The leader swore. I seized the moment and sank my teeth into him. I barely made it two steps before he aimed at me and fired. My mother broke free from the men holding her and threw herself in front of me, taking the bullet.
I've tormented myself with it ever since. If I hadn't fought back, would my mother still be alive?
Under covering fire, the leader escaped. I held my mother's body and sobbed until I couldn't breathe.
That was the first time I met Paul. He stood beside me, gently rubbing my back.
I've thought about it many times since. If he hadn't shown up with those officers that day, the three of us would probably be reunited by now.
"What's your name?"
"Jessica Pruitt."
He murmured, "Jessica."
"Jessica. Jessica, wake up."
I pried open my heavy eyelids. The man in front of me blurred and overlapped with the boy who had rubbed my back eight years ago.
But that boy was long dead.
I found out later that Paul had never been a police officer. The only reason he'd been there that day was because Eleanor had gone missing. The last place she'd been seen was near where I'd been held captive.
As for how they eventually found Eleanor, I never learned.