When Ellie and her family returned from their annual Christmas vacation, they expected to walk into a warm and festive home, still glowing with the holiday spirit. Instead, they were greeted with chaos. Raw eggs dripped from their house’s walls, shattered shells covered the porch, and the holiday wreath Ellie had spent hours crafting was a smelly, splattered mess. The scene was nothing short of a deliberate act of vandalism.
Ethan stepped out of the car first, his voice tight with confusion. “What the hell happened here?” Their son Noah peered at the mess, wide-eyed, and asked, “Could a bird do this, Dad?” Meanwhile, their daughter Maddie sat in the backseat, her small voice trembling as she asked, “Mom, who did this to our house?” Ellie tried to stay composed for the kids, but inside, she was boiling with anger. This wasn’t random mischief—it felt targeted.
Moments later, Ethan found a crumpled note stuffed under the doorframe. In smeared ink, it read: “This is for what you took from me before Christmas.” The words hit Ellie like a punch to the chest. What had she taken? And from whom?
That night, after putting the kids to bed, Ellie and Ethan scrolled through their home security footage. The grainy video revealed a hooded figure creeping up their driveway, egg cartons in hand. Each throw was deliberate, almost rehearsed. The figure moved with purpose, not like a prankster but someone with a vendetta. Ethan shook his head in disbelief. “Who even does this anymore? This feels personal.”
But Ellie couldn’t shake a sinking feeling in her stomach. Something about the figure—the slump in their shoulders, the way they turned their head—made her freeze. “No,” she whispered, her breath catching. “It can’t be.” But it was. The hooded figure egging their home was her mother.
The next morning, Ellie left Ethan with the kids and drove straight to her mother’s house. She gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white. When her mother opened the door with her usual warm smile, Ellie didn’t waste time with small talk.
“Why?” she blurted. “Why would you do that to us?”
@kendallmaynard25(my house just got egged) 😀
Her mother’s face fell, her smile evaporating as guilt clouded her features. “Ellie, what are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb, Mom. I saw the footage. You egged our house. Why?”
Her mother hesitated before finally blurting out, “It was because of Gloria.”
Ellie frowned. “What does Ethan’s mom have to do with this?”
Her mother’s voice cracked with frustration. “She called me, Ellie. Right before Christmas. She bragged about how you took her on your vacation, how included and loved she felt. And me? I was left here alone, forgotten, like I didn’t matter.”
Ellie stared at her mother, stunned. “Mom… Gloria wasn’t on the trip. We didn’t take her—or anyone else—with us.”
The silence between them was heavy. Her mother’s face crumpled as the realization hit her. “But… she made it sound so real. I was so angry, Ellie. I felt invisible. Like you’d chosen her over me.”
Ellie’s heart ached as she realized the depth of her mother’s loneliness. But she couldn’t deny the truth—she had let their relationship drift. Between raising two kids, managing a demanding job, and keeping the household running, Ellie had unintentionally pushed her mother to the sidelines. The hesitation in her mother’s voice during phone calls, the absence of her spontaneous visits—all the signs had been there, but Ellie had been too busy to notice.
“Mom,” Ellie said softly, sitting beside her. “What you did was wrong. But I understand why you felt hurt. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you didn’t matter. I’ve let life pull me away, and I didn’t realize how much that hurt you.”
Tears welled up in her mother’s eyes as she whispered, “I’m so sorry, Ellie. I’ll fix everything. I’ll clean the house, pay for whatever needs fixing—”
Ellie shook her head. “We’ll clean it together, Mom. But fixing this starts with us—our relationship. No more letting other people’s words twist how we feel about each other.”
That afternoon, her mother arrived at Ellie’s house with a bucket of soapy water and rags. Together, they scrubbed egg off the walls, washed the porch, and wiped away the sticky mess from the windows. It was hard, exhausting work, but with every smear they cleaned, it felt like they were also scrubbing away years of unspoken hurt.
That night, after the kids were in bed and the house was clean again, Ellie and Ethan sat together with glasses of wine. Ellie sighed. “Gloria started this whole thing. She called my mom and lied about being on vacation with us. She made it sound so believable that Mom snapped.”
Ethan shook his head in disbelief. “That’s insane. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know,” Ellie replied. “But you need to talk to her, Ethan. I need to focus on mending things with my mom.”
A week later, Ellie and Ethan met Gloria at a coffee shop. Ethan wasted no time. “Mom, why did you tell Ellie’s mom that you went on vacation with us?”
Gloria lowered her gaze, her voice small. “I was lonely. I wanted to feel important, even if it wasn’t true. I let my jealousy get the best of me, and I’m so sorry.”
Ellie spoke up. “You and my mom could’ve spent time together. You were both lonely, and instead of leaning on each other, you pulled each other apart. But it’s not too late to fix it.”
Gloria nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’ll call her. I’ll invite her over for tea. I’ll make this right.”
In the following weeks, Gloria and Ellie’s mother began spending time together. They baked treats for the kids, played mahjong, and slowly rebuilt their relationship.
On New Year’s Eve, Ellie’s mother joined their family celebration. She arrived with homemade dumplings and her brightest smile. As fireworks lit up the sky, they raised their glasses together.
“To new beginnings,” her mother said softly.
Looking around at her family—her happy children, her smiling husband, and her mother glowing with joy—Ellie felt a weight lift off her shoulders. The wounds were healing, one step at a time.
And while Ellie might never look at an egg the same way again, she knew her family had grown stronger through the cracks.
