Chapter 2: The Silent House
By midnight, the suburban house that had once felt like a sanctuary felt like a tomb.
Glen sat on the edge of the velvet sofa in the dark living room, his head resting in his hands. The front door was locked, the party long over, but the wreckage remained. Sarah had spent the last four hours in Toby’s room, reading story after story until the boy finally drifted into a fitful sleep, exhausted from crying.
When Sarah walked down the stairs, her suitcase was in her left hand.
""Sarah, don't do this,"" Glen pleaded, standing up instantly. ""I made a mistake. It was six months ago. It was over before it even began!""
""A mistake is forgetting to buy milk, Glen,"" Sarah said, her tone unnaturally calm. The fiery anger from the afternoon had burned out, leaving behind a cold, hollow emptiness. ""A mistake isn't an affair with my best friend. A mistake doesn't get permanently tattooed on someone's body.""
""She did that on her own!"" Glen insisted, taking a tentative step closer. ""I told her we were done! She got the tattoo to keep a piece of me, to push you away so I'd have no choice but to leave. It was her crazy way of trapping me!""
Sarah looked at him, really looked at him. She saw the man she had loved for ten years, the man who had promised to protect her heart. ""It doesn't matter who pushed whom, Glen. You opened the door. You let her in.""
""Where will you go?"" he asked, tears finally streaming down his face.
May you like
""Somewhere Toby can breathe without feeling like his family is collapsing,"" she replied quietly. ""I'm staying at my mother's cottage by the lake. Don't follow us. Just... give me time to figure out how to rebuild what you broke.""
She walked out the front door, the cool night wind carrying away the last remnants of the life they had built together.
