She wheeled her suitcase through the sweltering hallway, avoiding empty boxes and other parents’ eyes. She lifted the suitcase easily down the stairs, empty except for unnecessary necessities: the top sheet from the sheet set, the lamp. Things he didn’t need, never asked for, like the long goodbye she’d imagined.
Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts with her husband and dog, in what those who don’t understand call her “empty nest,” cheering on her children as they chase their dreams.
