The Gone World

by Tom Sweterlitsch

Everything exists, always exists. Life is but a dream, Shannon. Self is the only illusion.”

I had someone serious for a while, a few years back, but one day you wake up and realize you’re ruining each other,” he said. “Sometimes even the good things don’t quite stick. Sometimes they do.”

“You forget the bad, your memory tries to heal the past. Years don’t matter either,” said Nicole. “Time just burns. Time burns, and you think the wounds are cauterized, but they open up raw, again and again.”

There is no design. The universe isn’t kind or cruel. The universe is vast and indifferent to our desires.

“Protect what you have, even if it means losing everything you think you want.”

My mother believes in omens, but never in good ones.