Death and Friendship

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Tears shone in somehow familiar eyes.

“Who are you?” Maryse shook the proffered hand.

“I know I’ve changed, and maybe your dad’s funeral isn’t the right place to reintroduce myself, but I’m Dale.”

Maryse grasped him in a bear hug. Her high-school best friend. Same name, same eyes, different gender.

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I pulled this story from the vault. Like many of my older 50-word stories, It’s based on a prompt from Justin Deming—Forget & Remember. Though I didn’t explicitly use either word, both Maryse and Dale are there to honor the memory of Maryse’s father, and in her grief, Maryse finds comfort in remembering her best friend.