PART4
A sandwich.
An apple.
A bottle of water.
I ate too quickly.
She gently slowed me down.
“Small bites.”
I nodded.
I hadn’t realized how hungry I had become.
Deputy Collins returned to the room.
“Maya, we’re going to make arrangements for you to stay somewhere safe tonight.”
I immediately panicked.
“Where?”
“We’re still figuring that out.”
“I don’t want to go somewhere Mom can’t find me.”
Sarah took my hand.
“You won’t be abandoned.”
I looked at her.
“Promise?”
She squeezed my fingers.
“Promise.”
That night, I was taken to a temporary family services placement.
I didn’t understand what that meant.
I only understood that I had a bed.
There was a night-light.
There was a glass of water beside me.
There was food in the kitchen.
And there was an adult who knocked before entering my room.
For the first time in six days, I slept without a chair beneath a doorknob.
But I woke up at 3:11 in the morning.
I didn’t know why.
Then I remembered.
My mother.
I reached for the phone beside the bed.
There were eleven missed calls.
Not from Mom.
From a number I didn’t recognize.
I stared at the screen.
Then it rang again.
I answered.
“Maya?”
It was Derek.
I sat upright.
“Derek?”
“Where are you?”
I couldn’t speak.
His voice became sharper.
“Your mother says the police are involved.”
I swallowed.
“She left me alone.”
“What?”
“She went to Hawaii.”
“I know where she went.”
“She left me here.”
There was silence.
Then Derek said something that made my stomach drop.
“She told me you were staying with Chloe’s family.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“Because the police called me.”
I looked toward the bedroom door.
“Does Mom know?”
“She knows.”
“Is she coming home?”
Another silence.
“I don’t know.”
I started crying again.
Derek’s voice softened.
“Maya, listen to me. I need you to tell the social worker exactly what happened.”
“I did.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“The money?”
“Yes.”
“The food?”
“Yes.”
“The calls?”
“Yes.”
“The notebook?”
“Yes.”
He breathed out slowly.
Then he said:
“Keep that notebook.”
“Why?”
“Don’t lose it.”
I didn’t understand.
“Why?”
“Because it shows what happened.”
Before I could ask anything else, he said goodbye.
The next morning, a social worker named Elena met with me.
She was calm and spoke slowly.
She asked me the same questions Deputy Collins had asked.
But then she asked something different.
“What do you want to happen?”
I stared at her.
“I want my mom to come home.”
Elena nodded.
“Anything else?”
“I want her to stop being angry with me.”
“Why do you think she’ll be angry?”
“Because I told people.”
Elena leaned forward.
“You didn’t tell people to get your mother in trouble.”
“I didn’t?”
“No.”
“You told people because you needed help.”
I looked down.
“I was scared.”
“That was the correct thing to do.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Then Elena placed a folder on the table.
“There are going to be adults making decisions about where you stay while this is investigated.”
“Am I going back home?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Can I go back when Mom returns?”
“We’ll see.”
I nodded.
Then Elena said something that made me realize this wasn’t just about my mother leaving me.
“There is another concern.”
“What?”
“Your mother has apparently told several people that you were staying with Chloe’s family.”
My stomach twisted.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
“Because she didn’t want Derek to know.”
“That’s what we’re trying to understand.”
I looked at my hands.
“Is Derek angry?”
“He’s upset.”
“At me?”
“No.”
That answer came quickly.
“No, Maya. Not at you.”
Later that afternoon, Deputy Collins returned.
He had something with him.
My notebook.
I had left it on the kitchen table.
He handed it back to me inside a clear evidence bag.
“You can keep this.”
“Why was it evidence?”
“Because it documents what happened while you were alone.”
I touched the plastic.
Every page represented a day I had survived.
I suddenly wished I had written more.
Then Deputy Collins said:
“There’s one more thing you should know.”
I looked up.
“We checked the house.”
