Chapter 8

“It’s no use. With her condition… Ms. Johnston, you should go see her. It might be the last time.”

For a moment, I felt dizzy.

I could hardly hear anything, and my head was throbbing.

“Quiana, pull yourself together!”

I could barely hear Shaun calling me. I forced myself to lean onto the wall for support and walked to my mother’s hospital room.

She was still sleeping.

“Mom, wake up.”

I gently touched her cheek.

My mom and I had escaped from the mountains.

She was a college student who had been kidnapped. However, she could not have her own children.

They mistreated her and threatened her life.

When I was just a baby, I was taken away and given to her to raise as her own.

Years later, she risked everything to escape with me.

She knew I was taken from Soriah, so she brought me back here.

When I was young, we did not have enough money for food, but she always gave me her share.

When I could not afford school, she sold everything she had to pay for my tuition.