I woke up in a hospital bed, with a female police officer standing beside me.

"What happened to me?" I asked.

"You fainted. The test results aren't out yet."

The officer looked at me with sympathy. "With everything going on at home, where is your husband?"

Yes, where was my husband?

I couldn't even remember how long this ghost of a marriage had gone on.

Tom and I had shared some sweet moments after our wedding, but his sensitivity and insecurity were always there, festering beneath the surface. It wasn't long before his true colors showed.

Tom began emotionally manipulating me, trying to convince me to become a housewife.

When...