unmatched combination

                 YeahWrite’s Weekly Writing Challenge #390

If you wanted to set your life on fire, there wasn’t a better combination.

The warning pronounced was not heard by anyone in the room but resonated in the labyrinthine 

folds of her grey cells and I seemed to absorb every word of it. But I failed to grasp the 

intensity of the prognosis. A silly assumption laced in over-protectiveness , I concluded and 

brushed off. She felt it as intrusion of my basic privacy while my interpretation was his fondness.

He kept tab of every phone calls I made and received. Questions were raised and I stood in the 

defendant's box explaining to him my every move . Sulking became his middle name  and I took 

pride in pacifying him.

The arduous hours behind the counter , the stilettos pinching my independence earned a pretty 

sum. A large chunk of it footed his vices.  

She fought tooth and nail imploring me to set aside a sum for rainy day. I brushed her fears 

under the carpet.

The landscape of my body was contoured with blue and black marks. I subjugated to slavery 

losing my self-respect. I hid every punch under the guise of a branded scarf.

                            She died a thousand times breathing worry and helplessness.

I stood on the threshold of her house nay my home, defeated. My mother's warm embrace 

and acceptance injected a hope in my battered soul.

                                                      



The first prompt : If you wanted to set your life on fire, there wasn’t a better combination.


The second prompt from the narrator's point of view  is: Death.