Elena didn't remember standing up.
She didn't remember grabbing her backpack.
She didn't remember running.
All she knew was the sound of her heartbeat slamming against her ribs like it was trying to break out of her chest. Amy ran beside her, calling her name over and over, but her voice sounded far away like it was coming from the other side of a thick wall.
"Elena! Elena, stop, stop! What happened? What did your mom say?" Amy gasped, struggling to keep up as Elena sprinted across the park.
"I need Maya," Elena choked, the only words she could form. "I need my sister. I need—"
She couldn't breathe.
Her mother's trembling voice still echoed in her skull.
She's trying to silence me.
Take your sister and leave.
I love you.
Run.
The words chased her like shadows.
She reached the car, hands shaking so badly she almost dropped the keys. Amy grabbed her shoulders.
"Elena, breathe. Please talk to me."
But Elena couldn't. If she opened her mouth, she would scream.
So she got into the car, slammed the door, and started the engine with trembling fingers.
"Elena, let me come with you," Amy pleaded through the open window.
"No," Elena whispered. "Stay with Maya. Please. Just… just be there for her if anything happens."
"Elena—"
But Elena didn't wait. She hit the gas and sped out of the parking lot.
**
The drive to Maya's school was a blur of tears, red lights she barely saw, and hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles went numb.
When she reached the school gate, classes were just ending. Children walked out in groups, chatting, laughing, swinging backpacks.
It felt wrong.
How could the world still be moving normally when hers was collapsing?
"Elena!" Maya's voice called when she spotted her.
The little girl ran toward her with a smile until she saw the look on her sister's face.
"Elena… why are you crying?"
Elena wiped her cheeks quickly, forcing her voice to stay steady.
"We have to go, sweetheart. Come on."
Maya blinked. "Is Mommy okay?"
The question nearly broke her.
"Get in the car," Elena managed. "I'll explain later."
Maya obeyed, scared by her sister's shaking voice.
Elena drove straight to Amy's house, calling ahead. Amy's mother was already at the door when they arrived.
"Elena, what's wrong?" her mother asked, worry creasing her forehead.
"Please, please keep Maya here. Just for tonight," Elena whispered, holding back sobs. "Don't let her leave your sight."
Maya tugged her sleeve. "Elena, where are you going? Where's Mommy?"
Elena kneeled, cupping her sister's tiny face.
"I'll be back soon, okay? Stay with Aunty. Please listen to her."
"But—"
"I love you," Elena whispered, voice cracking.
Before Maya could ask more questions, Elena kissed her forehead and stood. Amy rushed out behind her.
"Elena, let me come with you—"
"No," Elena said, stepping back. "Keep Maya safe. Promise me."
Amy swallowed hard, nodding. "I promise."
Elena turned and ran back to the car.
**
She had barely closed the door when her phone rang.
The number was unknown.
She answered immediately. "Hello?!"
A calm, professional voice.
Too calm.
"Hello, is this Elena Carter?"
"yes yes, this is her"
"This is St. Augustine Hospital," the voice continued. "Your mother was brought in a short while ago."
Elena's stomach dropped.
"She… she's hurt? Can, can I talk to her?"
There was a pause.
A terrible, heavy pause.
"I'm very sorry, miss… your mother didn't make it."
Everything inside Elena stopped.
The car.
Her breathing.
Her thoughts.
The world went silent.
Dead silent.
"Miss Carter?" the voice asked gently. "Are you there?"
Elena's vision blurred. Her throat closed. A sound slipped out of her a raw, broken sound she didn't recognize.
"No," she whispered. "No… no, no.. she was just.. she just called me!! she was alive.. she was.. she—"
"I'm very sorry. You may come to the hospital when you're ready."
The line disconnected.
Elena sat frozen for almost an entire minute.
Then
She screamed.
It wasn't a normal scream.
It was the kind that tore from the deepest part of a human soul.
The kind that shattered something inside forever.
She slammed her fists into the steering wheel.
She cried until her throat felt like it was bleeding.
She begged the universe to rewind the last hour.
She begged for her mother's voice again.
She begged
But nothing changed.
Nothing.
Her mother was gone.
Slowly, painfully Elena forced herself to drive.
**
When she reached the hospital, the hallway lights felt too bright, too cruel. A nurse led her to a small, cold room. She pushed the door open with trembling fingers.
And there she was.
Her mother.
Lying on a metal bed.
Covered with a sheet up to her chest.
Skin pale.
Hair matted with dried blood.
Face still—too still.
A deep gash across her forehead.
A smear of crimson along her cheek.
Elena's legs buckled.
She fell to her knees beside the bed, gripping the cold rail, sobbing with a sound so broken the nurse had to step outside.
"Mom," she whispered. "Mommy, open your eyes. Please. Please just.. just open them. Say something. Anything."
Silence.
"Mom, I'm here," she cried. "I came. I came as fast as I could. Don't leave me. Don't… don't leave Maya. Please don't leave us."
Her mother lay still, unbreathing, unreachable.
Elena pressed her forehead against her mother's hand.. still warm, but fading.
She cried until her tears soaked the sheet.
Until her throat was raw.
Until grief turned into something sharper.
Something burning.
She lifted her head slowly, eyes swollen, face streaked with tears and pain and rage.
"This wasn't an accident," she whispered hoarsely. "They did this to you."
Her hands trembled, but her voice steadied.
"They killed you."
She stood, wiping her face with shaking fingers.
"And I swear," she whispered into the stillness of the room, "I will find out who did this."
Her eyes hardened grief turning into steel.
"I will make them pay."
Elena took her mother's cold hand one last time.
"For you," she whispered. "For Maya."
Her voice broke.
"For us."
Then she stepped out of the room.
And the girl who walked into that corridor…
Was not the same girl who entered the hospital.
That girl had died, too.
The one who remained was someone new
someone forged in pain,
sharpened by loss,
and fueled by a promise.
Justice.
No matter the cost.