Anna Sussman

The dad explained that these were the children of the woman whose body Amika had covered up in the car.

The children who passed by on the school bus.

Don't go anywhere.

The story continues right after this break.

Welcome back to Snap Judgment.

This is Fire Escape, the story of a woman whose world burned down, and then she learned to fight fire from behind bars.

Figuring out how to be a mother to her own kids seemed almost impossible.

Sometimes she'd find herself just staring at the payphone or avoiding it altogether.

She said even more than the ongoing humiliation by guards or being punished arbitrarily, it was moments of trying to connect to home that were the hardest.

She knew that she was missing milestones, and that year after year she was missing their lives.

Like, one time, it was her youngest daughter's birthday, Blossom.

And Amika called home to wish her a happy birthday.

Blossom was six years old when Amika went to prison.

Now she's grown.

She wasn't mad at her mom.

She said she was mad that other people had the chance to make her feel less than.

Amika arrived at a cornfield.

It was covered in mist and smoke, and the sun was just coming up.

The car had flipped over and one of the passengers had been thrown from the vehicle.

Amika rushed to check on the driver, who was still in the upside-down car.