Chapter 15: True Indifference
The true test of healing wasn't anger; it was indifference.
Mark discovered this on a mundane Tuesday afternoon while scrolling through a professional networking site on his lunch break. A distant cousin had posted a family update. Tucked within a long paragraph about a recent reunion was a passing mention of Eleanor.
Aunt Eleanor has decided to downsize and relocate permanently to a retirement community in Scottsdale, Arizona. Chloe is helping her settle in.
Mark stopped scrolling. He stared at the names on the screen. For years, just seeing his mother's name in print would have caused his stomach to drop. He would have braced himself for an impending storm.
This time, he felt absolutely nothing.
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There was no spike of anger. There was no residual guilt. The trauma bond that had chained him to his mother's emotional volatility was entirely severed. Arizona was over a thousand miles away, but emotionally, she was already in another universe.
He didn't click on the cousin's profile. He didn't text Lena to share the news. He simply closed the app, took a bite of his sandwich, and went back to reviewing a contract. The past had finally lost its power, reduced to a passing sentence on a screen that he would completely forget by dinner.
