Javier said goodbye as always: impeccable, confident, with that serenity that made me feel protected. He said it was a work trip to Barcelona, just three days. It wasn’t the first time I’d traveled on business, so I didn’t suspect anything.

Before leaving, he closed the gate from the outside with a thick chain and a heavy padlock.

“The copy of the key is in my office,” he explained, “but the lock is a little stuck. It is better not to use it unless emergency. That way I am calmer.

I nodded without arguing.

On the terrace, Leo, my ten-year-old stepson, stood motionless in his wheelchair. The head bowed, the gaze lost, the fragile body. The doctors had been clear: irreversible brain damage, total paralysis, no speech.

Javier looked at him with that sadness that I always thought was sincere.

“Take good care of him,” he said. It’s the only thing I have left of her.

Then he got into the car and drove off.

Silence fell on the house like a slab.

The routine and the first smell

At ten in the morning the usual routine began: diaper, food, cleaning, stories. Javier did not allow caregivers or visitors. She said it was for privacy, that she didn’t want strangers watching her son’s “misfortune.”

While I was reading him a story, a strange smell came to my nose. At first slight, almost imperceptible. Then he came back, stronger.

I checked Leo’s diaper by reflex. It was clean.

I went to the kitchen. Everything seemed normal: the ceramic hob off, the controls off. I told myself that it was my imagination. Javier used to say, laughing, that I was distracted, paranoid, unable to notice the important details.

But the smell returned.

And this time it was unmistakable.

Gas

The dizziness came suddenly. A pressure on the head, a heavy, unnatural sleep. I staggered to the cupboard where the gas bottle was.

As soon as I opened the door, I heard the hiss.

The regulator was crooked.

I tried to adjust it, but my hands were shaking. My legs stopped responding to me. I fell to the kitchen floor, my heart pounding and my eyes darkening.

I thought of Leo.

I thought I wasn’t going to be able to save him.