That kiss started everything. Sweet and innocent and plump with new love. It made her think they were different than her parents, they understood each other. Now, as she senses the growing distance between them, as cold and choppy as the ocean that once kept them apart, she wonders if this is how it happens, how people turn away from each other, one time, then another, and another, until all that is left of love are unspoken words crushed inside throats, and silence.

7.

The next morning, Kavita wakes up to an empty bed, except for the laptop that is beside her in Nirav’s place. She must have fallen asleep watching episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, again.

She reasons that Nirav probably left for work early that morning, except she doesn’t remember him kissing her goodbye, something he never fails to do, even when they are fighting. Then it occurs to her, like a weight in her stomach, that she doesn’t remember Nirav coming to bed at all last night. Slowly, she rolls out of bed, her body heavy and sore, her mind still thick with the mists of sleep. On the way to the washroom, she peers inside her mother’s half-open door. It takes a few seconds for her to register that she is staring at a vacant bed. The mists part instantly as she scours the rest of the room. Sunil’s urn is missing from her mother’s nightstand, too. The warning beacon in Kavita’s gut blares. Danger is imminent. She knew it was coming, and here it is. Danger, danger, danger.

She rushes down the hallway. Her first instinct is to check the driveway for the station wagon. Please be there, please be there, with every step. She pulls back the curtains, her eyes, large and pulsing. She releases the breath she has been holding. The car is parked where it should be. But then, where is her mother?

She backtracks toward the bedrooms. Her father’s door is still closed but she knows her mother won’t be in his room anyway. The rest of the floor is empty. She rushes outside to check the front lawn, garage, and backyard in case by some miracle her mother has decided to get a little fresh air, but she isn’t in any of these places. Back inside, Kavita hurries downstairs, but no one is watching tv in the family room, or napping in the guest room for a change of scenery, or doing laundry to keep busy.

There is only one place left to look.

Sunil’s door is ajar. “Mom?” she calls out. “Are you in there?”

As she presses her fingertips into her sore palm, she doesn’t think she can do it, enter his private space, see his things. But she’s wasting time. She knows better than to waste time. What if her mother is…? She squeezes a tighter fist and approaches the darkened threshold.