Signal Lost

Marcus sat on the edge of the bathtub, staring at the frayed cable that dangled from the wall like a dead snake. The internet had been out for three hours, and in that time, he'd noticed things — the way Elena's side of the bed was already cold when he reached for it at 3 AM, how she'd stopped asking about his days, the papaya she'd bought last week now rotting on the counter, its once-vibrant orange flesh turning to mush in the silence between them.

The cat, Barnaby, wound around his ankles, purring with an indifference that bordered on insulting. At least someone still wanted something from him, even if it was just a can of tuna fish.

"You're going to miss your flight," Elena called from the bedroom, her voice flat.

"The cable guy's supposed to be here in twenty minutes."

"Marcus." She appeared in the doorway, suitcase in hand. "We talked about this. You stay, deal with the apartment. I'll get my stuff when the lease is up."

He thought of all the things he wanted to say — how the papaya had been a gesture, how he'd bought it because she'd mentioned once that it reminded her of her grandmother's house in Miami, how it had sat there untouched while they both pretended nothing was wrong. But the words dissolved in his throat like sugar in hot water.

"Right," he said instead. "The cable."

"The cable," she echoed, and there was something almost tender in her repetition, as if she were granting him this small thing to hold onto.

Barnaby meowed, and Marcus picked him up, burying his face in the cat's orange fur. When he looked up, Elena was already walking away, the click of her heels on the hardwood floor measuring out the distance between them.

The cable guy arrived twenty minutes later to find Marcus sitting alone in the living room, eating the papaya with his hands. The fruit was overripe, sweet and slightly fermented, running down his chin. The technician didn't comment. He just replaced the cable, checked the signal strength, and left.

Marcus watched the router lights blink back to life — green, steady, reliable. Somewhere in the apartment, Barnaby was howling, and for the first time in months, Marcus let himself make a sound too.