I Bled for Mom's Reality Show
Caked in mud, her eyes bloodshot, my mother grabbed me by the shoulders.
"Elliot, the company's collapsed. I… I killed a competitor. It was an accident. There's no way out now. You're the only one who can come with me."
I believed her.
I swallowed my fear and followed her into the mountains, deeper and deeper until there was nothing left of the world I knew.
To keep her alive, I searched for food, forcing down insects, drinking whatever murky water I could find.
When a pack of wolves began circling our shelter, my first instinct was to step in front of her.
"Mom, I'll lead them away. You go."
I glanced back at her one last time…and made my choice. I would give up my life for hers.
However, when I leapt from the cliff and my body shattered against the rocks below…
I still saw her.
She was inside a descending helicopter, calm and composed, lifting a glass of champagne.
Celebrating.
That was when it finally clicked. The desperate escape that had driven me to sacrifice myself…
was nothing more than a carefully staged show. She had been acting the entire time.
I…was the only one who had actually died.