Chapter 5 - A Sleepless Night
Night fell, but sleep offered no sanctuary. After finally coaxing Leo to sleep in his crib, Ryan and Sarah lay awake in the dark. The shadows cast by the streetlights outside felt heavier than usual.
"I hit her," Ryan said quietly, staring up at the ceiling. The reality of his actions was beginning to settle in. He had never struck another person in his adult life, let alone his own mother.
Sarah turned onto her side, resting her hand lightly on his chest. "You protected us, Ryan. I was terrified. She was screaming that I was an unfit mother, that she was going to take Leo away because of my medication. When I tried to grab the bottle back, she struck me."
Ryan’s jaw clenched in the darkness. His mother had always been controlling, projecting her own insecurities onto everyone around her. Her estrangement two years prior had been Ryan's choice, a necessary boundary to protect his growing family from her toxic perfectionism. Today, she had proved exactly why that boundary was needed.
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"I don't regret stopping her," Ryan confessed, turning his head to look at his wife. "But I hate that it came to violence. I hate what she turned me into in that moment."
"We can't control her actions, only how we respond from now on," Sarah said, her voice surprisingly steady. The vulnerability she had shown on the kitchen floor was hardening into a quiet resolve. "We need to make sure she can never do this again."
