He left for work one morning, just as he always did. Dressed in a crisp shirt and tie, he kissed his wife goodbye, grabbed his briefcase, and drove off in the direction of his office. But that evening, he didn’t return.
At first, his wife assumed he was working late, perhaps pulling another all-nighter. By the second night, worry set in. She called his company, only to be told the unthinkable: her husband had been laid off a month earlier.
For weeks, he had maintained the facade of employment, leaving home each morning, spending his days in his car, and returning late to give the impression of overtime or after-work drinks. But with no salary forthcoming, the lie became unsustainable. Rather than confess his failure, he vanished, leaving behind a family who would likely never understand why.