Still, I keep moving, keep searching for Sophie’s hair. I reach for my phone, pull it out of my pocket, and clutch it tightly against my chest. A part of me is hoping it’ll ring. I’m praying that someone else has found her—that Maria, Kimmie, or Darryl have spotted her walking around Central Park, or that she’s come knocking on Jorge and Amy’s door. But even as I reach the other side of the corridor, my phone remains silent, and all of a sudden, I’m finding it hard to breathe.

I bend over, hands on my knees. Even as desperation spreads to my arms and legs, I tell myself that I need to keep searching for her. She could still be here. Maybe I was walking too quickly, or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention.

I turn around and start running back the way I came. It’s getting harder to put one foot in front of the other, and I’m not exactly sure why it is—if I needed a little more time to catch my breath, or if the station is getting more crowded, or if it’s just my fear of not finding Sophie here.

I’m slowing down, taking deep breaths, when all of a sudden, I see it—a flash of black hair.

I stop, nearly crashing into a man. My heart is stuck in my throat as I blink, trying to make sure that my eyes aren’t playing a trick on me.

She’s facing away from me, staring up at the train schedule screens. Something tells me she’s been standing there for a while—her shoulders are slumped, and she’s fidgeting with her hands.

“Sophie!” I yell across the corridor. It takes her a moment to turn around, and when she does, her face goes pale.

Our eyes meet for only a second, but that’s enough for all the weight inside of me to melt away. I feel longing that I’ve never felt before in my life as I start moving my heavy legs forward, wanting to reach my sister, to wrap my arms around her, but before I can get too close, she turns away from me and starts running.

“Sophie!”

She looks over her shoulder at me, and I don’t understand how this happened—how I went from being so close to her, to having to chase her through the crowded station.

“Sophie, please! Just stop.”

I try my hardest to keep up, but I can’t stop bumping into people, unable to sneak into the small gaps she keeps disappearing through.

“Sophie!”

I can feel a hundred judgmental gazes on me, but no one tries to help. No one tries to stop her—no one does anything.