It had been three days since Kacie had returned home.
The place looked deserted. The water features were all off, along with the lights. Not to mention the long overgrown vines that she'd been meaning to cut last Sunday.
Pushing the huge door open, she walked in. She had never felt like more of a stranger in a place she owned. She didn't even want to call it a home. Because, was it really ever a home? Were there really ever any good memories that didn't make her more sad than happy?
Kacie wasn't sure what she came here to do. She didn't know if Cody was home. She didn't know if she was here to forgive him or pack her bags. Or maybe do both. Or maybe Cody already left. Off to be a new man. A father.
Sadly, the girl moped up the stairs. Walking past a newly-shattered mirror. That hadn't been there before. So far, that was the only different thing from when she left the place.
Kacie carefully stepped over the broken mirror, and continued towards her and Cody's shared bedroom. Walking across the overlook that oversaw the living room, lightened with sun through the huge modern windows.
Finally, she reached the bedroom. The bed was unmade. Only on Cody's side. The other side was still perfect. As she left it.
The bathroom was a mess. There were random toiletries and other products scattered across the floor, most notably the cologne she bought him. It was his favorite. And hers. Theirs.
It was in the bathroom where Kacie decided she was going to pack her bags and leave. She approached her closet, where her two suitcases were sat neatly under her shelves of folded clothes. She wasn't sure how she was going to fit everything, but it's not like she needed it all anyway.
Packing wasn't too hard. She always folded her and Cody's laundry perfectly and organized it neatly in their separate closets. She always did it to take some weight off of Cody's shoulders, even though he would insist he'd do it himself, she did it anyway.
She wishes she didn't.
Within ten minutes both of her suitcases were packed full, and she was now stuffing her small lululemon bag and two totebags with toiletries and personal belongings, not forgetting to grab her keepsake money from her safe.
She wasn't sure where she was going, but she figured she most likely would be taking a trip to Atlanta, as that was where her sister lived.
Last but not least, Kacie looked at her nightstand. There sat a phone charger, which she grabbed with a frown, knowing she must charge her phone and respond to her family at one point.
And then came her little scrapbook, that had been named 'K + C'.
She wasn't sure what to do with it, but for some reason, she picked it up and slid it into her tote bag.
Now she was ready to leave her own home.
And without another look, she shuffled through the beautiful landscape of their front entryway, and opened her trunk. Packing everything into it tightly.
It closed with a slam, but she soon realised after that she'd forgotten something.