The Long Run

by James Acker

I squinted up at the big fireball glaring down at me from the sky. “...Fuck you.” The sun had no response. Coward.

So much I didn’t know. So much I could’ve known. All this time I wasted, watching. Falling off the face of the earth. How much easier my life could’ve been if I just talked. Asked questions. How much easier my life could be.

Why should I enjoy what won’t last? What’s a first date without a future?

“It was supposed to be more than this, right? This part of our lives? Sometimes I feel like I did this part wrong.”

“I hate variables. What-ifs. I like knowing what happens next.”