Your absence claims your place on the couch across from me. It reads quietly for hours, just as you used to do before you left. And just like you, it peeks over its shoulder from time to time to make sure I’m still here and haven’t decided to join you.

Kip Knott is a writer, photographer, and part-time art dealer living in Ohio. His writing has recently appeared in Best Microfiction 2024 and The Wigleaf Top 50. His new book of stories, Family Haunts, is available from Louisiana Literature Press.