I felt my legs give out beneath me, and the world around me seemed to shrink, as if the air itself could no longer reach me. I held the phone pressed to my ear, but my fingers were trembling so badly I almost dropped it.
“How… who, Dad? Who would do something like this?” I managed to say through tears.
“Don’t stay there, leave immediately,” he told me. “Go behind the building, to your neighbor, Mrs. Helen. She’s trustworthy. Please, listen to me.”
I hurried down the narrow path between the buildings, clutching Matthew tightly to my chest, wrapped in his blue blanket. The old woman had vanished, like she had never been there at all. Only a faint trace of a basil-like scent lingered in the air.
I knocked on Helen’s door. She opened it, startled when she saw me crying and shaking.
“My dear, what happened?”
“I can’t explain right now… I just need to come in for a moment. There’s something… something wrong in my apartment.”
She quickly pulled me inside and placed a glass of water on the table. I sat down, but my heart was pounding so hard I could feel my entire body trembling. I glanced at the clock, ten minutes had passed.
Ten minutes until I would see my father. Or… someone pretending to be him.
My phone vibrated again.
“Dad?”
“Natalie, I’m close. Don’t move from there.”
Then, from Helen’s television, a breaking news report came on: “Alert in the Obor neighborhood. An apartment has been evacuated after the discovery of a homemade explosive device. Police confirm that the woman who was supposed to enter the residence was warned by an unknown individual.”
Helen looked at me wide-eyed.
“Natalie… that’s your building!”
Tears filled my eyes. I held my baby tighter and broke down crying.
A few minutes later, there was a firm knock on the door. My heart leapt into my throat. Helen went to open it. Standing in the doorway was a man in simple clothes, soaked from the rain. His graying hair, those warm eyes I hadn’t seen in so many years.
“Dad…” I whispered, breathless.
He stepped closer, looked at me for a long moment, and pulled me into his arms. He smelled just like before, like wood smoke and old cologne.
“Don’t ask anything right now,” he said. “All that matters is that you’re safe.”
Around us, sirens blared and the sounds of emergency crews filled the air. My building was surrounded.
“But how is this possible?” I asked between sobs. “I saw you… I was at your funeral…”
He let out a deep sigh.
“I had to disappear. It was the only way to protect you. I was involved in an investigation, and the people I exposed believed I was dead. But today… today they found you.”
Everything inside me collapsed. Years of pain, longing, and unanswered questions, and now the truth stood right in front of me.
We stayed like that for a long time, in silence, holding Matthew between us like a bridge between past and present.
When the police arrived to take statements, he left again without saying where he was going. He only placed a small note in my hand: “When you’re in danger, remember, blood calls to blood. I will always be close.”
I cried all night, but this time it wasn’t pain. It was gratitude, for life, for my child, for a second chance. Sometimes, late at night, I still hear an unknown phone ring once, then silence. And I know. It’s him. Somewhere, he’s still watching over us.
This work is inspired by real events and individuals, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to real persons, living or deceased, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the events or the way the characters are portrayed and are not liable for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed belong to the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.