Five-year-old Timmy knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know who else to turn to. With courage far beyond his years, he picked up the phone and dialed the number for Child Protection Services, telling them something about his mom that made them concerned enough to pay a visit. But nothing could have prepared the responding officers for what they would find when they stepped inside Timmy’s home.Their faces turned pale, and without hesitation, they called the police for backup.  Not long after CPS’s disturbing phone call, wailing sirens were heard in the street as multiple police cruisers came up to the house. There, the CPS correspondents waited outside; they couldn’t enter without them and knew they had to bring Timmy to a safe place. This was no way for the young boy to live!  They were so happy that Timmy had called them because they could things could have ended really badly here if he hadn’t. Now, they had a chance to fix everything before the danger that was done became irreversible. But they knew that they had to be quick… It took a while, but when the police finally got the chance to ask Timmy’s mother for an explanation, they were shocked by her answer… But why did Timmy call the child police? What did the police find in his house and what had his mother done?  It was just the two of them, Timmy, who was only five years old, and his mother, Hanna. Timmy’s father had never been in the picture. He’d left them as soon as Hanna told him the news about her pregnancy. But he wasn’t missed. Hanna had always made sure that Timmy was cared for. Mornings were their favorite time of the day. They would wake up, eat breakfast together, and Hanna would play music and dance in the kitchen with her son. Then, Timmy would go to daycare, and Hanna would go to work. But today was different, and Timmy could sense it from the start.  As soon as Timmy woke up, she felt something was different about his mother. She wasn’t her happy self and could barely open her eyes. Usually, Hanna would turn off the alarm clock, but she hadn’t moved an inch since it went off. So, Timmy got up to turn it off.  Timmy stood next to his mother’s bedside and stared at her. “She must be very tired,” Timmy thought. She was too young to understand something could be terribly wrong. So, Timmy took it upon hisself to get dressed and go to the living room. Expecting his mother to follow her shortly, but she never did… Time ticked by, and Timmy’s mother was still sound asleep in bed. Timmy had turned on the Tv and watched his usual morning show. But his tummy eventually started growling. Why wasn’t his mother up and dancing in the kitchen? So he decided to check up on her one more time. Timmy slowly opened the door to his mother’s bedroom. “Mom?” he asked worriedly. “Mom, are you awake yet? I’m hungry.” But there came no response. He carefully walked over to the bed and climbed on top. “Mommy,” he said again while shaking his mother’s shoulders. He now began to feel really worried. His mother did not respond. Timmy’s heart began to race. Panic rose in his little body, and tears started to well up in his eyes. He felt helpless and didn’t know what to do. But by now, he knew something could be very wrong. Timmy was all alone and didn’t know what to do… Timmy tried to wake his mother up one more time by shouting her name. And to his surprise, his mother let out a little faint moan. Why won’t she wake up? Timmy thought. But then he remembered something his mother had taught him. Something that could potentially save his mother’s life.  His mother had told him about a number he could call if something were wrong. He had no idea who this person was, but that didn’t matter at that moment. He ran downstairs and searched for his mother’s phone. He looked on the table, in his mother’s purse, and in her jacket, but he couldn’t find it. Finally, Timmy found the phone on the side table next to the couch. He quickly ran upstairs and unlocked the phone by holding it in front of his mother’s face. He had seen his mother do that many times. He had to think very hard to remember the number but eventually figured it out.  “9.. 1.. 1..” he dialed with trembling fingers. He held the phone by his ear and worryingly looked at his mother. “Don’t worry, mommy,” he said. “I will get you some help.”  “911, what’s your emergency?” a man asked him.  “Uhm, my mommy has been asleep all day,” he said. The man on the other line seemed to be surprised by Timmy’s voice.  “Hello, what’s your name, young man?” he asked him kindly. “Timmy,” Timmy said confidently. “Can you come and help me?” “You said your mommy is asleep all day? Is your daddy around, Timmy?” the man asked, not reacting to Timmy’s question. “No,” Timmy said. “It’s just my mommy and me. But she never woke up this morning.”  “Alright, Timmy, I need you to stay on the line, okay?” the operator said. “Where is your mommy now?” “She’s in bed in her room. Will you send the police and an ambulance? I’m still in my pajama.”  “Yes, Timmy, but I have a few more questions, okay?” The operator tried to talk as loud and clear as he could. This was very important because children are usually easily distracted, so he had to do his best to get Timmy to stay on the line. But luckily, Timmy knew his mother could be in danger. So, he took this situation very seriously. “Alright, Timmy. This is a very important question. I need to know where you live, so the police will find you.” the operator said. Timmy started to feel panicked again. He didn’t know where he lived. But he suddenly remembered his mother had kept a note somewhere with their address on it.  “Please wait a minute,” Timmy said. “I will be right back.” “Wait, Tim-” the operator tried, but he was already gone. Timmy ran to the front door and pulled the note off the wall. Then, he ran back to his mother’s room. “I’m back,” he said happily. “And I have the note.” Timmy told the operator her address and waited. He stayed on the line with the operator the whole time and answered all his questions. He asked her if his mother was hurt, if she was breathing, and other important questions. But it was taking a very long time for the ambulance to arrive. He was only five years old, so Timmy had no track of time. But even he could sense that the ambulance should’ve been here by now, but he didn’t even hear the sirens yet. He was still by his mother’s side and told her reassuring words, not knowing if his mother could hear him or not.  His mother was still breathing, but it didn’t look good. She took long pauses between breaths, and when Timmy placed his hand on his mother’s forehead, as his mother always did to him when he was feeling ill, he could feel his mother burning up. But then, he finally heard something. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Timmy heard the sirens. He ran to the living room to wait for them to arrive. He could hear heavy footsteps running up the stair of their apartment building and stopping in front of their door. “Timmy?!” one of the men yelled. “I’m in here!” he answered. Timmy’s heart was pounding in his chest. He had never experienced something like this before. “Timmy, we need you to open the door for us,” someone yelled from the other side of the door. But that wasn’t as easy as they thought. Timmy was way too small to reach the door handle.  He tried to stand on his toes to reach the handle, but he could only touch it with his fingertips. “I can’t reach it,” Timmy said. But he wasn’t about to give up. He knew he had to open the door for those men. Otherwise, they could never help his mother. Timmy took a step backward and scanned the room. There had to be something he could use to stand on. But, since Timmy was still so small, he couldn’t see much. Then, he remembered where his mother kept the pots and pans. He might be able to stand on one of those to reach the handle.  She quickly ran to the kitchen and opened all the cupboards he could reach. Finally, he opened the cupboard with the pots and pans, but when he tried to lift one up, it was way too heavy. The metal slipped out of Timmy’s little hands, and he dropped the pan on the floor.  He had to think of something else. The men were counting on him. Timmy shook off his frustration and searched for something else. He ran through the living room and frantically searched for an object he could stand on. And finally, when he stood on her tippy toes to look on the table, he found something. There was a little black box in the middle of the dining table. So, Timmy pulled out a chair, climbed on top, and carefully climbed onto the table. He pushed the box off the table and climbed down himself. The box was made of cardboard and filled with papers. So it was light enough for Timmy to carry to the door. But when he put the box in front of the door, stepped on, and tried to reach the handle, he was once again struck with disappointment. He was still too small. “I can’t reach,” Timmy said with a trembling voice. There had to be something he could use, she thought. And suddenly, it dawned on him.  A chair! Of course, why didn’t he think of that before? Timmy quickly ran back to the table and grabbed a chair. But it was way too heavy for him to lift up. So, he started to tub the chair toward the door. It was a slow process, but little by little, he got closer to the door. Timmy felt the adrenaline race through his body. He was almost there. His hard work wouldn’t be for nothing. But then, something happened. The chair got caught on by a rug and wouldn’t move anymore. Timmy tugged a bit harder, and the chair began to move again, but this time, it wasn’t in a good way. Because the chair began to tilt, Timmy tripped. He fell on the ground face first and couldn’t turn around fast enough to see that the chair was slowly leaning his way. And before he knew it, the chair fell on top of him. Timmy screamed as the hard wooden chair trapped him on the ground.  Luckily, he wasn’t hurt, but he couldn’t get up anymore. The chair was too heavy for him to get off. He tried to get on his hands and knees and push the chair up with his back, but he couldn’t. “Timmy? Are you okay?” the man asked him. They could hear the rumbling noises and Timmy’s scream through the door.  