Staring at the note, my mother thought about all the times I'd avoided her lately. Her eyes red, she rushed to the inner door and pounded on it hard enough to rattle the glass.
"Emily! Open the door! Tell me what's going on!"
Her palms reddened as she called again and again, using the name that belonged to her daughter in the future. I leaned against the lab bench behind the door, my throat too tight to make a sound.
"Don't hide from me. Professor Lawson told me everything."
She slid down against the door. Her voice was hoarse and kept breaking, but I heard every word through it.
"If losing you is the price of keeping me alive, I'll accept it. But I won't go back to Nathan just so you can be born! Don't be afraid. I'll always remember you."
I pressed my almost vanished hand against t
