For two years, Elena repeated the last words her son said before mysteriously disappearing. She clung to the hope of finding a sign that he was still out there. One day she found it: a bracelet she had made for him, now on the wrist of a stranger. That discovery brought her closer to the answers she longed for.
Elena’s coat gave off a faint scent of lavender, a reminder of the fabric freshener she had used before leaving the hotel room. She sat by the café window, watching the drizzle splatter against the glass. This new city wasn’t home; it never had been. He was here on another last-minute business trip. Normally he could distract himself with work, but today his thoughts would not calm down.
They were stuck on Aaron. It had been two years since their son had disappeared. Without saying goodbye, without giving any explanation… he had simply disappeared.
He was 20 when he left, an age when he should have been figuring out his life, not running away from it.
The only thing he left behind was an unsettling silence.
And Elena? She was left with sleepless nights and memories that grew more acute with each passing day. She had looked for him everywhere, even on social media. But to no avail.
Her phone vibrated with another message from her sister Wendy. “Any news?” she asked like clockwork. Every morning, the same question, the same hope.
“Nothing,“ Elena replied, her fingers trembling slightly. ‘Another day of wondering if he’s alive.’
“He is,” Wendy replied instantly. “You would know if he wasn’t. A mother always knows.”
Elena closed her eyes, remembering the last conversation they had had before he disappeared. “I’m going out,” Aaron had said, as carefree as ever. “Don’t wait up for me.”
“Send me a message when you get home,“ she had said after him.
“I will, Mom. I will.”
But he never did. The message never came.
On the bedside table at home there was a photo of him at the age of ten, his face beaming with pride as he showed off the bracelet she had made for him. It was made of braided blue and green leather, with a small silver pendant engraved with his initial.
She remembered that he had tied it to the doll and said to her: “She’s one in a million. Just like you”.
“Really, Mom?“ he had asked, his eyes shining. ‘Do you mean it?’
“With all my heart, darling. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
And now? Two years without him, and all she had left were those words echoing in her head.
A soft tinkling of dishes brought Elena back to the present. The waiter left her order: a plate of eggs and toast that she had barely glanced at on the menu. The warm smell of coffee and pastries filled the air, but she had no appetite.
She dug into the crust of the toast, her mind a blank. Where is he? Is he safe? Does he know how much I love him?
The sound of footsteps brought her back to reality. The waiter, a young man with a friendly smile, returned with the bill. She handed him her card without looking up. But when he picked it up, something caught his attention.
A bracelet.
Blue and green braided leather, with a small silver pendant.
His breath caught in his throat. “It’s….My God, it’s the SAME BRACELET AS AARON’S.”
He stared at her, his hand trembling. ‘Where did you get it?’ His voice barely got past the lump in his throat.
The waiter stopped and looked at his wrist. ‘Oh, this?’ He laughed nervously. ”It was a gift.”
Her heart quickened. “Who from?”
His smile faded, replaced by confusion. ‘My fiancé.”
The room seemed to have tilted. Elena gripped the edge of the table and her voice trembled. ’Who is he? What’s his name?”
“Madam, are you all right?” he asked, with genuine concern in his voice. “You’re shaking.”
“That bracelet,” she whispered, she reached out to touch it, but stopped. ‘I remember every knot and every thread. I spent hours making it perfect because… because he deserved perfection.”
The man frowned defensively. ’I don’t see why that’s any of your business.”
He pointed to the bracelet, his voice faltering. “Because I made it. FOR MY SON.”
There was a heavy, uncertain silence between them.
The waiter, Chris, as his name tag said, studied it and his face went from confusion to understanding. ‘Wait,’ he said slowly, ”are you Adam’s mother?”
Elena stared at him, almost unable to breathe. “Adam? No, my son’s name is Aaron. Do you know my son?”
The waiter shook his head. ”No. But he told me he had left everything behind, including his name. I… I never knew why. And he’s not called Aaron anymore. He’s Adam now.”
The name hit her like a slap in the face. Adam. Why would he change his name? Why would he leave his life behind?
“Why?” whispered Elena. ‘Why would he do that?”
“Please,’ she begged, ”I need to understand. Every night, for two years, I’ve imagined the worst. Car accidents, kidnappings, murders. Do you know what it’s like to wake up every morning wondering if your child is dead?
Chris looked around, lowering his voice. “Look, I don’t know everything. He never talked much about his past. But he said… he said he didn’t think you’d accept it.”
“Accept it? Why?”
Chris shifted uncomfortably and looked at his wrist. “For me. For us.”
“Us?” she repeated, the word heavy on her tongue. “You mean…”
“We’re engaged,” Chris said in a low voice, touching the bracelet. “He gave it to me the night I proposed. He said it was the most precious thing he had.”
