Girl Sees Mom Leave Parents' Bedroom in Tears Every Night, Sets up Camera inside – Story of the Day

Sophie doesn't like Mom's new husband, Derrick. When she starts waking up every evening to the sound of Mom weeping, Sophie will do anything to stop Mom's suffering. But first, she needs evidence.

"Sophia, where are you going? It's game night."

Sophia pulled a face at the front door before looking at Mom. "I'm going out. It's band practice on Friday nights, remember?"

"Can't you stay in this once?" Mom gave her a pleading look. "You never spend time with me anymore and Derrick got Clue out for us."

"I'm fourteen years old, Mom; I'm not playing Clue!" Sophie opened the front door.

"Get back here right now, Sophie." Derrick's face appeared around the corner. "We're going to have a family night, and you are part of this family."

"No way." Sophie slipped out and ran down the hallway. Just because Sophie had to tolerate her stepfather, Derrick, living in their space didn't mean she was interested in getting to know him.

Sophie raced to catch the bus. Soon, she arrived at her friend Charlie's house. Everyone else was already there. Sophie took out her drumsticks with an elaborate twirl and sat down to practice.

On Monday, Sophie spent most of math class practicing her timing for a new song. She had a pencil in each hand and tapped them against the desk. She'd just about got it right when a rhythmic tapping from her left threw her off.

"Would you stop that?" Sophie scowled at her classmate, Josh.

"Sorry." Josh blushed.

"You've got a good sound there, and I was just thinking how I could make it work on the piano."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "This is for drums, not your boujee piano. Don't you play in church?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I only play church music. I can bop too."

"I doubt that." Sophie reached over and lifted the book from his desk. "Braille, seriously? Why would you learn this, never mind read a book in it?"

"I like languages." Josh slipped the book from Sophie's hand. "Braille and ASL don't get half as much attention as they deserve. Everyone should know them."

"You're such a nerd, Josh."

That night, a strange sound woke Sophie. It was dark and late enough that even the downstairs neighbors were silent. Sophie listened for a while...someone was crying. Sophie slipped out of bed and went to her bedroom door.

Mom's bedroom door opened, and Mom hurried out. She wiped her tears away but couldn't keep up with the fresh tears coursing down her cheeks.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Sophie glanced at the bedroom and then back to her mother. "Is Derrick—"

"Your mom wanted to ease into it, to find the right time to tell you, but you're never here."

"Everything's fine, Sophie. Go back to bed, you've got school in the morning." Mom bustled Sophie back into her room.

Sophie wasn't convinced. She climbed back into bed and listened hard as Mom went to the bathroom and then back to her bedroom. Low voices carried down the hall, but Sophie couldn't discern what Mom and Derrick said.

Sophie clenched her teeth. If Derrick had hurt Mom, she'd make him regret it.

Mom's nighttime crying continued for the rest of the week. Sophie barely slept because she worried about what was happening in Mom's bedroom to make her cry in the middle of the night. Sophie never heard anything to explain Derrick's actions, but she found a way to get answers.

An old nanny cam teddy bear peeked out of a box in the garage. Sophie gleefully dissected the bear to get the camera out of it. It was in bad condition and didn't record audio when Sophie tested it, but she decided it would work.

When she returned from school on Friday, Sophie took the camera to Mom's room. The bookcase in the corner would be the perfect spot to hide it. While Sophie was positioning the camera, the bedroom door flew open.

"What are you doing in here?"

Derrick stood in the doorway, staring at her with arms crossed over his chest.

"What, I can't look for a book in my mom's room now?" Sophie bumped against him as she marched from the room. "I'll bring my library card next time."

Sophie's heart hammered against her ribs while she walked away. She hoped she'd hidden the camera well enough to get the proof she'd need to go after Derrick.

However, the video footage answered none of Sophie's questions when she reviewed it the next day. Mom sat on the edge of the bed and started crying, and Derrick got up to comfort her. Sophie watched it several times but found nothing incriminating.

"If only I knew what they were saying," she muttered as she watched Mom and Derrick's lips moving on the screen. "Luckily, I know someone who can help me with that."

Sophie cornered Josh after school on Monday. Josh turned bright red and started stammering when she told him she needed his help. It was so awkward Sophie almost changed her mind, but he was the only person she knew who might be able to lipread.

"This isn't what I expected," Josh said when Sophie led him into the garage.

"It's private down here," Sophie replied. She took out her laptop and set it on an old table. "Now get over here."

Josh crouched down beside her. He was a little too close and didn't seem to know what to do with himself. It was cute, but Sophie quickly scrubbed that thought from her mind. There were more serious matters to attend to.

"Well?" Sophie gave Josh an expectant look. She'd played the footage for him twice now, but all he'd done was frown.

"I...I'm sorry, Sophie. I didn't know your mom was sick."

"Sick?" That single word was like a crack spreading across glass—it changed everything Sophie thought she knew. "What do you mean she's sick?"

"Uh...you didn't know." Josh ran his fingers through his hair. "Your mom has a serious illness." He looked sadly at her.

"It's really bad, and she isn't doing well."

Sophie's hands curled into fists. Josh had to be lying! She looked back at the screen, where the video was paused on a scene of Mom weeping while Derrick held her close. Derrick was supposed to be the problem, and Sophie would solve it by getting rid of him somehow. This sickness changed everything.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Sophie's voice hitched, and tears formed in her eyes. "Why..."

Josh put his arm around Sophie as she wept.

