Snap

"People snap for a reason," the detective taking the statement continued (leaning in slightly), "so what was the final straw?" Linda took a deep breath and then coughed for 20 seconds. "The common cold," she said flatly. "Not COVID. Not RSV or the F-L-U. Not novo- ... noro- ... whatever the hell that is. Nope. After years of practically snorting hand sanitizer, what gets you is the common cold. The kind somebody's kid is passing around the office through their mom or dad - the coughing, sneezing, nose like a damn faucet, not sleeping, not enough energy to comb my hair, please just let me die kind of cold. I just couldn't maintain after that." "Maintain?" the detective wanted to clarify. "The facade," Linda whispered. "Normalcy and all of the lies that come with it." In the corner, Detective Murrin nodded; he could feel a tickle in the back of his throat and it would be his third cold in three months. If there was shit to be lost, it had stepped forward and put its snaggly toe tips on his last nerve.