**Diary Entry 12th March**
My husband gave me a look of utter disdain and tossed me a pillow, telling me to wash it. When I opened it, what I found inside left me completely stunned.
Wed been married five years. From the very first day, Id grown used to his cold words and indifferent glances. He wasnt crueljust absent. His silence hurt more than any argument ever could.
We lived with his parents. Every morning, I did the housework. Every evening, I waited for him to come home so we could have dinner together, but each night, hed walk in and say hed already eaten, never bothering to sit with me.
It felt less like a marriage and more like I was just another servant in their house.
Then, one evening, he came home, sat across from me, and slid divorce papers across the table. “Sign these. I dont want to waste any more of our time.”
My hand trembled as I signed. Memories of lonely evenings and untouched meals flashed through my mind. I packed my things quicklythere was nothing left for me here, except an old pillow Id brought from my mothers house.
I picked up my suitcase to leave, but just then, he threw the pillow at me and said, “Take it. Wash it. Then you can go.”
I took it, and as I gripped it, I felt something strange inside. My heart raced. Carefully, I unstitched the seamand what I saw shocked me to my core.
Nestled inside was a small box, wrapped neatly in cloth. I froze, afraid to even touch it. When I undid the knots, letters, photos, and old notes spilled out.
Every letter was addressed to me but written in the name of a previous wife Id never known existed.
My head spun. He hadnt just ignored mehed hidden the truth from me my entire life. In one photo, I saw our son and tears streamed down my face.
Beside him stood a girl hed once lived with, her memory now tucked away in this old pillow like some dark secret he was terrified to reveal.
A mix of anger and relief washed over me. Anger at years of lies and coldness. Relief that I finally knew the truth.
I carried the pillow to the window, breathed in deepthe air of freedomand for the first time in five years, I felt like I could truly breathe.
The choice was clear. Id never let him control my life with silence and indifference again. That pillow, which once seemed so ordinary, had become a symbol of my awakeningand my strength.
