Little Footsteps

Epilogue 3:

Daiana couldn't believe what Erika had done in a fit of rage and selfishness. But she didn't have time to waste on anger, grudges and other people's problems, a possible solution had come to light in that conversation. She had to find out what the Rituals of Expulsion were. She remembered the nun's letter... she too had seen the solution, she had asked for reports of it. However, she never found out. In the two unanswered letters her despair was written. One asked a bishop for permission for the ritual, with details of the case. In the other, she begged Sister Celestina to explain in detail how to perform the ceremony and spoke of its urgency. Nothing more than useful information was contained in those last two letters.

That morning, Daiana went to talk to Erika again. She wanted to ask for her help to find out everything she could that day about these rituals, unfortunately she couldn't stay any longer, her mother needed her. She didn't even know where to start looking. She had never believed in supernatural things and had always thought they weren't real, just stories to sell amulets and books. She had even laughed at them.

Paula had told her for a long time about what she saw at home, about so many things that frightened her, but she didn't listen to her, always thinking it was nonsense. If only she had listened to her more carefully without mocking her beliefs!

When she arrived at Erika's home, she was in for an unpleasant surprise. There were two police cars parked outside the building and the door of the building was guarded by an officer, who would not let her in or give her any information. Luckily the owner of the place came to see her from a window on the first floor and started shouting for her:

"Oh, Miss! Miss! Miss!"

Something very serious had happened...

A couple of hours later, Daiana was walking as if hypnotised through the streets of the centre of Pico Alto. Her body was shivering uncontrollably and it was not due to the cold. She had to go into a coffee shop and drink a strong coffee to regain her self-control and assimilate what had happened.

Erika Ara had committed suicide.

The owner renting the flats (or rooms) explained to her in detail what had happened. The night before, when she had left, Erika went downstairs for dinner in the small dining room she had on the ground floor, which was used by the tenants from time to time. She looked normal, nothing in her countenance gave evidence of the terrible decision she was about to make or had already made. She even seemed calmer as if the weight she was carrying had become lighter. Then, that night, the owner heard her scream three times, on three different occasions. She slept right above her flat and said she yelled at her to shut her mouth.

"Did she answer her?" asked a man, dressed in civilian clothes, who was walking around. He was the investigator assigned to the case.

"No, but she seemed to be talking to herself."

"How do you know that?"

"I didn't hear any voice other than her. Anyway, that was 'normal', she used to talk in her sleep," said the lady, shrugging her shoulders.

The policeman in charge of the investigation was concerned when he heard her and did not understand why she had not come to see what was wrong with the girl, when she had not even answered her and had continued to scream. The owner shifted uneasily in the chair she was sitting in and told him that she didn't have time to take on other people's problems and that it was not uncommon for the girl to scream at night.

Erika Ara used to scream for no real reason (the woman attributed it to an addiction to some strong drug she used to take), but neither Daiana nor the police believed it. No drugs or any evidence of drug use were found in Erika's flat.