“Mom, how are you feeling today? Do you need me to buy you more supplements?”
He bought me an electronic blood pressure monitor, instructing me carefully.
“Mom, you need to measure it twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. Have Clara write it down in this notebook so I can check it.”
But this peace, it turned out, was just a thin veneer.
It happened on a night at the end of the month, about two weeks after I had moved in. By then, the city had fallen asleep, with only the dim glow of street lights filtering through the window frame. I was a light sleeper anyway, often tossing and turning until the middle of the night.
When the clock on the wall struck three dry chimes, I was suddenly jolted awake by a sound that was familiar, yet occurring at a most unusual time: a rush of water.
It was the sound of a shower coming from the main bathroom, the one right next to my bedroom. The fierce rushing water broke the profound silence of the night.
Who would be taking a shower at 3:00 in the morning?
I strained my ears, but there were no other sounds, only that rhythmic, lonely rush of water. Could Julian or Clara be sick and need to sponge off? A sliver of worry entered my heart.
I wanted to open my door to check, but I was afraid of disturbing them. The sound of the water lasted for about 15 minutes, then stopped abruptly. The condo fell silent again.
I couldn’t get back to sleep that night.
The next morning at breakfast, I tried to act as natural as possible.
“Julian,” I said, looking at my son, “were you not feeling well last night? Around 3:00 in the morning, I heard someone taking a shower.”
Julian was reading the paper, his eyes never leaving the print.
“Oh, it’s nothing, Mom,” he replied nonchalantly. “This new project has been really stressful. I’ve been feeling antsy and restless. I just got up to take a quick shower to cool off so I could get back to sleep.”
His explanation sounded reasonable, but just then, I saw Clara, who was bringing a bowl of oatmeal from the kitchen, freeze for a split second. The chopsticks in her hand almost slipped.
She quickly regained her composure, placed the oatmeal on the table, and smiled, explaining for her husband.
“Yes, Mom. He’s been working so hard lately. He’s been tossing and turning all night. Please don’t worry.”
My daughter-in-law’s fleeting moment of panic did not escape my notice. As a teacher with decades of experience, I was always sensitive to unusual expressions. Something was not right.
But I didn’t press the matter, just quietly finished my breakfast.
I had thought it was a one-time thing, but I was wrong. Two nights later, again at precisely 3 in the morning, the sound returned. It was the same sound of a faucet being wrenched open, followed by the rushing, rhythmic flow of water.
This time, I felt an inexplicable chill.
Taking a shower in the middle of the night due to stress was believable once, but for it to be repeated at the exact same time was no longer a coincidence.
The following nights were spent waiting for that sound. As 3:00 in the morning approached, my heart would pound. Sometimes the water would turn on, and other times it would be terrifyingly silent. This unpredictable anomaly became a form of mental torture for me.
My sleep became fragmented, and I was always in a state of half-slumber, my ears prickled for any sound. I began to pay closer attention to my son and daughter-in-law.
During the day, Julian went to work as usual, acting normally, but I could occasionally see traces of exhaustion and irritability in his eyes. He was quicker to anger over small things.
I tried to gently probe my daughter-in-law.
“Clara, is something wrong? You haven’t been looking well lately. Has Julian done anything to you?”
She jumped, startled, and quickly waved her hands, avoiding my gaze.
“No, nothing, Mom. I’m probably just not sleeping well. Julian is very good to me.”
Her words and her expression were in complete contradiction. I knew she was hiding something.
A vague fear began to form in my mind, a fear connected to Julian and to those three-in-the-morning showers. I couldn’t bear it any longer and decided I had to have a frank talk with my son again.
I chose a time after Clara had put the baby to bed, when it was just the two of us in the living room.
“Julian, sit down. I need to talk to you,” I said, gently patting the sofa beside me.
He seemed surprised by my seriousness, but sat down.
“What is it, Mom?”
I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Son, listen to me. I know you’re under a lot of stress at work, but you cannot continue this habit of showering at 3:00 in the morning. I’ve looked it up, and that’s the time of night when the body’s energy is at its lowest and the temperature is coldest. Showering at that time is very dangerous. At best, you could catch a cold, but you could also have a stroke or even suffer sudden cardiac death. You are young, with a bright future ahead of you. You have to learn to take care of your body.”
I said it all in one breath, filled with all of a mother’s worry. I thought he would listen, or at least explain in more detail, but he didn’t.
Julian’s face darkened. His usual patience vanished, replaced by undisguised irritation.
“Mom, enjoy your retirement and stop meddling in my affairs.”
The door to his bedroom slammed shut with a bang, a final, definitive declaration that cut off all my attempts to show concern.
Julian’s cold rejection and the slamming door were like a bucket of ice water thrown in my face. From that day on, the atmosphere in the house was as heavy as lead. Julian barely spoke to me, avoiding my gaze and treating me like I was invisible.
It was at that moment, when my focus shifted from the strange nightly sounds, that I began to pay closer attention to the other person in this silent tragedy, my daughter-in-law, Clara.
One afternoon, we were chopping vegetables together in the kitchen. As Clara reached for a basket in an upper cabinet, the sleeve of her soft three-quarter-sleeve blouse slid down, revealing her fair wrist.
And what I saw was a patch of purple and blue mixed with faint yellow, clearly imprinted on her delicate skin. The shape of the bruise was odd, not like a normal bump, but more like the mark left by five fingers gripping with immense force.
My heart skipped a beat. A feeling so familiar it was horrifying washed over me. I quickly grabbed her hand, my voice unable to hide my alarm.
“My goodness, Clara, your wrist. What happened to your wrist?”
Clara jumped as if she’d been electrocuted, yanking her hand back and hastily pulling down her sleeve to cover it. She was clearly flustered, her eyes darting around as if searching for an escape.
“It’s… it’s nothing, Mom,” she stammered. “Yesterday I… I was in a hurry and accidentally bumped into the corner of my desk. My skin is just thin. It bruises easily.”
She kept her head down, unable to look me in the eye.
A clumsy lie. I had lived for nearly 70 years. As a former victim of domestic violence, I knew all too well the difference between a bruise from a fall and a bruise from being gripped. The marks on her wrist were the signature of an angry hand.
My heart tightened. The shadow of my abusive husband suddenly reappeared before me. During his fits of rage, he would grab my arm and drag me, leaving the exact same marks. And just like Clara now, I used to lie to neighbors and friends with absurd excuses like falling down the stairs or bumping into a door.
History was repeating itself in the most cruel way, right before my eyes in my own son’s home.
I couldn’t bring myself to expose her lie. I knew that once a victim chooses to hide, outside questioning only makes them retreat further into their shell of fear.
