In celebration of Valentine’s Day, AMSA’s Editorial House brings to you love letters for the week of Valentine. Letters of love, heartbreak, unrequited crushes and lust, specially from AMSites’ creative pen. We call this “7 Days of Love: A Valentine’s Letter Edition.
Today’s letter is a tale of heartbreak and toxic attachment.
Day II
Writer: IFEANYICHUKWU OZIOMA
Title: Moth to the Flame
I sat and stared at you across the room.
Lovingly. Longingly.
People want what they cannot have, and like a moth, I was drawn to your flame. Aware of the consequences, I chose to thread that path because as Georges Bataille said, no greater desire exists than a wounded person’s need for another wound.
And oh, was I burned…
It has been months since the breakup. All five stages of grief have been experienced. The rituals of heartbreak are supposedly done and dusted. My coming to this party was to start afresh. Find a new person to adore, to long after, to give my heart to in a fit of reckless abandon.
A need for another wound.
And then there you were, in that red dress, the very same one you wore when we first met, like an apparition sent to upend everything I believed. Like a second skin, it caressed your curves, radiating an allure that mesmerized everyone in the room as you danced.
All of the feelings I thought I had done away with came right back, tugging violently at my heartstrings as I made to leave the room. But then our eyes met, and I saw your crooked smirk. You knew you still had me in the palm of your hand.
Damn you, I thought as you sashayed towards me, knowing fully well the power you had over me, and willing to abuse it again.
Damn me, I thought as I walked forwards to meet you halfway.
Like a moth towards a flame.
IFEANYICHUKWU OZIOMA
*I prefer the pseudonym(?) ‘Ozzy’ for my work*
FROM THE CREATIVE HOUSE
