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.

I called an ambulance.

Minutes later, the paramedics arrived and confirmed what I already knew.

Doña Carmen had passed away during the night.

A heart attack.

The neighbors began to gather at the door of the house. Some murmured among themselves.

« Poor thing… she was always alone. »

« That boy was the only one who came to see her. »

An older woman from the alley approached me.

« Son… you were like family to her. »

Those words made me cry even harder.

I was just a student who had gone to clean her house.

But at some point… she had become something more.

Something like a grandmother.

The funeral was simple.

Very simple.

Actually, there was hardly anyone there.

Just me… and a few neighbors who barely knew her.

None of her children showed up.

Not a single phone call.

Not a wreath.

Nothing.

When the small wake ended, the funeral home manager approached me.

“Are you Diego?”

“Yes…”

“The lady left this for you.”

He handed me a white envelope.

It was an old envelope, carefully folded. On the front, in shaky handwriting, it said:

“For Diego.”

I felt a lump in my throat.

I opened the envelope slowly.

Inside was a handwritten letter.