Rebuilding Life, Far Away

scream, she didn't cry. She walked into the living room, to the bookshelf that held their memories. She pulled

and Ethan, laughing as they ran out of the church through a shower of rice. With precise, steady hands, she cut her own smiling face out of the picture, leav

story. It was a destructive, deeply satisfying act. If he wanted to erase her from his life, she would help

her hand, smiling smugly at the camera. She looked radiant, successful, and predatory. The caption read: Good things come to those who wait. The post was only an hour old, and it

the kitchen, staring at the pile of cutout faces.

" he asked, his v

gs we don't need anymore." She looked up at him, her eyes locking onto his.

urprise?-in his eyes. He didn't deny it. He

the words sounding hollow and absur

escaping her lips. "She seems to

The tension between them wa

gn, when she heard voices from the garden. She went to the window. Ethan was on the phone, pacing back and forth near the ros

hear him. "I know, I know... soon. We just have to get through this.

ed, a soft, intimate sound

way. See my parents, get away f

o a lawyer. He was talking to Scarlett. He was planning a future with her, a future built on the ruins of their marriage

hole in her chest, but it was now joined by something else. A steely resolve. They thought she was a fool. Th

e typed a single word: Plan. They had started a war, but she was going to be the one to finish it. She would not be erased. She wo