12/08/2025
My husband made dinner, and right after my son and I ate, we collapsed. Pretending to be unconscious, I heard him say on the phone, "That's it... you'll both be leaving soon." After he left the room, I whispered to my son, "Don't move yet..." What happened next surpassed anything I could have imagined...
My husband made dinner, and for once, the house seemed almost normal.
Ethan moved around the kitchen like a man trying to prove something: humming, wiping the counter twice, setting the table with real plates instead of the ones we used on tired nights. He even poured my son Caleb a small glass of apple juice, with a grin that was a little too wide.
"Look at Daddy," Caleb said, grinning. "Chef Ethan."
I grinned back, but my stomach churned. Lately, Ethan had been... careful. Not nicer. Careful. Like someone watching their step. We ate chicken and rice, the kind of food that should have been comforting. Ethan barely touched his plate. He kept staring at his phone, face down next to his fork, as if it were about to vibrate for permission.
Halfway through the meal, my tongue felt heavy. Thick. My limbs grew sluggish, as if my body were crawling through water.
Caleb blinked hard. "Mom," he mumbled, "I'm... sleepy."
Ethan's hand reached out and patted Caleb's shoulder, gentle as a priest. "It's okay, buddy. Get some rest."
Fear pierced the fog.
I stood up too fast; the room tilted. My knees buckled. I grabbed the edge of the table, but it slid as if my hands weren't mine. The floor rose up to meet me.
The darkness tried to close in.
And just before he did, I made a life-saving decision: I let my body relax, but kept my mind alert.
I landed on the rug near the sofa, my cheek pressed against fibers that smelled of detergent. Caleb's small body slumped beside me, a soft moan, then silence. I wanted to grab him, shake him, scream...
But I didn't move.
I listened.
Ethan's chair scr***d backward. He approached slowly, like someone circling something they don't want to disturb. I felt his shadow fall across my face. His shoe brushed my shoulder, testing me.
"Good," he whispered.
Then he picked up his phone.
I heard his footsteps moving toward the hallway, and then his voice: low, urgent, relieved.
"It's done," Ethan said. "They ate him. They'll both be leaving soon."
My stomach froze. A woman's voice crackled over the loudspeaker, weak with emotion. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," he answered. "I followed the dosage. It'll look like an accidental overdose. I'll call 911 later... after it's too late."
"Finally," the woman whispered. "Then we can stop hiding."
Ethan exhaled as if he'd been holding years in his lungs. "I'll be free."
Footsteps. A door opening: our bedroom closet. A drawer sliding open.
Then something metallic clinked.
Ethan came back into the living room with something that skimmed the floor, maybe a duffel bag. He stopped again above us, and I felt his gaze like a hand around my throat.
"Goodbye," he murmured.
The front door opened. A cold draft came in. Then it closed.
Silence.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would give me away.
I forced my lips to move, barely more than a whisper, and murmured to Caleb, "Don't move yet..."
And then I felt it: Caleb's fingers tightening against mine.
He was awake... To be continued in the comment below 👇