I'm Thinking of Ending Things

~ ~ ~

— They say he’d pretty much stopped talking.

— Stopped talking?

— Became nonverbal. Would work but not talk. It was awkward for everyone. I would pass him in the hall, would say hi, and he’d have a hard time looking at me square in the eye. He’d blush, become distant.

— Really?

— Yeah, I remember regretting hiring him. And not because he was incompetent. Everything was always clean and tidy. He did his job. But it got to the point where I had this feeling, you know? I sensed something. Like he wasn’t quite normal.

— This sort of justifies your feeling.

— It does. I should have acted, done something, I guess, based on my gut.

— You can’t start second-guessing after the fact. We can’t let the actions of one man make us feel guilty. This isn’t about us. We’re the normal ones. It’s only about him.

— You’re right. It’s good to be reminded of that.

— So what now?

— We try to forget this, all of it. We find a replacement. We move on.