They Said She Was Crazy, But She Was Begging for Help

My mother cried and told me.

She said the caregiver would tie her to the wheelchair and starve her every day after I left for work.

I thought it was ridiculous.

An eighty-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer's—it was only normal for her to confuse reality with hallucinations.

Suppressing my impatience, I bought some fresh fruit for the caregiver to apologize for my mother's accusations, and even gave her a five-hundred-dollar raise.

But the next day, two deep purple bruise marks appeared on my mother’s wrists.

I assumed she had scratched herself. I didn’t believe her at all.