Still
Updated: Jun 13, 2021
By Yash Seyedbagheri -
Empty space envelops. Even blasting Netflix, stillness rises. Coldness creeps upon me.
Some nights, I go for walks. Swaths of laughter rise, lilting, cracked, roaring, bodies move behind windows, en route to life, hugging, murmuring, shoving.
I try to snatch these small moments, but they slip.
I email classmates, but they’re absorbed in thesis pagination. Their own parties. I wouldn’t have fun, they say, describing carefully constructed social networks. Maybe next time.
Next times overflow.
I befriend Merlots, bitter, yet sweet, washing over me. I remember little, but still feel the thinness of fabric before I sink into gray slumber.
Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University's MFA program. His stories, "Soon," "How To Be A Good Episcopalian,” and "Tales From A Communion Line," were nominated for Pushcarts. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.