"I'm leaving." He had said.

Leaving. He slipped on his shoes. Picked up his keys from the chair beside the door. Took the brown leather coat slowly from the closet and walked outside. She heard the car start and back away, out of their driveway. And that was it. He was gone. And now she stared at the wall.

She was motionless, pressed against the arm of the couch by a deep exhaustion that infected her body and mind. A sob shook through her body, expelling tears in one violent movement. Her body wanted to weep uncontrollably, but repressed the urge.

She watched the shadows of light play across the wall. They were the impressions of the beautiful apple blossom that waved gently outside. Her eyes moved very slowly to the large, open window that displayed the yard in front of their house. The white petals of the tree fluttered brilliantly in the morning sun. Everything was green and lush. The grass was deep and shiny with dew. On the sidewalk across the street, two little girls were jumping rope and singing. The notes rang in Catherine's ears like a childhood memory. She caught pieces of gorgeous blue sky through pure white clouds that fell over one another. The day was perfect.

Catherine released another deep sob that rocked her soul. Her chest heaved with the pain of the explosion.

She was young, with a soft, pretty face. Her lips cut a line across that spoke of too much restraint. Normally a look of quiet strength showed on her delicate features, but now her expression was blank, her gaze fixed on the petals of the apple blossom. Her eyes did not speak of reflection, rather of anticipation.

A feeling was whelming in her body. She felt it in her fingers and toes. She stared at the outside scene, waiting fearfully, for what it might be. She felt it reaching for her from those fluttering petals, from the blue of the sky. Calling to her in the sing-song voices of the young girls. It was unyielding.

Her chest heaved again, not from the sobs that shook her body before, but from the recognition of this thing taking possession of her body. She tried to force it back, keep it from coming, but it consumed her. And she relented.

She mouthed the words, "Free. Free. Free."

There was sudden terror and guilt at the words still unsaid. But it passed almost as quickly as it was felt. Her gaze now sharpened and her ears rang every sound acutely. Blood rushed to her hands and feet. She no longer felt the pressure that held her to the couch. She felt her soul lift a hundred feet into the air. The clean, crisp, wonderful air. Her mind raced ahead. She saw her life before her, unbridled and filled with passion. There would no longer be anyone to hold her back. There would no longer be anyone to live for her, to influence any and every decision she made. Life was hers.

Catherine knew that she would miss him. She would look to the remnants of their life together and feel his absence. After all, she did love him. But love was cage in some ways. And now she was free.

"Free." She mouthed again, this time laughing to herself. Her fantasies took flight. In her mind, she danced with strangers. She ran along beaches. She wined and dined at expensive restaurants. She experienced all of the wonderful, beautiful things life offered. Only yesterday she had thought the days droned on, but now, now she thought they had too few hours.

"What are you smiling about?" Byron asked as he shut the door. He carried a carton of milk across the room into the kitchen, and placed it in the refrigerator. She hadn't even heard him come in. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had known he had only left to go to the store.

"Oh, just something on the TV." She said quietly, her body shaking.

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