He sputtered excuses—stress, frustration—but they sounded hollow. The officer reminded him to keep his distance as she collected her belongings. She walked away without looking back.
Back at Agnes’s house, her neighbor gave her a proud smile. “You chose yourself today.”
That evening, Mara left for her parents’ home. Snowy fields blurred past as she rested her forehead against the cold window, feeling grief, relief, and something unfamiliar: hope. She didn’t know what the future held—therapy, healing, maybe divorce—but for once, uncertainty didn’t terrify her.
At her parents’ house, wrapped in warm blankets, she realized something profound: the night Lucas shoved her into the cold was the moment she stepped back into her own life.
“I survived,” she whispered.
The next morning, her phone buzzed—a message from Agnes: “Be proud of yourself today.”
And she was.
