text: Marie awoke to the sound of the front door closing. Through blurred vision she looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was almost four in the morning. She reached out across the bed seeking the comfort of her husband's body, but only found a chill as her hand emerged empty from under the covers. Anxiety filled her mind while despair filled her heart. It was unlike Kyle to leave this late without saying a thing. Eyes still closed she slid her feet down to the cold wood floor and stood up to walk to the bathroom. The chill of the floorboards and sudden glaring light from the bathroom brought Marie out of her dazed state, which made her worry more as she turned to look at the lonely bed she had just abandoned. She sat on the rim of the tub and looked down at her toes, chipped purple nail polish and a bit long, she reached under the sink and got some nail clippers and polish. Marie always did tedious work when she was on the brink of a panic attack, the repetition and mindlessness closes out the world around her for at least a little while. Nails finished she looked into the mirror, she found peace in her own eyes that she didn't feel in herself. She left the bathroom losing the battle to stay awake, ready to forget about her anxieties and sadness for a few hours, but the moment she stepped foot back on the cold bedroom floor a noise alerted her downstairs. Her heart began to race, every single possibility of what could be down there flashed through her brain, but she knew it was just Kyle. She rushed to the bed and under the not so safe security of the covers, but she knew it was just Kyle. Heat started to build as her breathing got heavier and heavier under the covers, time kept going to matter how much she wanted it to stop and get her mind straight, it had to be just Kyle. The bedroom door opened and Kyle walked in. Relief flew over her, but questions she would never ask him arose in her mind, where had he been all those hours, when he left her behind.