He sat at the empty table for a long time, looking at nothing. A half-drunk bottle of wine stood near his right hand. He hadn’t even had the energy to finish drinking it all away.

The house was empty now. His wife and kids would be happier, he supposed. He hadn’t been unaware of what this last year had been like for them, with his unemployment, and his subsequent anger and frustration. His daughter…

It was funny, he felt he almost couldn’t remember her face though she had just left a few hours ago. It’d been so long since he’d looked at her and felt like a father, like somebody worth being a father. Everything of the past year seemed like a haze.

He sat completely still for a long moment, staring at nothing. Then he stood up.

“I declare,” he said in a quavering voice, “that I am unhappy.”

Then, as the light covered him, he smiled.

In a moment he was gone.