20) Her Safety

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Double update for the Holiday! I hope everyone is safe and healthy and happy! Also trigger warning, ⚠️suicide⚠️ is a strong theme in this chapter. If that's something that bothers you, please proceed with caution or just skip the chapter- I promise it won't affect your understanding of the storyline.

Entering her workplace, Ella's main phone line began ringing, and rushing to get to it, Ella ended up accidentally knocking down a vase with flowers. Wincing as the pieces of glass went everywhere, Ella still focused on the phone call at hand.

"Hello?" Ella placed the phone in between her shoulder and ear as she moved for the broom and dust pan.

"Ms. Cortesa?" A women questioned.

"Speaking," Ella crouched, picking up the larger pieces of glass carefully. "How can I help you, Ms?"

The woman paused, "I just... when is latest appointment you can assign?"

"Let me check," Ella threw away the pieces she had collected before going to her schedule. "Does five work?" Another pause with the women, this one prolonged with hints of a background conversation going on. "Is everything alright? Do you need help?" Ella was quickly on alert. The amount of times that she had received calls from patients that were being forced to receive psychological help or that were wanted help but had to do so secretly was chilling.

"No, no." The woman quickly responded, seeming honest. "That time works. Thank you." The lady hung up before Ella could even ask for basic information such as a name and phone number. Before Ella could call back, though, her own personal phone began ringing.

"Hey, mama," Ella chirped, tucking her phone into her shoulder and ear again as she resumed sweeping the shards of glass.

"Hey, Ellie. Did I catch you at a bad moment?" Elizabeth had woken up with a nightmare, and the first thing she wanted to do was check up on all of her kids.

"Nope. I just accidentally knocked over a vase that I'm picking up." Ella explained, her voice strained as she bent over to collect the tiny shards in the dust pan.

"Oh... are you okay?" Elizabeth frowned. She knew she was reading too much into things, but she couldn't help but to feel a heavy weight in her stomach at the simple reminder of her nightmare. There was so much glass stained with blood. "Be careful with glass thing today. In fact, just stay away from them."

"Yes, mamá." Ella assured her firmly, nodding even when she knew her mom couldn't see her. "How's dad?" Ella switched the topic, and that successfully drove her mom off topic.

Elizabeth ended up hanging up a bit earlier than usual, but that was just because she was afraid that she would end up spoiling the surprise for Ella if she stayed on the line. Elizabeth had always kept an open relationship with her kids, often telling them many blunt truths and stories, but that worked out in her favor since now they all trusted her and vice versa.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, Ella had pulled out a small compacted mirror to fix her lip tint after eating, and just as she was finishing up, she somehow ended up dropping the mirror, and it shattered all over her office floor.

"Seriously?" Ella whined quietly to herself before moving for the broom and dustpan again. Her mother hadn't been kidding she told Ella to be mindful of glass things today.

After cleaning that mess up, Ella had noticed that it was already five in the evening, and there was still no sign of her supposed new patient. Even after Ella called the number back twice, it seemed as though the line had been disconnected, sending her back to the voicemail both times before Ella decided to leave a voicemail, expressing her concern and availability before hanging up.

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