Competition Thirty-One Shortlisted: Wet Brain by Jaime Gill

“Suzie.”

“Suzie.”

“Suzie.”

Your voice rises with each repetition. I lower my book and force a smile.

You’re leaning forward, elbows on knees. Your frown pulls your eyebrows down, smoothing your forehead. You slightly resemble a man I met 23 years ago. His overweight uncle, perhaps.

“I didn’t drink today, did I?” Your eyes shimmer. No. Please. No tears.

“No, Pete. You did well.”

“Really?” You look like the precocious child you once were, given a gold star.

“Really.” I keep my eyes on yours, away from the empty cans accumulating by your armchair.

You lean back, armchair groaning. Which will collapse first—the chair or you? I’ve tried managing your weight, but whenever I leave the house, you gorge. It’s not your fault, you don’t remember you’ve already eaten. The doctors say your body signals it’s full, but the message scrambles in your short-circuited brain.

You watch the TV, face drooping like melted candle wax. I see no past versions of you now.

You’ll shuffle to the kitchen soon, return with another beer. I buy a six-pack daily. Enough to prevent withdrawal, not enough to endanger you or me. Rehab’s failed three times. They dry you out, release you, and within days you’re drinking, forgetting why you shouldn’t.

I try reading again but tonight’s a sad night. It’s easier blocking you out on angry nights or fuck it nights.

It’s really not your fault. We’d never heard of Korsakoff’s, this alcohol-induced dementia, before your diagnosis.

Drinking so recklessly was someone’s fault, but he fled the scene of his crimes long ago.

Some people call Korsakoff’s wet brain. Cruel but true. You drowned yourself and I live with your ghost.

I find my way back into my novel, but a few pages later, hear your fretful voice.

“Suzie.”

“Suzie.”

“Suzie.”

Jaime Gill is a British-born writer living in Cambodia, where he works and volunteers for nonprofits across Southeast Asia. He reads, runs, boxes, travels, writes, and occasionally socialises. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including Missouri Review, Sun Magazine, The Forge, Fractured Lit, Litro, Trampset, and Oyster River Pages. He’s won awards including a Bridport Prize, Luminaire Prose Award, and New Millennium Writers Award, and been a finalist for the Bath Short Story Award and Oxford Flash Fiction Award. He’s also a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He’s currently writing a novel and more short stories. Learn more and sign up for his newsletter at www.jaimegill.com or follow him on www.x.com/jaimegill, www.instagram.com/mrjaimegill or https://bsky.app/profile/jaimegill.bsky.social.

Digital art by Sewkhy Tan – sewkhys_art – Instagram

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