“You’re doing an amazing job, Daniel. I’m sure Alicia can feel the difference,” she said as she set the bags down in a corner and walked over to her niece’s bed. Daniel nodded his thanks, but couldn’t help noticing that Natalia seemed distracted, as if her mind was elsewhere. “You seem worried, Natalia? Is everything alright?” he asked, trying not to sound intrusive. Natalia hesitated before answering, but quickly changed the subject. Talking about the shopping and organizing the house, Daniel realized she was avoiding looking directly at Alicia.
She tries to stay hopeful, but something worries her. Is she, too, starting to lose strength? She wondered as she finished recording the day’s measurements. When Natalia left the room, Daniel remained focused on caring for Alicia, adjusting the equipment stands, rechecking the medication dosages, and cleaning the room with almost mechanical precision. As he did so, he spoke to Alicia again. “I know it might seem monotonous to you, but every detail matters.”
“You’re safe here, and I’ll continue to take care of you as long as you need me. I just hope you can feel that somehow,” she said in a soft, sincere tone. Alicia’s presence, even in silence, seemed to offer Daniel a motivation he couldn’t find anywhere else in the house. Late that afternoon, Daniel left his room to look for something he had forgotten in the kitchen. As he picked it up, he heard a faint murmur coming from the hallway.
He frowned, but decided to ignore it, assuming it was just some natural sound from the house. However, when he returned to the room, he was surprised by an unexpected scene. Ernesto was sitting by Alicia’s bed, gently holding her hand and gazing at his daughter’s face with a vacant expression. Daniel stopped in the doorway, unsure whether to interrupt or wait. The silence was almost palpable, and he could feel the weight of Ernesto’s grief just by observing his posture.
“I should never have let this happen,” Ernesto muttered to himself, oblivious to Daniel’s presence. He seemed to be speaking directly to Alicia, as if trying to reach for something he had lost. Daniel remained still, respecting the moment, but feeling the tension growing in his chest. “Perhaps he still has something to say to her, something he could never admit,” Daniel thought before taking a step back and leaving the room silently, leaving Ernesto alone with his daughter.
Daniel left Alicia’s room with slow steps. Still reflecting on the scene he had just witnessed—Ernesto, sitting beside his daughter, holding her hand with a tenderness that contrasted sharply with the evident emotional exhaustion on his face—the weight of that moment continued to linger on Daniel as he descended the stairs to the living room. “Perhaps he’s trying to find some way to reconnect with Alicia. Or perhaps he’s saying goodbye,” Daniel thought, feeling an urgent need to better understand what was truly going through Ernesto’s mind.
The living room was quiet, the lights dimmed for the end of the day. Ernesto sat on the sofa, staring at a distant point as he twirled an empty glass in his hands. Daniel hesitated for a moment, but knew that this silence needed to be broken. He approached and sat in the armchair opposite Alicia’s father. “Ernesto, I saw something different about you in Alicia’s room today. I know it’s difficult, but perhaps it’s time to talk about what’s really going on in your head,” Daniel said, maintaining a calm but firm tone.
Ernesto remained silent for a few seconds before sighing deeply, as if gathering his strength to speak. “I’ve never told anyone this, but perhaps you have a right to know, since you’re taking care of her,” Ernesto began, his voice trembling and low. He placed the glass on the coffee table and rubbed his face with his hands before continuing. “The accident that left Alicia in this state was my fault. I was late picking her up from school.”
He was stuck at work, solving a problem that, looking back, was completely insignificant. She was tired of waiting and decided to cross the street alone. I arrived seconds later, only to see her get hit by a car. Ernesto stopped talking, his heavy breathing filling the silence of the room. Daniel felt a lump form in his throat at those words. “Ernesto, you can’t carry this burden alone. It was an accident, something no one could have foreseen. Blaming yourself for it won’t change what happened,” Daniel said, trying to ease the weight that was clearly consuming the man in front of him.
But Ernesto shook his head, his eyes filled with tears. “Don’t you understand, Daniel? I saw everything. I saw them take my daughter away like that for something I could have prevented. How can I live with myself knowing that? Every day I see her hooked up to those machines is a reminder of what I did. I’m not her father. I’m the reason for all of this,” Ernesto replied, his voice breaking with every word. Daniel felt the depth of Ernesto’s pain as if it were his own.
He looked at the devastated man in front of him and tried to find something to say, something that might ease that suffering. “You’re not a monster, Ernesto. You’re a father trying to cope with loss in ways no one can understand. Alicia is still here, and as long as she is, you have the chance to continue being her father, even if it’s in a different way,” Daniel said, his voice full of empathy. But Ernesto just sighed, seemingly unable to accept those words. “I don’t know how to be her father like this.”
“Perhaps I don’t deserve that chance,” he murmured almost inaudibly. As the two men remained in the room enveloped in a cloud of silence and grief, Natalia appeared in the doorway holding a cup of tea. She paused for a moment, clearly overhearing part of the conversation, but said nothing. Instead, she walked to the window and stood there staring into the darkness outside. Daniel realized she was trying to avoid any confrontation, but her tense body and the way she held the cup showed she was deeply affected.
“Natalia, do you want to join us?” Daniel asked, trying to lighten the mood, but Natalia just shook her head and replied, “No, now go on.” Natalia’s reaction intrigued Daniel even more. He knew she was much more than just the aunt trying to keep everything running smoothly. There was something more there, something she seemed to be hiding. Was she also carrying some guilt? Or was she perhaps just trying to be the pillar everyone needed?
Daniel thought as he turned his attention back to Ernesto, who was still lost in his own thoughts. “Ernesto, you need time to process all of this, but you don’t have to do it alone. Natalia and I are here. Don’t let this guilt keep you away from the people who want to help you,” Daniel said, trying to break down the barrier Ernesto had built around himself. Ernesto got up from the sofa and walked to the balcony door, opening it to feel the fresh night air.
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