“She moved in yesterday. That footage shows her last day here.”
Sarah’s stomach turned, feeling nauseous.
He headed straight to Maya’s house, his mind filled with questions and growing concern.
A tall man, with a hard, closed expression, opened the door.
“Can I speak to Maya, please?” Sarah asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
“He was with my son yesterday, and now he’s gone. I just have a couple of questions.”
The man stared at Sarah for a long time, feeling embarrassed.
Then something in his face seemed to go completely blank, his expression becoming unreadable.
“Maya is not here right now,” he said curtly.
“He’ll stay with his grandparents for a while.”
He started to close the door before Sarah could respond.
“I’ll ask her if she knows anything about your son,” he added without showing any emotion.
The door slammed shut in Sarah’s face.
He stood on the porch for several minutes, sensing that something about the conversation wasn’t right.
But he didn’t know how to delve deeper into the issue or what questions to ask.
The weeks that followed were the darkest time of Sarah’s entire life.
He posted flyers with the missing person’s photo on every telephone pole and bulletin board in town.
She posted Daniel’s photo in online groups and community forums.
He called everyone Daniel knew: classmates, teachers, neighbors, distant relatives.
The police conducted searches and followed several leads, but gradually the energy and urgency began to fade.
The phone calls became less frequent, official reports stopped arriving, and Sarah felt increasingly alone in her desperate search.
People started using a word she absolutely hated to hear.
Run away.
But Sarah knew her son better than anyone in the world.
Daniel wasn’t the kind of guy who would disappear without explanation or abandon the people who loved him.
Almost a whole year has passed in this terrible limbo.
Sarah forced herself to resume a daily life that resembled a normal one: attending work meetings, doing the shopping, calling her sister on Sundays.
Then, one afternoon, while Sarah was in another city for a business meeting, she stopped at a small cafe for a coffee.
He ordered at the counter and waited for the bartender to prepare his drink.
The bar door opened behind him.
As Sarah casually turned around, an older man entered wearing thin, worn clothes.
In his hands he held a small pile of coins which he was carefully counting.
He looked like a homeless man and Sarah immediately felt sorry for him.
But then her heart almost stopped.
He was wearing Daniel’s jacket.
Not a similar jacket, but the exact same one her son was wearing when he disappeared.
Sarah recognized him immediately thanks to the guitar-shaped patch on his right sleeve.
Daniel had torn the fabric of a fence months before his disappearance, and Sarah had carefully sewn that distinctive patch over the damage.
There was also a light paint stain on the back, left over from when Daniel had helped their elderly neighbor repaint a garden shed.
This was definitely Daniel’s jacket.
Sarah quickly turned to the bartender.
“Add to the bill whatever that gentleman orders,” he said, his voice surprisingly steady despite his racing heart.
The bartender nodded and smiled, appreciating the kind gesture.
The old man looked at Sarah with sincere surprise and gratitude.
“Thank you very much, ma’am,” he said softly.
“Where did you get that jacket?” Sarah asked, trying to sound casual rather than desperate.
The man looked down at the worn garment.
“A little boy gave it to me,” he replied simply.
Sarah’s heart was pounding against her ribs.
“Was he about sixteen?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Brown hair, average height?”
The man nodded slowly.
Other customers moved among them as the bartender handed the man tea and a freshly baked sandwich.
As Sarah pushed through the crowd, the man was already heading for the exit.
“Wait, please!” Sarah cried urgently.
But he went out and disappeared into the crowd on the sidewalk.
Sarah followed him along the crowded street, desperately trying to catch up without losing sight of him.
After walking two full blocks, Sarah noticed something unusual.
The man stopped at nothing.
Don’t ask for change, don’t rest, don’t eat the food she had just bought for him.
He walked with a firm and determined step.
So, instead of calling out to him again and risking scaring him, Sarah slowed her pace and simply followed him.
The man walked for almost a full hour, taking her further and further away from the city center.
Eventually they reached the outskirts of town, where abandoned houses stood like forgotten monuments on the edge of a dense forest.
The man stopped in front of one house in particular.
The yard was completely overgrown with tall weeds and wild grass.
The paint had peeled off the walls in long, curling streaks.
The entire structure appeared completely forgotten by time.
The old man knocked softly on the time-worn door.
Sarah approached, hiding behind a large tree in the overgrown yard.
The door opened slowly.
“You said I should let you know if anyone ever asked about the jacket,” the old man said to whoever was inside.
Sarah peered cautiously from behind the tree trunk.
When she saw who was standing in the doorway, her knees almost buckled.
“Daniel!” she exclaimed, breathless.
Her son looked straight at her, his eyes wide with shock.
For a brief moment, pure joy at seeing his mother again flashed across his face.
Then fear took over everything else.
In the dark house, a shadow moved behind Daniel.
Daniel glanced nervously behind him.
Then he did the last thing Sarah ever expected.
He ran.
“Daniel, wait! Please!” Sarah screamed.
She ran towards the house as Daniel disappeared inside.
A door slammed somewhere out back.
Sarah burst into the kitchen just in time to see Daniel and a girl run out the back door into the woods.
“Maya!” Sarah shouted, finally understanding.
The two teenagers disappeared into the trees.
Sarah chased them until her lungs burned and her legs felt like they were about to give out.
But he lost them in the thick forest.
That same night, Sarah went straight to the nearest police station.
“I found it,” he told the officer on duty, barely able to catch his breath.
“My son is alive. I saw him.”
The agent frowned, visibly confused.
“If you found him, where is he now? Why did he run away from you?”
“I don’t know,” Sarah admitted, tears streaming down her face.
“But please, help me find him before he disappears again.”
Hours later, just before midnight, the officer returned with news.
“We found him near the bus terminal,” he said.
Continue on the next page.
To continue reading, click (NEXT) below!
