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The apartment was deserted. The spacious living room was void of all things belonging to the man who once occupied it. The television glowed softly in the darkness of the closed curtains and a gave gentle sense of emptiness to everything surrounding it. The coffee table was bare, the pictures were torn off the walls in what looked like a hurried frenzy, and the floor was litter with old pieces of clothing that were lost or forgotten as the person left in a winded haste.

The only person in the room was a tall, slender woman in three inch spiked heels that made a soft clink on the floor as she moved slowly toward the center of the room. She stopped as her body went slack and the travel bag that hung snugly on her bony shoulder slid to the wooden floor with a loud thump that echoed in the vacant space. Her long black business coat hung loosely on her very slim form and left her professional-looking suit open to the moonlight that was pushing past the cotton of the curtains.

She had long wavy hair that was dark and smooth. It was pulled away from her pretty face with a dozen or so pins, revealing her big brown eyes as they surveyed the room, head whipping back and forth. They were wide in confusion as her right hand flew up to her mouth, covering in with fingers adorned with perfectly manicured red nails and white tips. She gasped in shock when she realized what exactly occurred in the previous hours before her return from L.A.

She turned on her heals and marched back to the kitchen like a woman on a mission. Upon entering the room again, she stumbled gracefully over to the refrigerator, grabbing the over-sized handle and ripping it open in an angry rage. She grabbed at various objects in the small cooler before finally finding the object she was searching for. Pulling out the chilled bottle of vodka, she quickly poured herself a small amount into a nearby glass and staggered to a seat.

She sipped on the cool liquid and waited for the burn that would soothe her aching nerves. She grinned at the sensation as it slid down her throat. Then she noticed the large envelope sitting haphazardly on the kitchen table in front of her. Sitting the glass down, she reached over the table and snatched it up. Using her long nails, she was able to tear the tough paper material apart from it’s sticky seal and pulled the contents out. She grabbed the papers roughly, then watched as a tiny object flew out of the packet and fell to the floor where it rolled on it’s side to the counter. She gave chase to the tiny item, papers suddenly forgotten on the tabletop.

The woman knelt down in front of the counter and picked up the object, cradling it in her hand as she stood once more. Looking down at the simple golden wedding band that used to be wrapped around a finger on a left hand of the man that she married. But now there was no finger, and therefore no man that she married attached to it. Now, there was only a simple golden band that used to be a symbol of the love and adoration they once shared, clutched tightly in the shocked woman’s hand.

She stumbled backwards, running into the table and causing it to shake with the force of her shudders. Her free hand reached out blindly behind her, grabbing the glass with a small amount of alcohol in it. She brought it to her dark red lips and gulped down the powerful liquid quickly, grimacing from the bad after taste. When that wasn’t enough, she reached forward to the counter in front of her and snatched the half empty bottle, then brought it to her lips and swallowed every drop she could manage in one breathe. She slammed the bottle back down on the countertop, the sound ringing throughout the apartment.

She panted heavily from the lack of air as she wiped furiously at the tiny drops that had escaped her lips. Then turning around slowly, she grasped the newly remembered slips of paper that used to occupy the same envelope as the ring and brought them to her body. Her eyes focused on the handwritten words that lined the margins of the notebook paper, darting back and forth. A sudden expression of hurt crossed her face, but it was quickly replaced by a very deep look of vehemence and anger. By the last line of the letter, she was clutching the now wrinkled pieces of paper vehemently in her hand. For a moment her whole body went rigid. She let the papers slip form her grasp and fall to the floor softly. Then she opened her mouth, letting a ear-piercing scream that echoed loudly off the walls. She threw the ring, not caring where it landed.

She had suspected it for quite some time now. She knew her once faithful William was now a cheating, lying, gutless husband. More than one of her sources had informed her of this news. But to see it in writing, to hold his forgotten wedding band-she felt more betrayed at that very moment than in her whole life.

She used to love her husband, she honestly did. Life was complicated, though, and the past few mouths had been very hard on their marriage. Their separate careers took them both in two seceded paths, and she knew that William wondered about where it would take their marriage. But she never thought it would come to this. Through all the turmoil of work and real life getting in the way of things, she never imagined that he would ever leave her. Weeks of knowing he was sleeping around were survived by the single thought that wherever William went, whatever he did with any other woman didn’t matter because in the end he would always return back to their bed with her.

Now he would never be sleeping there again.

She had thought that the two of them buying a house in L.A. would be good for the both of them. She could get away from her hectic work schedule, and William could get away from the very source of the temptation to commit adultery- the girl. Dru knew for a fact that she lived in Sunnydale, and met him every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night at the dingy Sunnydale Motel near the campus. Her sources confirmed this fact a while ago.

She just couldn’t get the house fast enough, and now he was gone.

She ran both hands through her hair, separating it from the pins and letting it fall wildly about her face like a mad woman. A long, unabridged sigh escaped her lips. The sound of defeat. She knew she lost. She had no idea to whom she lost, but she personally never wanted to find out. It was his life now, not hers and she knew she wouldn’t be able to take it if she knew who had been the one to replace her. Still the very thought of not knowing ate away at her very core. Her once buried insecurities came rushing to the surface and she began to have doubts. Who is she? Is she prettier than me? Was she better in bed than I was? What was so powerful about her hold on William that it would make him want to leave me? Why wasn’t I good enough? Why couldn’t I love him enough?

A single tear rolled down the slope of her pale cheek and she wiped at it furiously. The icy feel of gold touched her skin and she pulled her hand away from her face in shock. Her eyes immediately focused on the golden band that adorned her creamy flesh. She scowled at it before ripping it from her finger and tossing it to the floor indifferently.

She hated him. Him and his whore. And she wagered, she had every right to. He had deceived her, humiliated her, hurt her in a place she didn’t even know could be broken. And through it all, he did it with a seemingly perfect air about him. Like nothing was ever out of place. She wondered if the slut knew she was the other woman. William probably told her. Dru knew that he could never lie to anyone.

Except her.

Yes, Dru wagered that the woman knew that he was married, and probably didn’t care. She probably never gave his wife a second thought. And rightly so with the things they were certainly doing to each other. And if so, what kind of person did that make the girl? What kind of person did that make William? What kind of person did that make her?

Dru questioned if the girl loved him. Truly loved him, like he claimed to love her in the letter. She probably would have had to, Dru thought, My William wouldn’t just hurt me if he knew that the girl didn’t feel for him deeply.

That same thought repeated in her mind as she took the black ball-point pen and spelled out her name in a slender, cursive handwriting on the divorce papers that had been enclosed with the discreet dear john letter and ring. She would work out her anger, jealousy, insecurities, and hate issues later. Right now she had to do the only thing she believed was just in all this madness. If her sweet William wanted to be out of their marriage to love the girl, and no longer hurt her in the process, then she would release him from their legal binding.

She wouldn’t hold on to a love that had gone sour long before the cheating started. It would only bring heartache for everyone. And they had all been through enough heartache, she wagered, unconsciously feeling sorry for the young girl. She must have experienced a great deal of turmoil in her secret relationship with William. She smiled sardonically at the thought.

William used to be Dru’s. Now he was hers. It was only fair to let go.

And as she dotted her ‘I’s and crossed her ‘T’s, she set him free to love another.





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