At the family dinner, my husband poured hot soup over my head while his mother laughed.

I should have left then.

I see that now.

But when you’ve lived inside tension for so long, you start convincing yourself it’s normal.

That if you just stay quiet… keep the peace… don’t react…

It will pass.

It never does.

Halfway through dinner, I dropped my napkin.

A small thing. An accident.

But in that house, even small things became weapons.

“Oh, there she goes again,” Claire muttered just loud enough to be heard. “Always so clumsy.”