CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 13: THE PHONE CALL
Three days later, my phone rang.
It was my father.
"I need to tell you something."
His voice sounded strange.
"What's wrong?"
There was a long pause.
"I saw your mother."
I froze.
"How is she?"
"Not well."
I closed my eyes.
Part of me still wasn't ready to care.
And another part hated that feeling.
"What happened?"
"She's sick."
Silence.
"How sick?"
Another pause.
"The doctors found something."
My stomach tightened.
I sat down.
"Is it serious?"
"They don't know yet."
I looked out the window.
Rain was falling again.
"Does she want to see me?"
"No."
That surprised me.
"Then why are you telling me?"
"Because I promised myself I would stop hiding the truth."
I swallowed hard.
"And because... she cried when she asked about Ella."
I said nothing.
"I think she's afraid."
After the call ended, I couldn't focus.
That night I stood in Ella's bedroom doorway.
She was sleeping.
Peacefully.
Children somehow trust the world even after it breaks around them.
I envied that.
I thought about my mother.
The woman who hurt me.
The woman who believed control was love.
The woman who might now be scared and alone.
I didn't know what to do.
I only knew one thing.
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The story wasn't over.
Not yet.
