Waiting for Help
to arrive, I scrutinize a dead beetle on the sidewalk, antenna and legs curled
as if it clung to life in its final
moments, as if it let go reluctantly. What does a beetle have to fight for? What
motivates the hemolymph
circling in an open pool, bathing rudimentary organs in the juice of life? Who
knows. This beetle has given up
the ghost, slain by heat or hunger or the quick step of time. Up the hill, my car battery,
driven beyond its capacity,
has also expired. I am crouched by this creosote-covered monolith, mourning a dead
bug in lieu of my engine,
checking my phone every minute in case you have called to tell me you are lost.
Desiree Remick (she/her) is a junior in the BFA creative writing program at Southern Oregon University. She is also the fiction editor of Nude Bruce Review. Her debut short story was the runner-up for Kallisto Gaia Press’s 2020 Chester B. Himes Memorial Short Fiction Prize. Her work has also appeared in Unlost, The Ekphrastic Review, MockingHeart Review, and other places. In her aptly named spare time, she likes to read, play games, and take long walks in the woods..
The Albion Review 