Before You Ruined My Life

My first day out of prison.

I received a call from my husband. Or rather, the eighteen-year-old version of him.

"Mae, are we married now? Did I cry like a baby at our wedding?"

The boy's voice was bright, bubbling with anticipation, answering his own question before I could even find my voice:

"I love you so much, I bet I was a total mess."

"Oh, and our brilliant Mae—you must be a world-class surgeon by now, right? And me? Am I a captain yet? Flying those massive commercial jets?"

I looked down at my right hand, a landscape of jagged, angry red scars.