The Watch
written by: MD Segomotso
“You two run like clockwork!“
This was the expression my partner and I would often hear from people about our relationship.
I liked it when they said that.
A smooth and precise operation, a beautiful mechanism that went about without difficulty or unfamiliarity.
They’re the lever escapement, the ticking beat of my heart. They keep me in balance, maintaining equilibrium as I oscillate in this never-ending cycle.
I feel steady. I feel safe.
Until I don’t.
***
“It’s as if you’re never there!“
They told me this one day. They were shouting—indeed, a fervent outcry. I noticed that arguments slowly became a regularity, like slow outbursts of mechanical chaos. There were faults, a chance that their love would be snatched away just as I believed all to be well.
They said I was never there. Absent. How could I not be? They were at the forefront, responsible for our continued functioning, just as I was the invisible participant. I couldn’t see what was wrong, but they wanted to change us.
I feared for our watch. It was as if I were losing my sense of time.
I said nothing. They kept screaming.
At least the watch kept ticking.
***
“I can’t do this anymore.“
I knew that the day would inevitably arrive; it was merely a question of time.
But it still hurt.
The confrontation felt like impact damage. Their callous hands let our watch slip and fall, shattering into countless fragments. Their impulses were weakening, and I sensed myself spiralling beyond control.
My heart brimmed with umbrage. How dare they abandon me? They know I can’t live without them. They’re letting me die.
I gazed into their eyes, their beautiful quartz eyes, and they held no love for me. I know they do not. I am kind, not a fool.
They have killed me. My savage beloved, my darling lover, my timekeeper.
I yearned to resist, to gather the fragments and restore them, yet I could sense it—they were finished. The watch ceased its ticking; its hands halted their motion. It was over.
Then again, it’s all just clockwork.
