But what she discovered inside left her in shock. Cara was saying her final goodbye to her mother, Josefina, who at the young age of 32 had unexpectedly suffered a cardiovascular problem despite having no prior medical history. The official medical report attributed her passing to a general cardiopulmonary arrest. However, there was more to the story.
The last time Cara had seen her mother was that morning before heading to school. However, her grandmother had picked her up from the educational institution and brought her to the fateful gathering to say her last goodbye.
The room was filled with relatives and family friends, but Cara was angered by the presence of unfamiliar people who were weeping, unaware of the true circumstances surrounding her family. Among them was her grandmother, who had never spoken to her mother, Aslan, as well as two unidentified individuals, along with other adults dressed in mourning attire, consoling each other. None of them bothered to ask Cara how she felt.
Approaching her father, Cara pleaded, “Daddy, I want to give Mommy a kiss.”
Her father replied, “I’m sorry, little one, but the casket is closed. This is our farewell conversation. Mommy can hear you.”
Overwhelmed with emotions, Cara began to cry and scream, experiencing a nervous breakdown. Her father attempted to calm her down, but her cries only grew louder. He then turned to Cara’s grandmother for support, who tried to embrace the distraught girl. However, Cara resisted and pushed her away, insisting, “I want to see my mommy and kiss her one last time! If I can’t do that, I swear I’ll never love you again.”
Feeling compassion for her granddaughter, the grandmother took Cara to the casket where her mother lay at rest. As she reached for the lid, Cara’s father interrupted, saying, “Mother-in-law, please leave us alone. I want this to be our final moment together as a family.”
“Yes, son, but let her kiss her mom. If you don’t allow her, what will she do? She’ll be filled with anger,” pleaded the grandmother.
Reluctantly, the father opened the drawer, revealing the sight that left the little girl horrified. As Cara prepared to kiss her mother, she began to scream, startling everyone present.
“That’s not my mom! Where’s my mom?” she cried out in a panic.
The father swiftly closed the drawer and scolded the little girl, pinching her and demanding she calm down. He threatened to leave her alone in the house if she didn’t regain her composure. The other relatives felt deep sympathy for the six-year-old girl, who had already lost her mother at such a tender age. The family believed that the little girl was simply unable to accept the fact that her mother had passed away. They wanted to provide comfort, but they turned a deaf ear to the cries of the child. In fact, her aunt secretly added a few drops of sedative to her water, causing her to calm down. They believed it was for her own good, as they thought she had cried excessively and needed rest. The aunt also gave Cara sleeping drops and carried her to her own home. She gently laid the little girl on the bed and kissed her forehead, convinced that she was doing what was best for her.
However, as years passed, Cara remembered that day as the worst day of her life. She held on to the image of the person who had taken her mother’s place for over a decade. Her mother, Josefina, had brown skin, but this woman was pale. The shape of her mouth and nose were different. Every night for more than 10 years, Cara reminded herself that she had eventually been able to examine the body of her supposed mother. There was very little left of Josefina, but enough to request a DNA test. They performed the test to confirm the identity of her mother, but to everyone’s surprise—except Cara’s—the DNA test came back negative.
The news spread among the family and friends, leaving everyone utterly confused. Only now did they listen to Cara, who had always known that the woman was not her mother. She never doubted it for a minute. She carried that thorn of doubt in her chest.
“Why didn’t you speak up earlier, like when I mentioned being given a painkiller and no one believed me?” Cara asked.
“My dear, please, I beg you. We had no idea. Don’t blame us now. You know we wanted what was best for you. She’s your mom,” her family pleaded. “But we’re also talking about my daughter. I didn’t speak up before because I was threatened. My father told me that no one would believe me, and if I spoke, he would have me committed to a psychiatric hospital,” Cara revealed.
Upon hearing her granddaughter’s words, the grandmother sensed that something was amiss in the relationship between her father and her aunt. She quickly interjected, “I don’t agree with your father dating your aunt either, but Cara, one thing is one thing, and another thing is another. Let’s take action against the hospital. They were wrong.”
A year after Josefina’s passing, Cara’s aunt devoted herself to being with the young girl day and night. However, she eventually started a romantic relationship with Cara’s father. Cara could never forgive the situation—not because of jealousy, but because of the betrayal. Time passed, and when Cara turned 18, she received an anonymous letter apologizing for ruining her life. Despite the apology, Cara knew exactly who had written it. The letter had no signature, but her aunt was the only person who came to mind.
“My aunt thinks I’ll forgive her. She’s so wrong,” Cara muttered as a determined 16-year-old.
