One Saturday afternoon in September 2021, Dan was lying on his couch watching college football when his phone rang. He checked the caller ID; Scott, a friend of his from work was on the other end, and he hit the button to answer the phone. “Yo.” “What’s up? What are you doing?” Scott responded. "Just watching the end of the USC game. What are you doing?" "I've been in the office all day and need to meet Lauren for dinner...

Dan spent last weekend up at his parents' house in the suburbs. It was one of those dead weekends. Many of his friends were out of town, working, or too tired to go out. On Friday before he left, he called Steve Morgan's cell phone again in one last-ditch effort to try to get something going but was greeted only by voicemail. He hung up without leaving a message, threw some clothes in a backpack, and drove up to his paren...

The engine ticked lightly, rhythmically, having only recently completed a twenty-mile journey. Rain dripped from the frame of the car, from the edges of its bumpers. The windows were blurred, save for the two arches where the wipers had recently swept drops from the tempered glass. The car didn't belong there. Not in that parking lot. Not in that town. The rain having passed, the titanium gloss of the newly acquired Merce...

The incessant ringing of his iPhone pulled Dan from a restless slumber. Eyes still closed, warding off the light that filtered through the shades, he clumsily felt around the bedside table until his fingers closed around the device. "What?" he managed to grumble, his mouth parched from last night's Christmas celebration. "Dude, are you up? I've been trying to call you all morning.” Steve. "What…what are you talking about?...