The Orphan's Reckoning

e crash vanished. My limbs felt whole. C

athed. "The Program's

s. They saw on

Henderson. He ran a small diner, a place that felt like home. He was a surro

d Liam walked in. Chloe was beaming, holding up

her eyes daring me to react.

loe had told me, years ago, how much she wanted children, how she couldn't wait to be a mother. She'd said it looking into my eyes. She

itive link to the Prime Beneficiary bond has been officially

er me. The constant threat of pain, gone. I co

ings, earned here, some transferred from my meager real-world trust. I went to the ap

unched in Liam and Chloe' s anniversary, a date Chloe had "forgotten"

y of "To Kill a Mockingbird," a gift from a foster mother, ripped in half. A photo of me and Mr. Henderson, smiling at his diner coun