I saw a homeless man wearing my missing son’s jacket. I followed him to an abandoned house, and what I found inside almost made me faint.

“Daniel!” I staggered towards the door.

My son looked up. His eyes widened in fear.

A shadow moved behind Daniel. He looked over his shoulder, looked at me, and did the last thing I would have expected.

He started running.

A shadow moved behind Daniel.

“Daniel, wait!” I called , speeding past the old man and into the house.

I heard a door slam. I ran down the hall and slipped into the kitchen. I opened the back door just in time to see Daniel and a girl running toward the woods.

I ran after them, shouting their name, but they were too fast.

I lost them.

***
I drove straight to the nearest police station and told everything to the officer on duty.

“Why would I run away from you?” he asked.

I lost them.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But I need you to help me find him before he disappears again.”

“I’ll raise an alert, ma’am.”

I took a seat. Every time the door opened, my whole body stiffened. I kept asking myself the same questions over and over: What if she’s already on a bus? What if she’s left? What if this was my only chance?

Around midnight, the agent approached me.

“We found him. He was near the bus terminal. They’re bringing him in right now.”

A wave of relief washed over me. “And what about the girl who was with him?”

The agent shook his head. “I was alone.” The officer approached me.

They
took Daniel to a small interrogation room. I didn’t realize he was crying until I felt it on his face.

“You’re alive. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? And when I finally found you… why did you run away from me?”

She looked down at the table. “I didn’t run away from you.”

“So, what…?”

“I fled because of Maya.”

And then he told me everything.