Grim

by D.J. Krimmer

My life was built on discipline, devotion, and love so consuming that I feared it might one day swallow me whole. But never, not in my darkest nightmares, did I imagine that love would be the very thing to unmake me.

Instead, it’s as though I’d been erased so gently that I didn’t even notice until I was wiped clean from the page.

Some people flinch at storms, but not me. I’ve always loved them. There’s something romantic about the way the sky unravels and demands attention. Storms don’t pretend to be anything but what they are. They come undone in a furiously loud sight. I admire that frankness. There’s a strange kind of peace in it too—the way the air stills before the crack, the hush that makes even the ghosts pause. Thunder reminds me that the world’s still turning. That a force that has seen generations come and go still thrashes and breathes and sings.