(MAYA)
"Maya," she whispers, and her voice breaks on my name.
She launches herself forward, colliding with me so hard that I stumble back a step. Her arms wrap around me like steel bands, crushing me against her. I can feel her pregnant belly pressed between us, the firm roundness a testament to how much time has passed.
"You're alive," she says, her voice muffled against my shoulder. "You're really alive."
And then she's crying, her entire body shaking, and I'm stunned into stillness. Corrine is here!
"I never stopped looking," she gasps between sobs. "They all said you were dead. But I knew—I knew you were out there somewhere."
Something inside me splinters at her words. The careful wall I've built around my emotions, the barrier that has allowed me to function since my escape, begins to crumble. My throat closes painfully.
"Corrine," I manage, my own voice strangled.
