"I'm headed to work." Virgil pulls on his coat, tugging his baseball cap onto his head after. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Virgil." Kamari rests a hand on her husband's shoulder. "I know. It's too quiet here. I know."

Virgil shrugs Kamari's hand off of his shoulder and walks out the door, blinking rapidly to keep his tears at bay.

The house was too quiet the previous night. Music was supposed to faintly drift down the stairs, the soft sounds a stark contrast to the harsh sounds coming from the television as Kamari and Virgil watched. A song was supposed to stop abruptly. Kieran was supposed to talk on the phone with Lachlan until God-knows-when, finally bidding him a goodnight and sweet dreams and an I love you.

But nothing contrasted so sharply with the tv as Kamari and Virgil blankly stared at the screen, colors flashing. Nothing stopped in the middle of playing, in the middle of a word. Voices didn't carry throughout the house until early in the morning. No one wished anyone a goodnight nor sweet dreams.

Kieran didn't run down the stairs, greeting his parents and brother with a smile. Neither Virgil nor Kamari berated him for staying up so late. Laughter and groans didn't fill the house as Kieran told one bad pun after the next. Grayson didn't shove Kieran's shoulder as they ate.

Virgil pulls the car over and puts it in park, hands tightly grasping the steering wheel.

He wishes beyond anything that he hadn't watched his son be taken away, heart stopped and eyes dull.

He wishes Kieran had sat in the passenger seat of his car as they drove home from the hospital, fiddling with the music until Virgil told him to just pick something.

He wishes the house wasn't so silent now, so unnerving.

He wishes his son wasn't gone.

He wishes that he didn't have to bury his oldest son.

He wishes that he didn't have to listen to his wife, his best friend, break down into tears at the sight of a picture of Kieran.

He wishes he wasn't doing this, taking night shifts, to escape the eerie newfound quiet that suffocates his home.