Too quiet.
My husband had been gone for years. My children were grown, each with their own family, their own house, their own problems. They loved me, I knew that. But love from a distance can still leave a woman painfully alone.
I lived by myself in a small house outside town. Most days looked the same. Morning tea. A little cleaning. A short walk. Then long afternoons by the window, listening to birds and watching the empty street as the sunlight slowly faded.
From the outside, my life looked peaceful.
But inside, there was a silence that had started to feel heavier than grief.
That day was my birthday.
No one called in the morning.
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