Disconnected
A flash fiction story about a brother’s lament over the passing of his sister and the connection they had.
When Eva died unexpectedly, Sam helped his brother-in-law with the funeral arrangements. Sam chose the prayer card — a silhouette of an angel against a fiery sunset — and he picked the passage, something about finally being free. He reminded his brother-in-law that Eva hated clichéd roses but loved vibrant stargazer lilies.
After the accident, Sam also knew his sister wouldn’t want an open casket. “She’d want people to remember her smile,” he told his brother-in-law.
“I don’t know what Eva told you about us,” his brother-in-law said.
“She didn’t,” Sam lied. He’d talked to his sister every night since she got married six years ago. She told him everything about her marriage — the missing money, those late-night fights over their sex life, the whispers about an ex-girlfriend.
They traded awkward stories — chuckled, cried, fell silent.
For weeks after the funeral, Sam kept calling Eva’s phone. He needed the voltage of her voice. He left messages like confessions, knowing no answer was coming.
“Hey, it’s Eva. Leave a message and I’ll call you back. Byeeee.”
The joyful tone of Eva’s voice cradled his grief. He’d tell her about his day, her nephews, how everyone missed her.
One day Sam called to tell Eva he’d seen her husband at Spavone’s with a woman whose light-brown hair and heart-shaped face echoed Eva’s. Something inside him turned heavy.
But Eva’s voice was gone. “We’re sorry, but the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”
He called back to be sure he’d dialed correctly. “We’re sorry, but the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”
He tried his brother-in-law. “We’re sorry, but the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.”
Sam rang both numbers again and again and…
“We’re sorry, but the number—”
His screen went black. The last charge, like the last connection to his sister, was gone.
Sam let the phone drop and stared at a lonely crow perched on the power line.
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