“Oh, Graham, I’ve missed you so badly since you’ve been gone,” you whisper into his ear, tears rolling down your face. You hold your new lover tightly, pulling on his back so firmly that for a moment he begins to tip forward and you struggle under his weight.
He regains his balance and returns your embrace. “I love you,” he says coldly.
At the sound of his voice, the stream of your tears becomes a river and you burst into uncontrollable sobs. “I missed you so much. I almost didn’t make it, Graham.”
“I’m here now, dear,” he says, lifting one of his hands to perform a mechanical pat on your back. The gesture seems insincere, but you don’t really care at this point.
The tears flow incessantly down your face, forming large drops at your chin and falling onto his neck, where they continue their groundward journey and disappear under the collar of his neatly pressed shirt.
“Tell me you’ll never leave me again,” you say.
“I love you,” he replied.
You recoil angrily from his arms. “I said tell me you’ll never leave me again,” you repeat.
“I love you,” he says again. “I love you I love you I love you I love-“
You hear the arching of electricity and the scent of burning wire insulation fills your nostrils. You notice a small plume of smoking rising from his collar.
“God damn it,” you scream, wiping away your tears. You unbutton his shirt and open the fuse box. Totally shot. It’ll take days to rewire him.
Fuck it, you think, I’ll get back to work in the morning.
You slam the fuse box shut angrily and walk up the stairs from the lab, stopping at the door to blow a kiss at the picture of you and Graham hanging on the wall – the last one you took before he died.
“I’ll never stop trying,” you promise him as you shut the door.