"I... I don't know."
The police searched everywhere.
The forest.
The river.
All the roads that lead out of the city.
Emily had disappeared.
Since Nora was the last person seen with her, everyone blamed her.
Even my own brother insisted that she knew more than she admitted.
Perhaps she did that.
But when I looked at Nora, I didn't see any guilt.
I saw a frightened twelve-year-old girl who had lost the only true friend she had ever had.
The city never forgave her.
The children avoided her.
Someone spray-painted the word LIAR on our mailbox.
Nora packed her backpack quietly one afternoon.
"I can leave," she whispered.
"No," I told him.
"This city cannot simply discard another child."
Months later, Nora's grandmother was no longer able to care for her due to severe dementia.
Social services planned to place Nora in a foster home.
I couldn't let that happen.
Emily loved Nora like a sister.
I wasn't going to lose both girls, no way.
So I became Nora's guardian.
Finally, I adopted her.
The whole town called me crazy.
They said I was replacing Emily.
They couldn't be more wrong.
Nora never slept in Emily's room.
She refused to move anything.
Every year, she would place a single white daisy on Emily's pillow before crying silently alone.
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