Silencio
by M. F. Luder
They had nothing to say to each other, which was somewhat surprising considering the amount left unsaid between the two of them.
Seth swallows, looking down at the carpet. He can hear Ryan breathe.
They sit, in the living room, like complete strangers. Seth feels like something is dying beside them. Between them.
Something is dying and he can't fight it if he doesn't even see it. He can't fight it if Ryan hides it from view.
So they sit, in silence, and pretend they are the same people they used to be.
Ryan pretends he didn't leave for Chino, to make right by Theresa, and Theresa in return didn't go to the clinic one morning and chose to lose the baby.
Seth pretends he didn't leave after Ryan, because he couldn't see the future alone, and that after two weeks it was like he was dying all over the coast.
They pretend like Ryan didn't return first, and when Seth came back, it wasn't his house anymore. Those people barely looking at each other weren't his parents, and this boy sitting in the living room, not living, isn't his best friend.
This person, not saying a word, not looking at him, isn't the person Seth left for.
So they just sit, and one day, they might say to one another what they are both dying to.
Finished: April 30th, 2004.