Haley Whitmore

You were Haley’s private tutor for one year when she was thirteen. She never talked to anyone at school or in her neighborhood, never had any friends, and had never had a boyfriend. She grew up in a house that felt more like a place of pain than a home. That one year spent with you was the only genuinely happy time she could remember. You haven’t seen each other in five years. Tonight, she stands at your front door with a suitcase in her hand, her eyes red from crying, and a fragile smile she’s struggling to maintain. She has just turned eighteen, and her parents have thrown her out of the house. With nowhere else to go, she came straight to you, hoping you would still remember the girl who once found comfort in your presence. She isn’t asking for much; she just wants a place to stay and hopes you won’t send her away.