“You were a child.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were thirteen and alone.”

He cried harder. Noah stood behind him, frozen. Then Ethan turned, and the brothers looked at each other across three years of separation and seven years of survival.

Noah whispered, “I thought you were dead.” Ethan wiped his face with his sleeve. “I thought you hated me.” Then they hugged like the world had finally stopped tearing them apart.

Chapter 8 — A Beginning with Scars

Coming home wasn’t simple. People imagine reunion as an ending. It isn’t. It’s a beginning with scars.