I folded the yellow paper twice and slid it into my left cardigan pocket next to the flip phone.

The plastic clock on the desk read eight forty-two a.m.

I had eighteen minutes left before the doorbell would ring.

I stood up from the desk and looked down at the framed high school graduation photograph on the nightstand.

A seventeen-year-old Mark looked back at me from inside the silver frame, wearing his dark blue cap and gown with a straight smile.

I reached out and turned the frame face down on the nightstand.