Electric Blue

The pool at the Sunset Ridge Resort was empty at 3 AM, its surface still as glass, reflecting the strobe-light flashes from the storm gathering over the desert. Elena sat on the edge, legs submerged in water that felt like liquid silk. She should have been asleep—tomorrow marked day twelve of the corporate retreat that had already cost her one panic attack and whatever remained of her dignity.

Her iPhone lay face-up on the concrete, screen illuminating every thirty seconds with notifications she refused to check. Mark's last text had arrived four hours ago: *Can we talk?* The nerve of him, really. After seven years together, after she'd found the receipts, after the Move-Out-Move-On timeline they'd both agreed to, he still wanted to talk. Talk about what? His feelings? His needs? The zombie he'd become somewhere between their third anniversary and his promotion to Regional Director?

Elena swallowed her daily vitamin cocktail with hotel water from a plastic cup. Vitamin D for the seasonal depression her doctor refused to diagnose. B-complex for stress. Magnesium for the sleep that wouldn't come. She'd become a walking pharmacy since the breakup, each capsule a tiny promise that she could optimize her way out of heartbreak.

Lightning cracked the sky open—a jagged fork of white that turned the pool electric blue for one perfect second. In that flash, she saw it: her own reflection, ghost-pale and hollow-eyed, looking exactly like the walking dead she'd been accusing Mark of becoming. When had she stopped being alive too?

Her phone buzzed again. Not Mark this time. A Slack notification from Chad in Finance, tagged URGENT, about tomorrow's presentation.

Elena stood up, water dripping from her calves onto the concrete. She picked up her iPhone, considered it for a long moment, then walked to the deep end and threw it as hard as she could. It arced through the air, another flash of lightning catching its trajectory, before hitting the water with a solid splash.

The pool rippled outward from where it sank, disturbing the perfect surface. Elena stood there for a minute, heart hammering, half-expecting the device to float back up. It didn't.

Tomorrow would bring its own crises. HR would ask questions. She'd need a new phone. But for now, she just stood in the desert night and waited for the next lightning strike, finally ready to see what came after.