I hit the answer button, and Evelyn's desperate sobs filled my ear.

"Mom, why are you doing this to me? I'm your daughter, not your enemy! You're pushing me to the edge..."

I cut her off, ending the call, and pulled out a bag of imported beef jerky for my pet dog.

Just then, a nurse came by carrying a bottle with a bold label. "Ms. Smith, this is your dog's iron supplement. Give two milliliters once a day. This imported brand works better because it's absorbed more easily."

My little Westie had been battling iron-deficiency anemia for the past week, and we had been coming to that pet hospital daily. Today marked the end of the treatments.

I headed to the cashier to settle the bill.

The cashier handed me the receipt. "That'll be nine hundred sixty bucks total."

The comment section exploded with the fury of social media users.

[$960?! Did I do the math right? That's like 12 times $80! She's spending enough on her dog's treatments to keep her daughter afloat for a whole year!]

[I used to think Evelyn was just scrimping by, sipping water to stave off hunger, like her family was broke. Turns out, she's the only one in her family living like she's penniless.]

[Anyone who brings a child into this world and doesn't care for them is lower than an animal. People like that shouldn't even be parents. They're just wasting air alive, and taking up space dead.]

[How can a mom refuse to feed her own kid, but spoil a pet dog with fancy imported treats? She deserves to be struck down for that!]

[We need to expose her! Let's dig up her ID, her address, everything. Make her feel what it's like to be cornered and harassed, to have no peace.]

It was not long before I got a text from an unknown number.

[Just you wait: I'm on my way to your place right now. You're going to pay for being such trash!]

The manager of my early learning center called me in tears, "Ms. Smith! It's chaos out here! There's a crowd at the shop's door, waving signs calling you a 'Heartless Mother', and they're even splashing paint on the doors! Parents are demanding refunds in the chat..."

That was when Jessica came charging in, gripping my wrist tight. "The Internet has your number now. They've got all your info, and some are saying they'll come to your place to set you straight. Others are threatening your dog's life! Don't you get it? You're in danger!"

However, I just stood there, unfazed by the storm swirling around me.

"Will you say something?" Jessica was frantic, her anger boiling over. "You're not hurting for cash. You could give her a decent life so easily. Why be so heartless? You've made yourself public enemy number one online! Everyone's wishing you'd just drop dead. Doesn't that scare you?"

She was cut off by the relentless buzzing of her phone.

Picking up, her voice shook as she spoke, "Hello… What? Overdosed on sleeping pills? Which hospital?"

Jessica's eyes were locked on mine in panic, and she did not even breathe.

"Evelyn... Evelyn tried to end her life in her dorm room... They're trying to save her now... The doctor said... it might be too late..."

The live stream was in chaos, the screen swarmed with messages.

[Monster of a mother, just die! Go join Evelyn!]

Social media users kept pouring into the stream, the video glitching and flickering, the whole room nearly buckling under the weight of their fury.

Jessica charged at me, yanking at my collar, her voice thunderous. "Tell me! What's this seven-day secret you're keeping? She's slipping away! What did she ever do to deserve this from you?!"

However, I stepped back, the picture of serenity, and gently set my pet dog down on the counter, my voice polite as ever. "Could you watch him for just a bit, maybe an hour? I'll be right back for him."

At the hospital, the doctor leading the rescue effort said Evelyn was in dire straits, needing blood right away.

However, her blood type was rare, nowhere to be found in the hospital's reserves.

Upon seeing me, the doctor clutched at my wrist, desperate, "Ms. Smith! You're her mother. You could be a match! Please, go with the nurse to get tested!"

I kept my smile. "I'm sorry, but a transfusion could weaken my immune system, and I'd rather not."

Jessica was on me in a flash, gripping my arm. "Laura! Inside there, that's your daughter, the one you carried for nine months! How can you just stand there and say no?!"

I brushed her off, my voice calm as though I were commenting on the day's weather.

"Lowered immunity could lead to catching a cold, and I'd rather not risk it."

Everyone around was floored, unable to fathom a mother's heart so cruel.

"Besides, Evelyn's an adult. If she's chosen this path for herself, then it's her right. We shouldn't waste the hospital's time and resources," I said.

If killing were not a crime, the glares from the nurses and doctors around me said they would tear me apart on the spot.

Their eyes blazed with a fury that was palpable.

However, they held back.

The head of the ER, a seasoned doctor in his fifties, was the first to get a grip on his emotions.

He peeled off his drenched mask, inhaled deeply, and bowed low before me, his voice filled with a desperate sincerity, "Ms. Smith, I've been in medicine for thirty years, and I've saved lives enough to stretch from here to the block's end. I'm begging you now, doctor to civilian, to save Evelyn. She's barely twenty, her whole life ahead of her!"

No sooner had he finished than over 20 medical staff lined up, bowing in unison, pleading with me.

Their display was so moving that even the onlookers in the waiting area were wiping away tears.

However, I was as unmoved as when I had walked in, my voice steady and unshaken, "I'm sorry, but my answer remains the same."

"How can you be so cold-hearted?!" A young nurse lost her composure, her tears hitting the floor with a soft splash.

At that moment, a guy in a hoodie barrelled through, knocking into me and making me stumble.

He yanked up his sleeves, yelling, "I've got Rh-negative blood! Use mine! We might not be kin, but I can't just watch someone die!"

Time seemed to stand still until at last, the OR's red light clicked off.

The doctor emerged, weariness etched on his face that broke into a relieved grin.

"We got the blood through! She's safe now!"

The corridor erupted in cheers.

However, the vitriol online multiplied by the second.

The screen was plastered with messages.

[That monster of a mother deserves to die!]

My personal details were blasted across the internet: my social security number, my address, my phone number.

My phone buzzed nonstop with threats.

[Prepare for your funeral.]

[Step outside, and you're done for.]

[I'm coming over tonight. Let's see how you like feeling helpless.]

Outside the hospital, chaos reigned as a crowd waved signs that screamed, "Cold-blooded monster, out of our hospital!"

Someone was shouting at the building, their voice raw with fury.

"Your dog gets fancy iron pills, but your daughter's stuck sipping cold water for meals! Where's your conscience, or did the dog gobble that up too?"

"Let's get her out of here! She needs to apologize to Evelyn!"

Without the cops at the door keeping things in check, the seething crowd would have barged in and snatched me up by then.

Jessica came up to me, her eyes puffy and red.

"Are you ready to talk? What's your deal with Evelyn? What's really going on here?"

I spun on my heel, following the police down the emergency exit, tossing a careless remark over my shoulder, "Stay tuned to the live stream. You won't want to miss the drama that's about to unfold."

On the seventh night, Jessica burst through my front door.