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The mansion was silent,as always.
Using my savings,I arranged my affairs.
I hired a top-notch funeral service to scatter my ashes at sea after my death.
I set aside money for another stop.
“Dad,I’m here.”
At my father’s grave,I knelt.
“Dad,I miss you.Life’s struggle.Mom doesn’t want me.”
“Dad,I’ll see you soon.Will you wait for me?”
My parents divorced when I was young.Mom remarried;Dad didn’t.
He raised me until I was 18,then died of illness right after I got into college.
Now it was my turn.
I paid the cemetery for twenty years of upkeeping for Dad’s grave.
My last tear fell on his soil.
My heart was ash.
Back home,I packed light—just clothes,nothing else.
I got a new SIM card,adding only the funeral service’s contact.
Then I booked a flight to a hospice in Oregon to spend my final days.
The only thing I left was the divorce agreement.
When Nathan returned,the house was empty.
He saw the papers on the table,grabbed his phone,and dialed me—only to hear the disconnected tone.
He sneered.“Nice,Claire.Playing hide-and-seek again.”
He didn’t look for me.Instead,he went to Emily’s place—the apartment I’d given him.
Emily greeted him,beaming.“Nathan,you’re back!Come and see the baby.”
“Yeah.”
Guilt and irritation flickered in him.
From the day Emily reentered his life,he’d lost control.
One night,she got drunk,sobbing.
Comforting her led to bed.
Waking up to her tears,he went to the firm—and saw me.
His guilt made him softer at home,briefly.
Then Emily announced her pregnancy,implying it was his child.
But he wasn’t divorced.
He was breaking the law.
Still,he was sure I’d crawl back.
Six years as a jobless housewife,no friends,no family—where could she go?
He checked the house daily.If I wasn’t there,he went to Emily.
A week passed.Then half a month.A month.
No sign of me.
On day thirty-five,Nathan received a letter.
My death notice.
I died three days earlier.I thought death would free me,but my soul lingered.
I watched the funeral team handle my body,scattering my ashes into the sea as I’d asked.
A force pulled me to Nathan’s side.
He stared at the letter in disbelief, his eyes slowly filling with tears. His hands started to shake uncontrollably as he tore the letter into tiny pieces, each rip echoing in the silent room.
