My Mother Chose a Man Over Me: How She Betrayed Me for a Stranger
My name is Emily, Im 17, and Im from Manchester. Ive kept this story locked inside me for years, silent, but now Im ready to tell it. Maybe someone will see themselves in it. Maybe someone will reconsider their choices. Or perhaps at least one mother will think twice before betraying her own child, like mine did.
My parents divorced when I was ten. I cant say we were a happy family beforetheir arguments, the bitterness, the distance between them were obvious even when I didnt fully understand. After the divorce, it got worse. Mum and Dad seemed to fight over me, not out of love but obligation. I was shuffled between their flats like an unwanted suitcase. At Dads, it was cramped but quiet. With Mum, there was space, but the tension grew heavier every year.
Everything fell apart when a new man entered Mums life. His name was James. He was in his thirties, nearly a decade younger than her, and from the start, he acted like he owned the place while I was just a nuisance. At first, he wore a polite smile, pretending to care. But the mask slipped quickly. He didnt like that I lived with Mum. He hated when she spent money on me. He had no problem saying out loud that my dad was irresponsible, that I was a burden, and that I should already be “standing on my own two feet.”
He manipulated hertook her money, convinced her she didnt need a teenage daughter, that she deserved “freedom” and to “put herself first.” And Mum Mum listened. She stopped noticing my tears at night. How Id tiptoe around the kitchen to avoid them. How Id lock myself in the bathroom just to sit in silence.
The final straw was a night I heard them screaming at each other again. The walls shook. I ran out, trying to protect herI thought he might hit her. But it went differently. The fury in his eyes made my heart stop. I shouted, “Stop it! Dont yell at her!”then came the blow. Hard, sharp. He hit me so hard I fell, slamming my head against the wardrobe. Everything blurred. I only remember Mum screaming then silence.
I thought shed kick him out. That shed hold me, call a doctor, say she loved me. I hoped for it. I searched her eyes for any signbut she just whispered, “Youve ruined everything.” An hour later, she told me to pack for Dads.
I gathered my things in silence, my heart ripped out. I didnt cry. Didnt shout. I just left, realising I had no home anymore.
Now I live with Dad. He tries, but we dont have the closeness I desperately wanted with Mum. Ive stopped hoping shell call, say sorry, come back Though a part of me is still that little girl waiting for her to open the door and say, “Forgive me, love.” But it wont happen. She chose him. She chose the man who struck her child.
I dont wish her harm. But I know one day, hell leave. Hell find someone younger, prettier, easier. And maybe then, shell remember me. But I wont be the girl who forgives everything. A mothers betrayal is a wound that never heals.
To every parent: dont have children if you wont be there for them, if you cant put them above your love life. We didnt choose to be born. But if you brought us into this worlddont betray us.
Mum, if you ever read this I survived. I got back up. Im strong. But Ill never come crying to you again. Youre not my mother anymore. Youre just the woman who gave birth to me.
