Three months later, I finalized the purchase of a small house on a cliff near the ocean. White walls, heavy blue shutters, and high-security locks that only I have the keys to.

On my first morning there, I woke long before the sun crested the horizon. I lay in bed listening to the waves crashing against the rocks below.

For the first time in my adult life, the silence in the room didn’t frighten me. I wasn’t waiting for a door to slam, a voice to rise, or a fist to fall.

The silence belonged entirely to me.

THE END.

This story is a work of fiction created for entertainment. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.