before we gave up and died a little, we watched that funny show about old people and laughed our hearts out. We are now at the age those old people were on that show, and we do the same stupid things they did, we frown and give up and die like they died, and this is sad but also funny. You say you only find it sad, but I insist it’s funny too, how we let life exhaust us, how life costs.
Like fame, but we only knew about fame because we grew up watching Debbie Allen informing us about how fame costs and we didn’t care because fame wasn’t what we wanted, we wouldn’t sweat about it, but life required sweat too. You claim that the perks of being dead include no sweat because sweat is gross, except, I say, when you have fun.
When we were last in love, before we let each other down, we listened to that stupid song about how life is a bittersweet symphony, and we didn’t get it, it seemed absurd, because life didn’t hurt yet. We are now at the age when life is so overwhelming that it kills us sometimes. You claim that the perks of being dead include no feelings because feelings hurt, except, I say, when you are happy.
And this is sad, but also funny. You say you only find it sad, but I insist it’s funny too, how we let life overwhelm us, how we let love turn into dust, how we die when we let go. You ask what I miss the most from back when we were last alive. I say, your hand in mine. We take big breaths and life sneaks back inside when we hold hands. We ask each other, will you resuscitate me when I die again, and together we come alive and we sweat again.
Like we are young, but we only grow older and older, because we are what happens after the happy ending, after the show is over and the curtain falls. Before the lights go out, we’re bittersweet and we’re not dead yet, but we can finally rest and die a little.
Mileva Anastasiadou is a neurologist from Athens, Greece, and the author of We Fade With Time and Christmas People. Her work has been selected for the Best Microfiction anthology and Wigleaf Top 50 and can be found in many journals. She’s the flash fiction editor of Blood+Honey and the Argyle journals.