Darrin watched a giant stuffed animal wobble around the slot machines. Sometimes he wished Ryan never visited him in the first place. Now, he couldn’t even sleep at night without his face pressed up against the shirt Ryan left behind.

The stuffed animal walked out of the room, replaced by Ryan’s aunt. She won the jackpot and started screaming. Ryan approached immediately, scooping up the coins and throwing them into the smoke filled air of the casino. Darrin watched as each coin twinkled back down to the cigarette stained carpet. It seemed as if they were all moving in slow motion.

Darrin closed the window that had been playing “Read my Mind” by the Killers. He wasn’t really in a casino. He was alone in his apartment. Shadows cast by palm leaves outside played across his walls; Darrin played back scenes from an imaginary casino Ryan might regularly visit, halfway across the country. Darrin stumbled back to the couch. The allure of getting mere triple 7’s on a slot machine escaping him.