JAMES

“Are you stupid?” my mom asked, panicking as she paced her living room. I shouldn’t have told her about my plan, but I had to.

“James, just let the box go, please,” my mother pleaded. “You are going to get yourself killed.”

“I’m not that easy to kill, Mom,” I said calmly.

“I can’t lose you too,” she said in a low voice.

Her voice cracked as she spoke, and for the first time in a very long while, I hadn’t seen her like this. It wasn’t anger or ...