Incense

The ash poured down as I watched the incense continue to burn.  I had never liked incense and had repeatedly asked Molly to burn it in her room or leave a window open if at all possible.  At the time, she had agreed, although begrudgingly, and I didn’t come home to a smoky house too often.  I sometimes wondered if she listened to me because she was scared of me.   

I knew enough information about her social life where I think she was scared I would tell her parents.  If they knew about the dating, they would surely pull her out of college.  If they knew about the dating and the drinking, she would likely be put on lockdown.  If they knew about the dating, drinking and drugs, she would move home and probably wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house for the foreseeable future. 

But after today, I wasn’t sure how much I could keep to myself anymore.  Molly had gone one step too far and made it one step farther in making my life a living hell.  I had been willing to cut her some slack with the idea this was the first time she had been out from under her parents thumb.  I don’t think she had been anywhere or done anything on her own. But this was an entirely new ballgame. 

Now that she was on her own, I was up to my eyeballs in ash, as Molly had finally managed to burn down our house.