Chapter 2: The Truth Beneath the Blanket
I dropped to my knees.
For several endless seconds, I couldn't breathe.
Dark purple bruises wrapped around Megan's calves and thighs. Angry yellowing fingerprints marked both of her ankles. One foot was swollen so badly that the skin stretched tight beneath the hospital bandage.
None of them looked recent.
Some were healing.
Others were fresh.
"Megan..."
My voice broke into pieces.
"Who did this to you?"
She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to answer.
Behind me, my mother's voice came calmly.
"Maybe she fell."
The words snapped something inside me.
I turned toward her.
"Fell?"
I looked back at Megan's legs.
The bruises weren't random.
They were perfectly shaped.
Hands.
Someone had grabbed her.
Hard.
Again and again.
"Megan."
I gently held her trembling hand.
"You promised we'd never keep secrets from each other."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"I was trying to protect you."
"Protect me from who?"
She slowly looked past me.
Toward my mother.
My stomach twisted.
"No..."
Megan nodded once.
Three weeks earlier, while I was working late during inventory week, my mother had started visiting every afternoon.
At first she claimed she only wanted to help.
She brought soup.
Folded laundry.
Cleaned the apartment.
The perfect mother-in-law.
Until the front door closed.
Then everything changed.
She constantly criticized Megan.
"You've made my son your servant."
"You'll be a terrible mother."
"You trapped Jake with this pregnancy."
Whenever Megan tried to defend herself, Linda stepped closer.
One afternoon she ordered Megan to get out of bed.
When Megan explained that her obstetrician had recommended limited movement because of early contractions, Linda exploded.
"Doctors make women weak."
She yanked the blanket away.
Forced Megan to stand.
When Megan nearly collapsed, Linda grabbed both of her legs, squeezing so violently that Megan cried out.
"If you can scream," Linda hissed, "you can clean."
The abuse became routine.
Every visit left new bruises.
Every threat became darker.
"If you tell Jake," Linda whispered one afternoon while gripping Megan's ankle until it bruised black, "I'll convince him the baby isn't his."
Megan believed her.
Because Linda had already started planting those lies.
The same lies she whispered into my ear every single day.
As the truth settled over me, nausea rose into my throat.
Every suspicious thought...
Every doubt...
May you like
Had never been mine.
They had belonged to my mother.
