The Letter

With a frown on her face she stooped and picked up the letter from the mat. Examining the envelope carefully, she felt her breath catch in her throat, and slamming the door shut, quickly ripped open the envelope and sat on stairs to read it.
Then, staring straight ahead, she watched the motes of dust which danced freely in a beam of sunlight. Tears began to spill from her eyes and down her cheeks, until she was sobbing. Her dark, hateful world had suddenly changed and the great ache inside her, that had been slowly killing her, lifted and vanished.
She was free. Free from the anguish and pain. The anger and moods. The tension. The fear. The controlling ‘other‘. Free from the bonds of trying to be someone she wasn’t. Free to be herself - the person she thought she had lost forever.
Hugging the letter close, she knew she would never feel as free as she did at this moment. For months she had stood firmly against oppression and the one she had come to hate. The one who had held her captive for so long, and here was her reward, this letter, filled with legal language, but which spelled out those magic words of freedom - Decree Absolute.