30
MARI
Mr. Fletcher hadn’t been lying when he’d told me my family was on their way.
I was over four hundred miles from home—about a six-and-a-half-hour drive from everyone I loved—but Lita and Tio Hernando showed up at the police station where I was sent to meet them early on Monday afternoon.
Lita wept when she saw me. Throwing open her arms wide, she rushed forward as soon as she spotted me across the station. I popped from the chair I’d been sitting in and started to sob as well.
“Mi nieta,” she kept saying as she stroked my hair. She pulled back to cup my face in her hands and smile through her tears before she’d tugged me back in for another hug.
It was so nice to see her familiar face that I couldn’t seem to let go of her wherever we went. I kept hold of her hand or arm or sim
