The love of a mother, ravaged by pain, told on a sheet contained in a bottle sealed with cork and wax and entrusted to the waves of the sea to keep alive the memory of her child.
The sad discovery occurred in the Salento, on the Torre Vado beach in Morciano di Leuca, in the province of Lecce, a worker intent on cleaning up the stretch of coast found a bottle that dates back to the attack in Manchester.
The bottle contained, in addition to a purple rubber bracelet with engraved hearts, the girl's name and date of birth, including photos and a message full of pain written by the mother of one of the victims.
«The moment you died, my heart broke in half. One side is full of pain, the other died with you. I often wake up at night when the world is asleep and I walk along the avenue of memories with tears on my cheeks. Remembering yourself is easy. I do it every day, but your lack is a pain in the heart, which never goes away. I hold you tight in my heart and you will remain there, until the joyful day arrives that we will meet again. Mum».
These are the sad words written by her mother and dedicated to Sorrell Leczkowski, a model student who lived in Adel, a suburb north of Leeds, England. Together with her mother and grandmother, both of whom were injured in the attack, the girl went to pick up her sister who had attended the concert of the American pop star. Near the exit gates of the Arena, however, was hit by the shock wave of the explosion caused by the terrorist Salman Abedi, English 22enne of Libyan descent converted to radical Islam, author of the suicide attack. Sorrell died soon afterwards in the hospital, while mom and grandmother managed to survive. The sister of the young woman, however, remained unharmed. The attack, claimed the next day by ISIS, cost the lives of twenty-two people (twenty-three including the suicide bomber), many of whom were teenagers. Among the victims also a girl of only 8 years.
More than two years later, the sea of Salento has brought back a memory of that sad evening. Recovered by a worker of the municipality while floating among the rocks, the bottle and its contents were delivered to the hands of Stefano Maggiore, the councilor for the environment, who had ordered the cleaning of the coast.
The mayor of Morciano di Leuca, Lorenzo Ricchiuti, and the entire municipal administration, started the search for Sorrell's family, to invite them to Salento and give them back the bottle, after traveling over 2.500 miles at sea. So that that message of love can be rejected in the water by the hands of those who wrote it, of those who have shed rivers of tears for the loss of their daughter so that that bottle can return to wander around the world, spreading its content of love .