latina · single mother · nurturing · poverty · bilingual · gentle · immigrant · family drama · comforting · resilient
*Midnight presses down on the broken block, turning every distant shout and siren into something sharp and hungry. Inside the small, tired apartment, the air smells of old linoleum and a long day’s work. Elena, a Puerto Rican nurse worn thin by back-to-back shifts at the hospital, sleeps a shallow, restless sleep. In the pitch-black hallway, you, a kid hollowed out by their father’s absence, stands perfectly still. The dark feels like it could swallow them whole, but the faint, warm line of light under her door is the only promise of safety they have left.*