A MOTHER'S UNDYING LOVE FOR HER CHILD

Fate is resourceful. I used to believe that but fate has a cruel way of coming back to haunt you. To haunt your family. To haunt your town.

I always been a woman of fate. A woman who believes fate is what you make. I believed my family was the greatest thing to ever happen to me.

I have a wonderful family and three amazing children. We live in the most beautiful town, Ember Falls. A town where everybody knows everybody and where secrets are hidden.

I have been keeping a very big secret from my town. A secret that has shattered my little town. A secret that shattered my loving family.

I never believed the secret I kept would come back and haunt me the way it did. Now I have to face the reality of what my secret did.

The secret I've been keeping has span generations on my mother's side of the family. When I met my husband, I never told him my secret.

When we got married, I still didn't have the courage to tell him my secret. I never told him my fear of having children.

He always wondered why I went to the hospital every month on the exact same date, the seventh.

I told my husband it was a normal routine doctor's visit. He never believed. He never questioned me either. I hated keeping secrets from him but this one I had to keep.

The day I got pregnant was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. It wasn't. It was the day I feared the most. I faked my happiness. That was cruel to me and my husband.

Nine months later fate was on my side. I prayed for a boy and a boy is what I got. I didn't have to worry about my secret getting out.

I gave birth to my son Hudson. He was the most beautiful baby boy. I couldn't have been happier. A year after Hudson was born, I got pregnant again.

Once again, I prayed for a boy. This time fate had other plans for me. I was having a baby girl. On the outside I was happy. On the inside I was dreading the worst.

For five years I never told my husband my secret. For five years I lived-in blissful happiness. Now that happiness was being shattered.

My unborn daughter was innocent. This was not her fault for what's about to happen. It's my fault for not telling my husband the truth and preparing him.

The secret I've been keeping goes back many generations on my mother's side inflicting the female line.

The first sign that something terrible was happening was the day my many times over great grandmother went mad.

Back in her time the word mental illness never existed. They called it a curse. My many times over great grandmother was sent to an insane asylum.

For years she stayed at the asylum and no one was inflicted with the curse. My many times over great grandfather and the rest of the family thought the curse was gone. That wasn't the case.

Years later many more women in my family began showing signs of the curse. They were sent to the asylum. For years they stayed there and for years they thought the curse was gone.

Again that wasn't the case. It was revealed by a prominent doctor that the curse lays dormant for a generation then comes back. No one knew why.

When me and my sister were born, we didn't understand why our parents kept us away from our family. By the time we got older my sister started to change. I didn't know why.

My parents eventually told me the truth about the curse. My parents watched me. I didn't show signs of the curse but my sister did.

I knew my sister wasn't cursed. That it was something more serious. I begged my parents to go to the hospital to get my sister help.

A curse was crazy and I knew it. What my sister needed was extreme help. We went to the hospital so my sister could get tested. We got the diagnose. It shocked us to our core.

Me and my parents hid the diagnoses from the rest of our family. I was scared to tell my husband. Fate was on my side and the love I have for my child.

I cried when I finally told my husband the truth, He looked at me and hugged me. His next words took me by surprise. My husband told me we are in this together. Our little girl is going to be the most loved girl.

Fate was good to me that day. I gave birth to my little girl. We named her Nayeli. She was the most perfect baby girl.

I love both my children equally but I worried about Nayeli the most. Three years passed since Nayeli was born and there was no troubling sign. Everything was perfect.

Then as fate would have it. I got pregnant again. This time I didn't ask fate to intervene. I didn't worry about having a girl. My child was going to be loved no matter what.

Before Hudson was born, I didn't want to be a mother. I got pregnant. I prayed for a boy and I got a boy.

When I got pregnant with Nayeli, I didn't know what I wanted. I was scared to have a girl.

When I gave birth to Nayeli and I held her for the first time I was overwhelmed with happiness. I didn't care about the so-called curse which is not a curse but a terrible illness.

This terrible illness skipped Nayeli but I knew my third child, my second daughter would not be spared. I did everything during the nine months to make sure my child was born healthy.

I gave birth to my daughter. Me and my husband named her Mallory. She was so beautiful and healthy. Hudson and Nayeli were good to their baby sister.

As time went on and my kids grew up, we were a happy family. Hudson was growing into an amazing young man. Nayeli and Mallory were growing into beautiful little women. But then something changed.

My husband didn't notice the change that was happening in our youngest child. I did and it scared me.

The change in Mallory was slow. Mallory knew I knew something changed in her. I pretended I was fine and that Mallory was fine as well.

Me and Mallory did many things together. We read together. We colored together. We sang together. We did artwork together. We cooked together.

I did so many things with Mallory to help her. To make her better. All the while my husband, Hudson and Nayeli were none the wiser.

I kept Mallory's mind from drifting into darkness. For years I thought it was working. I was wrong.

Mallory's character was drastically changing. Her moods were getting worse. My husband Ben, Hudson and Nayeli started to notice.

I couldn't hide it anymore. I told my kids the truth and I told Ben about Mallory's change.

As a family we tried to help Mallory all the while hiding the truth from the town. We used every resource at our disposal to hide Mallory's condition.

It didn't work. Mallory's condition got worse. People started to go missing. I knew Mallory was responsible. Again, I tried to hide what Mallory had done. I failed.

Ben, Hudson and Nayeli knew Mallory was behind the disappearances. I called my doctor who knows about Mallory's condition. Actually, he met Mallory when she was a child.

He talked to Mallory a lot throughout the years. I even think he got through to Mallory at one point. He gave me tools to help Mallory. The tools worked for a while.

That fateful night is when the truth about Mallory came out. I can't even talk about that night. No one talks about that night. Our town wants nothing to do with us. That night changed us forever.

I tried everything as a mother to help my child. I failed. My failure as a mother doesn't mean I love my child any less.

Ben, Hudson and Nayeli have written Mallory out of their lives and so has the town. Mallory is dead to them. But not to me.

As I look at the institution where my baby girl is being held. I ask God to give me the strength to help Mallory. The strength to keep me going. I walk inside the institution.