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Chapter 1 - THE WEIGHT OF THE WALLSDaniela’s heart hammered against her ribs as she stared at the cushion buried under a mountain of decaying cardboard and plastic bags. The purple bruise on Mateo’s arm wasn’t just a random accident from a child’s game; it was a structural casualty of a home collapsing in on itself.

—Grandma didn't mean to, —Mateo whispered, his voice dangerously devoid of emotion, a coping mechanism far too heavy for a seven-year-old. —She couldn't lift the box. It stayed on top of me until the air got thin.

Doña Rosa trembled, her frail hands gripping the fraying lapels of her bathrobe.

—It wasn't me, officer. Not the heavy ones. I tried to clear the pathway last week, but... but they keep bringing more. I can’t stop them. If I stop them, they take everything away.

Daniela frowned, her police instincts instantly overriding her initial shock of seeing a standard hoarding situation.

—Who is "they," Doña Rosa? Who brings these boxes?

Before the elderly woman could answer, a loud, metallic clatter echoed from the back of the house. A door slammed shut with bone-chilling force, followed by heavy, measured footsteps crunching over broken glass and plastic debris deeper inside the labyrinth of junk.

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Mateo instinctively grabbed the hem of Daniela’s uniform pants, his knuckles turning white.

—They’re here, —the boy breathed, his eyes widening in pure terror. —They always come through the back alley when the sun starts to go down.

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