For one year she believes she is all alone in the world. She is missing something; it nags and buzzes in the back of her mind until she can hardly sleep for lack of the thing. Before she leaves in the morning she starts checking to see if the stove has been left on or if she has forgotten to feed the dog. At night she wanders the house, habitually flicking lights on and off and brushing her teeth twice.
Sometimes the silence of her own home threatens her away. She'll walk the beach until she can barely stand for tiredness, craning her neck at the sky and waiting for…anything. People start whispering behind their hands when she walks by.
One morning, with dawn still at least an hour away, she wakes and suddenly knows what has been missing for so long.She jumps out of bed andfor the first time in one year scrambles up the stairs to the second floor.
His room is at the end of the hallway on the left. And its empty.
She kneels among forgotten laundry, cradles a dusty toy to her breast, and weeps.