A poor student took a job no one else wanted: cleaning the old house of a lonely old woman who lived hidden away in a narrow alley. But when he first entered, he discovered something that chilled him to the bone… The woman could barely walk, she was ill, and she lived completely alone. What began as a simple job for a few coins ended up changing his life. The young man didn’t just clean the house. He also started cooking for her, going to the market in the rain, and accompanying her to the hospital when the pain left her breathless. Many told him he was wasting his time helping a stranger. But he kept going every day… Until one morning, when he opened the door to the house, he found something on the table that made his hands tremble… and at that moment he understood that this old woman had never been just any ordinary woman.

She promised to pay me 200 pesos for each visit.

For a student like me, that money was considerable.

On subsequent visits, I began to notice how difficult her life was.

The refrigerator was almost always empty: just a few eggs and a bunch of wilted vegetables. Many times her meal consisted only of rice with a little sauce.

When I asked her why she lived like that, she told me her children were far away and she didn’t want to bother them.

I felt very sorry for her.

So after finishing the cleaning, I started staying a little longer to go to the market, buy some meat or fish, and cook her a decent meal.

Doña Carmen loved it when I cooked.

Her eyes lit up every time she tasted the hot broth I made for her.

Sometimes, when the pain in her joints was too much, I would take her to the public hospital myself and wait patiently for her medication.

Once, as we were leaving the hospital, she took my hand and said to me in a soft voice:

« You’re very much like my youngest son… he was a good boy too. »

But months passed…

and Doña Carmen never paid me a single peso.

Nevertheless, I continued helping her.

Until the day she died…

and left a letter that changed my life forever.

The day Doña Carmen died was a gray and quiet day.

That morning I had gone to her house as usual. I carried a bag with warm tortillas, some chicken, and vegetables to make broth. The sea breeze blew hard in the alley, stirring up dust between the weathered walls of the houses.

I knocked on the wooden door.

« Doña Carmen… it’s me, Diego. »

No one answered.

I thought maybe she was asleep. I gently pushed the door, which, as always, was unlocked.

The house was too quiet.

A strange silence… heavy.

« Doña Carmen… »

I slowly made my way to the small room where her bed was.

And there I saw her.

She was lying down, her hands on her chest. Her face was peaceful, as if she were fast asleep.

But something in my chest told me immediately that she was gone.

I felt the world stop for a moment.

« Doña Carmen… »

I went over and took her hand.

It was cold.

Very cold.

My eyes filled with tears, and I couldn’t stop them.

That small room, which I had so often seen filled with the aroma of hot soup and simple conversations, now seemed empty and strange.