Chapter 1: The Comments Only I Can See

When I was four, I finally figured out what those weird floating comments were.

They weren’t just random shapes or made-up symbols—they were comments, like the chat bubbles that pop up on YouTube videos or during Twitch streams, except I was the only one who could see them.

[The main character is still working late, picking up extra shifts to raise her daughter, not even knowing she’s already sick. If she keeps waiting, that kid’s going to lose her mom soon.]

[If either the mom or dad would just open up and talk, we wouldn’t have this whole runaway-with-child drama.]

[Poor kid, loses her mom at six, the dad doesn’t even know the mom passed or that he has a daughter, just growing old alone.]

[Saddest of all is our little Maddie, has a rich dad, but ends up in foster care...]

Mom is going to die?

I stared at my mom, gentle and beautiful. No, this can’t happen.

They don’t talk, but I can.

On a warm afternoon, I waited outside an office building, spotted a man in a suit, and hugged his leg tight.

“Daddy, give me money. I want to save Mommy.”