Ficlets

Floating Facedown

Dave

We did get Matty back after the police found him in my dad’s abondoned car on top of the old bridge. They found my dad floating facedown in the river below the bridge. I learned then and there that nothing in life is to be taken for granted.

Since that day, I’ve become what you’d call the man of the family. The stress is unbearable. But I deal, I always deal. The first few weeks after his death, I completely lost my appetite. But I loved that feeling of being empty. I was convinced that if was physically empty, I’d be able to keep my heart empty of emotions, too. Now that only worked for a short time, until I couldn’t handle it anymore. My mom sent me off to the psychiatrist and that was that. But that feeling of emptiness remained.

And now, well now I know nothing else.

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