She hesitated at the door, her hand hovering over the doorknob. The sun had set hours ago, the deep moonless dark loomed through the window on the door in front of her. She gripped the handle of the single bag in her hand tighter as she looked back over her shoulder at what once felt like home to her. His sleeping body on the couch, oblivious to what was happening around him, her letter folded up on the coffee table in front of him. The things she couldn’t bare to say to his face scratched on the tear stained paper. Her breath hitched in her chest as she held back a sob, the invisible hand squeezing her heart. She wondered how long it would take him to notice she was gone, if he would panic, if it would even affect him the way it was affecting her. For a brief moment she second guessed her decision to leave but then everything she’d been going through the last two years flashed through her head. The lies, the other women, the excuses. Sure, they’d had good times. A lot of them. But they weren’t enough for her to stay anymore. She deserved more. Taking a final breath she gripped the door knob and stepped out into the night, as silently as a mouse. She looked around and steeled herself for the long walk. The decision not to take any of the vehicles, her phone left behind on the nightstand for him to find later. She would disappear, with no way for him to find her. With silent footsteps she began her journey. Not really sure where she was going, she hadn’t told anyone of her decision to leave. Not even her best friend. She wondered if the decision to disappear was more than just her unhappiness in her relationship, but her unhappiness with her life. She wanted to be someone else. The chance to start over completely. Erase her past. Forget everything she’d been through for the last 20 years. It was a comfortable night. A cool summer breeze blew through the trees around her as the sound of the asphalt crunched under her shoes. Silent tears streamed down her face as she walked away from the life she’d tried so hard to cultivate. Her silent goodbye left on a coffee table lit dimly by the tv light.