Episode 70: Vignette

With trembling hands, I place my heart upon my worn obsidian altar. This heart- this crudely yet lovingly stitched-back- together piece of me-beats out a strong and frantic rhythm. I step back, at first looking at my heart, seeing how fragile it looks, how beautifully ruined and imperfect it still appears to be. Even after all of the painstakingly devoted work I put into finding every piece and putting them back into place. I look up at the man standing on the other side of my altar, terrified yet hopeful and full of love. Will this be enough for him? Will he accept what I'm offering? He gently caresses the jagged edges, the still-visible bruises and scars placed by those who broke it before-the unworthy, the pretenders. He cautiously scoops up this precious gift into his hands, looking closer, inspecting it. He softly smiles, gazes into my eyes, my soul, before it all deadpans into an eerily blank stare. "You still haven't learned, have you, Little Goddess? You'll never be chosen-never loved nor wanted. Why would anyone choose something so broken and damaged?" My eyes blur with unshed tears, my soul once again fracturing apart as his words dig their claws into every corner of my being, shredding everything with no mercy. He crushes my heart in his unrelenting grip, shattering it into a thousand shards raining down upon the altar. Its light, musical tings echo throughout the chamber-his Cheshire grin and empty eyes the last thing I see before he vanishes in a cloud of smoke.Written by https://www.threads.com/@dark_witchy_goddess This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anureetwrites.substack.com