• The scene is set
• Everything is nearly ready
• The green walls fade to a much darker colour as the lights go down
• She likes the film, but you consider it poor
• You came [as you recall] because you’d said no to marriage
• You sit side by side, but apart, space and time expanding between you
• You are incompatible
• Her hair is blondly beautiful, cascading onto broad shoulders
• It’s a twister, it’s a twister! shouts Zeke
• Surrounding you: round-backed red chairs that remind you of tombstones
• In Russia, millions who survive Stalin will live for another two years before Barbarossa engulfs them
• You tell her you’re leaving
• She follows, her tears flowing languidly like the Ganges on a steamy summer evening
• You both stand by vermillion drapes for several minutes
• You’re not in this scene
• Nothing is said
• You leave
• She remains for a duration of eternity

…

Dan McNeil is a writer and artist from the UK. His work has appeared in numerous places, including Alienist Manifesto, Antipodean SF, Bewildering Stories, Don’t Submit!, Fugitives & Futurists, Full House Literary, Hyper-Annotation #001, Interzone Digital, Misery Tourism, Plutonics Journal and Sein und Werden. This is his second story to appear in RIC Journal.
His website is dan-mcneil.com; he can also be found on Twitter / X as @TheMcVariations