NINE

I first met Desirée about a year and a half ago. At first, she could stay at my mothers house for a couple of hours in the afternoon of each weekend, then, as time went on, both the frequency and duration of her visits increased. Whenever the tyrant thought it was necessary, I also attended those meetings despite my unwillingness, since my presence at those appointments is part of one of the points within the pact I made with her. For those times we saw each other, the little girl rarely spoke and, when she spoke, mostly monosyllabic came out of her mouth. Despite her obvious shyness toward us, it wasn because she didn like hanging out with us. From my point of view, it seemed that she wanted to participate in the activities organized by my mother in a more active way than she implied with her closed and introverted attitude, but there is something in her that, evidently, prevented her from being herself. Despite this, she got along very well with my mother, so much so that even an intractable person like her took a liking to the little girl, in fact, it was very close to the completion of the adoption procedures, That would have officially happened shortly after my transfer that happened about a month ago.

I had to postpone my departure for one of those checks, and now you
e just gonna leave it here like its a package?

In response to my rhetorical question that I asked her, Desirée, while keeping her gaze down at her feet, shyly nods in the meanwhile that I look around, looking for the person responsible for this suspicious surprise, which, if she were not at Monicas house, she might still be around, maybe shes hiding somewhere, enjoying my reaction to it. Having not found her, I return my gaze to Desirée, to ask her directly if she knew where the woman is, but, before I could open my mouth, I clearly feel her stomach emitting a slight grumbling, probably due to the hunger she is feeling. Realizing what happened, the girl hides further behind the scarf her embarrassed face, which now, because of that involuntary mumbling, has a more reddish hue. After this quick skit, to avoid making her feel uncomfortable again, I ignore what happened and decide to invite her in, So I could give her something to appease her appetite while I try to figure out whats going through my deranged mothers head. After having peered one last time in the area and a consequent sigh of resignation, I accompany Desirée inside the house, carrying with me the huge suitcase that is with her. Once inside my house, I place the luggage on the right of the front door that I closed after we entered, then I go to remove the clothes that I left in the living room on the only one I have and I make her sit there. In the meantime Desirée looks around intrigued, even if there is little to look at, if not the kitchen, a table and a chair, I go to stand in front of the window behind her and, from my pocket, I take my phone and turn it on. Finished to view the numerous notifications of messages and missed calls, of which none of them from my mother, I immediately try to call her on both personal and corporate number and also send her a message on each of them, without receiving any response unfortunately. Realizing that it would be useless to continue, seeing who Im dealing with, I put the smartphone back in my pocket, and, while I do that gesture, I see Desirée getting up from the chair to approach me fearfully, afterwards, with his hands outstretched in my direction, she gives me a letter that she took out of the pocket of her jacket.

On the back of the white envelope there is my name written with the handwriting of the tyrant and, when I open it, I find only one sheet, mostly white, where there are written the following words:

”Ive decided that, from now on, for both our sakes, you will have custody of Desirée and, as a result, you will have to take care of her.

Ill tell you right now, no matter what you do or say to exonerate yourself from the absurd choice of testing my patience, youll never change my mind about my decision. I advise you not to see this as a penalty for not respecting our agreement but to see this as my last magnanimous opportunity to give you, instead of directly decreeing my victory, which, given the way things are going, it seems pretty certain, just like I told you from day one.

In the suitcase that is with her you will find only some clothes and some of the things necessary for the child, including her documents, as for the rest you will have to deal with it since from now on she will live with you, discuss with her about what she will need. I also recommend that you do not let her live your same lifestyle as a misfit, I do not want a child full of skills and talent, like her, become like you, otherwise you will pay the consequences, more than you would pay continuing to break our pact.

The school I enrolled her in is close to yours, so, since you
e gonna be forced out of that cave to accompany her starting tomorrow, youd better start going to school too, because there won be second chances like this anymore.

I did warn you.

Congratulations to me becoming a grandmother today! ”