I Came Home Without Warning

— Lord, Maria? Is that you? — she said, letting the watering can fall.
I crossed the street almost running. The woman looked at me as if I were a ghost returned from the past.
— What happened, Tereza? Where is Mihai? — I asked with a trembling voice.

She hesitated for a moment, then looked down.
— Oh, my dear… someone should have told you. Mihai is in the hospital. For almost a week now.

The words took my breath away. I felt the warm morning air turn into a burden.
— In the hospital? What happened?

Aunt Tereza sighed deeply.
— He had a heart attack. He was home alone when it happened. Luckily, a neighbor heard the noise and called an ambulance. He’s been in Intensive Care since then.

I brought my hand to my mouth. I didn’t say anything. I got back in the taxi and asked to go straight to the hospital. My heart was racing. Memories of Mihai as a child, laughing in the yard, running with a rag ball, flashed before my eyes.

When I arrived at the hospital, the smell of disinfectant took my breath away. I asked at the reception, trembling:
— Mihai Dobre. Which room is he in, please?

— Intensive Care, third floor, room 12 — the nurse told me, looking at me with cold pity.

I climbed the stairs as if each step weighed a kilogram. When I entered, Mihai was lying there, pale, with tubes and machines around him. I approached slowly and touched his hand. It was cold.

— Mom is here, sweetheart… — I whispered, with hot tears.

His eyes moved slightly under his eyelids. For a moment, I thought he would wake up. But he remained still. I sat next to him, hands clasped, praying silently.

Beyond the glass, I saw the doctor approaching.
— Ma’am, his condition is serious. He has been neglected. He didn’t take his treatment, he didn’t eat properly… his body is exhausted.

I blinked.
— What do you mean neglected? He had his wife beside him…

The doctor hesitated.
— His wife? She hasn’t come even once. I understand she’s been away for a few days… on vacation.

I felt my blood boil.
Vacation. While my son was fighting for his life.

I stepped out into the hallway, trembling with anger. I took out my phone and logged into the bank accounts. In a few seconds, I blocked everything. Every leu, every card. I knew she would feel the blow immediately.

An hour later, I received a call. It was her.
— What have you done, Maria?! How dare you?! — she screamed on the phone, while music and laughter could be heard in the background.

— How dare I? — I said coldly. — I paid for everything, Ana. The house, the car, your luxurious life. And my son is lying alone in the hospital.

She was silent for a moment, then hung up.

I returned to Mihai’s bedside and held his hand. In the white silence of the room, I felt for the first time that all my battles, all my missions, all the years spent in war zones… meant nothing without him.

I stayed there for hours. When, in the evening, Mihai opened his eyes for a few moments, I felt the world stop.
— Mom… you came? — he whispered barely audible.

— Yes, sweetheart. Home, always home, I promised you.

A tear rolled down his cheek.
— Please… don’t go anywhere…

— I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying.

And I stayed.

In the following days, Mihai began to recover. And I rediscovered what it meant to live without order, without uniforms, without weapons. Just a mother and her son.

When, one morning, he smiled and said to me:
— Mom, you saved my life…
I understood that I had finally completed my most important mission.

The mission of being a mother.