INTRODUCTION
„I'm hiding!", the voice of the little girl at the phone said. It was shaking and everyone knew the girl was trying to stay calm while hiding.
"Well done. You did verry well, Paula.", the man with the soft voice told her from the other side of the phone.
It was completely silent in the emergency call center. You could have heard a pin drop. A child in danger, that made them all anxious and the dark-haired man with glasses who had taken the call had gotten priority over all other incoming calls.
His colleagues keep asking themselves how he could stay that calm, but Sergio Marquina was sitting there, speaking with an angelic patience and while he was talking to the kid, he was folding origami.
"Do you like horses?", he asked the obviously scared little girl. "Yes ... but my mom says I have to get bigger before I get one," the little girl said in a whisper.
"Your mom is a smart woman," Sergio explained gently. "Tell me, Paula, do you know how many people are searching for you?" he asked.
He had a natural way of calming the child and making it all seem like a game. Paula seemed to think twice, then shakily said. "Two."
Sergio looked up briefly at his boss, Tamayo nodded to him and made a gesture with his hand that told Sergio to continue.
"Paula, tell me, how old are you actually?", Sergio asked, "Because you still have to wait until you get a horse?", he put the finished horse origami next to his keyboard.
The little girl's voice had calmed down noticeably. "I'm already six years old," she said almost proudly.
"Oh, six years already.", Sergio repeated with a gentle smile and in the hope that he could keep Paula calm long enough for the police to arrive. "Then you're already going to school.", he said and began a new origami.
"Yes, I'm in first grade." Paula explained and then her breath got caught. She looked up and swallowed. Sergio could hear the swallowing, should he be silent or should he say something? Would it make the situation worse?
"I think you found my hiding place ..." the girl whispered in panic.
"No, Paula. They haven't. Stay calm." Sergio replied and would have liked to ease the girls fear with the origami horse.
…
Raquel looked at her mother and shook her head. She raised her index finger to her mouth and smiled. It had been Paula's wish to play hide and seek. The girl had a vivid imagination at the age of six and had spun a "robber and gendarme" story out of it. Of course, Raquel had no idea how realistic her daughter's implementation was. So now she crept with Marivi to Paula's hiding place and one of the floorboards creaked under her weight. Paula heard that, of course, and gave a startled squeak and tried to flee. Yet Raquel had been prepared for it and grabbed her little one lovingly with a loud "Booooh! I got you!"
Paula squeaked and wiggled to escape, but Raquel held her daughter tight and gave her many small loving kisses.
"Uhm…. Raquel? ", Marivi asked and pointed to the phone. "Did you put that there?" She wanted to know.
"What? Mama?", Raquel followed her mother's pointing finger and frowned. "No ... Paula ...?", She looked at the little brunette who was now sitting on her lap.
"I called the police.", the elementary school girl declared proudly.
"Paula ...!" Raquel exclaimed in horror and picked up the phone.
…
Sergio and the rest of the team held their breath when Paula suddenly started screaming and they heard her fighting back.
"Crap! Access! Access!" Tamayo yelled from behind him, while Sergio started at the screen and stood up in shock.
The girl seemed to be struggling and squirming before and now he could hear nothing. Plain. Terrible. Nothing. Sergio swallowed. "Paula?" He asked into the emptiness that had arisen.
The line clicked and he could almost hear the phone being picked up.
"Hello Paula ...?" He asked and held his breath.
…
"Good evening… R…Raquel Murillo speaking... I- um ... ", Raquel looked insecurely at her mother and released Paula, who proudly tipped over to her grandma.
"I would like to speak to Paula, do you think that is possible?" Sergio asked.
"I-I'm afraid ... this is a misunderstanding ..." Raquel tried to explain. Sometimes your daughter was far too smart for her age.
"Listen.", Sergio said, rubbed his beard and stayed relaxed, as relaxed as it could be under the circumstances. "If it's a misunderstanding, then we can certainly sort it out. Only now, I would like to speak to Paula and get to know if she is really well. ", He said calmly and matter-of-factly.
"I ... I'll put her on speakers.", Raquel quickly said and pushed the specific button on the phone.
Sergio listened and then asked again. "Paula? Is everything okay?" He waited for the little girl to answer. Paula's voice sounded quite satisfied and somewhat distracted again. "Yes! All good! Can you play hide and seek with us the next time?" She asked while she crouched back on her mother's lap.
"I'm ... I'm so sorry.", Raquel said and looked uncertainly at her mother, while Sergio at the other end of the line breathed a sigh of relief. He was just about to reply that he was glad that everything was okay when he heard a door burst into a thousand pieces.
