PART 3 My mother lunged toward my phone.
PART 3
My mother lunged toward my phone.
I stepped back.
"Delete it!"
Her voice cracked.
"No one will believe you!"
Anna instinctively moved behind me.
Still shaking.
Still protecting the baby with both hands.
I pressed one button.
The footage began playing.
There she was.
Ordering Anna to scrub the floor.
Throwing away the meals Anna had cooked.
Calling our unborn daughter a mistake.
And finally...
Grabbing Anna by the hair.
Silence swallowed the kitchen.
My mother's breathing became uneven.
"It wasn't like that..."
"It was discipline."
"It was for her own good."
The excuses sounded smaller with every word.
I looked at Anna.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I didn't want you to lose your mother."
Instead...
She had been losing herself.
I called my older sister.
Then my uncle.
Within twenty minutes...
The house was full.
No one defended my mother after watching the footage.
Not one person.
She kept looking around the room...
May you like
Waiting for someone to stand beside her.
No one did.
