I opened it.
There was a short handwritten message:
“Let’s see if you’ll still think it’s so funny without your hair.”
My stomach tightened.
I immediately wondered whether Emily had been dealing with bullying at school.
Had someone threatened her?
Had someone embarrassed her?
Why hadn’t she told me?
I sat on the stairs for several minutes, holding the note.
Then my phone rang.
It was my manager asking me to return to work because another employee was absent.
My first instinct was to say yes.
That was what I had always done.
But this time I looked at the note again.
I thought about the school events I had missed.
The concerts.
The science fair.
The little moments when Linda had been there because I had been working.
Suddenly, I realized something uncomfortable.
I had been telling myself that I was working hard for my family.
But Emily might have simply been experiencing my absence.
I typed a message to my manager.
“I can’t come back today. My daughter needs me.”
The response was not encouraging.
I was warned that leaving could affect my job.
For the first time, I didn’t change my decision.
I got dressed, grabbed my keys, and drove to the school.
When I entered the auditorium, the lights were already dimming.
I scanned the stage.
There she was.
Emily stood with the choir.
Her short hair was visible beneath the stage lights.
I quietly took a seat in the back.
Then I noticed another girl standing beside her.
It was Maya, one of Emily’s friends.
Maya also had short hair.
I looked toward the side of the auditorium.
Three older students were whispering together.
One of them appeared nervous.
The concert continued.
After one of the songs, Emily stepped toward the microphone.
She looked nervous, but she kept her shoulders straight.
“Recently, something happened to my friend Maya,” she began.
The auditorium became quiet.
Emily explained that someone had put chewing gum into Maya’s hair at school. Several pieces had become tangled, and removing them without cutting the affected hair wasn’t possible.
Maya had been embarrassed and worried about returning to school.
Emily said that Maya had called her grandmother for help.
