I send my mother 1.5 million pesos monthly for my postpartum wife. Coming home early, I found my wife eating spoiled rice with fish heads. Furious, I confronted my mom, who sneered, “She doesn’t deserve better.” Then, I checked the family safe and found…

voice surprisingly steady.

“If I don’t, she will remain a ghost haunting our perimeter,” I replied, my hand gripping the cold brass of the deadbolt. “The ghosts have to be faced.”

I threw the lock and pulled the heavy door inward.

The rush of damp, petrichor-scented air swept into the hallway. My mother flinched slightly as the door opened, as if expecting continue reading …