Dying for Her Perfect Image

My mom’s favorite phrase was, "You’ll make us look bad."

On Christmas Eve, I hired a professional cleaning service for a deep clean.

But Mom insisted we clean the entire apartment ourselves before they arrived. She said she didn’t want the cleaners to think we lived like pigs. I had no choice but to help her.

I ended up with a raging fever from exhaustion. Yet, she forced me to take a shower before going to the ER. She said smelling like sweat would make people at the hospital judge us.

By the time I finally reached the hospital, I was practically slipping into shock.