Gabriel Ryan’s brother said to me, “Imagine wondering a lifetime if someone you love is out there or not. Thank you for saving my family that hell.”

            For a moment we were there together, feeling the same thing. The aching emptiness of wondering, not knowing.

            Then something in me rebelled. Would he really rather have his sister dead than have to wonder where she was? Would I rather have my parents dead in that grave the Centre told me they were in or out there, far distant from me, but alive? I ache with loneliness, but I have that hope.