2 ~ Another Day of Insane

Like every other day, the company sent more products than they had space to put out or store and the supervisors and managers cracked down on her and her coworkers expecting miracles to be made out of the curses sent down by the higher ups. Asha was stressed out and stretched thin just like the rest of the team. When she finished her back room work and it was time for her to go onto the sales floor, surprise surprise, her most recent ex was in the store waiting around to watch her.

They’d broken up almost six months prior and although she’d been the one to say the words, he’d been pushing her to it for at least half of the time they were together. When he convinced her to date him, his favorite thing to say was, “you’re everything I’ve been trying to manifest.” Between their conversations about the future and how he always seemed to want the same things as her, and the way he always seemed to care about her safety getting home when they first started getting to know one another, she fell for his facade.

It wasn’t long after Asha finally agreed to give him the title of being her man that he quickly stopped doing more and more, and proved his goals for the future was all talk and no action. She picked up all the slack in the relationship and basically became a toy to be fucked, bossed around to maintain his home, and his verbal punching bag. A three for one he was happy to misuse and overwork despite her still having to maintain her own home and life.

His sweet words turned malicious, constantly picking her apart, complaining about one personality trait or another, her appearance, or anything else he could critique her on. Heaven forbid she try to provide some constructive criticism in return it was always a fight. It didn’t matter how much she invested her time and efforts in helping to build his business, meal prepping for him, or helping to maintain the cleanliness of his home, it was never enough. He always had a video queued up or lecture to give her about how much more she should be doing to be the ideal partner as a black woman.

Asha tried to stick it out, convinced that because it seemed like they had similar life goals in the beginning that he was the one for her. However, once she got some distance while he was on a work trip and had a chance to talk to a therapist at the insistence of her close friends, clarity hit her like a ton of bricks. He was a narcissistic manipulator and had used all she told him of her hopes and dreams to make it seem as if they were a good match. Having grown up in a household run by one, her therapist helped her to see how she was conditioned to accept their behaviors and how to move forward without them. By the time he made it back to town she had left a note and his key at his apartment and blocked him on everything.