The mother couldn’t answer.

Her hands were shaking too badly.

The barefoot boy watched her with tired eyes.

“You remember now,” he whispered.

She closed the locket.

Too quickly.

People kept walking around them, unaware that three lives had just stopped.

Her son looked between them.

“Who is he?”

The mother slowly removed her sunglasses.

Tears filled her eyes.

“When you were born…” she whispered, “there were two of you.”

The city noise seemed to disappear.

Her son frowned.

“I have a twin?”

She nodded once.

The barefoot boy lowered his head.

“My father took me.”

The mother covered her mouth.

“I searched for you,” she cried. “They told me you died.”

The barefoot boy reached into his pocket and unfolded an old newspaper clipping.

It showed the same hospital.

The same date.

The headline read:

Newborn Missing During Hospital Evacuation.

Her knees gave way.

She collapsed onto the pavement.

The two boys stood side by side for the first time in their lives.

Identical faces.

Completely different childhoods.

The barefoot boy looked at her quietly.

“I never stopped wondering why my mother never came back.”

The woman reached toward him with trembling hands.

“I never stopped looking.”