Lilith, who was standing behind Mario while holding Tara in her arms, crunched up her face in disgust and asked, "What’s wrong with your wife? Peeing herself in front of everyone? How can anyone live here now? It's so filthy."
The three of them stared at me from top to bottom like I was an animal in a zoo. Their mocking, sneering and belittling in their eyes stifled my breath.
"Daddy, hurry! Drag Auntie to the bathroom! She’s still peeing!" urged Tara.
Mario must have found the situation embarrassing too because, in a flash, he rushed over and grabbed me.
As he dragged me, my stomach slammed into the corner of a table. A sharp pain shot through me and I gasped and cried out, "Mario. It hurts!"
He ignored me and shoved me into the bathroom. I instinctively reached for the door handle, but he slammed it shut and held it down.
"Did giving birth make you forget how to use the toilet?" he asked. "Then stay in there and relearn it!"
I clutched my stomach as I tried to stand on my feet, but then I heard it. It was the sound of the door being locked from the outside.
"Open the door … Mario! Open the door!" I yelled.
Panic crashed over me like a tidal wave. When I was little, my mother and I had been trapped in an elevator. I had watched her die right in front of me. Ever since that time, I suffered from severe claustrophobia.
Mario knew about this and yet he still locked me in.
My breaths came in ragged gasps. My limbs went numb. My vision blurred.
Outside, his voice floated through the door. "Come on, Tara. Daddy will take you and Mommy to stay in a five-star hotel."
Laughter echoed from outside the door as the three of them walked away. Then, the door shut and everything went silent after that.
Three years of marriage shattered in an instant. The whirlwind of changes that came with childbirth had caught me completely off guard.
For thirty years, I had carried myself with dignity, cherished my self-worth and approached love with sincerity and caution. However, I had still fallen flat on my face.
A crushing sense of regret clawed at my chest and the closed room seemed to press down on me and make it hard for me to breathe.
I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. When I woke up, my phone was ringing.
When I picked up the call, I heard the other end sound, "Hello, Miss Taylor? When do you plan to check into the postpartum care center?"
Postpartum care center .…