From that moment on, Cara lived alone and relied on the support of her grandmother. She cut off contact with her father and her aunt. The years leading up to adulthood were difficult for Cara. She was not allowed to talk about her mother, and many times, decisions were made for her without her consent. When her father and aunt confronted her, claiming that she was just a nervous and dishonest storyteller, Cara felt the weight of their disbelief. They spread the word among her teachers at school, warning them about her tendency to fabricate stories and say strange things following her mother’s death. Throughout her adolescence, they successfully silenced her. Despite her many moments of wishing to disappear, Cara held on to a glimmer of hope, yearning to unveil the truth.
Finally, her grandmother convinced Cara to speak with her aunt and share the results of the DNA test. Cara’s purpose in visiting her aunt was clear—to open her eyes and present the evidence. Her aunt dismissed her, assuming that Cara was merely being manipulated by her father. Nevertheless, Cara persisted, insisting that her aunt read the studies and examine all the evidence.
In tears, her aunt apologized amidst her confusion. “I can’t forgive you, but if you want my mother to forgive you, help me find her. I know my dad has something to do with this. And another thing—don’t send me any more letters apologizing. If you genuinely want to help me, then do as I say.”
Confused, her aunt couldn’t comprehend which letters her niece was referring to. Nonetheless, she assured Cara that she would comply with her requests.
“What can I do to help you?” she asked.
“You’re going to be my eyes. I trust you. Whatever you observe, you must tell me. I have a lead, and you need to dig deeper,” Cara replied.
Perplexed, her aunt inquired, “What do you mean? Do you know that he has a gambling addiction?” Cara revealed.
“What if I already knew, Cara? But he doesn’t gamble anymore,” her aunt responded.
“Every day, when he claims he’s going to work, try to guess where he is.”
“But if he’s chronically unemployed, he never had a job!”
“How can you be so blind? Is it that you truly don’t see it, or is it that you don’t want to see it?” Cara said.
“I can’t believe what you’re telling me. Enough,” her aunt said before leaving.
A few days later, Cara’s aunt called her on the phone.
“Cara, please forgive me. The other day, I decided to secretly follow your father. I saw it with my own eyes. He doesn’t work. He’s still addicted to gambling. And to top it off, it seems he’s still in contact with that doctor who was his friend—the one who made headlines several times because of accusations of professional malpractice from several patients’ relatives. Apparently, they never proved anything against him because he’s still practicing medicine. God only knows the harm he might have caused those patients. I apologize, and I hope you can forgive me. Oh, by the way, I found something interesting when I checked his bank records. Your father receives monthly payments from an account in Panama. It’s an insurance company that sends him money. I had no idea. I’m in shock, but I owe you this information. I hope it helps.”
Cara understood everything now. Somehow, her father orchestrated her mother’s death to collect the cost of a life insurance policy he had insisted on purchasing months before her mother’s death. But one question still lingered—where was her mother? If the person she saw in that coffin wasn’t her mother, then where was she? Was it possible that she was still alive?
Suddenly, a thought crossed Cara’s mind—a birthday letter she had received, which she initially thought was from her aunt. She hurriedly searched for the letter and noticed that it had been sent from a mental institution. Determined, she hailed a taxi and, after a couple of hours, arrived at the psychiatric facility. There, she inquired about her mother’s name, but the staff couldn’t provide an answer because there was no record of anyone by that name in the institution’s files. However, one of the nurses noticed a striking resemblance between Cara
‘s face and one of her patients. She took Cara to a large garden behind the building, where a woman sat in a wheelchair, staring into space. Her hair was bleached, and she appeared visibly disturbed. Cara immediately recognized her as her mother.
“Mommy, Mommy, is that you?” Cara exclaimed. The woman struggled to recognize her dear daughter, but the connection between them was undeniable. They spent long hours together talking and reconnecting. During that time, they were undoubtedly the happiest people in the world.
The nurse then shared with Cara the story of how her mother had been found years ago, wandering in the city without identification or any knowledge of her past. She had suffered a severe blow to her head, which had caused her to lose her memory. After years of treatment, doctors managed to help her regain fragments of her past. It was then that she sent the birthday letter to her daughter, albeit without signing it, fearing that her father would harm Cara or herself if he discovered their whereabouts.
As it turned out, Cara’s father had attempted to take Josefina’s life in order to collect the life insurance payout. However, she managed to escape, albeit not without receiving a severe blow to her head from him. Unable to find Josefina and believing her to be dead, her father, in collusion with his doctor friend, obtained the body of an unidentified deceased patient from the hospital and placed it in the coffin. When Cara saw the body, she immediately knew that it wasn’t her mother.
Armed with this new evidence, Cara reported her father to the authorities, leading to his arrest and imprisonment. With her father behind bars, Cara focused on reuniting with her long-lost mother. Although Josefina’s memory was still incomplete, they made up for lost time, and great happiness reigned in their home.
