“Oh, let her go.” Mama pleaded dryly as she patted her hands with a threadbare kitchen cloth.

“She’s fifteen Lou. We can’t keep her cooped up here forever. We’ve got to let her spread her wings.”

Daddy glares, “It ain’t the spreadin’ of her wings I’m worried about.” His once soft gray eyes reduced to angered slits, lips pursed menacingly.

Mama turns away, busying herself with the few dishes left in the sink.

I retreat to my room. Lay unmoving upon my bed. The air around me swollen with the blistering silence between them.

Muffled curses.

I imagine Mama, innocent as air, heart leaping at the sound of his voice.

A mottled blow.

Daddy’s gentle fingertips guiding her eager lips to meet his.

The screen door slams.

That first moment, when everything around them blurred and no one but the two of them existed.

I drift restlessly to sleep wondering how two people once so much in love… Could end up hating each other so much?

This piece incorporates Misky’s twiglet #154 ‘Innocent as air’ and one of the three phrasal prompts provided on the OLWG #42. The phrase was, ‘let her go’.