Chapter 3 - Four Years of DarknessEleanor fell to her knees right in the wet grime of the alley, uncaring that the filthy water soaked through her designer trousers.
She reached out with shaking hands, her fingers gently framing his dirt-smeared face, wiping away soot from his cheekbones with her trembling thumbs.
“My baby…” she sobbed, her voice breaking into hysterical, weeping laughter. “Oh God... my baby... I finally found you.”
She pulled the dirty, trembling boy fiercely into her arms, pressing his head against her chest, burying her face in his matted hair like she was afraid the cold alley would swallow him whole if she let go for even a single second.
Behind her, seven-year-old Chloe watched in total bewilderment. She tugged gently on Eleanor’s damp coat sleeve.
“Mom…” the little girl whispered, her big brown eyes wide. “Who is he?”
Eleanor pulled back just enough to look into the boy’s tear-filled blue eyes, holding his small, cold hands in hers.
“Your brother,” Eleanor wept, kissing the boy's forehead over and over. “This is Leo. Your brother who was taken from us.”
Four years ago, at the age of five, Leo Vance had vanished from a crowded park during a family outing in Bellevue. For forty-eight months, Eleanor had lived in an unending nightmare of police investigations, false leads, search parties, and heartbreak. Her husband, corporate lawyer Julian Vance, had eventually declared the search hopeless, urging her to move on for Chloe's sake.
May you like
But Eleanor had never stopped looking at the faces of children on the street.
And now, amidst the garbage dumpsters and rain of a forgotten Seattle alley, her missing son was holding a half-eaten sandwich in his freezing hands.
Related Stories
