Flash

We have to go to the morgue to identify the body.
Ted is looking really anxious and more lost than usual.
His hands are shaking.
All I want to do is go home. I don't want to be here.
I want everything to go back to the way it was.
The fighting, the cursing, the anxiety I always felt when I heard rising voices.
The coroner is old, and when he sees me he frowns and pats my shoulder.
He says sorry like it will really help.
As if it's all his fault.
He wasn't the one running around with someone else's husband.
It was her.
I don't feel sorry, and I don't feel sad.
If anything, I'm angry.
The old man lifts the sheet, and there lies mom on the slab of metal.
She looks cold, and tired.
Dead.
"That her?" He asks.
Ted covers his nose and his mouth, and looks like he's about to cry.
I just stare.
The old guy looks at me.
In a word: Expectant.
I just nod, motioning for him to cover the body.
For Ted's sake.
"That's her."
But it really wasn't. At least not anymore.
Now, she is nothing but a shell.