It was mid-December and one of the worst winters on record in Mercer County Kentucky.

It was cold in the second floor Master bedroom. The wood stove down stairs must had burned down to embers giving a chill throughout the 100 year old farm house. Anna knew she should get up and stoke the fire but wanted only to burrow deeper in the bed covers and stay there till Spring.

Shaking her head at such wishful thinking, she rolled over and looked at her bedside alarm clock - 4:49 a.m. Anna's routine for the past 10 years - ever since she'd gotten married - was to be up by 5 a.m. Dawn would be coming soon along with the beginning of another day of back breaking chores. After so many years of getting up early her internal clock had been programed by habit to wake her up, get out of bed and get the day started. She always woke before the bedside alarm clock struck 5. She had been trained well.

Reluctantly reaching over, she flipped the alarm switch off before it woke Lawrence, her husband. Having him wake up before he was ready to get out of bed was a dangerous thing. At the moment he lay all tangled in the covers and quilts next to her snoring so loudly that it nearly shook the house. Anna cautiously sat up in bed and stared at the man next to her. The room was still dark but she didn't need light to picture the man who had owned her for the past ten years.

He was short - he barely was an inch taller than her. He was over weight and balding. He had disgusting habits like drinking anything and everything. He chewed chaw. His breath stunk and his teeth were an ugly brownish color. Bathing for him was nearly none existent. He hated everybody. He always believed everyone was out to get him and were talking about him behind his back. He was an older man nearing his fifties. They had gotten married when she was just seventeen. It wasn't her choosing, but her daddy's. Her daddy for a long time admired a speed boat that Lawrence owned and with some negotiating between the two men they traded. Her daddy got the speed boat and Lawrence got a young untouched virgin. A justice of the peace - which was related to Lawrence - preformed the ceremony and she became his wife till death do they part and to do with as he pleased.

Lawrence Beggs had been married twice before and both wives mysteriously disappeared. From the get go Anna learned not to open her mouth to state any type of opinion that she might have or to refuse an order he'd give her. If she did, then a good back hand to her face shut her up right quick. If that didn't solve the problem with a wayward wife a good razor strap beating got his point across.

Realizing that she wasted too much time thinking about her fucked up life, she quickly donned her bathrobe and went down stairs to start breakfast. It didn't take long for her to hear the heavy footsteps of her husband coming down to the kitchen. She quickly poured him some coffee and sat it on the kitchen table.

Lawrence was dressed in overalls, boots, a heavy parka, gloves and sock cap. Taking a few sips of his coffee he told Anna, "I'm goin' outside to shovel the driveway off. I'm needin' to go into town for some things." Putting the cup back on the table he looked at her and demanded that breakfast be ready when he got back inside.

She nodded her understanding as he went outside. She knew what he was going into town for. To see Phyllis Stone. Anna knew they were having an affair and she really didn't care. Phyllis kept him satisfied and left her alone. Anna considered it a win-win.

She made his favorites - eggs, ham, biscuits and gravy, pancakes and sausage.

She put the food in the oven to keep warm because she didn't know exactly when he'd be back inside. Anna then went upstairs to their bedroom to change into her everyday clothes.

Walking into the room she went towards the window that overlooked the front yard, she admired God's handiwork. Everything looked so pure and pristine. Huge snowflakes still floated down from the heavens and covered everything in sight - trees, bushes, cars. A foot of snow had already fallen during the early morning hours. Anna loved winter. She loved it even more now. She loved it because her husband of ten years had decided upon waking to shovel their driveway. She smiled at that.

She smiled because Lawrence was halfway done with the shoveling when he stopped and stood still. He clutched at his chest. The look on his face was one of pain, shock and horror. The puffs of breath were rapidly escaping his gaping mouth like a locomotive chugging up a steep incline. He turned towards the house and took a couple of steps before he collapsed to his knees. He looked up to the bedroom window where his wife stood. Lawrence reached out his hand towards her beseeching her for help. Anna just stood there watching. No emotion crossed her lovely face. All the emotions she once had died a very long time ago.

And so she watched as he still held onto the snow shovel and tried to use it to get back on his feet. Another grim painful look on his face told her that he was weakening. Lawrence was having a heart attack. He had over exerted himself shoveling the snow. He fell forward and rolled over onto the wet concrete.

Anna just stood at the window. Watching the whole scene play out. She didn't budge. She didn't run to call 911. She didn't care.

They lived in the country and the nearest neighbor was about 15 miles down the road. No one drove by their house especially not now during a snow storm. The snow plows wouldn't be down the county road for another day or two. Their road wasn't that important to clear off.

Anna just watched. She didn't know how long she stood at the window. Lawrence, the bastard, had been still for the past 20 minutes. She grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand and flipped to the weather app. 15 degrees outside with a wind chill of -20.

Slowly getting dressed, she went downstairs and left the house through the garage. She made her way up to her husband. Standing over him she watched for signs of life - no puffs of breath were coming from his nose or his mouth. His eyes stared up at the sky unblinking. The snow had stopped but he had a slight dusting on him.

Anna stood there looking at her dead husband. A husband of 10 long years. Ten long years of hate, mistreatment, of evil. A husband who had ripped her heart to shreds and destroyed her soul. She turned without looking back.

Once back inside the house it had been 40 minutes since Lawrence went outside. Finally deciding it was time to call 911, she told the dispatch that she believed her husband had a heart attack shoveling their driveway. "Please send someone quick!"

She sat in the recliner facing the window waiting for the EMT's to arrive. The only thing that kept going over and over in her head while she waited was he's dead and I'm finally FREE!

tbc