Memories of lavender perfume, mint toothpaste, gooselike laughter. Zoom screen flickers, sisterly smiles, I-love-you, promise of reunion.

Doses of Diet Pepsi, blank Word document demanding, room’s too big, no cheerful insults rising.

Tchaikovsky on Spotify, strings wailing.

A hug emoji she sent.

A blown fuse, a stuck switch. Won’t budge.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program. His stories, “Soon,” “How To Be A Good Episcopalian,” and “Tales From A Communion Line,” were nominated for Pushcarts. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.