“My mom is there!” shouted the boy. His voice was trembling, and his thin hand pointed at the garbage bin in the middle of the street. Passersby smirked — child’s imagination, nothing more. But I stopped. Curiosity overcame caution, and I stepped closer.
“My mom is there!” shouted the boy, pointing at the garbage bin. I was walking by, and like everyone else, I initially thought — a child’s invention. But there was something in his voice that sent a chill down my spine. He was trembling, his eyes glistening with tears, and in his hands — an old teddy bear.
— Believe me… mom is there, please… — he whispered, clutching my jacket.
I pushed him away — I didn’t want to get involved, I just got into my car and drove off. But all evening, that face stayed in front of my eyes. I couldn’t sleep.
In the morning I returned. The boy was still there, pale, tired, as if time had stopped for him. I called the police. When the officers approached and knocked on the lid of the bin.
— Open it immediately! — ordered one of them.
The lid slowly lifted… I looked inside — and the world seemed to collapse. What I saw is impossible to forget.
Continuation — in the first comment.
When the lid opened with a creak, a heavy, sweetish smell hit the air. One of the policemen recoiled sharply, the other went pale. I stepped closer — not believing, not understanding. Inside, among the garbage and dark bags, a hand was moving.
— Alive! — someone shouted.
We grabbed the edge of the bin together. A woman lay there, half-buried in the trash, with her mouth taped and her hands tied. Her eyes — huge, frightened, but alive.
The boy screamed, rushing to her: — Mom! I told you! I told you!
The police called an ambulance, and I stood aside, feeling everything inside me turn upside down. I could have saved them yesterday. One gesture — and everything could have been different.
As the ambulance took the woman with the child away, the boy suddenly turned to me and quietly said: — Thank you for believing… at least today.
Those words burned me more than any reproach.