For a while now I’ve been lying down, immobile. I look up with closed eyes and see nothing but black.

***

I sat on the lawn of the park with Lizzie and Lori. We were having our annual Girl’s Night Out.
“So what happened with Bobby?” Lori asks me.

“He got into drinking and has been drunk every time I call him and he’s drunk whenever we hang out. I called it quits. I don’t want to be with somebody like that.”

“Oh, hun, I’m sorry.” She places her hand on my leg to comfort me.

“How’d he take it,” Lizzie asks me.

I bite my lip and look away from their wondering stares. “Um…not so good. He got really mad.”

“He didn’t do anything did he?”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that. Just yelling and throwing some stuff against the floor.”

“He’ll get over it,” Lori says.

“Yeah, he’ll just have another drink and forget all about it,” Lizzie jokes. She always knew how to cheer me up and make me laugh.

“Come on, let’s have some fun,” I say as I stand up. The sprinkler system turns on and the whole park is engulfed in a giant bubble of water spraying in every which way.
We run through the water, laughing, slipping down and having a good time. I was grateful we had this night. After the break-up, I needed some friends to talk to and to have a fun time with the girls and none of us –thank God– was drunk. Just how I liked it.

“Hey, I’m going to call my dad and let him know I’ll be staying out later than expected,” I tell them. I run to my truck and pull my cell phone out of my purse. I call my dad and let him know.

“Bobby?” I whisper as I see somebody whose outline in the dark looks just like Bobby’s.

“Honey? Is everything okay?” my dad asks me on the phone.

“Y-yeah. Um, hold on, I’ll be right back. I think Bobby’s here. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.”

“Be careful,” he warns me. I put my phone on the bed of my truck, the flip still open.

“Bobby, what are you doing here?” I ask him. By now he’s close enough that I can tell that it is, in fact, him.

“Leslie, Leslie, Leslie,” he says slurring my name, obviously drunk.
“You did a very stupid thing.”

“And what would that be?” I put my hands on my hip and pop my knee. “You’re the one doing stupid things Bobby. Getting drunk every single night. You see, this is why I dumped you.”

He takes a few steps backwards, using the shadow of trees as a cloak in the darkness. He raises his hand and points at me. “Les…is everything all right?” I hear very quietly from my cell phone.

I groan. “Yes Dad, everything’s fine.” I turn to Bobby. “You know what, why don’t you just go somewhere else. Please Bobby, this is painful enough.”

He stands there, still pointing at me. His hand shaking slightly. That’s all he does; is stand there, silently, pointing at me.
“You don’t…break up…with me,” he says.

I hear a loud, ear splitting noise and feel a massive amount of pain in my chest. I immediately fall to the ground. “LESLIE!” My father’s voice, frantic and worried, comes quietly from my phone. The pain grows so immense that I can hardly bare it.

Lizzie and Lori come rushing soon after. I can vaguely see Lizzie tackling Bobby down to the ground and yelling at him at the top of her lungs. Lori is by my side trying to help me. She jumps to my truck and grabs my phone, hanging up on my father and immediately calling 911.

By the time they get here, it’s too late.

***

Six feet under. In a box lined with comfortable fabrics that slip and slide against my skin.
For a while now I’ve been lying down, immobile. I look up with closed eyes and see nothing but black. I guess that’s what happens when you’re dead.