I watched, but I wasn’t surprised. This was how it always was.

After washing the dishes, my mother did something different this time. She locked herself in my bedroom. With trembling fingers, she gently stroked my photograph.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm so sorry, Peachy."

"All these years, you've suffered so much. We failed you."

"I failed you."

"But I’ll make sure everyone makes it right."

She pulled open a drawer and took out a bottle of pills. These past few days, she had been waking up from nightmares, so she had gone to the hospital to get some sleeping pills. I watched as she crushed the entire bottle into powder, dissolving...