Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions (Wicked Lovely 5.50)

He scowls down at her.

“Who are you?”

“I’m no one.”

She lets go of his wrist.

“I think that’s the point.”

The ocean’s rhythm

isn’t.

I count the seconds between waves

and realize that

they crash when they crash,

with no regular timing,

like our ex-drummer

when he was drunk.

Like my heart’s final beats,

1,000

in three minutes.

The waves’ arrhythmia

is all I hear in my brother’s silence.

We sit side by side on the pier,

our legs dangling over the edge.

He and Krista pass a cigarette

back and forth

through me.

Mickey has quit smoking

six times in two months.

I splay my fingers,

admiring how the smoke curls

around and within

their violet glow,

like dry ice at a rock concert.