A Friend in the Dark

by Samantha M. Bailey

Every time I hear your name Floodgates open, blood it rains I can see where I went wrong But you can’t leave while I’m not strong “Run & Hide” by the Watchmen Lyrics by Joey Serlin

Dave asked me for a divorce six weeks ago in the parking lot at the University of Michigan, our alma mater, mere minutes after we’d said goodbye to Ava for the start of her freshman year.

I was blindsided. The man in front of me was a stranger and not the person who’d been my rock and best friend for almost a quarter of a century. The only certainty I’d had in life was Dave.

I don’t understand what I did wrong or how the man who once blushed and stammered every time he spoke to me could give me up without a fight.

Eventually I gave up trying because feeling unwanted is worse than no intimacy at all.

My friend—everyone’s friend—Tyler Yates, vanished from the Sigma Chi house sometime during the night. He was reported missing the next afternoon, and by that evening, posters with his surfer-boy shaggy blond hair and sweet smile were plastered across campus. He’s never been found.

I feel awful that I didn’t know you were sick. I thought you were rejecting me. That maybe I did something to hurt you. To me, you were the one who got away.

“You’ve become really uptight since Grandpa died. I understand why Dad doesn’t want to live with you anymore.”

“Imagine I’m in the car with you.” I told him when to call me. I never told him where I’d be when he phoned.

There’s no guarantee of tomorrow. We never know when our last conversation with someone might be.