Decree Absolute.

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 reading it on stairs.

Then, staring straight ahead, she watched the dust  motes dancing freely in a beam of sunlight, and tears began to spill down her cheeks. Soon she was sobbing in relief. 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 caused by His anger, moods and vitriolic words. Free from the tension. Free from the fear of Him - 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 the oppression and lies from a man she had come to hate. The man she was married to who had held her captive for so long.
And now, here was her reward. This letter, filled with legal language but which spelled out those magic words of freedom - Decree Absolute.