{"id":3596,"date":"2026-05-27T12:01:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=3596"},"modified":"2026-05-27T12:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:01:03","slug":"lesson-5-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=3596","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 5"},"content":{"rendered":"The air grew heavier as the day passed into evening, a crack of thunder shattered the sky, jarring me from my reverie. I sat in the old sitting room, which had hardly changed in the ten years since I finally broke free of this place. But now, here I was again, the old feelings of worthlessness creeping over my shoulder. It had been a mistake. But Dad had pleaded with me; she was old, frail, dying. A clattering of glasses announced her return from the kitchen. She looked worn by time, wrung dry, like the life had gone out of her soul. But her eyes burned as she looked at me. She set down the tray of iced tea and glasses. \u201cThere, Mary-Anne,\u201d she said as she sat down, placing her leathery fingers in her lap. \u201cWould you be a dear and pour for me? My wrists aren\u2019t what they used to be.\u201d \u201cOf course, Momma.\u201d I poured her a glass, then settled back into an awkward silence only broken by the patter of heavy raindrops on the sash window. \u201cWhy did you leave?\u201d Her question broke the calm between us. \u201cBecause I had to, I had no choice.\u201d I look down at my own hands, soft, manicured with a single ringed finger. \u201cBecause you had to,\u201d she spat the words, mocking me, \u201cYou ran out on us! On your church. Ran to a life of sin!\u201d \u201cMomma, I didn\u2019t come here to fight. I came\u2026.\u201d She cut me off before I could explain. \u201cYou came here to see me suffer, to see what you could get.\u201d She stabbed the air between us with a stick-like arm. \u201cYou\u2019ll get nothing from me when I\u2019m gone, you hear. You and that demon you married, if you can call what you have married. Living in mortal sin, out of the church, harlot!\u201d \u201cJoe\u2019s a good man, you hear. You can stick that evil church of yours. You think a God would give rise to someone as bitter and twisted as you?\u201d The words shot out of my mouth before I had time to think of them. \u201cBlasphemy! You take the Lord\u2019s name in vain in my house!\u201d Her face contorted. \u201cYou go, get out. Back to your life of evil, of sin.\u201d Her whole body shook. A part of me wished she would die right there. \u201cIt was a mistake, coming here,\u201d I stood up with all the dignity I could muster. \u201cYou are still the same person you ever were. My life only began when I escaped this place, escaped you. You were never a mother, only a torturer. Goodbye, Momma.\u201d I turned to leave as a flash of lightning threw the room into sharp relief. Her insults rang in my ears as I stepped out of the house for good and into the calm of the raging storm.