I have been divorced twice. They say it gets easier with each one but it does not.

The first time I filed I was hiding. I was hiding because I was fearful for my life. It seemed that no matter where I went "he" showed up. It didn't matter if there were a group of people or no one around. He always started a fight. He wanted me dead.

My first husband had a drinking problem. I did not realize it when we met. I was young and blinded by good looks and a nice smile. My first clue it wouldn't work out came while we were still nothing more than friends. I found out he had just gotten out of prison. He was a thief and he had a rather long record. That and the drinking, well I ignored them both.

Well, before we married he stole from me. I forgave him. We had been married a month when he became abusive. Then a couple of months later he disappeared for a while. My car disappeared too. It took a year to sort through everything and come to the truth. He had forged my title and sold it. He tore my clothes up and was constantly pawning my things to buy beer.

Eventually I came to my senses and divorced him. He was on his way back to prison for stealing again. This time he ended up with a life sentence for stealing. Where I am a life sentence for a non violent crime is only twenty five years and you only have to serve a third of that.

This year 2007 would be twelve years we had been married. Two years ago he hit the news from prison. He had confessed to a murder. Sometime before we met he had robbed a convenience store and shot the clerk. It was unsolved for years. Well, he went on trial and quickly began to deny that he did it. Saying his family was in danger. The judge did not believe him, neither did the prosecutor. He just realized we still sentence people to death. Too late though first he wrote a teasing letter to the D.A.
Well, we have had the same one for twenty years; there is a reason for that.

In conclusion I divorced him, happily for ten and a half years now. Thanks to my divorce I get to live my life free from fear.

Learn more about this author, L. Beall.
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