When the doctor walked into the waiting room that morning, I thought he was coming to give us another status update, something vague about waiting, monitoring, and hoping. That had been the script for almost three months. But instead, he looked directly at me, his expression softer than usual, and said words I never thought I’d hear:
“She’s awake.
For a second, my mind went blank. My wife, Julia, squeezed my hand tightly, but I couldn’t process anything except those two words echoing through me: She’s awake. I ran down the hallway, my heart pounding, until I reached the ICU room.
And there she was—my mother, Margaret, lying propped against pillows, pale but unmistakably alive, her hazel eyes open and following me as I entered. “Mom,” I whispered, barely able to believe it. “You’re back.”
Her lips trembled into a faint smile.
“Hi, Oliver.”
Tears burned behind my eyes as I leaned over, kissing her forehead. For weeks, I’d begged for this moment, prayed for it when I wasn’t sure I believed in anything anymore. My mother, the strongest woman I knew, had survived a terrible car accident, slipping into a coma that the doctors said she might never wake from.
But she had. She was here. Behind me, Julia entered slowly, clutching her coat like she wasn’t sure whether she should be in the room.
My mother’s eyes shifted, and I caught something strange flash across her face. Not just exhaustion, something sharper. I assumed it was just the strain of waking up after months, so I pulled a chair closer.
“We’re so glad you’re awake. You scared us half to death.”
“How much longer are you planning to hide your secret from my son?”
The room went dead silent. I turned, confused, as Julia froze where she stood.
Her face drained of color, and her fingers dug into her coat sleeve so hard her knuckles whitened. “Mom,” I said gently, trying to calm her. “You’ve just woken up.
You might be disoriented. What are you talking about?”
But her eyes didn’t leave Julia. “Don’t play dumb with me.
I heard everything. Every word, every whisper, every confession you thought was safe because I couldn’t move. But I heard it all.”
I looked between them, my heart thudding in my chest.
My mother gave a humorless laugh. “You’d be surprised.
Sometimes all you have is listening. And I listened to every poisonous thing you said.”
Julia’s lips parted, but no words came. I felt like the ground was slipping beneath me.
“Mom,” I pressed, “just tell me plainly. What are you saying you heard?”
Her voice was firm. “I heard your wife talking to another man.
On the phone. Right here, by my bed, while you were getting coffee or talking to the nurses. I heard her say she couldn’t keep lying forever.
That once I d.i.e.d, she’d finally be free. That she wished she could be with him instead.”
I staggered back like I’d been punched. “What?”
Julia’s eyes widened with panic.
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