AMARA POV
“Lilly… Lilly… don’t leave me behind, please!!”
A small voice echoed through the darkness.
A little girl … barely five …. ran barefoot through tall grass, tears streaking her dusty cheeks as she clung to the hand of an older girl. Their faces were hazy, blurry… like a memory submerged underwater.
“Stay here, okay? Don’t go anywhere,” the older girl whispered, pushing the younger into a flower garden, hiding her between bright petals and thick leaves.
“I’ll come back for you. I promise.”
Her clothes were torn, her hair messy … they had been running.
Running from someone.
“Lilly!” the younger girl cried again.
The older girl turned to run…. But shadows appeared. Huge men. Hefty. Dark. Closing in.
The older girl stumbled. Fell. A scream tore out…..
“LILLY!!”
I jerked a
