“Hello, Hello?”

A boy cries out in a dark room.

His mother sits stiff in a chair,

Her husband stands beside her, hand on her shoulder.

“Hello, Hello?”

The young boy calls for his Mama.

But there was no answer,

Only a cold silence…

“Hello, Hello?”

The young boy calls for his Papa.

There is an answer this time:

Through the door outside the room.

“Hello, Hello?

Papa! Where are you?”

The boy crawls to the door, but his mother whips out at him:

“Stay still, brat! The outside is not safe for you.”

“Hello, Hello?

Papa, Mama’s hurting me!”

The father bangs on the door, but it doesn’t budge.

“Papa, papa! I can’t do this anymore.”

There is silence.

Dark, cold silence.

Deafening silence.

The boy has not cried out.

Papa bursts through the door,

The boy lays still on the ground.

The woman, “Mama” no more, looks down at the scene.

The man beside her does not move.

Papa takes up the boy in his arms,

Warmth spreads throughout the room.

Outside there is light,

It fills the dark room, blinding the man and woman.

The boy’s eyes open, he looks up at his Papa,

“Hello, Hello.”