Member-only story
Fifteen to Life
I doubt you will ever see this, but it has to be written. After all this time you remain not only unchanged, but in many ways worse. I thought you still lived in the same house for the longest. I walked over there the other day and put a note in your mailbox because our child wants to see you.
We had tried calling, texting, social media, and even had your sister tell you that after all this time you finally get a chance to make it right with at least one of the children. When the note in the mailbox failed to work I drove our child to the house and he knocked on the door.
A man came out and told us you no longer live there. I had to hold him when he sobbed because he misses you and feels guilty for it. But your issues are not because of him, and you’re not man enough to take accountability. I don’t think you ever will be.
The day after we were told you no longer live there, the man who does, found the letter in the mailbox and put it together. He called our child’s phone and told him he is very sorry. That they aren’t sure what happened to you because you just suddenly stopped paying rent.
And when the landlord finally went into the house they learned you had been living in filth and squalor. And you have to wonder why I often felt like your maid rather than your wife? They said it was so gross it was uninhabitable. Just like our marriage…
