#marelle

"Elle sautillait d'un pied sur l'autre, comme une petite fille qui assouplit ses jambes avant de lancer le palet de la marelle vers le ciel ou vers l'enfer."

Didier Decoin

Inspired by Marelle by Craig Armstrong

It ends before it’s really even begun.

The last day of this sweet chapter is green and bright in the almost-summer sun. A season to grow, or so I thought. I bound up the path, smiling, asking about our next adventure.

There’s a white-washed gate between us.

You apologise. Take responsibility. You’ve known it for a while, but you just couldn’t say.

You changed your mind.

What do you do when the sun decides she doesn’t want you anymore?

I look at you – someone that I could have built a place to call home with. The roses on the trellis, the thatch on the roof, the smoke drifting from the chimney. But I never got to cross the threshold. Never got to call you mine.

You know it’s your fault, but we can still be friends, right?

Right.

The branch may have only borne a small blossom; it still hurt like hell when you cut me down.

I turn away, not daring to look you in the eye. I gather up my memories and pack them inside a shoebox before shifting into gear and pulling out of the gravel driveway. I can see you in the mirror, watching as I slip quietly away.

How does your heart feel, I wonder, as it skips over the beats of this too-short story?

I drive down the holloways that I could have learned like the back of my hand, and leave your house far behind me. The sun dapples through the leaves, and the woulds and coulds and shoulds flicker through my mind like a roll of film. Holding hands. Braiding your hair. Finding ourselves tangled up together with nothing and no-one to answer to.

And then, the one thing that did.

A cold night. Fairy lights. A quiet first date rendered unforgettable by boisterous boys and their vinyls. A starry sky. A question. A kiss on your cheek – warm lips against soft skin. A moment, indelible.

Her house disappears amongst the green she loves so much.

Indicate. Turn a corner – and a page.

A new chapter starts.

And I don’t look back.

Nollywood Actress, Omoni Oboni's Son is Engaged!

Recent doodles from an aggie I was apart of yesterday