Andre was puzzled by the series of missing items from his Laguna home. As a hardworking father, his only joy after a long day at work was watching “It’s Showtime” while relaxing in the living room with his seven-year-old daughter Chantel and two-year-old youngest Jaxel.

While his wife Clarizze was out of the country, Andre was left to take care of the children. But in recent weeks, he noticed that his wallet was constantly losing thousands of pesos. Not only that, even his favorite expensive skincare serum, The Ordinary, had disappeared like bubbles in the bathroom.

And to his surprise, a whole pot of adobo that he had cooked for dinner had suddenly disappeared.

Andre was convinced that a thief had entered their home. He decided to investigate.

One afternoon, while Chantel was playing outside, a small notebook accidentally fell out of the child’s bag. When Andre opened it, his whole body went cold.

It was full of drawings of a scary figure in black. Under each drawing, written in large letters: “MONSTER.”

There was another page containing a shocking message:

“I gave Papa’s money and our food so that the Monster would not be angry at the old house anymore.”

Extreme anxiety and burning anger rose in Andre’s head. There was a bad person who was threatening and extorting money from his innocent child!

The old house the child was referring to was the abandoned mansion at the end of their road, a place that had long been infested with vagrants and unknown people.

Andre wasted no time. He did not ask for help from others because he wanted to teach a lesson to the person who was taking advantage of his child’s weakness.

He picked up his hard baseball bat with the LA Lakers logo, put on his shoes, and quickly walked towards the dark mansion.

Arriving in front of the abandoned house, Andre smelled the smell of dust and rotting wood. He slowly entered.

Page: SAY – Story Around You | Original story

The surroundings were dark, but at the end of a ruined hallway, he saw a shadow sitting on the floor.

Andre heard the familiar sound of the popular game Mobile Legends from a broken cellphone.

His grip on the baseball bat tightened. He was ready to strike. He kicked the broken door with all his strength and shouted.

“You have no shame! What are you doing to my child?!” Andre shouted resoundingly.

The figure stood up in shock and let go of his grip.

The moonlight shone through the hole in the roof, and Andre was confronted by the face of the so-called “Monster.”

It wasn’t a flame or a malicious spirit. It was an old man named Bob. The entire left side of his face and arms were covered in deep, fresh scars from severe burns.

On the floor, Andre saw the empty Tupperware container of his pickle, and in the old man’s trembling hand was the missing bottle of serum.

It turned out that he was desperately applying the expensive liquid to his peeling wounds to relieve the pain and tightness of his skin.

Before Andre could even speak, small feet ran into the dark room.

Chantel was panting, crying and quickly stepped between her father and the trembling old man.

“Papa, don’t! Don’t hurt Kuya Bob!” the child sobbed. “He’s kind!”

Andre was confused and lowered the bat he was holding.

“Chantel, why are you giving this person money and stuff? Why did you call him a monster in your notebook?”

The child continued to cry while holding Bob’s bloody hand.

“Because, the other kids tease him about being a monster because of his face. But Papa, he’s the one who saved me! Three months ago, when I was playing in the empty lot and suddenly a fire broke out in the dry grass, I was left in the middle. Big Brother Bob jumped into the fire to get me out. He got burned because of me.”

Andre’s world seemed to stop spinning. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by a heavy conscience.

He remembered that day—he was going home worried because his child had almost been caught in the fire on the other side, but he had no idea who had saved him before the firefighters arrived.

Bob hid in an abandoned house because he had no family and was afraid that people would reject him because of his appearance.

Chantel gave him money to buy medicine, and her father’s skincare to heal his burned skin.

Andre’s knees fell to the dusty floor. He let go of the baseball bat and his tears flowed unceasingly.

He hugged

when Chantel was very strict and slowly approached the old man.

She apologized while holding the shoulders of the one who saved her son’s life.

Andre took Bob home, treated him in a good hospital, and accepted him as a true family member.

A father proved that the best heart often hides in the most frightening form, and the real monster is a society that knows how to judge but is blind to true heroism.