Red Writing Hood: Drowning

Prompt:Write a short piece - 600 words max - that begins with the words, "This was absolutely the last time" and ends with "She was wrong."


This was absolutely the last time, she thought.

She slammed down the phone, grabbed her purse, and stormed out to her car. She clicked on her seatbelt, backed out of the driveway and began the drive to her ex-husband’s house.

She had been asleep, cozy and warm. It was ONE in the freakin’ morning, fer cryin’ out loud!

Why was she doing this? She asked herself one more time. A little sob escaped. Why was she dropping everything, yet again, and driving over to clean up yet another ‘mess’ for him? He hadn’t even waited until his new hair plugs were 24 hours old before packing up and leaving her, off to find a new life.

Yet she was still required to rescue him. He did this on purpose.

He knew that she would never dream of leaving him to deal with this kind of situation.

He wasn’t prepared. He never had been, even after all the classes she had dragged him to, all the books she made him read. Nothing had ever prepared him. And so he foundered.

Some people just weren’t made to handle stress, she decided. It rolled over them like a tidal wave, pulled them deep underneath, and they just can never make it back to the surface to find their breath. She inhaled deeply, and let her anger go.

She pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Her ex was waiting at the door. She could hear, through the open door, the wailing and screaming of her autistic daughter, in the throes of the violent tantrums she always had whenever she stayed with her father. They shared custody.

She glared at the man, intended to say something mean and hurtful, but stopped when she saw his face.

He had a black eye.

He had been crying.

He looked so lost. Drowning.

Candace thought that her heart had broken completely the day her husband had walked out on her. That there were no more pieces to shatter on the wall of reality.

She was wrong.