Mehreen Ahmed
SOIGNéE
He bathed me in lavender.
He perfumed my sinewy body.
He clothed me in an expensive silk skirt.
He fed me, all that there was—three healthy meals.
He brushed my long, dark hair.
He oiled it until it shone.
My mobile suddenly rang.
The colour around his lower eyelids changed.
They became sooty black carbon.
He snatched my mobile and banged it against the floor until it broke.
He paced up and down while I sat still.
He wrenched my body parts out--arms first, then legs, then my head turned around in a tight twist of his fist.
Still, my hair was shining burning bright.
He put my body parts in a doll box, where I lay stiff as a bollard until his adrenaline drained.
When he took me out, he made me whole again.