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“Of course you did. And?”
“The man was reading the news, and there was a story about a young child who was kidnapped by her father. He was chased by the police and his car crashed. The child died.”
“Was there anything else?”
“Yes, there was an article about the conflict between India and Pakistan.”
Diana contemplated her child pensively before saying, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“It was horrible. I never knew there was so much bad stuff in the world. It made me feel incredibly sad.”
The woman took Sarah’s hand in hers in a comforting gesture.
“Then I remembered what Daddy taught me.”
“Which is?”
“That emotions cloud our rationale. Daddy says that if an emotion isn’t conducive to an action, I should put it aside until it passes and make a decision based on facts.”
The woman frowned at this. “And my answer to that would be?”
“That it’s balderdash. One must feel an emotion to let it go. Emotions are neither good nor bad. They simply make you human.”
Sarah’s huge chocolate-brown eyes were filled with worry as she held on to her mother’s hand even tighter.
“But what if I lose you, Mom? What if you die too like that child? What would I do without you?”
“You will never lose me, Mousy. I will be with you always, even when I’m not there.”
“Do you promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
I woke up to those words ringing in my ears and realized I was crying.
I haven’t dreamt of my mother in forever. The reason being, she looked me in the eye and lied on that day.
Three years after we had that conversation, she left me with my baby sister to go on a date with my father and never came back.
The police officers who knocked on our door informed me that my parents were in a terrible accident. A drunk driver had rammed their car at full speed when they made a stop at a light, killing them on the spot.
The officers took us to the police station because there was no one who could take care of us. I had to cradle a crying Audrey while we waited for Child Services to arrive and put up a mother of a fight when they separated me from my baby sister.
But it was pointless. I was a thirteen-year-old orphan dressed in distressed jeans and an NKOTB t-shirt. They were the police. What could I possibly do against them?
Child Services placed us in different foster homes, and I haven’t seen my sister since.
I wiped a hand on my face to chase away the bad memories. When that didn’t work, I stomped on the pain growing inside of me.
The clock on the wall blinked 11PM.
It was almost time.
I got out of my hiding place and headed toward the computer terminals. While the machine booted, a light captured my attention one floor below, and I shut off my screen to avoid getting caught.
“Is there anyone here?” a deep voice shouted while I stayed in the shadows.
I’ve been living in the library’s attic for almost a month now. The people who worked here didn’t know, ergo, why I was hiding from the guard as he made his last round.
