Haiku Happenings #8: Jules’ latest #haibun for my current #haikai challenge!

Facing Facts?
(fiction haibun)

his vision swimming
departure of sanity
illness arriving

her past rearing up
through her soul, preventing a
rewarding future

Who was gaslighting whom? Her broken heart, the broken dishes in the hotel sink… did the bottle they celebrated with hours ago – was it used to cause him any broken teeth? What resolutions had either of them attempted to make last year and failed? Could either succeed this new year? Would he stop trying to pick up women at bars on holidays, because he just wasn’t brave enough to spend them alone? Would she, could she learn to say ‘no’ before being tempted by another promise that fell short from a man’s smooth talk… in a hotel bar?

See next page
his vision clearing
waking to an empty room
she’d left him sleeping…

her high heels broken
she’d check out before the dawn
how far could she drive…

Each returned to their home base, without each other escaping commitment. Escaping the crowd. He went back to his cubicle, crunched his numbers and wondered where he could go next year…

She drove through the dark night into the dawn of the new year. Home. Was that where here heart was? This year, this year maybe she’d get some help…

©JP/dh

https://julesinflashyfiction.wordpress.com/2019/12/29/pg-12-29-facing-facts-five-prompts/