The kind that presses on your chest.
Six kids were asleep upstairs, completely unaware that their lives had just been split in two.
And I stood there in the kitchen, still holding his phone, wondering how a person could erase sixteen years… in a single sentence.
That night, I didn’t cry.
Not at first.
I cleaned.
I wiped counters that were already clean.
I folded laundry that didn’t need folding.