**A 79-year-old woman searched through the trash every morning. People thought she was looking for food, but the truth was much more frightening. 😱😱**
The elderly woman lived on the ground floor of an apartment building, in an apartment with foggy windows and wilted ficus plants on the windowsill. No one really knew who she was. The neighbors only knew one thing: every day, precisely at six in the morning, she would go out with a large, faded bag and head to the dumpsters. There, she would start rummaging. For minutes on end. As if she were searching for something very important.
— There she goes again…
— Is she looking for food? Or bottles?
— No, she’s lost her mind.
— Or she’s a witch. Her eyes are like an owl’s, — the people in the building commented.
**A 79-year-old woman searched through the trash every morning. People thought she was looking for food, but the truth was much more frightening.**
In the same building lived a nine-year-old girl. She often saw the elderly woman from her window and didn’t understand: why did she do this every day? One morning, curiosity overcame fear. When her mother left for work, the girl went downstairs and slowly approached.
— Grandma… did you lose something?
It seemed as if the woman hadn’t heard her. Her hands continued to sift through the scraps – fruit peels, pieces of paper, dirty rags. Then they stopped. The girl expected to hear that the elderly woman was looking for food, but what she replied horrified her…
**The girl expected a harsh word, but the elderly woman whispered in a low voice:**
— Haven’t you seen a baby around here?
The girl froze.
— Who?
— A little boy… very small… he was wrapped in a blanket. I lost him. He’s somewhere around here.
With these words, the elderly woman bent back over the dumpster and began searching among the old bags, ignoring the girl.
Terrified, the girl ran home. In the evening, she told her mother everything. The woman turned pale and whispered only this:
— Don’t ever go near her, do you understand? Never.
A week later, the elderly woman died — right next to the dumpsters. A stroke. The ambulance arrived quickly, but it was too late. The bag she never parted with was taken by the sanitation workers. A few days later, whispers began to circulate on the bench at the entrance of the building:
— Have you heard what was found out about her?
— About whom?
**A 79-year-old woman searched through the trash every morning. People thought she was looking for food, but the truth was much more frightening.**
— About that old lady. They say that when she was about fifteen, she secretly gave birth. At home. The father of the child was much older, apparently a neighbor. She hid everything. She gave birth — and immediately threw the baby away. In the trash. Her mother beat her then and kicked her out of the house.
— God forbid…
— Since then, she’s been out of her mind. She was hospitalized in a mental institution, then stayed at home. And, in the end, she completely shut herself off. And every day she went to the dumpster. To look for him. For her child.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but 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 dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher do not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the events or for how 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.
