George yanked the blanket off Emily and barked, “Up!” Emily shielded herself with her arms and blinked in confusion
George continued, “Today’s special, so I allowed you to sleep past wake-up, leave your room in a robe, and skip breakfast duty. Starting tomorrow, you follow all rules.”
“And if I don’t?” Emily asked.
“You leave or face punishment.”
“Lock me in solitary?” Emily smiled.
Her smile faded under George’s heavy stare.
“Go dress properly,” he ordered. “We’ll eat, then I’m taking you to the gym. Your fitness needs work.”
Emily didn’t sit all day. George dragged her to the gym, exhausting her with exercises, then she helped her mother-in-law, ran errands, shopped…
That night, she collapsed into bed but couldn’t sleep—Emily had always been a night owl. After tossing for half an hour, she grabbed her laptop and earbuds, deciding to watch a movie, not noticing light seeping under the door.
Minutes later, the door flew open. George stormed in.
“No devices during sleep hours!” he barked, snatching her laptop.
“That’s mine!” Emily protested.
“You’ll get it back in the morning. Sleep now.”
“I can’t sleep; I’m not used to going to bed so early,” she tried to explain.
“Then you didn’t work hard enough today. Tomorrow’s load increases, and I’ll unplug the router at night.”
George turned off the light and left.
“Should’ve hidden under the blanket like the rest of us,” Matt muttered, waking up. “Now we can’t even go online at night.”
Emily realized he wasn’t joking and actually blamed her.
Emily’s life became a military-style Groundhog Day. She woke early, stumbled to the kitchen for breakfast duty, went to work, helped her mother-in-law at night, and fell into bed at ten, battling insomnia.
Worst of all, George decided to mold his daughter-in-law into a “real, respectable person,” as he put it.
First, he banned makeup and manicures. “Those frills are useless,” he said. “Clean hair and neat nails are a woman’s virtue.”…
