Page 53 of The Other Mother
The camera angle shifts slightly. Through the glass doors, I see movement. A commotion.
Mara.
She's there, behind the doors, and she's screaming. Her mouth is wide, her face contorted with a rage and grief so raw it makes my chest ache. I can't hear her through the glass, but I can read her lips.
"That's my baby! You gave her to the wrong person! Give her back!"
Two security guards appear. Large men in dark uniforms. They grab her arms, pull her away from the doors. She fights them, her body twisting in their arms. Her eyes are locked on something inside the lobby. On me. On the baby I'm not even sure I'm holding.
The guards drag her out of frame, and she's gone.
This is an extended version of the one Lex found, but it’s similar.
I sit there in my wheelchair, signing papers, completely oblivious to the woman being dragged away behind me. The woman whose life was being dismantled while mine was being artificially reconstructed.
I pause the video. My hands are shaking so hard I can barely control the mouse. I don't remember any of this. Not the wheelchair. Not the crying. Not Mara behind those doors.
How can I not remember?
I rewind, play it again. Watch myself sign that paper over and over. Each time, I look more like a stranger. I’m sedated and not in control of my own decisions.
But then I see that there’s something more.
Then I see a second file in the folder. I almost missed it. The title makes my blood turn cold:
Custodial Risk Matrix – Tier 3 Mothers
I open it.
It's a spreadsheet. Rows and rows of anonymized patient numbers, but the categories beside them are crystal clear. Clinical and brutal in their efficiency:
Psychological flags
Limited family support
No legal advocate present
Verbal consent obtained / Sedation confirmed
Single parent / Recent loss
Financial vulnerability assessed
Some rows are marked: Status:FINALIZED / CHILD REASSIGNED
Others:Status: MONITORING / PENDING EVALUATION
I scroll faster, my heart pounding against my ribs. There. One entry that makes me clap a hand over my mouth:
Transfer Partner: B. Matthews – Referred
B. Matthews. NotA.
I was Claire Bernard before I married Adam. B. Matthews could mean I was referred under my marriedname but flagged with my previous identity. Or it could mean something else entirely.
Did they pick me? Did they evaluate, categorize and select me? Why?
I scroll to the top of the spreadsheet again and notice a second tab: “Tier 2 Pending – Cross-Review Required.”There are dozens of rows in each tier. Dates. Flagged traits. Referral codes. Several marked: “Partner Notified – Legal Onboarded”or “Placement In Progress.”
