Zeroed Out
I was nine months pregnant and days away from my due date when my husband vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing but a handwritten note.
'Babe, there's a planetary alignment that only happens once every 77 years, and I just got pulled through a time portal. Don't miss me. See you when I see you.'
In our three years of marriage, he had made a habit of inventing some absurd excuse just to take Fiona Crest on another vacation.
That same night, the rage and heartbreak sent me into premature labor. My water broke, and I was rushed to the hospital.
While I was suffering through contractions so brutal that I wanted to die, he was in Nordvalen watching the aurora with Fiona. While I hemorrhaged on the delivery table and barely clung to life, he was riding a hot air balloon with Fiona above the clouds.
While I fought my way back from the edge of death to bring our son into the world, he was kissing Fiona under a cascade of fireworks at the foot of the Aurelian Tower.
A few days before the baby turned a month old, he sauntered back carrying a two-dollar bootleg action figure and announced, "Babe, I'm back! Look what I brought our son. We're all going to be so happy together."
I finally saw through every last lie, and whatever hope I had left died on the spot. On the day of the celebration, I vanished too, leaving behind a single note of my own.
'The Gamma homeworld has summoned me back to my planet. I'm taking the kid and ditching the dad. Don't miss me. Don't wait up.'