I’ll Be Good, Mom
Mom was a top student at a prestigious school and had always been determined to be the best at everything.
She demanded that I learn to walk by seven months, speak fluently by eighteen months, and master all addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by the age of three.
I did all of it. Yet Mom still felt it wasn’t enough.
However, when my younger brother, Liam, didn’t speak until he was five, Mom clapped and cheered when he finally did, celebrating his “late-blooming brilliance”.
I didn’t think anything of it.
Until one day, I was wearing headphones, memorizing Spanish words, and accidentally let the sound leak out, scaring Liam. He clutched his chest and cried, saying his heart hurt.
Mom’s eyes turned red as she stormed over and slapped me. Then she grabbed my ear, twisting it a full 360 degrees with all her strength.
The pain in my ear was so intense that I lost all feeling, and the fear made me nauseous to the point of vomiting.
Still, Mom forced the headphones back on, cranked the volume to the maximum, and locked me in the storage room to reflect.
“How could I give birth to such a terrible child? You’re just jealous of Liam. No matter how much I do for you, you’ll never appreciate it!
“Love listening to words, huh? Then listen all you want.”
But seven days later, when she opened the door, she completely lost it.