This period of recovery felt both unjust and miserable.

　　Natalie often visited to keep me company, bringing soup each time, but the emotional scars left by this marriage were not so easily healed. Even if the wounds closed, the scars would remain.

　　Daniel called several times, but I didn't answer. Just seeing his name light up on my phone screen made my still-healing wounds ache anew.

　　I couldn't bear to think about everything he had done to me; each ...