The police knew what to do next. “Don’t worry, Timmy! We will be with you in a few minutes!” one of the officers yelled through the door. But Timmy couldn’t help but feel panicked. How were the officers going to enter his house if the door was locked? But then, he heard something. He heard the police officers mumbling outside of the door, and it almost sounded like a few of them were walking down the stairs again. Timmy’s little mind instantly feared they had given up and were about to leave him, but of course, that was far from true. “Please don’t leave me!” he cried.  “We won’t leave you, young man!” an officer responded. “We’re just grabbing a few supplies from downstairs. Hold on tight, and don’t be scared! You will hear a loud bang in a couple of seconds.” Timmy listened carefully and tried to stay as calm as possible. But his heart was pounding in his chest. He wondered what the police were going to do. He couldn’t think of a way they could get in, without him opening the door for them. The rumbling and murmuring noises filled Timmy’s head as he tried to understand what they were saying. “Alright, Timmy,” A second officer suddenly said. “Cover your ears.” Timmy closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears. He had no idea what was going to happen next but trusted the officers. He took a few deep breaths, and suddenly, the officers started counting down from three to one. What were they going to do? Timmy thought. “3.. 2.. 1!” A loud blow echoed through the living room. Timmy felt the floor shake a little. His body tensed up as she felt very frightened. After that, it stayed quiet for a few seconds. But when he was just about to lift his hands off her ears when another blow pounced through the apartment. He heard a third blow and could see the front door move a little. Then, he suddenly realized what they were trying to do. They were trying to break down the door with something! A fourth blow followed soon after, and Timmy could now see splitters flying off the door. The floor shook again. Timmy wanted to see what they were trying to do, but he was too scared to lift his hands off his ears. What if they banged again, just as his ears were uncovered? he thought. So, he carefully opened only one eye instead and looked at the door. Timmy quickly closed his eyes again and waited for it all to be over. Many more loud blows to the door followed. It almost felt like it would never stop. Timmy couldn’t help but feel scared. He quietly cried as he waited for the door to fall down. But, It never did… Suddenly, the blows stopped. Timmy opened his eyes but was worried to see the door was still in its place. Why did they stop? he thought. Well, breaking the door down didn’t seem to work, so the police had to think of something else they could do. But Timmy was losing her patience. Timmy could hear the police speak to each other, but it didn’t sound good. They were mumbling to each other and occasionally yelled something down the stairs. But it wasn’t enough anymore. Timmy had lost his trust in the police and felt like he was on his own once again.  He heard rumbling noises, and they were clearly trying lots of things to get inside. But it was taking way too long for Timmy. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He was done being trapped on the floor and wanted to help his mother. So, he carefully looked around him. Suddenly, Timmy noticed that the legs of the chair were still on the rug that it tripped over. He reached with her arm to see if he could get his fingers in between the chair and the carpet, and to his surprise, it worked. Timmy took a deep breath because he knew the next part would be very difficult.  Timmy had to muster up all his strength to push the leg away. It hadn’t worked before, but he didn’t want to give up. He figured the chair only had to move a small part for him to be able to crawl away. So he counted down in his head and gave the chair one big push.  To Timmy’s surprise, the chair began to move, and Timmy was finally able to crawl away. He cheered himself on and was so proud of himself for pushing through. He immediately ran to his mother to tell her what he had accomplished but was painfully reminded that she was still sleeping. Timmy sighed. Nothing about this day had gone as he had planned. His tummy was rumbling from hunger, his mother’s situation hadn’t improved, and the police were still trying to get inside the apartment. A tear rolled down Timmy’s cheek as he stroked his mother’s arm. “Please hold on, Mommy. I need you.” Then, all of a sudden, Timmy heard a loud bang. He ran to the living room to see if the police were finally able to come inside, and they were! The door of the apartment lay flat on the ground, and within seconds, their apartment was filled with police officers and paramedics.  