“The One Who Picks Up”

by P. J. Hughes

You called me. Didn’t text. Didn’t vanish. You used your voice, and it cracked just enough that I knew. I was two drinks deep in the garage again, thinking too much about things I swore I’d buried. But I picked up. Because I always pick up. Because somewhere back then, when everything was louder and nothing felt real, we learned not to leave anyone behind. You were shaking. I was too. But I couldn’t let it show. Not tonight. Not when the barrel was already cold in your hand. You said, “I can’t do it anymore.” And I didn’t lie. I didn’t say, “It gets better.” I said, “Then we’ll do it together. One more night. Just one.” And I hated myself for it for the knowing that I might have just delayed you or worse, swapped places. But we don’t say that part out loud. We don’t say how close we are to the same edge when we’re leaning in to pull someone else back. We just stay quiet, together, in the hum of a phone call, where no one dies tonight. Later, I sat in the dark, phone still warm in my hand, and wondered how many more nights I have left to give away.

—

–

–

–

P. J. Hughes is a writer, veteran, and student of cybersecurity who puts his life into writing raw, unflinching stories. A veteran Navy Aviation Electronics Technician himself, he derives themes of resilience, sacrifice, and mental health from a decade of his service. He blurs personal reality and fiction in writing, frequently relying on his life roles as a father and champion of veteran wellness. Along with writing, Patrick designs, programs, builds retro electronics, and documents life, tech, and recovery and uses sarcasm as a survival mechanism. He presently focuses on cybersecurity alongside continuing to write experience-based fiction and poetry.

–

–

–