The Grave's Secret: A Second Chance

“Years after Mark Peterson' s death, I finally went to his grave, hoping to find resolution and move on. But right beside his headstone, a new, chillingly familiar stone bore the name: Jessica Hayes. My breath hitched-Jessica, his high school sweetheart, the very woman who had slowly choked the life out of our seven-year marriage was buried directly next to him, not me. All the years of pain and silent suffering condensed into a cosmic joke, realizing he' d not just chosen her in life, but in death too, shattering my hard-won peace and sending me into darkness. I awoke in a clinical haze, confused, only to realize I was back exactly seven years earlier, on the agonizing day of my miscarriage when he' d abandoned me for Jessica. A fierce wave of clarity washed over me: this time, armed with the cruel truth of his lifelong devotion to her, I wouldn't beg, wouldn't cry, wouldn't let him destroy me again. This time, I would walk away first.”