engulfing her.

The lake reflects the face in the moon as a perfect circle. She holds her breath.

Drip-drip, drip, that bloody tap! If it wasn’t that it was the leaky guttering outside the bedroom window, the same but slower, drip… drip… drip… She has lain awake all night, waiting, listening to that incessant dripping, knowing each drip brings her a second closer.  It is time. She slithers out from under the sheets and in the moonlight, gathering her clothes from the broken wicker chair at the foot of the bed, she shivers and silently pads barefoot towards the bedroom door.

On the lake a gentle breeze sends ripples across the face of the moon.  

*** 

The previous evening, after the party, after he knew that she had seen him with ‘The Other’, she had studied her reflection in the broken mirror above the washbasin and she had known it was time. The lines beneath her eyes betrayed the years of waiting, hoping and disappointment. She had given up so much for him, too much.  All she had wanted had been a sign of commitment but somehow he was always waiting too, waiting for something… or was it someone… someone better maybe? But he had always said he wanted her, and she had wanted him.

In the distance, the dried up waterfall that feeds the lake began to trickle.

“Will you marry me,” he had said.

“Why now?” she had replied, surprised.

“Because I need you.”

Drip-drip, drip-drip, drip. She had turned the tap tighter, then suddenly overcome by the hopelessness of the action she had turn the tap on full and watched as the basin had filled. It was time, she knew it was time. The closer to the edge the faster the water level seemed to rise, faster than the overflow could cope with.

The waterfall was suddenly full and crashed onto the jagged rocks below, the lake shuddering in rippled surprise.

“No, I won’t,” she had replied.

“But why, I thought that was what you had always wanted?”

“Why? Because you need me but no longer want me.”

She had pulled out the plug and watched the speeding vortex descending until the basin was empty.

***

The dark lake is still once more, reflecting hollow eyes on the face in the moon.

She dresses quickly in the hallway then opens the front door and slipping silently outside she closes it gently behind her. Drip… drip… the dripping gutter above her head suddenly releases a cold torrent. She pauses to watch as the rainwater runs across the pavement, into the gutter and disappears down the drain. She buttons her coat against the hostility of the darkness.

She walks slowly into the dark lake. As she breaths out the bubbles gently break the surface.

The face in the moon diminishes, a little more each night, until it’s gone.   

(by Sally)