One day, in a Facebook group where they post job offers, I found an ad looking for someone to clean the house of Doña Carmen, an elderly woman who lived alone in a small alley near the city center

and Doña Carmen never paid me a single peso.

However, I continued to help her.

Until the day she died…

and left a letter that changed my life forever.

The day that Doña Carmen died was a gray and silent day.

That morning I had gone to his house as usual. He carried a bag of warm tortillas, some chicken, and vegetables to make a broth. The sea wind blew hard in the alley, kicking up dust between the worn walls of the houses.

I knocked on the wooden door.

“Doña Carmen… it’s me, Diego.

No one answered.

I thought maybe he was sleeping. I gently pushed open the door, which as always was unlocked.

The house was too quiet.

A strange silence… heavy.

“Doña Carmen…”

I slowly advanced to the small room where his bed was.

And there I saw her.

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

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

I felt the world stop for an instant.

“Doña Carmen…”

I walked over and took his hand.

It was cold.

Very cold.

My eyes filled with tears without me being able to help it.

That small room, which he had seen so many times filled with the smell of hot soup and simple conversations, now seemed empty and strange.

I called an ambulance.

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

Doña Carmen had died during the night.