I was hurrying to the maternity ward to see my sister and, on the way, gave money to a woman with a baby. Suddenly, she grabbed my hand and whispered, “Don’t go inside. Wait a few minutes.” 

I thought she was crazy and wanted to walk past her, but at the last moment I stopped. And five minutes later, I understood why. 

The phone rang while it was still dark. My mother spoke excitedly and happily: my sister had given birth to a baby boy. Sleep vanished instantly. I jumped up, got ready quickly, and went outside. It was still dark out.

On the way, I stopped at a children’s store and bought a teddy bear, baby clothes, and a small rattle. For my sister, I picked up a box of chocolates. I was thinking about the future and about the possibility that I might have a child of my own someday.

The maternity ward was already very close. At the gate, a woman sat holding a baby in her arms. A tired face, an old coat, a cardboard box for coins. I dropped in a few coins and stepped forward, but she suddenly stood up and moved directly in front of me. Her fingers closed around my wrist.

“Wait here,” she said quietly.

I was confused and tried to pull away, but her gaze was strange. There was no arrogance or greed in it. Only worry.

“Just five minutes,” she repeated, nodding toward the side entrance of the maternity ward.

My heart began to beat faster. I didn’t understand why I was standing there, but my legs felt rooted to the ground. I stayed. Everything seemed normal, and I was already thinking that the woman was crazy, when suddenly something happened that filled me with terror  Continuation in the first comment 

Exactly five minutes later, screams broke out at the entrance. The doors of the maternity ward slammed shut, security began running around, and people were pushed away from the entrance.

Later it became known that people who had escaped from prison had broken into the hospital. They took over a ward and held women with children hostage. They had demands for the state: release and shelter.

There were fatalities. If I had gone inside immediately, I would have been among them. My sister survived. The baby was fine.

And I stood at the gate for a long time, realizing that those five minutes had saved my life.