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--donation bonus (day #12, post 4/5)--
Hector was surprised when she didn’t ask the officers to enter and arrest him. He watched her block the doorway so they didn’t spot him, watched her reassure them of her safety, watched her close the door behind her. He couldn’t understand what she was thinking. “Mom--”

She held a hand up. It clenched into a fist. She put her knuckles to her mouth and closed her eyes. “Just. Go.”

“But... please, just listen--”

She glared at him, furious tears in her eyes. “I don’t care what your reasons were,” she said shakily. “I don’t even care how you got in here. Just leave. And don’t come back. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

His face cracked. “Y-you, you don’t mean that...”

“Get out.”

“Mom, please...!”

“Don’t test me, Hector. If you don’t leave right now, I will turn you in.”

‘Do as she says,’ said Garovel. ‘Just for now, that is.’

He slowly backed away.

‘We’ll see her again, Hector. It might be a long time, but we’ll visit her and sort all this out, one day. I promise. I’m sure she’ll be ready to listen then.’

Hector wasn’t sure he believed the reaper, but he sure wanted to. He stopped in front of the open window and looked at her one last time. “I love you, Mom...” And he jumped out the window.

He raised a pillar up from the parking lot and gave it a sloped edge, expanding it out into a gigantic slide. His landing was a rough tumble, and Garovel started healing his broken leg as he limped the rest of the way to the motorcycle.

‘You’re doing the right thing,’ Garovel told him.

Hector made no response. He still wanted to cry, but the tears had stopped falling a while ago. As he mounted the bike, he pulled out his phone and looked for Colt’s number.