Our worlds rarely intersect these days - algorithms determine so much of our lives, feeding us more and more of what we like and suppressing the rest. It’s quite possible that two people could inhabit the same space and have completely different experiences. Culture doesn’t feel communal, so many aspects of it now segmented. Grief is an exception.
We experience grief collectively, amongst loved ones when someone close dies and with strangers in the event of a national tragedy or the passing of a beloved star like Tina Turner. There’s something about loss that remains universal, that traverses our differences to expose our commonalities. “Remnants” came from this place.
In this story, the protagonist is unable to process an immense loss, and this steers him in unorthodox directions. He first reads strangers’ obituaries, then begins attending their funerals. He’s in search of the comfort that comes from shared experiences, in hopes that commiseration with others can lead him to a deeper truth about himself. Whether or not he finds that truth is the core tension of the piece.
“I didn’t care for those analogies of sadness or depression as a dark cloud. If anything, they were more like the tiny pieces of glass left behind when you broke something and didn’t clean up the mess well.”
Read “Remnants” in full at Punt Volat.