Dead Things Float

The hotel pool was empty at 2 AM, which was exactly why Elena had chosen this hour. She sat on the edge, feet dangling in the chlorinated water, fully clothed in her conference dress. The employee ID badge still dangled from her neck like a millstone. Above her on the lounge chair lay her wide-brimmed hat — a ridiculous purchase she'd made to shield herself from the Las Vegas sun, from colleagues, from the relentless fluorescent hum of the conference center.

She'd come here for the promotion. The one she'd spent three years chasing. The one that, when her boss finally offered it yesterday at the gala, made her feel nothing at all. Just hollow. Like she'd been hollowed out from the inside.

"You look like shit," said a voice from the darkness.

Elena didn't turn. She knew that voice. Marcus from accounting. They'd hooked up in Phoenix last year, two broken people seeking temporary wholeness in each other's arms. The memory still made something in her chest twist.

"I feel like a zombie," she said. "Not the movie kind. The real kind. The kind that shuffles through meetings and sends emails and forgets what it was like to want something."

Marcus sat beside her, close enough that she could smell whiskey and that same cologne he'd worn in Phoenix. His shoulder brushed hers, deliberate.

"I got the job," she continued. "Senior Director. Six figures. The corner office with windows."

"Congratulations."

"I can't remember the last time I was happy, Marcus."

The water lapped against her ankles. Somewhere in the distance, a casino billboard flashed neon promises.

"Jump in," he said.

"What?"

"The pool. Jump in. Fully dressed. Like we're killing the old you."

She looked at him. Really looked. The lines around his eyes, deeper than last year. The exhaustion etched into his face. They were both zombies, weren't they? Walking dead, pretending to be alive.

Elena stood up, stepped out of her heels. She grabbed her hat and threw it onto the concrete. Then she dove.

The water shocked her awake. She surfaced, gasping, and Marcus was laughing, really laughing, and she realized she hadn't heard genuine laughter in — God, how long?

"Your turn," she called out.

He jumped in beside her, fully clothed, and they floated there in the dark, two drowned things choosing, finally, to live.