IT FEELS AS THOUGH LATELY, DAYS HAVE been going by quickly, but nights are painfully slow. Waking hours are a blur, but my dreams seem to go on forever.

It is while I’m sleeping that I see it all again. I relive everything that’s happened in the past few months. I see myself at the bodega, looking into the eyes of the ICE agents who came asking for my dad. I see myself standing in front of Erika as she explained to me that Ma and Pa had been taken, and the realization that our lives would change forever hits me all over again. I see myself testifying during Pa’s hearing, and walking out of the apartment where I grew up for the very last time, and running through Penn Station, trying to find Sophie.

When I wake up, I always feel a little disoriented. My dreams seem more real than the bed underneath me or the walls around me. It always takes me a few moments to remember that all those things are over, that they’re in the past, that now we have to focus on the future.

On a Saturday morning in mid-August, I wake up from a dream that involved me chasing after Sophie down a long, dark street. Even though my heart is beating fast and my breathing is sped up, as though I’ve actually been running, the room greets me with nothing but peace and quiet.

Slowly, I get up from bed. Sophie must’ve already woken up, because she’s not here. I tiptoe toward the door and step out into the hallway.

We’ve been back at Jorge’s for the past couple of weeks, but now that we know this is only temporary, we’ve all been a little more relaxed. Jorge has been joining us at night to watch Pasiones de tu Corazón, even though it’s pretty hopeless to think that he’ll be able to catch up with the story at this point. Amy’s always asking if we’re hungry, always making sure we have everything we need. Even Ellie has been sleeping better.

“And we’ll never be apart again. I promise,” I hear Pa’s voice coming from the living room.

I find Sophie sitting on the couch, holding her phone in front of her nose, with Pa and Ma on FaceTime. I sit down on the couch next to her, knowing exactly what’s going on. She must’ve had a nightmare again.

“Never?” she asks, barely noticing that I’m there.

“Never,” Pa says.

I’ve heard him explain this to her a thousand times, but she always seems to want to hear it just one more time. She wants to hear that she will in fact go live with Ma and Pa, that despite everything that’s happened, she doesn’t have to be afraid anymore.