Wonderful Day

On a bright and cold autumn day, Monica left the house. She was going to the grocery store but she forgot something: the car keys.

 As the car was right in front of her white-fenced house, she quickly decided to leave her eighth-month baby in the stroller by the car, while she went inside and grabbed the keys.

 Coming out of the house she stopped for a second to breathe in the fresh air and contemplate the vivid and colorful leaves all around; it was ten o’clock in the morning and it looked it was going to be a wonderful day.

 Already in the car, she laughed at her baby’s weird reaction to the song that was playing on the radio and mentally made a list of what she needed to buy, as she had forgotten the real list at home.

 After parking the car, Monica grabbed the stroller from the trunk and placed baby Henry in it, while locking the car. Right near the entrance of the grocery store, she felt a hand approaching her left arm and immediately looked to see who it was. She didn’t have time to do anything because in a matter of what it seemed like three seconds, she had been grabbed and thrown into the grocery’s ground, close to various strangers. The person who grabbed her was a stranger too; she didn’t recognize the armed man that was now threatening to kill her if she did not stop screaming. Her screams resulted from the fear of being killed and the fear for Henry who was left outside in his stroller at the entrance of the store. She could still see him through different types of food, drinks and other products that were perfectly organized before the all-glassed entrance.

 The aggressor had locked the doors and she felt an instant urge to ask him:

-         Why are you doing this? Don’t hurt my baby!

-         Shut your mouth! I just need the money and I am out of here! Everyone do what I say and no one gets hurt! – said the armed man.

While looking over her baby, Monica tried to memorize everything about the man, while he was forcing the store’s owner to hand all his money to him. It was such a cliché, she thought. Just like the movies, and she knew she had to behave according to what the man wanted. He was tall and lean and had a mask, so she could not see anything above his shoulders but a dragon tattoo on his neck.

 It was getting unbearable in the store, people crying and losing their minds and she could not even concentrate on her thoughts as she tried to plan an escape.

 The armed man was pointing his gun at the store’s owner, she was trying to avoid the smell of mangos right next to her and police sirens could now be heard as numerous cars got close to the grocery.

 Monica sighed with relief for her baby that would now be safe; and the police shouted:

-         Drop your weapon and come out with your hands in the air! You are surrounded!

Apparently, one of the scared strangers had called the police and the robber entered a desperate state: he let his gun fall with a strange clink on the ground, and as he cursed out loud, he gave up and opened the doors. The police arrested him right away and Monica silently watched as the man cried inside the police car. Everyone had stood quiet during those moments and Monica stood up and ran to the stroller that had stayed in the same place.

 The tears came down her face and a smile appeared as she got near the stroller but the smile turned to a gasp as she realized Henry wasn’t there.

-         Where is my baby??!!??? – She asked every policeman that was on the parking lot and searched everywhere. She was told that no one saw her baby and since the robber had been arrested they did not know anything about that.

 Monica then fell on her knees, not believing what was happening because she saw Henry and he was alright but now he was not there.

 Henry had died exactly a year before.