Tom K. —“Orphanage”

This morning, Tom woke up in a great mood: his mom had promised to visit him, something that excited him enormously, since he hadn't seen her in months.

After getting dressed and brushing his teeth, he went straight to the phone in the hallway. He inserted a coin into the slot and dialed his mother's number. As soon as he heard her sweet voice on the other end of the line, he couldn't help but smile.

—"Hi, Mom"
Tom said, leaning against the wall with a small smile on his lips.

—"What time will you come? Should we go out somewhere?"
He asked enthusiastically, while a restless leg betrayed his excitement at seeing her again.

Tom came from a small, humble family; it was just him, his mom, and his dad. However, his family life was always marked by instability. Jörg, his father, had been cheating on his wife with another woman for years, and he even had a second family. She knew, but she never dared to confront him. Everything changed when, one day, Jörg left them both for good.

His mother tried to take care of him, but the money wasn't enough. The debts and responsibilities overwhelmed her, and she finally made a painful decision: to take Tom to an orphanage. Three years had passed since then, and he was still there, without her.