The Old Bench

Eleanor, Ann and Michael have been friends for a long time, they met at the gallery in the city where they have worked for more than 30 years, but now their lives have been turned upside down...

Eleanor is a 50-year-old widow, not a decade has passed since her husband died, she is the mother of 3 children, who are now young adults and live apart, she married from a very young age, so the loss of her husband affected greatly his life, still not a day goes by that I don't miss him.

Ann is a single mother, she has a 7-year-old son, David, she lives with her mother who takes care of the little one while Ann is working. The little boy's father has never been in their lives, he ignored it since Ann was pregnant, and she never heard from him again.

Michael got divorced last year, Roxan fell in love with another man, and even though he still loves her, he let her go.

The three friends always sit down to chat on the same bench after lunch, lamenting their lives, laughing at themselves, and there are even times when they have cried together... More than friends, they have become family, the work and the misfortunes of their lives have united them during all these years.

Today, they returned from winter break, and were greeted with the unpleasant news that the gallery is closing its doors.

Each one felt how the floor shook, within all the daily vicissitudes, their work was part of their security, and now they feel that their world is falling apart.

Everything was a decision of the Mayor, who does not consider that the gallery adds value to the city.

Eleanor called him ignorant, and Michael called him corrupt, Ann said whatever insult came to mind, but none of this changed the fact that uncertainty had invaded their routines. It was their turn to clean their desks, and they decided to sit one last time on the bench that had served as a confessional for so many years.

There was no one left in the compound, only the three sad friends, when suddenly they heard an argument in the main office, they went stealthily to get the details of what was happening... When suddenly they heard shots, then they ran to hide, but Michael stayed behind and the mayor saw him.

Michael ran and tried to hide, but he did not go to where Eleanor and Ann were because he wanted to protect them, he went to another office but one of the Mayor's henchmen followed him, hit him and immobilized him, the Mayor seeing him without saying a word he shot him, and had everything cleaned up. Eleanor and Ann were in the joint office, trembling with fear, but with the strength of friendship, Ann had been recording what was happening on her cell phone, the best thing is that the faces of those murderers could be distinguished.

When they were able to get out, they went out the back door and took a taxi, not wanting to use their cars to try to go unnoticed. They went straight to report the murder of their friend, then, what was their surprise? in the parking lot they saw the henchman friend of the Mayor, which filled them with suspicion, they realized that he was a corrupt police officer.

It was then that Eleanor spoke with her eldest son, he was a journalist and worked at a television station that was opposed to the Mayor, and also had contact with high-ranking government officials, so they could not touch him.

Jacob, Eleanor's son took care of everything, that same night the Mayor and his henchman were arrested, the recording that Ann made was important evidence for their arrest, since they were being investigated for different reasons, and given the speed with which the complaint was filed, they did not have time to hide the bodies.

The gallery did not close its operations, and Eleanor and Ann continued with their routine of talking in the same bank as always, and although they felt sadness for the death of their friend, they felt very proud of him, they would never have imagined how brave he was, and the love he felt for them... Even though they knew he was gone, they could feel his presence at the same old bench.