The words fell like bricks, crushing and unforgiving. All the little moments she had overlooked over the years came rushing back: Aaron hesitating before telling her about certain friends, dodging questions about who he spent time with. Her heart twisted. She had been afraid. Afraid of her.
“All those times,” she whispered, more to herself than to Chris. ‘All those times he started to tell me something important and then changed the subject. Was he trying to …?”
Chris nodded gently. ’He told me he had tried to tell you many times. But the words wouldn’t come out. He was afraid.”
Tears clouded Elena’s vision. “I didn’t know,” she whispered. “I never knew he thought that.”
Chris’s eyes softened. ”He doesn’t talk about it much, but it’s clear that he still carries that fear. Look, I’m not trying to make you feel bad… He loves you, in his own way. He always wore this bracelet before he gave it to me. It means something to him.”
“Did he ever…?“ She swallowed. ‘Did he ever talk about me?”
“All the time. He keeps your photo in his wallet, the one of you holding him when he turned one. Sometimes I catch him looking at it when he thinks I’m not looking.”
The room seemed to close in on Elena. ’Please,” she said, clutching Chris’s arm. “Tell me where he is. I just want to see him. I need to tell him…“. Her voice trembled. ‘I need him to know that I love him. No matter what happens’.
Chris hesitated. ‘He might not be ready for that’.
“Please. Two years, Chris. Two years of empty holidays, of putting food on the table just in case, of jumping every time the phone rings. I can’t take it anymore”.
After a long pause, he sighed and took out a receipt, scribbling down an address. “He’s scared, but… maybe this will help too.”
Elena clutched the address in her hand, standing in front of a modest brick apartment building. The gentle noise of the city filled the air, but it was drowned out by the sound of her heartbeat.
She stared at the doorbell. Her hand hovered over the button for Apartment 3B. What if he didn’t want to see her? What if he’d told her to go away?
Her phone rang again. “Has something happened?” asked Wendy. “You’ve been quiet all day.”
“I’ve found him,” replied Elena, her hands trembling. “Wendy, I’ve found him.”
“Oh my God,” she replied instantly. ‘Where are you? Do you need me there?”
“No,’ Elena wrote. ”This is something I have to do alone.”
Before she could dissuade herself, the door opened with a creak.
He was there, looking at her as if he had seen a ghost. His hair was longer and his face was thinner. He was no longer a child. Standing before her was a man, his weariness and wisdom far beyond his years. But his eyes, those brown eyes that used to twinkle mischievously, were still the same.
“MOM?”
“You kept the photo,” she blurted out, remembering what Chris had said. ”The one from your first birthday.”
Aaron’s hand instinctively went to his back pocket, where he carried his wallet. “How …?”
“Chris,” Elena said in a low voice. “He told me everything.”
Tears ran down her face. ‘Aaron,’ she said, choking on the name. ”Or Adam. Whatever you want to call yourself. I don’t care. I just … I need you to know that I love you. I’ve always loved you.”
She blinked, her face twisted. “You… you don’t mind?”
“Mind?” She came closer and her voice broke. “All I care about is that you’re alive, that you’re safe. Do you know how many times I’ve called hospitals? Morgues? How many times I’ve walked past homeless people, wondering if one of them could be you?”
He moved closer to her face, touching it gently, making sure it was real. “I don’t care who you love. I don’t care where you’ve been. I just want my son back.”
“But I’m different now,” she whispered. “I’m not who you wanted me to be.”
“You are exactly who you were meant to be. And I’m so sorry if I ever made you feel like you couldn’t tell me.”
For a moment, he was transfixed. Then he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Mom,” he sobbed. “I was so scared. I thought if you knew…”
“No, darling,” she whispered, hugging him tightly. ”I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to carry that fear alone.”
The next morning, Elena was sitting at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee warming her hands. Aaron was sitting across from her, his hand intertwined with Chris’s. They looked happy, comfortable and clearly in love.
“Wait,“ said Chris, laughing. ‘Did you paint the cat?”
Aaron complained, ’I was six! It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“In his defense,” added Elena, smiling, “the cat looked quite festive in purple.”
“Mom!” Aaron protested, but he was smiling. ‘I thought we agreed never to tell anyone!”
“Oh, sweetheart,’ she laughed, ‘I have years of embarrassing stories to catch up on. Chris has to know what he’s getting into.”
Chris squeezed Aaron’s hand. ’I think I already know exactly what I’m getting into.” He looked at Elena. “And who am I going to have as a mother-in-law?”
She smiled, her chest lighter than it had been in years. The bracelet was back on Aaron’s wrist, shining in the morning sunlight.
“You’re still one in a million, you know,” she said softly.
He reached across the table, his eyes filled with emotion. “You too, Mom.”
“We have so much to make up for,” she said, wiping away a tear. “So many moments to make up for.”
“We have time,” he said softly. “All the time in the world.”
And for the first time in two years, Elena believed him.