When I wake from my nap, the house is quiet. Too quiet. I’m not used to it and I don’t like it. Even though my mom has always traveled a lot with her band and I’m used to her not being home much, this feels different. Her absence has left a deafening silence that seems to be screaming that she’s gone and never coming back.
I get out of bed and wander down the long dark hallway to my parents’ bedroom, where the door is closed halfway. Just as I approach the door, I hear voices, and my heart skips with hope. I think somehow Mom has come back and she’s home, right on the other side of the door talking to Dad, cuddled in bed laughing.
But she’s not.
I peer inside the dim room and my father is sitting on the bed with his head in his hands, crying. Uncle Tor is sitting next to him with his ar
