Mom Protected My Attacker, I Went to Prison

In my fifth year in prison, my mother visited for the first time.

She was a nationally renowned lawyer and the key witness whose testimony put me here.

We picked up the phones on either side of the thick glass. Her eyes were red when she asked how I had been all these years.

I told her I was fine.

Just before the visit ended, she said, "Aubrey, I bought a house in Havenwood. You will be out in three days. We can start over."

I smiled but said nothing.

We could not start over.

She did not know that to end the suffering of my cellmate Brenda, who had late stage cancer, I helped her die.