Drown #13: the story we tell, part 3

August 2086. Angelo Shaw is 24. Jeremiah Day is 29.


She told him what her name was, but Angelo had already forgotten it. She was wearing the brightest top in the whole room. It was like a beacon. "I can't help it," he said. "It's just like you're a tulip and I'm a honeybee."

She laughed. He couldn't quite tell if she was laughing for him or at him.

"But don't worry, I don't sting. I'm just after the sweetness."

"Are you trying to hit on me? I bet you don't even have a job."

"Nah, baby, I got a job," Angelo said. "I’m a lawyer."

"You’re too young to be a lawyer."

"Alright, I’m a junior, but exam passed and licensed! I’m a lawyer. Wanna see my card?"

He handed her a card with his name in gold plating. His firm would only print him twenty cards, being a junior, but she could have every one of them.

false alarms

July 2086. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 26.


Stephanie felt like she had been pregnant literally forever. While she would have loved for this pregnancy to be over and to meet her little bub, she was only thirty-five weeks along and it wasn't quite time yet. Soon it would be time, but not yet.

Drown #13: the story we tell, part 2

July 2086. Jeremiah Day is 29. Isabelle Gibson is 30. 

soundtrack: "Smile Like You Mean It," by The Killers

* sensitive content advisory for Drown #13, parts 1-7


If this was the game they wanted to play, then Jeremiah would play it. He would jump through their hoops. Tell him which hoops to jump through and how, and he would do it. He would answer all of their ridiculous questions. Jeremiah had never felt any less than physically strong and healthy. "But go on," he said. "Give it your best shot."

Drown #13: the story we tell, part 1.5

July 2086. Justin Kim is 26. Lily is 4. Keri Riley is 25. 


Sometimes, when she visits, she comes over too early in the morning. Keri is an early riser, the early routine of the military has burrowed into her bones. Justin is about to head out the door to work and he hugs his daughter—used to be their daughter—goodbye.

He says, "I made pancakes for breakfast. There's some left on the counter, help yourself."

So she helps herself.

Drown #13: the story we tell, part 1

July 2086. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4. Keri Riley is 25. 

* sensitive content advisory for Drown #13, parts 1-7

mine

July 2086. Justin Kim is 26, Willow Nova is 4.


You get a line and I'll get a pole,
We'll go fishin' in the crawdad hole,
Honey, Baby mine.

Drown #12.5: the scientist

July 2086. Madison Riley is 63, Keri is 25, Dominique Beech is 27, Tyler Jackson is 22.

* NSFW 


So it was all decided then? Keri would jet off into the great unknown, and the fabric of what little family Madison had left would disperse like stardust. The blood and cells and DNA that made up Madison’s existence would stop right here in this old, aging body. There would be no more grandchildren and no great grandchildren, and the Riley family name was dead, too.

Bryson wasn’t as upset as he should have been, Madison thought.