"The post said that Michael had died.

 

Julian had been referencing a recipe on his phone when he’d thoughtlessly accessed the fake Facebook account he used to stay in contact with Michael. He read the brief, poorly written eulogy for Michael again. Someone named Penny Westley had posted it on Michael’s wall. Penny Westley’s profile picture was a blurry closeup of a frightened white dog. 

 

RIP Kind Michael. 

Prayers for your family in this tragic loss. 

Our sorrow is shared. Peace everlasting.

 

Julian cleared his throat. He returned his attention to the recipe for dark-chocolate marshmallow walnut cookies, but his eyes wouldn’t focus on the words. He laughed once, dry and quiet - an empty sound. He put his phone down on the counter and reached for the knife. He needed to chop walnuts, but instead he found himself focused intently on the lime green linoleum of the kitchen wall. He remained locked in that blank space for five full minutes. He’d imagined variations of this moment for years.

 

Julian put the knife down and reached for his phone. He scanned through Michael’s Facebook wall as if he were dreamily skimming his fingertip over the surface of a frozen pond. More than two dozen people had mourned for Michael. The fake account Julian used to keep track of Michael was named “Roger Burke.” Roger Burke’s profile picture was a redheaded man with a mustache and the sad, defeated eyes of a youth pastor. Julian had been using this account for nearly two decades to keep in touch with Michael. The only information Roger Burke presented on his profile page were affinities for the television show Lost and the band Phish. Years ago, Julian had considered expanding the Roger Burke persona to make it more convincing, but he quickly came to understand that nobody would ever care to investigate Michael’s online relationship with this innocuous, wholly fictional person. Julian followed hundreds of random people as a cover tactic on the account, but a series of settings had narrowed the entire focus of Roger Burke’s Facebook feed down to Michael and Michael alone."