Photo prompt © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Now that it was time, she couldn’t get herself to do it.
The ice around her heart mirrored the slick coating on the deck, the driveway, the car. The accumulation of cold thinned. Her resolve cracked.
It dripped and melted into tears where the memories took hold. Where the sweet moments were as real as the many that weren’t.
Perhaps she should just wait longer. Hope for spring. Pray for summer’s warmth. Forget the frozen tundra that their relationships had become. The hurt. The broken bones.
The more she was nearing her destination, the more she was slip slidin’ away.
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Bonus track of the song that played in my head as soon as I saw the photo:
Wonderful take on the picture and the song melted together. The reality of the closer she gets to getting away the more she is slip-sliding into an altered reality of her memories resonates with me. I like how you described “Where the sweet moments were as real as the many that weren’t.”
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Thanks! It was the first association with the photo, and the story just followed, then I had to (of course) listen to the song, and HAD to patch it onto the post.
Yeah, it can be hard to get from the ‘need to do’ to the ‘actually do’ phase, even for less significant decisions … and doubt knows to worm its way, especially through what some Inuit call “rotten ice.” Oy.
I’m glad this worked, though!
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I wonder whether she needs the ice, or needs the thawing. Something is going to crack
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Excellent observation, that, Neil! Thank you for this comment!
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Na’ama Y’karah,
The song started playing in my head as soon as I read your title. 😉 Well written metaphorical story. I love the way you used the song. Now I need to go warm up.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle (I think … 😉 ) – I am not sure it is a good thing if you need to go warm up … BUT, I hear ya, and … isn’t it amazing how the photo’s first association was this song? (or maybe not so amazing, given that my behind had met the slippery ice in a resounding way in the past … it was NOT fun!).
Hugs,
Na’ama
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Definitely best to get out now before she becomes completely frozen stuck.
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I agree! And yet … sometimes half-melted icy spots get stuck to each other in a refreeze … Oy!?
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Great analogy. Just hope she doesn’t have one last kiss, they’ll be stuck. 😀
Frosty story, well done.
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Ha! I suspect they might … no contact is best … 😉
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We must become better at waiting for a thaw, and the early warmth of Spring…
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And the promise of new beginnings, too, sometimes … 😉
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Always…
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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I suspect that not even sunshine will thaw this relationship.
Strong metaphors, Na’ama
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Thank you Ceayr! Yes, sometimes sunshine just lights up what was should’ve been visible before … 😉
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Sounds like she needs to get out now, no waiting for Spring.
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I agree! I don’t think waiting will improve her ‘leaving conditions’…
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Lovely take, Na’ama. And I fear she needs to up her strength and move on (gee, this story sounded like one I lived…)
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Oy, and thanks … Yeah, I fear that she needs someone to help support her to give her the strength to get some traction …
(and … I think it is probably a story that’s familiar to all too many …).
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Yes. Every time I was ready to leave, he’d turn on the charm and I’d be swayed. Until I was not.
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I hear you, and I think that’s how it often works (or doesn’t …) till it really doesn’t …
I’m glad you left! XOXO
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🙂
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A powerful, deep write this week.
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Thank you, Jellico! 🙂
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I like the structure of this story. You start with the woman’s hesitation, and you finish with it, but in between you tell us such a lot about her and her relationship. I would guess that her experience is common for many in abusive relationships.
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I think you are right, Penny … and that there are many who can relate to this, on one level or the other — many abusive relationships are complicated, and ambiguous, and filled with ambivalence … Hesitation is part of the what makes support so important!
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loved the metaphor. great story-telling.
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Thank you, Plaridel! 🙂 I’m so glad you liked it. Thank you for reading and commenting!
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Time to move on. Spring may be around the corner, but to be sure, winter will return.
Here’s mine!
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Truth, that! I think it is time to get a move on, for her.
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Na’ama, you’re very good at pushing my therapist button 🙂 Your description of someone who knows she should leave, but can’t quite accept the truth is spot on. Excellent story.
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Thank you, Linda! What a great comment and feedback! We are complicated, us human beings, aren’t we? 🙂 THANKS!
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Yes, very complicated. I’ve always said that doing therapy is like peeling back the layers of an onion!
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I just peeled the layers of an onion, LITERALLY … 😉 and came to check my mail in the middle while the turkey stew simmers … 😀
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🙂
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🙂
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