Lelo didn't like others touching Mama's things.
Especially not her mirror.
That was her spot. Their spot. Where Mama sat every morning brushing her hair, humming softly. Where Lelo sometimes curled up on her lap, watching her apply lotion to her deep brown skin, her long fingers moving like they were painting something delicate.
So when Mama left for school that morning, Lelo tiptoed into her room and closed the door behind her.
She liked setting things up. The brush laid straight. The perfume at just the right tilt. The hairband folded like Mama did it.
She was careful with everything.
Until her toe nudged something beneath the edge of the rug.
Lelo paused.
She knelt down and peeled the corner of the carpet back. There, nearly invisible against the floor, was a tiny white tablet. She plucked it up between her fingers.
No label.
No wrapper.
Just cold and round and suspiciously alone.
> "What's this?" she whispered.
At first, she thought maybe it was a vitamin. Mama had been looking pale lately. Maybe she was tired. Maybe she was sick and didn't want to worry anyone.
But her stomach turned.
She didn't like how it looked.
Didn't like how it felt.
So she slipped it into her pocket and crept quietly down the hall to the study — the one with the tablet her father gave her, the one with no locks or filters.
---
She sat at the desk, legs dangling, and pulled the pill out again.
She typed slowly, carefully. Each letter took effort — she wanted to get it right.
White pill. Small. Round. Marked "E30."
The results came fast.
Her eyes scanned the screen once.
Twice.
She read the words out loud like she was trying to prove they weren't real:
> "Emergency… contraception... birth control... prevents pregnancy... after sex…"
Her hand clutched the tablet so tight the edge dug into her skin.
She stared at the pill in her other hand.
> No...
Her heart stuttered.
Her chest ached.
Her throat closed.
It didn't feel like medicine.
It felt like a knife.
---
She imagined all the times her father whispered that Mama would bring them siblings. The way he talked about family like it was already growing inside her.
Lelo looked down at the white pill.
> "She's been killing them," she said, barely breathing.
And then the tears came.
Soft. Trembling. Angry.
Not because Mama was sick.
But because Mama was a liar.
---