"I found out what you've been doing."
I froze.
Not because of what she said, but because of how cold she sounded while saying it.
For months, the main memory of my mother was seeing her comforting her grandkids after Sarah passed.
Now every memory felt poisoned.
"You made fake accounts pretending to be Sarah."
"I was protecting my family."
"No," I snapped. "You were destroying it!"
That's when my mother started crying.
For one brief second, I almost felt guilty.
Now every memory felt poisoned.
Then she whispered, "If your father hadn't left me alone, none of this would've happened."
My father, David, had passed away two years earlier after a stroke. Afterward, my mother became far more emotionally dependent on me, though I hadn't fully noticed it at the time.
Now I realized Sarah had seen the situation clearly long before I did.
"You manipulated us because you didn't want me focused on my wife."
"I just didn't want to lose you, too."
That was the moment reality struck.
I hadn't fully noticed it at the time.
Because suddenly, I understood this hadn't started recently.
My mother had spent years quietly competing with Sarah for space inside our family.
The fake messages were just the moment everything spiraled out of control.