Josh stayed with Sophie until she was calm. He also helped her research her mom's illness and did everything he could to support her as she took in the bad news.

That evening, Sophie called Mom and Derrick to the sitting room and confronted them.

"When were you going to tell me?" Sophie demanded.

Tears formed in Sophie's eyes. She couldn't believe Mom's kindness and forgiveness after she behaved like such a brat.

"Why do you think we've been trying so hard to get you to spend time with us, Sophie?" Derrick sighed. "Your mom wanted to ease into it, to find the right time to tell you, but you're never here."

Sophie wanted to shout at Derrick, to hate him for blaming her, but the look on Mom's face stopped her.

"I also wanted to spend as much time with you as I could," Mom added. "Every second that I have left, however long that may be. But every time I reached out to you, you pushed me away."

Fear crawled along Sophie's skin. "But there are treatments..."

"They're too expensive." Mom shook her head. "I'm afraid that I just have to do the best I can with the time God has given me."

Sophie wasn't satisfied with that answer. The next day, she collected Josh after school again and arranged with her other friends to meet them at Charlie's place.

"Why's the church organist here?" Charlie sneered.

"Because he's my friend." Sophie punched Charlie's shoulder. "And because I've just realized that church might be the solution to my problem."

Sophie's friends exchanged quizzical glances, but as she explained her mother's illness and the idea she'd just had to help Mom, they all nodded in agreement.

"We'll do whatever it takes to help your mom, Soph."

Charlie hugged her tightly. "Even if this is going to be weird."

"Weird or not, this is our best shot right now." Sophie bumped fists with her other bestie, Andrea. "And Josh is just the person to hook us up."

"I don't know, Sophie." Josh chewed his lip and stared at the floor.

"It'll work, Josh." Sophie ducked her head so she could look him in the eye. "It has to work."

Over the next two weeks, Sophie's plan slowly came together. That Saturday, they waited in the wings of the church hall for their turn to perform on the small stage.

"I thought it was weird when we played that bar mitzvah, but this is way weirder," Andrea muttered.

"All for the cause," Charlie replied.

When it was their turn to play, Sophie approached the mic. "Thank you all for coming here today," she said. "As you know, all the benefits from this concert go towards my mom's medical treatment. I can't tell you how much it means to me to see so many people here to lend their support."

The audience cheered, and Sophie stepped back, allowing Andrea to take her position. The audience was initially surprised when Sophie and her band started playing a rock version of a popular gospel song, but soon they were joining their voices to Andrea's for the chorus.

Sophie grinned at Charlie, who gave her a quick nod while fingering his bass guitar. The fundraiser was a huge success!

Weeks later, Sophie sat beside Derrick in the hospital hallway. She jiggled her leg and slapped her hands against her thighs in rhythm. When the doctor emerged from Mom's room, Sophie and Derrick leaped to their feet.

"She's responded very well." The doctor grinned. "We're keeping her for a week to monitor her, but I think it will be smooth sailing from here on."

Sophie was so pleased she turned to Derrick and hugged him tightly. Then she rushed in to see her mother. Mom smiled at her, and Sophie leaned in to hug her gently.

"I'm so sorry for everything, Mom," she whispered.

"I took you for granted. I was so caught up in being angry at Derrick for invading our lives that I lost sight of what's important."

"It's okay, baby. The only thing that matters is we're together now, and will have many more years to cherish each other."

Tears formed in Sophie's eyes. She couldn't believe Mom's kindness and forgiveness after she behaved like such a brat. Guilt churned in her guts.

"Mom? Could we move game night to Saturdays?" Sophie asked.

A week later, Sophie and Derrick decorated the apartment to welcome Mom home. They had a quiet family dinner and spent the evening watching a movie.

Saturday nights were now game night, and Sophie never missed a single one. When she grew bored with Clue and Monopoly, Sophie enlisted Josh's help to spice things up a little.

"So, there are seven of these weird dice, and they all have a different number of sides?" Derrick frowned at Josh's Dungeons and Dragons dice set.

"You'll pick it up as the game progresses," Josh assured him. "It's really not that complicated."

"Are you sure about that?" Mom peeped at Josh over the top of the rule book. "Most rule books aren't the size of a novel, you know."

Sophie smiled and looked on as Josh talked Derrick and Mom through the basics of the game. She should have paid more attention since she also didn't know how the game worked, but seeing the enthusiasm on Josh's face and hearing Mom laugh made her the happiest girl in the world.

Months passed, and soon it was Mom's birthday. Sophie and Josh waited anxiously in the church hall for Derrick and Mom to arrive.

"Do you really think she'll like it?"

Sophie flipped her drumsticks through her fingers to burn off some of her nerves.

"She's going to love it." Josh grinned at her.

Sophie couldn't help but smile. When Josh looked at her like that, it made her heart flip-flops and her belly filled with butterflies. She was about to go to him, maybe to kiss him, when Derrick walked in with Mom.

Sophie played the opening chords for the song she and Josh wrote for Mom. Soon Josh's piano joined her. When Josh started singing the lyrics they wrote, Sophie and Mom locked gazes across the room. Both were crying.

What can we learn from this story?

• Family is an essential thing in life. Whether it's the family we're born into, or the family we find along the way, we can overcome all obstacles with the love and support of a caring family.
• Time spent together is the easiest way to show our love for others. No matter how busy our lives get, it's crucial to ensure we always have quality time to spend with the people we love most.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a teen who resents his mother watching over him, but soon discovers how much he needs her.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.