“Please take my little sister with you – she can’t take it anymore.”

The winter wind cut across the deserted highway, stinging Marcus Hale’s face as he walked with his head bowed. Once a respected tech CEO, now a man who traded conference rooms for solitude, he carried only a backpack and a cane. He avoided the past—just as he avoided people.

That morning, he turned down a side street to escape the city. It should have been another quiet, leisurely stroll. Until he heard—a faint, trembling voice.

Cry.

Two children on the side of the road

Marcus stopped and looked around at the leafless trees. Then a voice spoke—a soft, broken voice.

“Sir…please…”

He turned around. A few feet away stood a barefoot boy, no older than six, holding a toddler wrapped in an oversized hoodie. Her face was pale, her lips trembling. The boy’s eyes were wide with fear, but his arms wrapped around her protectively.

“She hasn’t eaten since yesterday,” he whispered. “Please… take my little sister. She’s hungry.”

A face from the past

Marcus approached, ready to comfort her—and froze. The boy’s face… his eyes, the scar on his forehead—he looked as if he’d seen a ghost from twenty years ago.

“What’s your name?” Marcus asked quietly.