Chapter 6 - The Room of Stars
The chamber inside was circular, fifty feet wide, with high concrete walls curving upward into the dark hollow of the concrete chimney eighty feet above.
In the center of the room sat three portable kerosene heaters, casting a warm, orange glow across four military-style cots lined up against the curved brick wall.
Three small children—two boys and a girl, all under the age of eight—were huddled together under heavy woolen blankets on the first two cots, their wide, terrified eyes fixing on Elena as she stepped into the room.
On the third cot, sitting cross-legged in a faded red sweater that was four sizes too big, sat a tiny girl with long, matted dark curls.
Her face was thin, pale, her cheekbones sharp under her pale skin. In her lap lay a crumpled box of peppermint candies and three more folded foil stars.
She slowly lifted her head.
Her dark hazel eyes—the exact shape, color, and soul of Elena’s own—locked onto Elena’s face.
The room seemed to stop spinning. The sound of the howling wind outside, the crackle of the kerosene heaters, the distant sound of shouting in the hallway—all of it vanished into absolute, staggering silence.
"Mommy?"
The voice was small, dry, barely a whisper carried on the warm draft of the heater.
Elena dropped the steel pipe. It hit the concrete floor with a dull, distant thud.
She fell to her knees, her arms opening wide as tears flooded her eyes, blinding her vision. "Grace..."
The little girl scrambled off the cot, her bare feet slapping against the concrete floor. She didn't stumble. She didn't hesitate. She threw her tiny body into Elena’s arms with a force that knocked Elena backward against the cold brick wall.
Grace buried her face into the crook of Elena’s neck, her small, thin arms wrapping around Elena’s collar with a terrifying, absolute grip.
"I knew you'd see the bracelet," Grace sobbed, her breath hot and ragged against Elena’s skin. "I told Maya... I told her you were looking... I told her you wouldn't stop..."
May you like
Elena wrapped her coat around her daughter, pulling her so close she could feel every rib, every frantic heartbeat, every ragged breath of the child she had mourned for two long years.
"I'm here, baby," Elena wept, her tears soaking into Grace’s matted hair, kissing her cheeks, her forehead, her cold little nose. "Mommy’s here. I’m never leaving you again. Never. Never."
