Jennifer’s eyes snapped open, for the last day of her 10 month sentence she stared at the ceiling of the psychiatric ward of Mercy Regional Health Center. Her plan for the day was simple really; brutally murder her ex-husband. All she had to do was make it out of the wretched hospital by 10:15am. One last session with her counselor, she thought to herself, she could keep the charade up for two more hours. Over 300 days of careful and meticulous planning was about to come to life. Jack Smith was just like his daughter, Jennifer’s thoughts screamed; ungrateful, rude, stupid, ugly, and unworthy of life. Mary Smith deserved to die she wasn’t worthy enough to be called Jennifer’s daughter, to Jack maybe, but there was no way in hell Jennifer was going to raise a piece of trash like that little girl.

Walking out the door of her hospital room Jennifer went to the front desk to receive her medicine for the day.

“Good morning Jennifer, today’s the big day right?” The front desk attendant asked as she handed Jennifer three cups of medicine and a water bottle.

Forcing a smile on her face, Jennifer took the cups. “Yes, today is the day. I’m so excited I finally see what was wrong with me, I can go out into the world and finally be a normal woman.”

“I’m so happy for you Jennifer,” she said with a genuine smile.

“Well thank you, I’m happy for me too.” Jennifer replied. She was happy that today would be the day her worthless husband would finally get what he deserved. He was a fool to even begin to think he could cross Jennifer and not have consequences. Jack was supposed to stand by Jennifer no matter what, and then because she killed his stupid daughter he wanted to send her to prison! Not a good decision.

Jennifer slowed her pace, being calm and in control was the key. She couldn’t walk into her psychiatrist’s office angry and upset. She had thirty minutes to convince Dr. Nuessel she was fully healed and ready to be dispensed into the wonderful city of Manhattan. This shouldn’t be too hard, Jennifer had come this far she would not screw this up at the last minute.

“Good morning Jennifer, how are you feeling today?” Dr. Nuessel asked.
She answered the repetitive question with carefully masked, fake enthusiasm, “Splendid!”

“Wonderful, now Jennifer this session shouldn’t take too long; I know you’re anxious to get out into the real world, but there are a few things we need to go over.” He said opening one of Jennifer’s many files. “Jennifer tell me what your previous medical condition was?” Dr. Nuessel asked.

“Of course, I unfortunately suffered from schizoaffective disorder, which caused me to hallucinate, make irrational and bad decisions.” Jennifer replied systematically.

“Very nice Jennifer, how exactly do you plan to integrate yourself in today’s society?” The doctor asked.

“I’m going to get a job, and do all the things that normal people do. I’m ready to do this Dr. Nuessel I’ve been waiting to get out of here so I can prove to everyone how much I’ve healed.” Jennifer never thought it would be so easy to lie. It turned out, fortunately for Jennifer, that she was a very believable liar. She could tell the psychiatrist aliens from Mars were following her, and he would believe every word she said.

“Well Jennifer, I think you’re ready to leave the hospital I’ve already signed your discharge papers, you’re free to go.”

With that statement Jennifer got up, thanked Dr. Nuessel for all his help, and left the office. A suitcase in her right hand and a plastic Wal-Mart bag in the other, she strode out of Mercy Regional Health Center and quickly flagged down a cab. Giving the address of her former home to the cab driver, Jennifer sat like a tense lion ready to pounce. Her ex-husband would just now be dragging his lazy butt out of bed and getting ready for his day of sulking on the couch, mourning the death of his inane daughter. Jennifer could just picture his face in her mind, the shock on it when she saw him walk in the front door that he never remembered to lock.

Her daydream came to an abrupt halt as the cab driver skidded to a stop in front of the brick formation she once called home. Jennifer slowly got out of the cab and retrieved her bags. “Wait here,” she quietly said to the cab driver. “I won’t be long.” Jennifer slowly walked up the steps of her former home, despite the vexatious rain. Reaching for the handle Jennifer opened the front door with ease, just as suspected. She walked into the living room, past the ratty old couch she knew her husband was lounging on and turned the television off. Facing a way from the television she looked her husband square in the eye, and did what she wanted to for as long as she could remember.