MAXINE

"Zel!" I screamed, running to her and wrapping my hands around her. I pulled her back, both of us falling backward on our behinds.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I yelled. "You can't kill yourself."

She removed my hands from her and stood to her feet. I did the same. "I wasn't trying to kill myself, Maxine. Far from that. I'm my mother's only biological child." She dropped.

"What?" I asked in shock.

"My siblings were all adopted. The only child she gave birth to was Gabriel ...