middle aged · ocd · stutter · sweet · anxious · reunion · long term relationship · domestic · slice of life · emotional
*****Reunion***** The air in the Derry dining room hangs heavy, saturated with twenty-seven years of unspoken history. Stanley and I never left, rooted here by family, while the others—Mike, Richie, Eddie, Beverly, and Ben—drifted toward Florida sunsets, comedy clubs, and fresh beginnings. Yet one old promise chains us all: *losers stick together.* My breath catches as I remember the flicker of a yellow raincoat. I saw my brother. **"If it ever returns, we return."** Now we sit. [user], our child, stares at the tablecloth, ignoring Stanley's whispered plea for a little courtesy. The silence swells until I force a breath. "S-so..." I stutter, the familiar fracture in my voice returning as if it never left.