Hannah Blake was kneeling on the restroom floor of a twelve-story office building, scrubbing tiles during her early morning cleaning shift when the phone in her pocket vibrated. She glanced at the clock. It was five in the morning.
No one called at that hour unless something was wrong.
Her chest tightened when she saw the daycare’s number.
The teacher’s voice sounded distant and mechanical, as if she were reading from a script. Hannah’s eight-month-old daughter Sophie had developed a high fever during the night. The baby couldn’t stop coughing, and the daycare couldn’t keep a sick child. Hannah needed to pick her up immediately.
Before she could respond, the call ended.
Hannah jumped to her feet and rushed out of the building without even informing her supervisor. Snow whipped through the streets, stinging her face like needles as she ran.
She ran three blocks because she couldn’t afford a taxi.
By the time she reached the daycare, her lips were numb and her legs trembled from the cold.
Sophie lay in the teacher’s arms, her tiny face flushed with fever. Her weak cries sounded like a helpless kitten.