It wasn’t.
People thought the cigarette was destroying her.
It wasn’t.
The real tragedy was that every morning she woke up wondering the same thing she had wondered for over three decades.
What happened to my little girl?
Then one evening, just as the grocery store was closing, a black SUV pulled into the parking lot.
The driver stepped out slowly.
The old woman looked up.
At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Then the woman walking toward her stopped.
And spoke three words she hadn’t heard in thirty-two years.
“Hi, Mom.”
The cigarette slipped from her fingers.
The bottle crashed onto the pavement.
And everyone watching froze in disbelief.
Because what happened next would uncover a secret that had been hidden for more than three decades…
