Flash Fiction Online #53, February 2018

“The Hole Where Andy Used to Be” by Sean Vivier

Reviewed by Stephanie Wexler

The February issue has only one genre story this time around.

In “The Hole Where Andy Used to Be” by Sean Vivier, a grieving widow attempts to move on with her life after her husband has passed away. She puts on a brave front for her child, but personifying her husband’s absence as a hole is apt and heartbreaking. Even as she takes slow steps to accept the loss she continues using the term to hold on to his memory. Everyone has their own way of processing a lost loved one. Vivier cunningly makes use of an overused phrase to bring home how difficult it is to let go, even if you have never experienced loss.