The Woman Who Stayed
Something she had not felt in this bedroom, in this marriage, in this life for longer than she could remember.
Quiet.
Not the quiet of suppression. Not the quiet of swallowing something down and telling yourself it was fine. The quiet of having finally said the thing. Of having put the truth outside of herself where it existed independently, where it could not be taken back or minimised or explained away. Where it simply was.
She lay in that quiet and breathed.
Outside the city was doing its usual things. Somewhere a generator hummed. Somewhere a baby cried briefly and then stopped. Somewhere the night was going on as nights do, indifferent and continuous and entirely unbothered by the small