Timmy ran into the arms of one of the officers and hugged him tightly. When he put him down again, he grabbed him by the hand and quickly led him to his mother. He immediately called for the paramedics to come into the room, and they checked her pols. But something worried Timmy… None of them seemed happy. The officers looked around them with shocked looks on their faces, and the paramedics hurried his mother onto a stretcher. Timmy didn’t understand why everyone seemed to be in such a hurry to get out of this room. But he would later find out the truth. He knew, or at least hoped, his mother would be well cared for. But he still wondered why the police were so shocked when they entered their house. He knew he had made a bit of a mess while trying to open the door, but it wasn’t that bad, was it? They put Timmy and his mother into an ambulance and drove to the nearest hospital. Inside the ambulance, they put a mask over his mother’s mouth. Timmy had mixed feelings looking at his mother. He was excited to be in an ambulance for the first time, but the sight of his mother scared him. But little did he know it wasn’t about the mess at all. There was something else inside their apartment that explained everything, but Timmy was too young to understand. He had to wait for his mother to wake up, and only then would the police explain everything as well as they could.  At the hospital, they hooked Timmy’s mother onto various machines, which looked terrifying to Timmy. He had no idea what the machines were for, and no one wanted to tell him. Probably because he wouldn’t understand, but still. “Will my mommy be okay?” he worryingly asked a nurse. But she just answered with an uncertain smile. Luckily, Timmy’s grandmother arrived soon after. The police had contacted her about what had happened and asked her to come. She was just about to start cooking dinner, but immediately rushed over when she heard about her daughter’s situation. She wouldn’t let her grandson go through this all by himself.  Timmy was ecstatic to see a familiar face after such a hectic day. He ran to his grandmother, snuggled up in her arms, and told her everything. It didn’t seem to get any better with Hanna for a while, but after a few hours, she slowly began to wake up.  Hanna moved her head from side to side and slowly opened her eyes. She was very confused about what had happened and didn’t realize she was in a hospital at first. Her eyes widened as she looked around the room. “Where am I?” she frightfully asked. But she calmed down as soon as she saw Timmy. Timmy told her proudly how brave he had been all day and that he was the one who had called 911. Hanna was still very confused, but she was glad to see her son was okay. While she talked to her son, Hanna’s mother quickly got up and called for a nurse to come to the room. Shortly after Hanna woke up, police entered her room. They began to ask her what had happened, but Hanna had no idea. She went to bed feeling a bit dizzy, but the rest was all very blurry. The officers looked very serious and wrote everything down. But then, they finally explained everything. When the officers were finally able to get inside the apartment, they immediately noticed something. There was a specific smell lingering around, but they didn’t connect it to anything yet. But as soon as they entered Hanna’s bedroom, they were shocked to realize the smell had worsened and probably had come from there. They immediately investigated the situation and found mold growing behind the bed, behind the closet, and in some corners of the ceiling. The mold was slowly spreading throughout the house and was probably the reason why Hanna was so sick and drowsy. The mold was toxic, and if Timmy hadn’t called 911, it could’ve ended badly for them both. Hanna was so proud of her son for handling the situation so well. She felt stupid for not noticing the mold sooner. Timmy was also checked for any symptoms, but luckily for him, he was perfectly healthy. The doctors don’t know why the mold only infected Hanna and not Timmy, but they were happy it didn’t. As soon as Hanna started to feel better, she called the concierge of the building to explain the situation. There was no way they would go back there if there were still mold inside. The concierge was shocked to hear something like this had happened, and immediately called the owner of the building. The owner couldn’t believe his ears and immediately called for the other apartments to be checked. Something like black mold is very dangerous and shouldn’t be taken lightly. He rushed over to the building to assist with the check-ups and offered Hanna a temporary stay until their apartment was cleaned. It turned out that there was a big mold outbreak in the building, and every apartment had to be cleaned. It was a big operation that took several weeks to be finished. Everyone in the building was shocked that this had happened and sent their good wishes to Hanna and Timmy. The mold was discovered just in time. If it had grown any longer without being discovered, The whole building would’ve been infected. Even though Hanna ended up being hospitalized, she was glad that she was the one who got sick. Because of her, the mold was discovered, and other people were saved from the mold. Timmhy was forever changed after this eventful day. But in a positive way. He felt more confident in who he was and more independent as well. he was very proud that he had saved his mother. The mold never returned to their apartment, and Timmy grew up to become a paramedic himself and continued to save lives. The end.