Signal Lost

The coaxial cable lay coiled on the driveway like a dead snake. Elena wiped sweat from her forehead and checked her work order again. Suite 4002, Ms. V. The woman on the phone had sounded elegant, impatient — the kind of customer who'd complain about the indent in her lawn before asking if her premium channels were working.

Elena rang the doorbell. No answer. She waited exactly thirty seconds, then rang again. The door swung open, revealing a woman in a silk robe, cocktail in hand, radiating that particular kind of 3 PM despair that comes with having nothing left to lose.

"You're the cable girl?" The woman laughed, bitter and sharp. "Come in. The internet's been down since David left. Three weeks.

The house was too quiet. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Elena could see the pool — still, unmoving, a perfect sheet of **water** reflecting nothing. The air inside smelled of expensive gin and stale grief.

"The **cable** out back," the woman continued, "something chewed through it. Probably rats. Probably symbolic."

Elena worked in silence, stripping and splicing, her practiced hands moving automatically while her mind drifted to Marcus, to their apartment, to the text she'd sent that morning: *I can't keep swimming against this current. I'm letting go.* He hadn't responded.

"You married?" The woman's voice drifted through the screen door.

"Was."

"Me too. Twice." The woman appeared on the patio, another drink in hand. She gestured toward the pool. "David and I met **swimming** in the Mediterranean. He said I moved through water like I belonged there. Now I can't even look at it without feeling like I'm drowning."

Elena tightened the connection, tested the signal strength — perfect. "Internet's back."

"And that fixes everything?" The woman's smile was hollow. "You people come and go. Plug things in. Make them work. But some connections, they can't be repaired. They can only be terminated."

Elena packed her tools, thinking of Marcus, thinking of all the ways they'd tried to fix what was broken. Some signals, she realized, were lost for good.

"You're right," Elena said finally. "Some things can't be repaired."