At 23, my life wasn’t glamorous, but it was mine. I worked an entry-level job at a small advertising agency, lived in a modest one-bedroom apartment, and carefully stretched every paycheck to cover rent, groceries, and utilities. Every extra cent went into a jar I kept tucked away in my kitchen cabinet. For nearly a year, that jar represented discipline, sacrifice, and one dream: a sleek flat-screen television.
It wasn’t just a TV. It was proof that I could set a goal, save for it, and earn something on my own. I skipped takeout, sold old clothes online, and lived simply, until one bright Saturday I carried my brand-new 43-inch smart TV into my apartment. Setting it up in my living room was one of the happiest days I’d had in years.
My dad was proud when he saw it. Deborah—his new wife of two years—was something else. She swept into the room, her eyes locking onto the screen like a hawk spotting prey.
“Wow,” she said, running her fingers along the frame. “This picture is so sharp. Henry, look at this!”
Dad smiled. “Sophie worked hard for this. Saved up for months.”
But Deborah wasn’t listening. Instead, she sighed. “You know, ours is getting old. The sound cuts out sometimes. Maybe Sophie could help us get one like this?”
I laughed awkwardly. “Deborah, I can barely afford my own. I saved a whole year for this.”
Her smile faltered. “Selfish,” she muttered, just loud enough for Dad and me to hear.
That night, she made barbed comments about how “nice it must be” to have new things and how some people “forget family” once they get what they want. When she left, she glanced back at the TV with a strange little smirk. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
I thought she meant electronics don’t last forever. Turns out, she meant something else.
Two weeks later, I came home from work and froze. My beautiful TV was destroyed—its screen a spiderweb of cracks, smashed in several places. This wasn’t an accident. Someone had hit it, deliberately, repeatedly.
I called Dad immediately, but Deborah answered his phone. Her voice dripped sweetness. “Oh, Sophie! I meant to call you. Such a silly accident. I was just tidying your apartment—you know how dusty things get—and my cloth must’ve knocked against it. I feel awful.”
My hands shook with anger. “Deborah, the screen is shattered. That’s not from cleaning. You did this on purpose.”
Her tone turned sharp. “I told you it was an accident.” Then she hung up.
When Dad called me later, he sounded uneasy. “Sophie, sweetheart, Deborah feels terrible. She said it was an accident, and I believe her. We’ll help you replace it.”
“Dad,” I pleaded, tears stinging my eyes, “she used the spare key you gave her, came here while I was at work, and smashed the one thing I worked a year to buy. And you’re siding with her?”
“I’m not having this argument,” he said, ending the call.
The next week, Deborah spread her story to relatives: she had been helping me by cleaning, accidentally broke my TV, and I was being “hostile.” To my disbelief, some family members called, asking why I was being rude to the woman who had “only tried to help.”
For a month, I lived with that broken screen mocking me from the corner of my living room, bitterness festering every time I looked at it.
And then karma arrived.
One Monday evening, Dad called, his voice tense. “Sophie, you won’t believe this. The laundry room flooded. The washing machine door was left open while running. The wood floors are ruined, walls damaged, boxes destroyed. Insurance won’t cover it—they said it was negligence.”
In the background, I heard Deborah snapping at someone.
Dad sighed. “She was on the phone bragging about multitasking—five things at once. She went upstairs to clean and forgot the machine was running. Water poured out for an hour.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “That’s awful, Dad. I’m sorry.”
But inside, I was doing the math. The cost of repairs? About three times the price of my TV. And Deborah had to pay from her own “fun money”—the same money she wanted me to contribute toward her dream TV.
I looked over at my shattered screen and, for the first time in weeks, I smiled.
No, I wasn’t glad my dad had to deal with stress and expenses. But I couldn’t deny that the universe had evened the scales. Deborah thought she’d gotten away with her little act of sabotage. Instead, karma came knocking—louder than I ever could.
Sometimes, justice doesn’t need your help. Sometimes, it delivers itself.
