Isabella

“What if it’s them?” I asked, feeling anxious. “Why would they come by sea?”

“Maybe… maybe something came up,” I said, raising my hands in the air. “Joseph said something happened. Maybe they had to improvise,” I added, and Michael began to see reason.

“I can’t leave either of you,” he said after a moment of thinking. “If they’re not with us, we’ll know.”

The seconds suddenly became longer than normal as I glued my eyes to the window facing the beach. A speedboat was rapidly approaching but stopped once it reached the shallows, the engine falling silent. Moments passed, one after the other, making me realize that it...