For a moment she hesitated, and stepped back from the edge of the lake. Her thoughts caught hold of her, and she was lost again. An image of him all alone in the bed. She shook her head and brushed it away, as she took her first few steps into the dark water. She stood here, stoic. Her feet quickly became as numb as her mind. A few more steps brought her to where the water touched the tip of her white nightgown that he’d never been particularly fond of. She forced it all behind her as she went deeper yet.

With the water at her chin, she tilted her head to the sky and saw his face among the stars. He wasn’t really there. With that thought, she allowed her toes to let go of the mud beneath them. She submerged her head. She came up again and gazed at the moon. He wasn’t there. She went under once more and opened her eyes in the water. He wasn’t there.

He had never been there.