I stared at him. “You wanted me to find you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I promised Maya I wouldn’t tell, but… I didn’t want you to think I was gone forever. I never told her that I did that. She would’ve thought I’d betrayed her.”
***
A few days later, the police found Maya. Once the officers spoke to her privately, the truth came out in full. An investigation was opened. Her stepfather was removed from the house, and Maya was placed in protective care.
For the first time in a long while, she was safe.
A few days later, the police found Maya.
***
A few weeks later, I stood in the doorway of my living room and watched the two of them on the couch. They were watching a movie on TV. A bowl of popcorn sat between them. They looked like normal kids.
I had spent almost a year believing my son had vanished into the world, that he had left without a word, without looking back. But my son hadn’t run away. At least, not the way anyone assumed.
He had stayed beside someone who was afraid, in every city and every shelter and every cold, abandoned building, because he was the kind of boy who couldn’t let someone go alone.
He was also the kind of boy who gave away his jacket as a sign for someone who loved him to follow
