One minute she was heading out to buy candy. A simple walk any child in any neighborhood should be able to make without fear. The next minute, she was gone — vanished as if the earth swallowed her whole.
Her name was Perla Alison, a little girl from Santa Martha Acatitla. Anyone who knew her remembered her as bright, talkative, and always moving — the kind of kid who made friends with every street vendor and every neighbor. She wasn’t reckless. She wasn’t the type to run off. That’s why her disappearance hit with the force of a nightmare that refused to fade.