Chapter 5

He'll be thousands of miles away.

I couldn't sleep much as my expectations let me down. I picked up my phone from the bedside table of the hospital bed where Mom lay sleeping. I opened the gallery on my phone and viewed the pictures I had taken last night. I took a few photos and selfies of myself and of us both.

I held onto the pillow from the couch and stared through the window at the sunlight, slowly peering at the land. I felt a tinge of crumple on my chest, and it seemed quantities of water were building up behind my eyes.

"What's wrong?" Mom suddenly asked me as she woke up.

I shook my head. "Nothing at all." I tried to smile, but knowing Mom, she knew I was hiding my problems away.

"Is it a boy?" she asks. Somehow, she knows I confirmed it despite giving no response.

"Did he hurt you?" she asks another.

"Not intentionally," I said. "It's not his fault."