Chapter 2
Ethan called Dad before Karen could speak.
His hands were shaking so badly he nearly dropped the phone.
Karen tried to grab it.
Ethan stepped back.
“Don’t touch me.”
Her face twisted.
“I am your mother.”
“No,” Ethan said. “You married our father.”
The words hit her hard.
Good.
I had never heard Ethan say anything like that before.
For years, he tried to keep peace.
He washed dishes when Karen said I was useless.
He helped me upstairs when she sighed too loudly.
He changed the subject when Dad came home tired and Karen claimed I had been difficult.
But now he had seen me on the floor.
Some things cannot be unseen.
Dad answered.
Ethan put him on speaker.
“Dad, come to Dr. Wallace’s clinic now.”
Dad sounded confused.
“What happened?”
“Karen pushed Maya out of her wheelchair.”
Silence.
Karen shouted, “That is not what happened!”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“She canceled Maya’s therapy. She stopped her medication. The doctor has proof.”
Dad breathed hard into the phone.
“I’m on my way.”
Karen’s confidence faltered.
Dr. Wallace asked a nurse to stay in the room.
Then he examined me gently.
My leg trembled when he touched my knee.
I tried not to cry.
Ethan held my hand.
“You can cry,” he whispered.
So I did.
Dr. Wallace’s mouth tightened.
“Maya, have you been taking your pills every day?”
I looked at Karen.
My throat closed.
Ethan squeezed my hand.
“She told me they were vitamins,” I whispered. “Then she said the doctor stopped them because I was getting spoiled.”
Dr. Wallace wrote something down.
Karen folded her arms.
“She lies.”
The nurse looked at Karen like she wanted to throw her out.
Dad arrived twenty minutes later.
He rushed into the room with his tie loose and panic on his face.
“Maya.”
I wanted to reach for him.
But fear stopped me.
Would he believe me?
Would he believe Karen?
Dad looked at me.
Then at the wheelchair tipped sideways against the wall.
Then at Karen.
“What did you do?”
Karen’s face changed instantly.
Soft.
Tearful.
Fake.
“She threw herself down, David. She’s angry because I’ve been trying to stop this behavior.”
Ethan stood.
“She’s twelve.”
“She manipulates you,” Karen snapped.
Dad looked at Dr. Wallace.
The doctor handed him the pharmacy records.
Dad read them once.
Then again.
His face turned gray.
“You signed these.”
Karen swallowed.
“I thought it was best.”
Dad looked up slowly.
“You stopped her treatment?”
“She was becoming dependent.”
“She was injured.”
“She was lazy.”
Dad flinched like she had slapped him.
I had heard Karen say it so many times.
But Dad had not.
Or maybe he had not wanted to.
He turned to me.
“Maya, baby…”
My tears spilled over.
“I tried to tell you.”
His face crumpled.
May you like
And Karen whispered the sentence that changed everything.
“She would have ruined our custody case if she healed too fast.”
