Chapter 5: When Charles Was Gone

One Monday, Charles did not come to lunch, and after eleven years of sitting with someone at noon, an empty chair is not a small thing… Continue Reading ⬇️

I told myself he was probably sick.

Tuesday passed.

Then Wednesday.

On Thursday, my manager mentioned it as casually as a printer problem.

“Oh, did you hear about the janitor? Charles, I think his name was. He passed away over the weekend. Heart attack, I guess.”

For a moment, the words made no sense.

“Charles?” I whispered. “Our Charles?”

She was already turning back to her computer.

I went to the bathroom and locked myself in a stall until I could breathe normally.

The break room looked the same when I returned.

Loud.

Crowded.

And no one sitting at our table.

His funeral was that Saturday in a small chapel across town.

I asked around quietly, hoping someone else from work would come.

No one did.

After eleven years of fixing their sinks, locks, lights, and broken things, Charles was laid to rest by barely a dozen people. Continue Reading ⬇️