#Chapter442

Hope

Xavier

I sat outside on the back deck, staring into the distance. Every time we had a lead, someone followed it. The person came up empty-handed. Zander’s sixteenth birthday had passed. Leslie and I celebrated with one cupcake, as we did every year. We made a wish and blew out the candle.

Our wish never came. But we still had hope. We hoped that one day, he would come home to us. I tried to keep Leslie’s spirits up, but it was hard when it makes you defeated.

“Hey, brother,” Zane said.

“Hey, Zane.”

“They’re going to find Zander.”

“I keep hoping one day they will walk through...