Chapter 1 - The Unexpected Return
I returned without warning after four years in Canada and found my wife with a shaved head, skin and bones, eating scraps in the backyard. My mother said she had brought this punishment upon herself. I didn't yell. I announced that I had just received a million-dollar settlement... and let my family's greed trigger the trap.
"That bald woman shouldn't let herself be seen when we have company!"
I heard my sister Brianna yelling before I even walked through the door.
In the backyard, Lucy was on her knees gathering pieces of a broken plate with her bare hands. Her head was shaved. Her cheekbones looked hollow. A bucket of dirty water sat beside her feet.
"Pick up the pieces properly, Lucy," my mother, Theresa, called from the living room. "If someone cuts themselves, I'm taking it out of your food."
I stopped behind the fence with my suitcase still in my hand.
No one knew I was home.
A shutdown at the metalworking shop in Calgary had given us several unexpected weeks off. My coworkers went to visit family. I bought a ticket that same night because I wanted to surprise my wife.
For four years, I'd worked twelve-hour shifts, eaten reheated meals in a shop that smelled like burnt metal, and spent winters that cracked my lips. Every month, I sent between two and three thousand dollars to Theresa's bank account.
The money was supposed to finish the house, build our future, and take care of Lucy while I was gone. Altogether, I'd sent almost a hundred thousand dollars, plus a bonus every December.
I never questioned it.
I trusted my mother. I trusted Brianna. Most of all, I believed my wife was safe.
During our video calls, Lucy always said, "I'm fine, my love. Don't worry."
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Then, a few months ago, she stopped turning on her camera. Bad internet, she said. An old phone. She was tired.
Now I knew why.
