As they told us we could finally leave, I should’ve felt relieved. Instead, I felt numb. My daughter was smiling under her mask, clutching her stuffed bunny and waving to every nurse in sight, yet I couldn’t shake the pit in my stomach.
We didn’t have a home to go back to. Rent lapsed months ago when I was staying at the hospital with her, day and night, waiting through treatments and test results. Her dad was long gone.
My job said they “understood”—but they stopped calling two weeks ago. I knew what that meant. I tried not to show it.
I kept smiling for her, brushing her hair back, letting her pick out a balloon from the gift shop even though we couldn’t really afford it. After that, two police officers showed up in the lobby. For a second, I panicked.
I thought maybe it was about the bills, or the paperwork I didn’t finish. However, one of the nurses just gave me a little nod and whispered, “It’s okay. They’re here to help.”
The officers offered to carry our bags, help us to a “temporary placement.” I didn’t know what that meant, and I was too exhausted to ask.
We walked out like any other family—wheels squeaking on the hospital floor, nurses waving goodbye. Noneless, once we were outside, one of the officers leaned in close and handed me a plain white envelope. “Don’t open it until you’re in the van.”, he said.
Inside the van now. Envelope’s in my lap. And I just noticed the corner has a name written on it—his name.
“Mommy,” my daughter, Callie, tugged at my sleeve. “Can we get ice cream?”
Her voice was so hopeful, so innocent, that it nearly broke me. How do you explain to a six-year-old that there’s no money left?
That the world feels like it’s crumbling around you? “Maybe later, sweetheart,” I said, forcing a smile. “Right now, let’s focus on where we’re going next, okay?”
She nodded, satisfied for the moment, and turned her attention to the window.
The city blurred past as the van hummed along. Every so often, she’d point out something—a dog walking by, a colorful mural painted on the side of a building—and her excitement helped dull the gnawing anxiety in my chest. But the envelope… it weighed heavy on my mind.
Why had the officer been so insistent about not opening it until we were inside the van? And whose name was scrawled in faded ink on the corner? It looked familiar, but my brain was too tired to place it.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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