Chapter 2

Three more minutes, and building security showed up.

They asked what was going on.

Then they started pounding on my door alongside Nora.

"Ms. Hughes, could you open the door?"

"Come on, honey, open up, would you?"

Nora sat on the floor, clutching the boy, sobbing.

More and more heads poked out into the hall.

More and more neighbors gathered outside my door.

The neighborhood chat kept lighting up.

[Sounds like the kid in 401 had a febrile seizure. She wanted the neighbor in 402 to help drive him to the hospital, and 402 won't open the door.]

[Oh my God, febrile seizures are dangerous. How can she be so cold-blooded!]

[Right?!]

Someone asked, [Maybe she's asleep?]

Shot down instantly. [No way. What young person is asleep before midnight these days? She just doesn't want the hassle!]

[True. If something happened in her car, that's a whole mess for her.]

[He's just a kid! How can anyone be that selfish!]

Everybody had something to say.

I turned my phone screen off and gripped it in my hand.

My chest was pounding.

The knocking came faster and faster.

I heard security say, "She might be asleep."

Nora refused to let it go. "She's not asleep. She just doesn't want to save my son!"

I heard the couple next door say to call 911.

Nora refused right away. "911 takes twenty minutes to get here. My son can't wait that long."

She said he couldn't wait.

But from the moment she started knocking on my door until now,

at least ten minutes had gone by.

She started crying again. "Janet, I'm begging you, save my son! Help me, please!"

The warnings appeared again.

[Get some wine on yourself, then go open the door. Say you drank too much and fell asleep. Remember, do not touch the child, do not touch Nora.]

[Put yourself in the position of someone who had no idea.]

[When you need to, let a few tears fall. This part matters.]

I stood and felt my way toward the kitchen in the dark.

Lucky for me, last week I'd had my girlfriends over and bought a few bottles of red wine.

I threw back two big gulps of it.

The sharp burn hit my throat and I nearly choked out loud.

I forced it down, hard enough that my eyes teared up.

Then I splashed the wine down my clothes.

I mussed my hair and walked slowly toward the front door.

The second I opened it, I saw a crowd of seven or eight people packed outside.

Two from security, two neighbors, and the other three were there just to watch.

The moment Nora saw me, her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees in front of me.

"Janet, you finally opened the door. I'm begging you, help my son, he had a febrile seizure, he needs to get to the hospital!"

"Help me, please, help me!"