Chapter 24

Ricky

My head bops at the new sound. I look around at the room I’m sitting in, trying to figure out where it came from.

It didn’t sound like the rhythmic unmusical music of the heartbeat monitor. Neither did it come out as the sound of Mà’s breathing. So, where did it come from? It takes me another minute of listening before I realize where the noise is coming from.

In the rush of spending too long stuck in traffic, I had droned past everything and everyone in my way until I got into Mà’s room. In the whole rushing, I forgot to turn off my phone’s notification sound. And it’s been going crazy with messages I don’t have time for.

When I move to turn off the mobile data, I find myself staring at an email from someone I never thought I’d get one from.

I turn off the sound of my phone’s notification before tapping on the mail and begin reading, my mind stuck in my throat as I begin going through the words written in the email.

“Hey, Ricardo Gordon,