Little Footsteps

Mirages:

It was an autumn day and winter was coming soon. The townspeople began to wear their warmest coats. That morning Paula woke up almost frozen. The temperature had dropped a lot during the night. The warmer days were far away, when fate had brought her to that old house. Thinking about all that Paula wasn't sure if she preferred the summer weather or the winter weather.

"Paula!" a woman's voice was heard, muffled by the distance.

Paula, numb from the cold, sat up in bed, rubbing her feet to activate blood circulation.

"I'm going!" answered the girl.

Paula left her room five minutes later. She noticed it was a little late and thought maybe her aunt needed her. Her aunt didn't usually wake her up in the morning. The alarm clock did not ring because the battery had run out.

When Paula was in the lobby, she regretted not having her gloves on due to the cold breeze coming through some cracks, that day it was really very cold. She was looking for her aunt when she heard whispers behind her.

"Aunt?"

Suddenly she heard noise and was startled. Almost immediately her uncle arrived. He was coming from the basement corridor that led to the backyard. The man passed her quickly grumbling, he then opened the front door.

"Your aunt is not at home, she went to mass," the man said without stopping.

Paula ran after him.

"Wait, uncle! You go?"

"I'll come back later," the man yelled and also said something else that Paula couldn't hear because he was already far away.

Paula went back into the house and stood there in the hall. She felt restless, for some reason she did not like being alone in the house.

It was something strange, many times she had been alone inside the house but that day she felt that there was something there with her. Paula was sure she had heard her aunt's voice calling her.

"Maybe I was dreaming," she whispered.

She shuddered because her voice sounded strange to her, like distant.

After thinking about it a few more times, she got mad at herself because maybe she was imagining things again. There was nothing bad there with her.

So Paula went about her daily duties but her tranquility did not last long. She was doing the dishes while thinking her aunt was taking too long to get back, then she felt that horrible stench again. She turned, wrinkling her nose. The woman was obviously alone but the stench increased, so she turned off the water and walked to the window to close it but she discovered that it was already closed.

"What the hell!" she whispered, surprised.

In her left ear she heard the unmistakable sound of breathing. Paula jumped with fright and turned around but behind her there was no one, however the terrible smell was still there and it was so strong that she felt nauseous. Paula had to leave the kitchen. She tripped over a chair and was shocked to see that it was stained with a red substance. That was the same chair that had been burned before. That looked like blood but Paula refused to think it was but why was there blood there. Paula took a cloth and wiped the chair trying to discover what that strange substance was. A short time later the chair was clean and when the girl threw the cloth in the trash the stench disappeared.

Maybe it was ketchup?

Paula was washing her hands when she heard a knock on the hall door, then started again and left the kitchen.

"Aunt? Here I am," she said thinking that his aunt had already returned home.

But no one answered so Paula went to the corridor that led to the backyard. When she was halfway there she saw the basement door open and then she thought maybe her uncle had been drinking there again.