Signal Loss in Apartment 4B

The internet died at 3 AM, taking with it Maya's last tenuous connection to the world outside these beige walls. She lay awake watching shadows stretch across the ceiling, the hum of the refrigerator suddenly deafening in the silence.

Barnaby — her sister's cat, temporary resident since the funeral — padded across her chest and settled with accusing eyes. He seemed to know she'd forgotten to change his water again. He always knew.

"You're judging me," she whispered, scratching behind his ears. "I can feel it."

The coaxial cable had frayed somewhere behind the walls, the building superintendent had explained the previous week. Too expensive to fix right now, he'd said, while summer tenants kept complaining. Maya had nodded, not mentioning that she couldn't afford the increase in rent anyway. Couldn't afford much since David emptied their joint account.

She rose at dawn, stepping over the water glass she'd knocked over during sleep. The stain on the carpet had become something like a friend — familiar, constant, quietly expanding.

At the pet store, she wandered aisles of manufactured habitats until she reached the fish department. A single goldfish hung suspended in neon-lit water, its mouth opening and closing in silent observation. Something about its stillness made her chest ache.

"Just that one," she told the clerk, pressing crumpled bills onto the counter.

Back in apartment 4B, she placed the bowl on the windowsill beside Barnaby's favorite perch. Cat and fish regarded each other with mutual indifference — two creatures in glass containers, waiting for something to happen.

The cable repairman arrived at noon, reeking of coffee and cigarettes. He worked silently, replacing damaged wiring while Maya sat cross-legged on the floor, watching the fish watch the cat watch her.

"Your turn," she said to Barnaby as the repairman packed his tools. "You're next."

Barnaby blinked slowly, then curled into a crescent of golden fur. Outside, clouds gathered. The internet would return eventually. The rent would increase. David was never coming back.

But the fish moved through its small world with purpose, and Barnaby purred in his sleep, and for the first time in months, Maya remembered what it felt like to want something to live.