That hurt more than I wanted it to.
Because if it had been Denise, then the whole thing with the lamp and the eye-level voice and the no shame had a trapdoor under it.
I scrolled.
Some comments were kind enough to make your throat ache.
I can drop off twin sheets.
Message me, I’ve got a spare dresser.
No child should sleep cold in this county.
But kindness online never travels alone.
Right under those were the others.
Where’s the father?
People always want help after making bad choices.
Funny how there’s money for phones but not beds.
This is why folks shouldn’t have kids they can’t support.
I stared so hard my eyes started burning.
We didn’t even have a good phone.
My mother’s screen was cracked across one corner and the battery swelled hot if she used maps too long.
But strangers are fast.
They can build a whole wrong life out of one blurry picture and a sentence they like the sound of.
Noah had wandered over by then.
“Is that my stars?” he asked.
I locked the screen too late.
He saw my face before the dark.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Which is one of the first lies kids learn from adults.
He looked from me to Mrs. Holloway.
“Why do y’all look like the heater broke again?”
