PART 1 — The Invitation I Couldn’t Refuse

I’m 65 years old.

I moved to the city to live with my son in my retirement. Every night at exactly 3 a.m., he takes a shower. One night, out of curiosity, I peeked in—and what I saw in that bathroom scared me so much that the very next day, I moved into a nursing home.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the channel Solar Stories. I am 65 years old, and I went to the city to live with my son for my retirement. Every night at 3:00 in the morning, he would take a shower. One time, my curiosity got the better of me, and I peeked. The scene in the bathroom terrified me so much that I moved into a retirement community the very next day.

In the small town where I had lived my entire life, the late autumn wind carried the dry chill of early winter, piercing sharply into every

corner of the house. My name is Eleanor, and at 65 years old, I had just officially said goodbye to the chalk dust of the high school lecture hall where I had taught for decades.

This old craftsman-style house had witnessed almost my entire life, from an enthusiastic young teacher to a widow, and now to this old woman whose hair was strewn with the frost of time. On the mantlepiece, a photograph of my late husband still stood, solemn and imposing.

Thinking of him stirred a complex feeling in my heart, a mixture of sorrow and a sense of a heavy burden lifted. People often say to speak no ill of the dead, but the invisible scars left on my soul by his beatings and harsh rebukes could never fade. He was a tyrannical, violent man who always treated our son and me as his private property.

The day

he found out he had terminal cancer was the same day our son Julian received his acceptance letter to a great state university. I suppressed all my grievances and resentment to care for him until he closed his eyes for the last time, not out of love, but out of duty, and to allow Julian to focus on his studies.

The day my husband died, I didn’t shed a single tear. I only felt the weight on my shoulders suddenly lighten. From that day on, my son and I had only each other.

I poured all my love and energy into raising him, taking on odd jobs in addition to teaching to support his education. From a young age, Julian was bright and decisive, but also had a quick temper, perhaps a trait inherited from his father. Whenever I saw him frown and shout, an invisible fear would creep into

my heart.

I tried to use all of a mother’s tenderness to correct and guide him, hoping to smooth out the sharp edges of his personality. In the end, Julian did not disappoint me. He graduated with honors and quickly found a good job in a major city, eventually getting promoted to regional manager for a well-known corporation.

He married a wife, a gentle and kind girl named Clara. At last, the heavy burden on my shoulders was lifted. I thought that from then on I would live a comfortable, carefree life, tending to my tomato plants in the morning and taking walks with the other older ladies in town in the evening.

But life rarely goes as planned.

That day, I was busy in my garden when the phone rang. It was Julian.

“Hey, Mom. What are you doing?”

His voice on the phone, even in a simple greeting, always carried a subtle sense of pressure. I wiped my dirt-stained hands on my apron and chuckled softly.

“I’m just checking on the tomatoes. They’re almost ready to be picked. Is something wrong, son?”

“Mom, Clara and I have talked it over. I want you to get your things in order. This weekend, I’m driving down to pick you up and bring you to the city to live with us.”

I froze. The thought of leaving this place, of leaving the quiet life I knew so well, made my heart sink.

“Oh, let’s not, son. I’m used to living here. I don’t know anyone there. I wouldn’t be comfortable, and I’d just be a bother to you and your wife. You two have your jobs. You’re so busy.”

“What bother, Mom?”

Julian’s tone held a hint of impatience.

“It’s a son’s duty to take care of his mother. Besides, what if something happened to you out there all alone in the country? Who would even know? I’ve already made up my mind, so please don’t argue. We’ve already prepared a room for you.”