Resurrection at the Padel Court

The pool reflected a sky the color of a bruised plum. Elena sat on its edge, legs dangling in water that felt too warm, like bathwater that had been sitting too long. Behind her, the rhythmic *thwack-thwack-thwack* of padel balls echoed from the court—her husband Marcus and his business partner, playing out their aggressive camaraderie under the floodlights.

"You're missing the party," Marcus called later, approaching with a towel slung over his shoulder. His smile was bright, practiced, the one he used at quarterly reviews. "Karen's husband thinks you're upset about something."

"I'm fine," Elena said. "Just tired."

"You're always tired lately." He sat beside her, close but not touching. "Since the promotion. I thought you'd be—"

"Happy?"

"I was going to say *alive*."

A fox materialized at the treeline, russet coat ghostly in the dusk. It watched them with alien, intelligent eyes before melting back into the shadows.

"We're like zombies," Elena said softly. "Both of us. Walking around, pretending this is enough."

Marcus stiffened. "That's not fair. We worked for this. The house, the club memberships—"

"Buster died last week," she interrupted.

He froze. Their golden retriever, fifteen years of unconditional devotion, gone while Marcus was in Chicago closing a deal. "You didn't tell me."

"I didn't want to interrupt your meeting." She stood, water dripping from her legs. "I buried him under the oak tree."

The silence stretched between them, filled by the distant sounds of the padel game continuing without them. Marcus stood too, and for the first time in years, he looked at her—really looked at her, as if seeing the stranger his wife had become.

"I forgot to ask," he said, voice cracking. "How was the funeral?"

"There wasn't one," Elena said. "Just me, and the dog, and that fox watching from the woods. At least one of us was present."

She walked toward the house without waiting for him, and somewhere in the darkness behind her, the padel game stopped. The zombie turned, finally, toward home.