Falling Apart by Stephanie Anne

Author:Stephanie Anne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Zombie, Horror, Short Stories, Post-apocalyptic, Undead
Publisher: Stephanie Anne
Published: 2023-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

Cold Cuts & Cigarettes

Bob's funeral is a disaster before it’s even begun. Dad is sitting in a corner, staring at his beer, fighting back emotions he pretends he doesn't have. Dad’s new fling, an out-of-towner named Trish, is running around, fussing over every little detail. I drift from room to room, trying to stay out of everyone's way and trying harder to remain unseen.

Trish still doesn't understand how things are done around here, but she's trying, and she's making a mess of everything. She wants to prove she can fit in, although I can’t imagine why. Maybe she sought this place out because she too is dying a slow and meaningless death. Maybe she didn’t know any better and thought this was a quaint place to retire. I don’t like her. I haven’t liked any of the girlfriends that have come and gone since Mom’s funeral, mostly because they were all women from town. Women who used to be Mom’s friends. At least I don’t have that kind of history with Trish. At least Dad married this one.

Neighbours are trickling in, filling the place with a hum of murmurs and condolences. Some have brought their children along, teenagers who still look far too young. This will be their first. First funeral, and first time seeing our town for what it really is.

Mom’s was my first. I wish it had been a stranger like it will be for these kids. Bob was the kind of small-town fixture that everyone knew by sight, but who no one really knew. This new batch of first timers might have nightmares for the first few weeks afterwards, but they won’t carry around the same kind of trauma that I do. They’ll be numb to it all by the time they attend their third funeral. By their fifth, these kinds of community gatherings will be an accepted way of life. Somewhere around the eighth is usually when the existential crisis kicks in.

I left town after my twelfth.

Things are oddly calm in the now cramped house, but Trish’s constant worrying is adding an undercurrent of pandemonium that everyone is only peripherally aware of. Things on her list aren’t going according to plan. Dani is nowhere in sight, and a platter of cold cuts is missing. Not that anyone other than Trish noticed either of these things. I wonder how long she’ll stick with Dad after this funeral is over.

Bob would have hated being here. All the noise, all the people, all the chaos. Good thing he's dead, I guess.

I suppose I should call him Uncle Bob, but we were never that close. We could have been, but no one in my family ever learned how to cope with their feelings. He wanted to keep to himself in the confines of his living room, and I wanted to get the hell out of town. Same thing. But when I moved back home at the start of the new year, neither one of us made any effort to have a relationship.

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