She stood on my porch soaked, shaking, and covered in mud.
“Where’s Emily?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Police searched everywhere.
The woods.
The river.
Every road leaving town.
Emily had vanished.
Because Nora was the last person seen with her, everyone blamed her.
Even my own brother insisted she knew more than she admitted.
Maybe she did.
But when I looked at Nora, I didn’t see guilt.
I saw a frightened twelve-year-old who had lost the only real friend she’d ever had.
The town never forgave her.
Children avoided her.
Someone spray-painted LIAR across our mailbox.
Nora quietly packed her backpack one afternoon.
