Daniela grew up an orphan in a world where she could only trust and depend on herself. She was still a teenager when she met the father of her child who manipulated her and turned green at the sight of her swollen belly. It didn't take long before the only man she trusted ran away abandoning her and their son.
But still it didn't break Daniela, instead she put up her walls and grew stronger for her and her son, whom she loved more than anything. At 27 years old, she was a struggling single mom who took any job she could get, working long hours to provide for her and her 6-year-old son. She lived in a rented apartment in a crowded building where everyone cared for no one but themselves.
She named him Daniel, from her name because he was a part of her and she was part of him. But she called him honey because he was the sweetest thing ever in her life. There were only two of them in their world. Early in the morning she would drop him off at school and go to work, after school she would take a break from work and walk him home, she would then give him make sure he eats and get him enough snacks, turn the TV on, make sure his game was working, and ensure the door was locked before returning to work. At work, there was a rule that the workers couldn't use their phones, so they kept them in a room with a cleaner who kept them safe.
One day, Daniela followed her usual routine. After work late at night, as usual, she was ready to go home, and went to the cleaner who chewed her bubble gum so annoyingly.
Daniela took her phone but noticed it was switched off.
“Why is my phone switched off?” she asked the cleaner
“I switched it off because that stupid alarm was beginning to piss me off," the cleaner said with a smug.
"What alarm?” Daniela wondered as she waited for the phone to be completely on.
Finally, it was done booting, and she checked the alarm.
It was the FIRE ALARM in her home! It was tripped off three hours ago.
Daniela panicked and ran out of the office forgetting to collect her shift's pay. She couldn't think of anything else but her baby's safety. Her house wasn't so far away, so she didn't bother waiting for a cab or bus, as it was always hard to find one then.
She ran as fast as she had ever run; she couldn't stop her tears as she couldn't stop wondering what could have possibly happened, praying her child was okay.
She always made sure to unplug everything except the TV and his game before leaving.
She reached the building and almost tripped on the stairs while running up. She didn't see anyone on her way. She reached her apartment and no one was there either, nor were there any signs of burning or smoke. She changed from being worried and scared to being confused and scared. But then she noticed something, she nudged the door with a finger and it creaked open. She always double-checks the door, making sure it is locked before she leaves.
She slowly entered the apartment and noticed the door was broken. There was a break-in, but everywhere looked normal, and she could hear her son playing games from his room.
She thought in her head ‘Something feels off, the house smells off, is that…bacon?”
Then she noticed a bunch of keys on the parlour table that weren't hers, there was an intruder in the house.
She took the iron umbrella under the table for defense.
“Honey, is that you?" She shouted as she took slow steps towards his room with a tight grip on the umbrella.
She got to the room and the door was slightly open. She gripped the umbrella ready to swing at the first sight of danger.
But to her surprise, she was met with a rather confusing scene. Honey was more than fine; he was sitting and playing his video game with a stranger, and they were both eating bacon and fried eggs. The stranger, who was a young man, stared at Daniela speechless, dramatically chewing funnily not to be noticed.
“Mom, Tommy made eggs," Honey said as he ran and hugged his mom.
“Who are you?" Daniela was still on hold ready to swing the umbrella.
“Hi, I am Tommy, your neighbor. Um, so what happened is this, I was in the hall when the fire alarm rang and I knew you weren't home by that time, so I had to break the door, but it ended up being a false alarm," he explained like a child held at gunpoint.
Daniela didn't know whether to cry or laugh. But she was so relieved.
“I couldn't leave him alone after breaking the door and I tried but couldn't fix it, so I had to stay till you got back. We made bacon and eggs, would you like some?" He said
Daniela laughed seeing the badly made food, “No thanks,"
“Okay now you are back, I think I should get going," he said as he stood up and left.
Just as he reached the door Daniela called out, “I am Daniela,” she said.
Tommy was confused and turned back "huh?”
"My name is Daniela and maybe you could stay for dinner if you like? At least let me thank you by making something other than burned bacon,” she said as a smile formed on her face.
"Sure!” Tommy wasted no time accepting the offer.
For the first time in a very long time, she thought, maybe it's okay to trust again.
