"My house is on fire!" Emily cried.

Minutes later, sirens were blasting down the street.

As firefighters leaped from the truck, they unraveled the hoses and started spraying water on the burning building.

"Is anyone in the house?" asked the fireman.

"My husband! My poor husband, he was asleep in the bedroom." Tears rolled down her cheeks.

The fireman shouted to his men, telling them a person was trapped in the house. Some
firefighters ran into the burning house as others continued dousing the soaring flames.

The fireman returned to the woman minutes later. "I'm sorry," the firefighter said sadly. "We couldn't save him."

The woman wiped her tears and thanked the brave men.

While she stood looking at her house, destroyed to ashes, Emily dropped the bottle of sleeping pills into the sewer. With a hint of a smile, she thought, no more beatings, no more broken bones.