Intercepts

by T.J. Payne

but because duct tape and twine were cheaper and easier than dealing with the crippling bureaucracy.

“I feel nothing… They did this to me… He did this to me…” Carson looked up, startled. “What?” “He loves you, Kate… You are his weakness…”

“I know you know him. His name is Joe. Joe Gerhard,” she said, her eyes still staring at the wall as though there was someone else in the room she was talking to.

Why doesn’t this country build big, ambitious shit like that anymore? she wondered.

that her childhood friends would be her friends forever. What a load of bullshit.

Children or not, people were going to be people. They’d be lazy if you let them. They’d be catty if you allowed it. And they’d blame you if they could.

He knew that when he crossed his legs for too long, his foot would “fall asleep.” It was a normal thing. The twisted nerves just couldn’t send signals to the brain. While the nerves stayed disconnected, they kept transmitting messages. When they finally reconnected, the flood of signals would burst forward and overwhelm the brain, causing the painful, tingling sensation of a sleeping foot.

Do your job. Keep them safe.

“And then you’ll tell ‘em that there was a lot of pressure on me to be a good father,” he said while reaching out and gently taking hold of Hannah’s arm. “But I didn’t know how. And when Kate died and Riley moved in, well, it was all just too much for me. I didn’t know how to actually be a father. I didn’t know how to support her and care for her because I had never done it before. I’d always chosen work over family. And so, I began to resent my work. It kept calling me back. It kept preventing me from being with my daughter. The resentment turned to anger. I hated this place. I had given it my life, my everything, and it left me with nothing. And so, I lashed out.”

They didn’t just kill him. They wanted to hurt him. It was a fury and viciousness that didn’t exist in nature. That is what we have created, Hannah thought. Something outside the bounds of nature.

“Physical pain is fleeting. The mind closes it off, as best it can. But some pain runs deeper. Some pain lingers. It sticks to you in the darkness, and the mind cannot push it away. Pain such as the pain of watching your family suffer. And the pain of knowing they suffered because of you. That pain will never leave,” the voices said in unison. “Consider it not a punishment, but a gift. The pain will be your foundation as you swim in the black. It will be your light. Use it to find your way, Joe Gerhard.”