Tasha Carter had long since grown used to being invisible.
At twelve years old, she was wiry and quick, her sneakers worn thin at the soles, and her backpack always slung tight across her shoulders like a lifeline. Each morning, she rose before the sun in her family’s one-bedroom apartment above a laundromat in Southside Baltimore, brushing her hair into two neat puffs, careful not to wake her baby brother.
Life hadn’t given her much, but her mama taught her to give anyway.
So every day after school, while others laughed at the food trucks or played hopscotch, Tasha quietly gathered up leftovers from her lunch tray and tucked them into her backpack. If she was lucky, she’d snag a bruised apple or a carton of chocolate milk to bring home. If not, she’d smile anyway.
It was on one of those walks home—just past dusk, as the golden light faded into the blue haze of city evening—that she heard the sound.
A groan.
Coming from the alley behind Mr. Lopez’s hardware store.
She paused. Tasha had rules about alleys: don’t go in them, don’t talk to people in them, and definitely don’t make eye contact with anyone inside them.
But this wasn’t the usual noise. It was low, pained.
Curious, she tiptoed toward the corner and peeked in.
That’s when she saw the man.
Crumpled against a dumpster, one leg bent strangely beneath him, was an older gentleman in a navy-blue suit. His white shirt was splashed with what looked like blood, and his hand trembled as he reached toward something invisible.
His eyes locked on hers.
“Help,” he rasped. “Please.”
Tasha hesitated.
