Torn Between Choices

Quiet Rebellion

Dora's POV

The noise of cutlery scraping against plates kept interrupting my thoughts.

How do I keep Mum out of this?

She notices everything. One wrong look and she’ll know I’m up to something.

“Thessa?” Mum said.

“Yeah?” Thessa answered.

“Nice meal,” Mum smiled.

Then she turned to Anna. “Your mum called. You’ll be leaving next week.”

Anna began rambling nervously, trying to be polite, and I could see Mum’s eyebrow lift slightly. She already suspected something.

“That’s enough,” Mum said softly, wiping her mouth and setting her fork down.

She stood. “Thessa. You know what to do.”

She meant to clean up after we're done and serve her usual night coffee which she believes aids her digestion.

Margaret's POV

I opened the door of my room , walked towards the table and gulped my coffee.

I sat down on my bed

Dinner was quieter than usual.

Too quiet.

My daughters kept stealing glances at each other, sharp, nervous, rehearsed glances.

Anna smiled a little too wide. Dora barely touched her food.

Even Thessa, who usually busied herself clearing plates before anyone asked, was oddly still.

Something was off… but I couldn’t name it.

I told myself I was just tired , emotionally wrung out by that call from him.

“It’s… me.”

The voice echoed again in my head.

For years, I buried the past so deep I almost believed it had died there. But one unexpected call ,his voice, and suddenly everything was awake again.

Not just anger.

Not just fear.

It was guilt

The house finally felt quiet, too quiet, the kind that makes your thoughts louder than they should ever be.

I should relax. I should breathe.

So why does it feel like something is slipping out of my grasp?

“You don’t run from brokenness, Margaret. You fix what you can… or it follows you.”

I had snapped at him.

The silence that followed was worse than shouting.

Now the words press against the inside of my skull.

What kind of mother have you become?

I swallow. My chest felt tight, not like pain, more like… sinking.

Every time I try to hold myself together, another thought loosens me:

If they ever found out. If they knew I wasn’t this flawless mother I pretend to be. That I cheated. That I left because I couldn’t bear the truth of myself…

What would they see when they looked at me?

A mother? Or a disappointment wearing makeup and control?

I lay back slowly, telling myself it was only exhaustion, that I deserved a little rest.

But the heaviness in my body was deeper than tiredness. It was a shut-down.

“I’m just tired…”

The words barely made it past my lips before the room blurred quietly out of focus.

My breathing slowed.

And the world slipped away.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. My vision tilted ,not darkness, not dizziness , just distance, as though I am quietly stepping back from my own body.

My eyelids grew heavier than they should ,not a warning, not panic , just a soft unraveling. Like my body is shutting the door on the noise before my mind can protest.

The last thing I feel is relief.

Then everything falls silent.

Dora's POV

Anna peeked past the corridor, then looked back at me with a small nod.

“She’s asleep,” she whispered. “Really asleep.”

My heartbeat eased. Step one was out of the way.

I hurried to Thessa’s door and knocked, twice, then a third time. No response.

“Deep sleeper,” I muttered under my breath.

We returned to our room to change, excitement thrumming under my nerves.

When I slipped into the dress, Anna grinned at me.

“You look perfect,” she whispered.

I gave the same smile back, the mischievous, reckless kind we only ever allow ourselves when Mum isn’t watching.

We didn't use the window as planned

We held our shoes in our hands as we tiptoed our way to the door.

The hallway felt longer than usual as Anna and I crept toward the door.

Every shadow looked like Mum standing there, arms folded, ready to dismantle all our plans in one breath.

We reached the door. It was locked but with the keys close by

Anna turned the knob confidently , but nothing in me moved.

I froze.

Mum usually keeps the keys in her room

What if Mum wasn’t really asleep?

What if she was only lying down?

What if she heard us?

My throat tightened.

“Dora,” Anna whispered without looking back,

“either open the door… or we go back and wear pajamas.”

I swallowed and leaned closer to her.

“What if she wakes up?” I whispered so faintly I wasn’t sure it counted as sound.

Anna gave me a tiny eye-roll , the kind that said “you are adorable and stressful at the same time” ,then whispered:

“She’s out cold. I checked twice.”

I still didn’t move.

My fingers hovered above the edge of the door not touching, not pulling back, just stuck.

What if this ruins everything?

What if this is the night she finally stops trusting me?

My pulse hammered.

Anna leaned in again. “Dora… this is the part where you choose. The girl you are in this house… or the girl you wish you were.”

For two long seconds, I stared at the door like it was a cliff edge.

Then, slowly, I pushed it open.

The hallway on the other side was silent.

No footsteps.

No voice calling my name.

No reprimand.

Just stillness.

We stepped out together.

The gatekeeper was already outside, waiting with that look that said “I saw nothing.”

Anna handed him the money, and the gate opened with a hush.

I exhaled shakily, not excitement, not relief , it was something softer.

Like the world had just agreed to let me live differently for one night.

But even as we walked through the gate, I looked back…just once.

Part of me expected Mum to appear at the balcony, stern, awake, disappointed.

But nothing moved.

The house stayed asleep.

And for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t the obedient version of myself.

I was the version that chose me. I didn't regret it!

Thessa POV

I stayed seated on my bed, legs bouncing restlessly.

I hadn’t answered the door when Dora knocked ,let her think I was asleep. It was safer.

In my head, everything had sounded smooth and fearless.

In reality, my palms were wet and my heartbeat wouldn’t slow down.

What if Mum wakes up?

What if the pills weren’t enough?

What if she walks in and realizes everything?

A floorboard creaked in the hallway.

I froze.

My breath stopped halfway up my throat as I stared at the door, waiting for the handle to turn ,waiting for her.

Silence.

No footsteps. No knock. Just stillness.

I pressed a trembling hand over my chest, forcing air back into my lungs.

Not yet. Not safe yet.

I turned toward the window, slowly , easing the curtain open just enough to peek out.

“Psst… Thessa!”

Rose’s whisper floated upward.

I didn’t move right away. My gut still churned tight with the fear that this was all too easy ,too quiet.

Then the gatekeeper appeared below and raised the ladder, metal tapping gently against brick.

That sound , small as it was ,snapped me into motion.

She got into my room and handed me my clothes. I got dressed.

I slung my bag across my shoulder, hesitated one last second, then climbed down into the night, heart pounding.

Rose grabbed my wrist to steady me once I reached the ground.

“You okay?” she whispered.

I nodded , though I wasn’t sure it was true.

Inside the house, one curtain shifted with a faint draft. For a second I thought a silhouette moved, Mum’s silhouette.

I swallowed hard and looked away before courage could evaporate.

Minutes later, we were in the car.

The engine started, the gate slid open and only then, when the night swallowed the house behind me, did I finally breathe..