They passed a little boy holding both his parents' hands. He called out loudly, "That lady loves her big sister the most! Just like Mommy loves me the most!"
Mom's steps faltered. She forced a smile that didn't quite hold.
The next second, she corrected him almost on instinct. "Sweetie, the person a mother loves most will always be her own child."
The words left her mouth, and she froze where she stood.
She didn't even know how those words had slipped out.
Aileen leaned against her, and something dark flickered through her eyes when she heard it. But a second later, she was back to looking pitiful and helpless.
The next evening, Aileen suddenly burst into hysterical sobs.
She clutched her phone and stumbled over to Mom's side.
"Mom! Look at this! She's threatening me again!"
On the phone screen was a photo of Aileen's clothes, drenched in a dark, reddish-black liquid that looked like blood.
A note had been placed beside the clothes, scrawled in jagged, uneven handwriting:
"Stay away from my mom, or I'll dye your clothes red with your own blood!"
The message had been sent from an out-of-state number, though it was actually the phone of one of Aileen's admirers.