“Emily?”

The woman in grey didn’t move.

For a second, neither of them did.

Then the boy looked up, tears spilling down his face.

“She told me not to come closer unless you recognized her.”

The woman took a shaking step forward.

“I buried you.”

The woman in grey finally spoke, her voice thin and unsteady.

“No.”

A broken breath left her.

“You buried what they told you.”

The woman in black covered her mouth.

Her whole body was shaking now.

The boy stood between them, clutching the hair clip like it was the only thing holding him together.

The woman in black looked at him.

“Who is he?”

The woman in grey closed her eyes for a moment.

Then opened them, full of tears.

“He’s my son.”

The answer hit hard enough to leave her stunned.

“You were alive all this time?”

The woman in grey nodded once.

“They took everything from me.”

The woman in black took another step.

“Who?”

The woman in grey’s face crumpled.

“Dad.”

The word landed like a knife.

The boy looked from one woman to the other, scared but steady.

“My mom said you loved her.”

The woman in black let out a shattered sob.

“I did.”

The woman in grey’s voice cracked.

“He told me you hated me.”

The woman in black shook her head violently.

“Never.”

The boy slowly reached for his mother’s hand, then looked at the woman in black.

“She made me memorize one sentence.”

The woman in black could barely breathe.

“What sentence?”

The boy’s voice trembled.

“She said, ‘Tell my sister I didn’t disappear.’”

He swallowed hard.

Then came the line that broke her completely.

“‘I stayed away because I was protecting her from our father.’”