Chapter 2 - THE MOTEL ROOM
The motel stood behind a gas station, its faded blue sign flickering against the cold afternoon.
Maya held Marcus’s hand all the way to Room 214.
Before she opened the door, she whispered, “Please don't scare my mom.”
“I won't.”
The door opened.
A woman lay beneath a thin blanket on the bed. She looked barely thirty, but illness had hollowed her cheeks and darkened the skin beneath her eyes.
“Maya?”
Her mother tried to sit up.
Then she saw Marcus.
Fear flashed across her face.
“Who are you?”
Marcus lifted his hands.
“He's helping us,” Maya said quickly. “He helped me buy your cake.”
Olivia stared at the small box.
Her eyes filled instantly.
“You shouldn't have gone alone.”
“I wanted your birthday to be good.”
Olivia pulled her daughter into her arms.
Marcus looked around the room.
One bag of clothes.
One plastic grocery sack.
A bottle of prescription medicine.
That was all.
Then his eyes landed on the hospital discharge papers.
Olivia noticed.
“Please,” she whispered. “Don't call anyone.”
Marcus looked at the trembling woman.
“Why?”
“Because if the hospital finds out I can't pay, they'll come after Maya.”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“That's not how this works.”
Olivia looked away.
May you like
“You don't know what we've been through.”
Marcus quietly answered, “Then tell me.”
