THE SUSPECT
Don Albert is a billionaire businessman who loves his mother, Donya Trining very much. Five years ago, Donya Trining had a stroke and became “bedridden” and mute. She can no longer walk and cannot speak except by grunting.

Albert married a simple teacher named Anna. Anna is kind, but since he arrived at the mansion, Donya Trining has always “cried” and lost her mind when he comes near her.

Albert often comes home with bruises on his mother.

“Albert…” cried Private Nurse Betty (who had been serving them for a long time). “Ma’am Anna has hurt your mother again. I saw her pinch Donya earlier.”

Albert was furious. “Anna! Why are you hurting your mother?! The person is already paralyzed!”

“That’s not true, Albert!” cried Anna. “I’m not doing anything! Nurse Betty is the one lying!”

But Albert believed the Nurse and his mother who were always in tears and seemed very afraid of Anna. Albert decided: He would divorce Anna and throw her out of the mansion as soon as possible.

THE RETURN
One day, Albert was about to go to the airport for a business trip to Japan. He was already on EDSA when he realized he had left the Blue Folder containing the contracts behind.

“Let’s go back to the mansion,” he ordered the driver. “And don’t honk your horn. I’ll be quick.”

It was noon when Albert arrived. The mansion was quiet. The maids were on break in the backyard.

Albert climbed the stairs. He was going to his room to get the folder, but he heard a loud voice from his mother’s room.

It wasn’t a growl.

It wasn’t crying.

It was the voice of a woman who was very angry and spoke directly.

“Did you think you could beat me? You idiot!”

Albert was nervous. Who was that? All he knew was that Anna and her “deaf” mother were the only ones in the room.

He slowly approached the door. It was slightly ajar.

Albert peeked in.

And at that moment… his world stopped spinning. His whole body went cold and he almost fell over at what he saw.

THE MONSTER IN THE MANSION
Inside the room, he saw Anna. She was kneeling on the floor, crying, her lips were bloody, and her clothes were torn.

And in front of Anna… Donya Trining stood.

STANDING.

The mother he had carried, bathed, and thought was paralyzed for five years… was standing straight, not holding a cane, and kicking Anna hard.

“Don’t, Mama… that’s enough…” Anna pleaded.

“Don’t call me Mama!” Donya Trining shouted—her voice was clear, there was no trace of a stroke.

PAK!

Trining slapped Anna very hard.

“My daughter trusts you too much!” Trining shouted. “You have to go! When Albert comes home, I will put a cigarette burn on my arm. Nurse Betty will say that you burned me! She will definitely send you away!”

Albert’s eyes widened.

He saw Nurse Betty on the side, sitting and eating an apple, laughing while watching the bullying.

“You should act better later, Donya,” Betty laughed. “Let’s add more bruises to your face to make it more believable.”

“Yes,” Trining replied. “I don’t like that woman. She’s just poor. I want her to die with nothing. I want Albert’s attention and money to be mine.”

Trining grabbed Anna’s hair and dragged her away.

“Remember this, Anna. In this house, I am the law. No matter what you say, Albert will not believe you because he sees me as a cripple. I am a poor mother in his eyes, and you are a demon.”

Trining was about to hit Anna with an iron vase.

THE COLLAPSE OF A LIE
Albert could no longer hold back.

BLAG!

Albert kicked the door with all his might.

The door slammed against the wall.

Donya Trining was stunned. Her hand was still raised, holding the vase. She was standing in the middle of the room.

She slowly turned around.

The mother and son’s eyes met.

“A-Albert…” Trining stammered.

Faster than lightning, Trining suddenly fell to the floor and pretended to convulse. “Uhhh… ahhh…” he groaned, returning to acting paralyzed and mute.

Nurse Betty, on the other hand, was stunned by the apple and turned pale.

Albert approached his mother.

“Stand up there,” Albert ordered coldly and frighteningly.

“Uhhh… ahhh…” Trining continued acting, pointing at Anna as if accusing her.

“I SAID YOU STAND UP!” Albert shouted, shaking the entire mansion.

“I saw everything, Mama! I saw you standing! I heard you talking! Five years… Five years you cheated on me?!”

Knowing that she was about to faint, Donya Trining stopped acting. She slowly stood up, shaking off her clothes. The pity on her face disappeared and was replaced by hardness.

“I did that for you, Albert,” Trining justified. “That girl… she’s not right for you. I just want her to go away!”

“So I pretended

You cripple? That’s why you hit my husband and made him look like he did it?!”

Albert approached Anna. He picked up his bleeding and shaking wife.

“Forgive me, Anna… Forgive me…” Albert cried as he hugged his wife. “I believed them… I let them hurt you.”

Albert turned to Nurse Betty.

“Call the police,” Albert ordered the driver who had just arrived. “Send that nurse to jail for complicity and abuse.”

“Sir! Don’t! I was just ordered!” Betty cried as the guards dragged her away.

And finally, to Donya Trining.

“Mama,” Albert said, his voice full of pain. “I gave you everything. My attention, my money, my life. But you poisoned my mind.”

“Son, I am your mother!”

“Because you are my mother, I will not send you to prison,” Albert said. “But from now on… my mother is dead.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Anna and I are leaving. I will sell this mansion. I will take you to a Home for the Aged. You will live there. You will not get any money. You will not have any visitors. And since you are good at pretending to be paralyzed… you will be there alone, until you are truly unable to walk from grief.”

“Albert! Don’t! Don’t leave me!” Trining shouted as she ran (no longer crawling) to chase her son.

But Albert turned his back on her.

Albert and Anna left, leaving behind the mansion full of wealth but a nest of lies. In the end, Albert learned that true disability is not in the body, but in the blackness of a person’s conscience.

THE END