(CNN)A moving truck came to Rebecca Stevens-Walter's New York apartment this week.
But she wasn't there to help pack boxes or supervise the crew.
In mid-March, the 39-year-old pastor flew to New Mexico with her husband and two kids. They left so suddenly they barely had time to prepare for the trip.
"We fled," she says. "Our apartment looked like the rapture had come. ... And we definitely had the conversation, 'What if we don't go back?'"
The streets of the city she loves -- and many major cities across the US -- are hauntingly empty as the pandemic leaves most of the country on lockdown.
It's a chilling sign of the times, and one that brings to mind a big question: After the pandemic passes, will some people choose to leave big-city life behind?
