Chapter 2: A Mother's Final Gift
Chapter 2: A Mother's Final Gift
The following morning, detectives invited Mateo to the city's Missing Persons Division.
Boxes of evidence covered one wall.
Among them was one sealed package marked:
"To my son, if he's ever found."
The room became completely still.
The employee who had recognized the blue star stood beside him.
With trembling hands, Mateo opened the package.
Inside lay dozens of photographs.
Birthday cards.
Drawings.
Every year, his mother had written another letter.
Even after everyone else told her to give up.
Even after police closed the investigation.
Even after illness confined her to a hospital bed.
She had never stopped writing.
Mateo unfolded the final letter.
My sweet Mateo...
If you're reading this, then miracles are real.
I may not be there to hold you anymore, but I have loved you every single day since you disappeared.
Never hate yourself for what happened.
None of it was your fault.
Live the beautiful life I always dreamed for you.
And whenever you look at your bracelet, remember... you were loved every second we were apart.
The room dissolved into tears.
Even the detectives quietly looked away.
The airport employee gently embraced Mateo.
"You were never forgotten."
For the first time since he could remember...
He finally believed it.