I installed a secret camera to keep an eye on my mother-in-law, but when I found out what she was doing, I was horrified.
I never imagined that I could be that anxious all the time. I thought a mother-in-law would be like the characters in movies before I got married: fair but strict, someone who would eventually accept you if you tried. And I tried. Actually. But it seems like my mother-in-law decided early on that “you don’t belong here.”
She didn’t yell. She refrained from starting fights. She just gradually pushed me out of the picture.
At first, it was minor matters. She would “accidentally” oversalt the soup when I was making dinner if I wasn’t watching. While I was doing the laundry, she would bleach my colored clothes. “I didn’t know,” she claimed.
Then I became aware of the fading of my makeup. Suddenly my favorite lipstick was broken and my cream containers were empty. All she did was seem surprised when I asked:
Maybe you didn’t realize you’d used it all.
One night I woke up to the scent of charred cotton in the bedroom. I ran to the kitchen, where the oven was on and my shoes were inside. I intended to attend a job interview wearing the same ones. Naturally, she denied everything:
A practical joke must have been played by one of the neighbors.
I almost laughed, but it wasn’t funny.
The final straw was the outfit. That was what I intended to wear to my friend’s wedding. It had been hanging in the closet for a week. I checked it every day. But I found it slashed to pieces two hours before I left.
Upon passing the room, my mother-in-law said without comment:
If it isn’t yours, it isn’t meant for you.
I pointed the camera into the kitchen. The worst she could do, I stupidly thought, would be to throw salt on my plants or spit in my food. The truth, however, was far more terrifying.
On the second day, while I was watching the film, she came up to my mug. She pulled out a small white package. I flavored my tea with what looked like sugar. But it wasn’t sugar. Then she used a spoon to mix it well.
Her face was smiling, but it was icy and lifeless. In a whisper, she told herself:
This is better. This is not where you should be.
That night, I didn’t get any sleep. The next morning, I took the USB stick to the police.
I packed up my things and left that night. My spouse was abroad on business at the time, so I didn’t clarify anything over the phone. Put safety first. We’ll give further information later.
A week later, I got the results. The powder that she was adding to my tea turned out to be a veterinary sedative, which is intended to put animals to sleep. weakness, dizziness, and sleepiness in small amounts. Higher dosages have the potential to induce respiratory collapse and coma.
I remembered feeling strangely weak on a few instances, as though time were running out. I thought it was just exhaustion.
Investigations are underway into her. My husband is still not believing it. That his mother could have done such a thing is unthinkable to him.
