In an Instant

by Suzanne Redfearn

Regret is a tough emotion to live with, impossible to move on from, because what’s done is done. Only delusion can protect you from it, somehow altering history into something easier to accept,

“I mean, I get it,” Mo says as her own eyes fill. “People die. And I get that I’m still here and that life goes on, and that eventually the hole will get smaller. At least that’s what everyone keeps saying.” “Don’t you wish everyone would just shut up?” Chloe says. Mo nods, looks up, almost smiles, looks back at the ocean. “Exactly. Because it’s not that I don’t get what they’re saying. I do. But right now, the hole, it’s really, really big, and it’s really, really lonely, and I really, really miss her.”