The Last Adult to Leave

Chapter 1: Marriage

By six o’clock every Friday morning, the house belonged to silence.

The hallway was dark, the television was off, and the only sounds were the low hum of the refrigerator and the soft creak of the floor beneath her shoes. She moved carefully, carrying her work bag in one hand while trying not to wake anyone.

Her seven-year-old son was asleep in his room. Her husband was asleep elsewhere in the house.

She had followed the same routine for three years.

Every Friday, she left home at six in the morning so she could arrive at her office by seven. Her son’s school did not begin until eight-thirty, which meant she could never take him there on those mornings. Her husband had always handled the Friday school run.

It was not a new agreement that needed to be discussed each week. It had simply become part of their family routine.

She worked early.

Her husband took their son to school.

At least, that was how it had always been.

Things between the couple had changed recently. They were separated, although they were still living in the same house. The arrangement was uncomfortable and tense, filled with the kind of silence that came from two people trying to share a home after their relationship had already begun falling apart.