Dead Summer Signal

The coaxial cable snaked through my sweaty fingers like a dead snake. Another Saturday, another graduation party hookup job. My best friend Levi caught my eye from across the backyard and mouthed "save me" while clutching a tray of appetizers. We were both total zombies after finals week, surviving on caffeine vibes and whatever sleep we could snatch between shifts.

"Hey cable guy," some sophomore called out. I didn't even look up. The nickname had stuck since freshman year when I'd fixed the AV system for the winter formal. Now it was just my brand.

I crawled under the dessert table, threading the cable toward the projector setup. My palm hit something slimy — spilled punch, probably. Gross. But that was summer job life in the suburbs.

Then I saw her. Zara, the psychic sophomore who'd read palms at the carnival last month. She was sitting in a corner booth, ignoring the party vibe.

"Your life line's interesting," she'd told me back then, tracing my palm with long fingers painted black. "You're going to fix something big this summer. Something that matters."

I'd laughed it off. But now, watching Levi almost drop the shrimp tower while the graduate's mom glared at him, I realized something was off. The projector kept flickering. The sound system crackled. Nobody could hear the speeches.

The cable guy problem. Again.

I followed the cable line back to the source. Loose connection at the splitter. Easy fix. But as I tightened it, I noticed Zara watching me, nodding like she'd predicted this exact moment.

After the speeches, Levi found me behind the gazebo. "Dude, you saved it. Again." He handed me a soda. "Being a hero is exhausting, right?"

"Something like that," I said, thinking about Zara's prediction and the strange feeling that maybe some things in life were actually fixable. Even when you felt like a zombie, even when summer stretched endless and meaningless ahead.

Zara passed by, paused. "Told you," she whispered. Then vanished into the crowd like she'd never existed.

Levi looked at me, confused. "You okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Nah," I said, opening the soda. "Just thinking about how weird it is when things actually make sense."