It was only a few days before Christmas when I saw him.
A small boy, no older than six, walking alone under a flickering streetlight. He had a backpack that looked too big for his narrow shoulders and a stuffed bunny pressed tightly to his chest. The road was dark, the air sharp with cold, and there was no adult anywhere in sight.
I didn’t know it then, but that moment would change both of our lives.
Thirteen years later, I would learn that even the life we built together wasn’t as simple as I believed.
