My father left on a business trip when I was 18 years old in the summer. 

I lived on campus that year since I was a senior in high school. After losing fluid in the school infirmary due to gastroenteritis that day, I went home with a letter. 

I found two pairs of shoes at the entrance as I entered the house: one pair of brown men's leather shoes that I had never seen before, and the other pair of shoes that my mother usually wears. 

"Mom, I'm back.” I screamed at the door, thinking it was a visitor from home at the moment. 

No one in the home, however,...