After the Lightning

Emma stood at the edge of the pool, her toes curled against the cool concrete. The water was still—too still—like the surface of some distant, indifferent moon. She'd been coming to this same hotel for three years, ever since Richard left, ever since she started taking her vitamin D supplements because the doctor said her levels were 'concerningly low for someone your age.'

She'd become a zombie in her own life, moving through the motions of her corporate job, her apartment, her carefully scheduled weekends. Dead inside, but functional. Present but not there.

The storm had broken twenty minutes ago. Lightning had struck somewhere close—a sudden, violent crack that had made everyone at the bar flinch. Emma had just ordered her third martini when the sky tore open. Now the deck was empty, everyone fled to the lobby, but she stayed. Something about the storm pulled at her.

Then she saw him. He was standing at the far end of the pool, rain plastering his shirt to his chest. One of Richard's friends from college—Mark? Matt? She'd met him once, at a party years ago, before everything fell apart. He looked different now. Thinner, harder around the edges.

'You're still here,' he said, not a question.

Emma shrugged. 'The lightning stopped.'

'Yeah.' He moved closer, and she could see the rain dripping from his eyelashes. 'I'm sober now. Three years.'

She remembered then—Matthew, Richard's drinking buddy, the one who'd disappeared after the intervention. The one Richard said was 'too dramatic' about everything.

'I take vitamins now,' she heard herself say, and wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it sounded. 'Vitamin D. Because I don't go outside enough.'

Matthew smiled, just slightly. 'I stopped going outside. Agoraphobia. Fun twist.'

The pool lights flickered on automatically, casting rippling blue shadows across his face. Emma felt something shift in her chest—not lightning exactly, but close. A spark. A recognition.

'I'm tired of being dead,' she said quietly.

He nodded. 'Me too.'

They stood there in the rain, two zombies at the end of the world, and for the first time in three years, Emma felt the weight begin to lift.