Doña Rosa remained motionless.
He thought he had imagined it. But the sound returned, this time clearer, like the last breath of someone about to give up.
She slowly approached the refrigerator. Each step felt heavy, as if fear were holding her back.
“Is… is anyone there?” she asked in a trembling voice.
A muffled sob answered from within.
“I’m… here… please…”
He took a deep breath, trembling, grabbed the handle and pulled hard.
Click.
And what she saw left her breathless.
Inside, huddled in the narrow space, was a young woman. Her long hair was matted with sweat, her face pale, her lips dry and chapped. Her hands were bound with plastic, her wrists injured, and her body covered in bruises.
But what made Doña Rosa shudder…
It was her womb.
She was pregnant.
About to give birth.
The young woman lifted her head with difficulty, her dull eyes staring at her.
“Please… save me… they will return…”
Without thinking twice.
Doña Rosa knelt down and began to untie her with trembling hands.
“Don’t be afraid… I’m here now… I won’t let them hurt you,” she said in a firm voice despite her fear.
He helped her out of the refrigerator, covered her with his old coat, and laboriously lifted her into his cart.
The walk back home that day felt endless.
Every step was accompanied by the fear that those men would return.
But he didn’t stop.
The following days completely changed Doña Rosa’s life.
The young woman’s name was Lucia.
For the first two days, she could barely move. Doña Rosa cared for her patiently—preparing soup, cleaning her wounds, changing bandages.
The small hut, already cramped, became even more cramped. The money, already scarce, was now almost insufficient.
But Doña Rosa never complained.
Every morning he worked twice as hard at the garbage dump to earn a few extra pesos and buy milk and bread for Lucia.
At night, he would wake up several times to make sure that Lucia was okay, that she wasn’t in pain, that she wasn’t going into labor.
Lucia cried many times.
“Why is he helping me… if he doesn’t even know who I am?”
Doña Rosa just smiled sweetly.
“Because you’re a mother… and nobody deserves to be treated like that.”
Day 10.
A quiet morning.
Doña Rosa was about to leave when she suddenly heard the sound of cars stopping in front of her hut.
There were several of them.
