Pain and grief

Alanna

"When the world takes your heart and tears it apart, you’re left clinging to the pieces, desperate to make something whole again."

The days blurred together as the search for Lucas and Lucy began. Nolan and I were hardly sleeping, barely eating, our lives consumed by the desperate need to find our children. Every minute that passed felt like a lifetime, the silence from the kidnappers weighing down on us like a curse. Nolan stayed close, his presence both a comfort and a reminder of everything we stood to lose.

When the detectives arrived, I was numb, the events of that terrible day replaying over and over in my mind like a broken record. They led us into the living room, where Nolan and I sat side by side, holding hands so tightly it was as if we were trying to anchor each other to the moment, to reality.

One of the detectives, a middle-aged man with graying hair and a stern expression, started the questioning. His partner, a younger woman with sharp eyes, stood beside him, a