He could hear the colleagues appearing to secure the house and obviously the woman lifting the phone too, because he heard Sánchez's voice shouting to put the phone down.
He took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead wearily with his hand before putting the glasses back on his nose.
"Sergio?", Sánchez on the line.
"It is obviously a false report."
"Yeah ... I found that out right before you stormed ... ", the dark-haired man explained and sighed. "How about you apologize and ... greet Paula?" suggested Sergio and then hung up.
…
A few days later, Raquel's shock was also subsiding. She had given Paula more than one lecture about 'prank' calling the police. While Paula promised to never do something like that again, the restlessness in Raquel slowly subsided and she could breathe deeply again and laugh a little about the incident.
She had taken time off today to spend the afternoon with her daughter and mother. Paula and Marivi were in the garden painting, while Raquel cleared away the leftovers from lunch and cleaned the kitchen.
When the doorbell rang, she went to open. She smiled at the handsome dark-haired man with a beard. "Yes?" She asked with a smile and waited.
…
He hadn't really intended to show up after the invitation. He was actually glad that everything had gone well and that the girl was fine.
But when Sánchez came back and talked about the hot bride who couldn't handle her brat, Sergio was upset and angry.
He hadn't thought anything of it, just gathered information about Paula's family out of interest, while ignoring Sánchez's statements, as well as the laughter of his colleagues. It would go away, he knew that.
When his eye fell on the horse origami that he had folded during the conversation with Paula that day, he had made a decision. Why? Well, he couldn't really explain it, it was just… a feeling
He had gotten the address and the name while the phone call lasted and he remembered the deep and warm voice of Raquel Murillo, which sounded so horrified, when she noticed what her daughter had done.
He looked up a little shyly when the door opened after weighting pros and cons for over ten minutes before he even rang the doorbell.
"Mrs. Murillo?" he asked and waited for confirmation.
"Yes?", Raquel tried to smile, she had no idea who the attractive man standing in front of her was, and rubbed her hands dry on a towel.
"My name is Sergio Marquina. We ... spoke the other day ... ", he tried to explain, but at that moment Paula came in from inside. "Mama!" She called and ran to the door, literally pushing herself in front of her mother to see who was visiting. "Hello," she said simply, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.
Sergio had to smile because mother and daughter looked so much alike.
"Good afternoon, Paula," he said and smiled. The little one's eyes began to shine when she recognized the voice. "Sergio!" She said enthusiastically. "Did you come to play hide and seek with me?" She asked happily.
Raquel raised an eyebrow as the stranger knelt in front of her daughter. "Well ... we can do that, if your mother doesn't mind ..." Paula immediately looked up at her mother, Sergio's gaze followed hers briefly, but he turned his attention back to Paula. "… but before we ask, I have a little present for you. Your first own horse…" he said with a smile and held out the origami to Paula.
"Whoa! Cool! Can you show me how to do that? ", asked the little one brightly and he stood up again smiling, while she showed it to her mother. "Surely.", He said with a wink and Paula already ran in to show her grandmother what she'd gotten.
Sergio, however, uneasily pushed his glasses a little further back on his nose and avoided looking at Raquel. "I'm sorry to bother you like that, but ... I still had the origami and ... wanted to 'give it back' ...," he said and his eyes flickered to hers for a brief moment before he looked away again.
Raquel eyed him up. She could now, finally put him in the picture. He was the man Paula and respectively herself had talked to on the phone. Sergio seemed genuinely friendly and Paula had taken him to her heart since the call. Sergio was so cool because he knew about horses and because he helped people in need and because he was with the police. Raquel had learned something new every day about the man on the other end of the line, much of it was probably made up, but when now he stood in front of her, she was a little curious about him.
"That is really nice of you ... that you thought of Paula and ... thank you for the present?" She smiled and laughed, trying to weave the embarrassment of the moment away. Raquel swallowed. Sergio looked at his shoes and rocked back and forth.
"Hm…. I should go... " - " Do you want to come in ... "
They both stopped and looked at each other.
"... yes, gladly if ..." - "... oh, then maybe another ..."
They fell silent again and then Raquel smiled.
"Don't you want to come in Sergio?" She suggested this time before he could refuse. "Paula would be really happy and ... well, maybe you want to stay for a coffee and a round of robbers and gendarmes?" She suggested with a smile.
He nodded, smiled a little shyly, and then followed her into the apartment. When Raquel closed the door behind them with a smile, she was kind of ... happy.
Maybe she shouldn't have been to hard on Paula because of the prank call after all?