Shards of a Coffee Mug

Micah’s bare feet padded on the cold floor as he poked his head into the mess hall. Captain Thomas was sitting at the table with two other crew members, Lea and Henry. Lea was fiddling with a fork, a plate of untouched green food in front of her. Henry was sleeping at the table, and while the Captain would have usually awoken him, the whole crew knew that Henry hadn’t been sleeping well lately.

Micah slowly pulled out a chair, wincing at the slight scratching sound it made on the metal floor. Henry lifted his head off the table slightly and mumbled something, but Lea just whispered “Go back to sleep” and laid him back down. The three sat in silence for a while, intermittently staring at each other and back down at some spot on the table.

“Finally decided to join us?” The Captain said to Micah, punctuating the quiet with his heavy voice. Micah knew he hadn’t meant it to be a jab, but it felt like one.

“Sorry.” He whispered. The Captain didn’t push any further.

Micah stared across the table at a leftover mug sitting nearby Henry’s elbow. It was blue, speckled with white, and it was fairly large. Micah realized whose mug it was- Daniel’s. He wondered why it had been left out.

His eyes locked in on the coffee stains spilling over the edge of the cup. He could almost see Daniel sitting at the table with the rest of the crew, cracking jokes and holding the mug filled with that black coffee he liked to drink. He always complained about how the coffee would never be as good as it was back home.

Micah found himself worrying that the mug was going to grow dirty. He watched it carefully, as though it was a rare animal about to escape his eyes.

And then, suddenly, Henry moved. He stirred a bit at first, with only Lea noticing, then he abruptly sat up. Tears were trickling down his face, which now bore a red patch on the right cheek from lying on the table. His elbow splayed out as he awoke, and Micah watched as Daniel’s blue mug fell, almost in slow motion, to the floor. The shattering noise filling the room and echoed off the metal, only causing Henry to cry harder. He buried himself in Lea’s shoulder as Captain Thomas stood up from the table.

The Captain said nothing as he moved to collect the pieces of the mug from the floor. Lea was looking directly at Micah, who could feel his own tears forming in his eyes. He wiped them away, fighting the urge to break even after Henry had given in.

Micah got up and walked over to the Captain as he picked up the last few pieces of glass. He grabbed a large chunk from the table, and shoved it into his pockets. He ignored the stings of the leftover porcelain on the soles of his feet, and walked out of the mess hall.