“Title: “Unseen; The Toxic Mother”
Submitted: November 3, 2024
Author: Anonymous Entry

“The house was always quiet, even when it was full of noise. Samantha’s mother could fill a room with her presence, her demands, her perfect smile—but never with love. Her eyes were cold, and her hands, when they touched Samantha and her siblings, felt like reminders that they weren’t quite good enough. The children learned early to be invisible when she was angry, to shrink themselves when she entered the room. The world had to see perfection, and if they couldn’t meet her standards, there were hidden consequences.

There were days when Samantha would stand in front of the mirror, adjusting her clothes to look just right, wondering why her Mother couldn’t accept any of them for who they actually were. But nothing ever worked. The more they all tried, the more pressure and unrealistic expectations her Mother would require. Forgetting that it takes a healthy and positive environment to allow a child to truly thrive and be successful. The image had taken over and she was lost in the dream, instead of reality.

Samantha couldn’t understand it back then. She didn’t know the full story about her Mother’s childhood, the way she’d been neglected and hurt by her own Mother, or how her father’s words and abuse still echoed in her mind, telling her she wasn’t enough. She never talked about it. She just made everyone around her, especially Samantha and her siblings feel like they were a reflection of her—an extension of her image. And when they didn’t live up to it, she made sure they felt the weight of it.

Days would pass with cold stares, silence, and constant picking at every little thing they did or didn’t do, but the pain remained, like a bruise that never quite faded. Samantha would go to school, her chest heavy with the weight of her mother’s expectations, and her mind constantly replaying the things Angela had said. Her Mother was her first and true bully, she would laugh as she would make fun of Samantha’s flaws and short comings.

One afternoon, Samantha sat in her room, staring at the picture of the family on the wall. Everyone was smiling. Angela looked perfect, as always, her makeup flawless, her hair shiny and styled. Her father Mark, was beside her, tall and aloof, his eyes lifeless, representing the loveless marriage that he was in. Samantha viewed her parents marriage as a business partnership. There was no love, no romance, no emotional connection. She could count on one hand how many times they actually went on a date since she could remember. Here they are now though, Mark’s hand resting on Angela’s shoulder like a trophy. Samantha and her siblings neatly put together without a single attention to detail left unattended; except for the fact her Mother had just learned earlier that day about Mark’s newborn baby by another woman being born. Her Mother was always good at creating an image that didn’t exist and discreetly hiding all her lies, manipulations, and infidelity. It would always be just a mirage of fiction.

The mirror always showed her what wasn’t. It showed the families imperfections, like a movie constantly replaying in her head on a daily basis, the things she couldn’t hide. But it also showed something else. A faint, growing sense of anger. A small voice, buried deep, that whispered something she had never dared say out loud: You don’t have to stay like this, her misery is NOT yours!

Samantha stood up, shaking off the fear that had paralyzed her for years. She walked over to the window, staring out at the yard below. She could hear her mother’s voice echoing in her mind, telling her she was nothing without her. Telling her she would fail without the “guidance” of someone who knew better. Her Mother had deep and dark secrets that she tried her hardest to manipulate and hide from the world, but Samantha always knew there was more than what meets the eye with her Mother.

But for the first time, Samantha didn’t feel like listening. She didn’t feel like obeying someone who was always living a fat lie.

She turned back to the picture. Her fingers hovered over the frame, as if considering something reckless. Her mother had never liked the idea of Samantha having her own identity, but maybe it was time for her to stop living inside the suffocating walls of her mother’s image.

Samantha reached out, pulled the picture off the wall, and tossed it into the trash can. It felt like a small victory, but it was hers. She wasn’t going to be the good obedient girl in the background anymore. She was going to make her voice and the truth be heard.

That night, after her mother’s harsh words were followed by silence, Samantha lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She had grown accustomed to the weight of her mother’s cruelty, to the endless manipulation and emotional abuse. But something was shifting. The anger she had bottled up for so long had started to turn into something else: a quiet resolve. She prayed to God nightly, but tonight God was going to answer her prayers. Samantha had just opened an email for a job offer she had been praying to receive for over a year; ironically it was the same job her Mother had tried to talk her out of applying for. Filling her head with negativity and doubt about herself, the job, and anything connected to it. She clicked on the, “Accept” button at the bottom of the job offer. A message appeared stating, “Welcome to the team, an HR representative will be in contact with you within 24 hours for your onboarding.”

For the first time in her life, Samantha seen the wheel turning and her chariot to freedom had finally appeared. Tomorrow, she would wake up with a new perspective and be more than just the image her mother had forced her to become. She would be the woman who God wanted her to be and fulfill a life of hard work, success, happiness, and true love. While her Mother would continue to live in the dark and phony superficial world she created but truly wanted to escape.

And for the first time, Samantha felt a big light of hope growing inside her.