In the Unlikely Event

by L.J. Shen

To burn under your fingertips, I think, is to come alive.

“Because I don’t feel so unlucky right now.”

The energy I felt earlier when our hands touched returns, and I can’t put a name to it, but it’s electric. Tangible. It even has a taste.

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering what you feel like.”

“Don’t be with Kathleen.” I look up at his face, whispering, “She doesn’t kill you.”

“Find what you love and let it kill you.”

“For no doubt disrupting your life and tearing it apart next time I meet you. All’s fair in love and war, yeah?”

“I didn’t hate you then,” she whispers. “But I’m starting to now.”