All Chapters of My Mother's Blind Faith in a Lie Collar Broke Me: Chapter 11

Mom believed that if the collar were still in her hands, it would surely be blinking a blinding crimson red at this moment, and the pain would be an everlasting one.In the emptiness of space, I watched everything unfold.I watched Mom suffer in the psychiatric hospital, watched the crippled Daniel reduced to begging, and watched my ruined Dad drink himself into an early grave.And yet, I found no pleasure in seeing them get what they deserved. All I felt was a quiet calm, like stagnant water.Beside me stood an old dog. It was Max, the dog I raised when I was little, and the one Mom later threw away. He had been waiting for me in the afterlife.Max rubbed against my leg and barked twice, as if saying, "You shouldn't watch anymore. We should go."He was right. It was time to go. With how painful this life had been, there was nothing worth holding on to.I drifted to the door of Mom's hospital room to say a final goodbye.Lying on the bed, she looked gaunt, her hair completely g