The Lost Boy
By Melissa Fitzpatrick
Listen to Melissa reading her story:
Once, I was your home. You swam unseen in the pool of me. I waited for you, watched my belly swell. I felt you turning in circles inside me. My tumble-bean, I’d whisper. My little acrobat.
Once, I had all the answers you needed. I am your mama. These are your toes. There is the moon. Back then, you believed I knew everything worth naming.
Once, I was your net, ready to catch you. But you never believed you could fall. You were always trying to break free. I tethered you to the earth when you were meant for the air. Higher! you shouted. Higher! And I stood below and held my breath and squinted up into the sunlight, trying to see where you’d gone.
Once, I saw you again, years after you left. I was driving along the beach near the Santa Monica Pier. I looked up, and saw you there, in a handstand on a railing on the bridge over the highway. Tourists were snapping your picture. You were golden in the light of the setting sun. My darling, daring, radiant boy. I drank you in.
Melissa Fitzpatrick lives in the Los Angeles area. Her writing has appeared in such places as Five South, Milk Candy Review, MoonPark Review, Flash Fiction Online, Atlas + Alice, HAD, Lunch Ticket, and Flash Fiction Magazine. Find more of her work at melissa-fitzpatrick.com. Bluesky @melissafitz.bsky.social
