For the last time

Prologue

I grew up very sheltered in a beautiful home with loving parents and an overprotective older brother. I wrote a plan for my life when I was just ten years old. It was a formula for the perfect life, based on all the stories I heard. In my plans I made topics and stipulated the sequence in which the phases in my life should happen. First I would finish high school, be prom queen, of course. Then I would go to law school, graduate at the top of my class and be the best detective ever, taking on every villain I could find, especially those who wanted to harm the princesses. I grew up and some thoughts changed, obviously, but the essence remained the same. As a child, I read and listened to every fairy tale in existence, with all the beautiful Disney princesses. I always dreamed of a perfect marriage, a handsome and devoted husband, who loved me above all, climbed a very high tower, faced monsters and dragons to save me, if necessary. That part, for example, remained intact and waiting for the right moment to become true. One fine day, I met the prince I had dreamed of so much and the next topic on my list of plans seemed to be very close to becoming a reality. It happened on an ordinary day, at the coffee shop I frequented every morning before going to work. My God! He was beautiful, much more so than in my dreams and he was somewhat mysterious. And that morning, my life would start to take a completely different turn. All my certainties, judgments and standards would be changed forever, including the planning of my entire life. It never crossed my mind that behind that wonderful face, instead of a prince, actually lived a monster much worse than any dragon that haunted my fairy tales.