"Hey, honey, check out the video and screenshot I sent you. Isn't that Norris?"
There was a brief pause before he tried to calm me down.
"Sandi, don't panic. I'll call my mom to find out what's going on."
"I just called her! No one answered! How can I not be worried!"
My voice rose in pitch, drawing curious looks from my coworkers around me.
My supervisor came over, looking at me with concern.
"Sandi, is everything okay?"
With thoughts of my son swirling in my head, I could barely think straight.
"Ms. Jones, I need to take a few days off."
Seeing the distress on my face, my supervisor nodded understandingly,
"You can go home. We'll sort out the leave paperwork when you get back."
I grabbed my bag and rushed out of the office, heading straight to my mother-in-law's house.
Throughout the journey, I kept calling her.
It took half an hour for her to finally answer.
The faint sound of clinking tiles from a mahjong game came through before it went quiet,
My heart sank.
"Emeline, where's Norris?"
There was a hesitant pause, and then she stammered.
"Uh, Norris... Norris is asleep!"
I was increasingly uneasy, especially about Emeline's habit of going to poker games.