I’m about to kiss my son’s forehead, planting sweet dreams, when he turns as though struck. “You remember the graves?” I do and tell him so. He’s thinking of some cemetery or memorial from our recent trip. “People resting there so we have to be quiet.” That’s true. “I have to sleep there?” My stomach turns as the silence constricts my throat. He’s waiting but he’s also three. “Tonight you’ll sleep in your bed,” is all I can manage, unable to lie to him and unable to admit the truth of it to myself, that, yes, one day he will.
Chelsea Utecht is an American living in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her work has been published in Shooter Literary Magazine, The Gravity of the Thing, 50-Word Stories, and more. chelseautecht.com