Chapter 14 - The Night Lily Disappeared Again
Three years later, the worst memory of Sophie's life returned in a different form.
Lily was eleven.
She was supposed to come home from school at 4:15.
At 4:32, she was not home.
At 4:40, Sophie called Gabriel.
He felt the old terror immediately.
But this time he did not summon armed men.
He called the school.
Then the driver.
Then Lily's friends.
At 4:51, they found her.
She was two blocks from school.
Sitting beside a homeless woman.
Lily had missed the car because she had seen the woman collapse near a bus stop.
She had called emergency services.
Then stayed.
Sophie arrived furious and terrified.
She hugged Lily first.
Then:
“You cannot disappear like that!”
“I didn't disappear.”
“You missed the car!”
“My phone died.”
“You find an adult!”
“I did.”
Lily pointed toward a shopkeeper.
Sophie stopped.
Lily had done everything correctly except communicate.
Gabriel arrived.
The homeless woman was being placed into an ambulance.
Lily looked shaken.
“She said she hadn't eaten in two days.”
Sophie closed her eyes.
Of course.
Gabriel crouched.
“You did a good thing.”
Sophie looked at him.
“But,” Gabriel continued, “good intentions don't mean ignoring safety.”
Lily nodded.
“I know.”
“You scared your mother.”
“I know.”
“And me.”
Lily looked surprised.
Gabriel rarely admitted fear.
“Sorry.”
He hugged her.
That night, Lily asked a question.
“Why do people still go hungry if there's enough food?”
Neither adult had a good answer.
So Lily decided to find one.
For a school project, she researched food waste.
Her presentation was titled:
THE FOOD IS THERE. WHY ISN'T IT GETTING TO PEOPLE?
The video spread online.
Millions watched.
Lily explained food waste with the bluntness only an eleven-year-old could manage.
“We keep treating hunger like we don't have enough food. Sometimes the real problem is that we have enough and throw it away in the wrong place.”
The Long Night Foundation received its largest surge of volunteers ever.
Gabriel watched Lily speaking on television.
Sophie sat beside him.
“You know what this means,” he said.
“What?”
“We've created another you.”
Sophie smiled.
“Terrifying, isn't it?”
“Deeply.”
Their younger son, Sal, threw cereal across the floor.
Gabriel looked down.
“And that one?”
May you like
“Definitely you.”
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