Chapter 4

It was pitch-black outside.

Only the dim glow of the streetlights remained, reflecting off the wet pavement left behind by the rain. There was nothing else.

Mabel pressed her lips together until they turned pale. She lowered her head and looked at her legs.

“My right leg has been hurting all day.” Her voice trembled slightly. “Whenever my leg started hurting, Naomi would always come home early to be with me. She’d massage my leg for me. But she still hasn’t come home.”

A deathly silence fell over the living room. None of the three of them spoke. The only sound was the steady tick-tock of the clock on the wall.

I stood beside the dining table. I looked at the plate of ribs that had gone cold twice.

I wanted to pick it up. I wanted to set it down in front of Mabel.

I wanted to tell her to have her dinner first and that she did not have to wait for me.

However, my hand passed through the bowl.

…

A typhoon swept through the city that day, bringing torrential rain.

I went out to make deliveries in a raincoat with a long tear down the side.

Rainwater seeped through the collar and soaked me to the bone. The cramps in my stomach came roaring back.

I pulled my scooter over and stopped beside a utility pole. Leaning against it, I called Mom.

“Mom, my stomach really hurts today. I can barely stand up straight. Can I take it easy today? Maybe do fewer deliveries and come home early to lie down?”

I heard the clink of a spoon against a bowl on the other end.

Mom was making some soup for Mabel.

“Mabel, here. Drink it while it’s still warm.”

Then she spoke into the phone. Her voice was cold. “Naomi, Mabel’s leg is hurting badly today too. Stop making excuses and do a few more deliveries. We’re still eight hundred short for her rehabilitation machine.”

My grip tightened around the phone. Acid rose into my throat. I was silent for a moment.

“Okay. I’ll do a few more.”

I hung up. Then I stepped back into the storm.

The rain pelted my face, each drop stinging against my skin. The cramps in my stomach blurred my vision.

As I rode, I kept counting the money in my head. Three more deliveries tonight. With what I had already saved, I would finally have enough for the knee braces.

I went to the medical supply store. I handed the shopkeeper a handful of crumpled bills and loose change. I finally bought the heated knee braces.

I wrapped them in several layers of plastic and carefully tucked them inside my raincoat.

Then I headed out for my final delivery of the night.

I reached the intersection. The light turned red.

I glanced at the countdown on my delivery app.

Thirty seconds, that was all I had before the order was marked late.

I did not stop. I twisted the throttle and shot through the intersection.

A dump truck came barreling toward me from the side. Its horn ripped through the curtain of rain.

Crash!

My body was thrown into the air.

A moment later, I crashed down hard against the flooded pavement. Blood slowly seeped out beneath me, bleeding into the rainwater and turning it red.

Even then, my hand remained tightly wrapped around the knee braces pressed against my chest.

The plastic bag was still intact. The braces were still dry.

I lay motionless in the cold rain, watching the world around me grow darker and darker.

Back at home, Dad’s phone suddenly rang.

The shrill ringtone tore through the deathly silence of the living room.

The caller ID read: [Unknown Number.]

Dad glanced at Mom. “Maybe Naomi’s phone died. Maybe she’s calling from someone else’s phone.”

He cleared his throat and answered.

“Hello? Naomi?”

There was only silence from the other end of the line.

Two long seconds passed, but it was not my voice that came through.

A stranger spoke on the other end, his voice carrying the cold, practiced gravity of someone accustomed to delivering bad news.

“Hello. Am I speaking to a family member of Ms. Naomi Barnes? This is the Traffic Police Division of the Municipal Public Security Bureau…

“Ms. Naomi was involved in a serious traffic accident on Prosperity Road. She died at the scene. Please bring your identification and come to the city hospital morgue immediately to identify and claim her remains.”