My Parents Doubled My Rent So My Unemployed Sister Could Move In, So I Moved Out and Took Everything

shift much, my body still avoided the center as if his presence might return.

The house made its usual noises. The refrigerator hum. The heat clicking on and off. The faint creak of settling wood. Outside, a dog barked once and then fell silent.

Grief is love with nowhere to go. George used to say that. I understood it that night with cruel clarity.

I continue reading …