I noticed strange bluish marks on my father-in-law’s back, and he just brushed it off, insisting he had simply fallen by accident 😱😨. But soon I discovered the truth, which turned out to be far more horrifying.
In the morning, my five‑year‑old son ran up to me, pale, with his eyes wide open in fear.
“Mom… what is that on grandpa’s back?”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw it… it’s blue. No, even black… Is he sick? Why does it look like that?”
I tried to calm him down — children often exaggerate. But the worry stayed with me. After all, he wouldn’t make up something like that for no reason.
After lunch, I decided to check. I knocked on my father‑in‑law’s room and slowly opened the door. He was standing in front of the mirror without a shirt, hunched over, looking at his back.
When I got closer, I was truly frightened. There were dark marks on his back — different sizes, in several places along his spine, on his shoulder blades, and even lower. There were more than ten of them, and they looked recent.
“Oh my… what happened to you?” slipped out of me.
He quickly turned away and waved his hand.
“I just fell… You know how it is, age. My legs gave out.”
But his voice was tense. He was clearly nervous. His hands were trembling. When I offered to take him to a doctor, he snapped:
“It will go away on its own. No doctors. Don’t worry about it.”
But I couldn’t forget. And just a couple of days later, the truth revealed itself — far stranger than I expected.
That night I went to the kitchen for some water. Passing by their bedroom, I heard voices.
“Please… it hurts… stop, leave me,” my father‑in‑law said almost pleadingly.
Then came the voice of my mother-in-law, angry and annoyed:
— It’s your own fault. You deserved it!
Then I heard my father-in-law’s quiet groan, so painful that it took my breath away. I couldn’t stand it and opened the door to their bedroom.
What I saw inside shocked me 😨😱
The man was lying on his stomach, covering his face with his hands. The mother-in-law was sitting next to him and doing something on his back. Only when I got closer did I realize — she was using small needles.
— What are you doing?! — I blurted out.
The mother-in-law lifted her head, completely unfazed.
“What do you mean, what? I’m treating him. His back hurts, you know that. My friend told me acupuncture helps. So we’re trying it. It worked for her!”
I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing.
“But you’re not a doctor! You can’t use regular pharmacy needles for this! It requires sterility, knowledge… You could seriously harm him! That’s why he has all those bruises!”
So that was the truth behind the strange marks: no illness, no fall… just risky, inexperienced self‑treatment they tried together without understanding the consequences.
I carefully removed the last needle and said firmly:
“Tomorrow we’re going to a real doctor. And no more experiments.”
