Eva's Sins.

LXIX

„Footsteps that lead nowhere. Footsteps that leave deep wounds in the heart"

  The thunderlights of the sky were cracking the morning horizon in small pieces, scattering the raindrops all over and making the autumn leaves feverishly shake in the hug of the time's cruelty. But even so, „nature has its own beauty," murmured Eva while standing in front of the window and looking at the outside madness.

  And... she couldn't sleep all night long. But it wasn't because of the outside weather or that she was afraid of something. It happened because of the inner storm that was similar to the outside one, but which also had some strange shades of calmness in it as if it had been the peace felt before a big loss.

  „It's probably because I'm back here," she told herself the entire night, feeling that she won't fall asleep eventually. But even so, in those few hours of being in a house that she got to hate that much, she felt that life started again for her, even if in a strange way.

  Suddenly she winced, hearing a noisily knock on the front door. „Who to be?" she wondered, looking at the big clock on the wall that was showing that it was 5.45 in the morning. „And at this early hour." But, even if she tried to ignore the outside world and completely immerse herself in thoughts, she eventually decided that it'll be a good idea to go downstairs and to see who came, for she was sure that Christine would never open the door to a stranger at dawn.

  She had been wrong yet thinking that Christine was probably sleeping and that she didn't hear the knock on the door, for, descending the stairs, she saw her in the living room, next to the gas lamp that she just lighted, holding a half match between fingers, whose blind light was still seen burning its small wooden body, devouring it.

  Feeling someone's footsteps descending the stairs, Christine glanced over there and, seeing Eva stopped next to the stairs, she smiled. But that smile wasn't either satisfaction or hatred and it wasn't also because of pity: it was a smile born from her increasing fear for the outside world.

  She winced, yet, hearing Eva telling her calmly: „someone is knocking on the door. Won't you open it?"

  „I was about to do that," said Christine dryly, but instead to head to the door and open it, she turned her back to Eva and entered her office, slamming the door after entering. Only after a few seconds, she told Eva: „if you are interested to see who came to our door in such devilish weather and so early, go and open it. I... don't want to beat my brains about it, too."

  Eva ironically smiled: „I didn't ever expect something else from you," she murmured and finally finished descending the two stairs that were still left to descend. Then, she approached the table, staring for a few seconds at the half-burnt wooden body of the match which Christine threw in the ash pot and which was still smoking. But, hearing another knock, she grabbed the handle of the lamp, approached the door, and opened it.

  „You...? Here...?" she asked in amazement, seeing Anne Ross in front of the door, soaking wet, shivering because of the cold, and with a deep wound in the corn of the lips, plus a big bruise on the upper part of the right cheek.

  „May I in?" Anne managed to say, barely heard. „I came on foot till here," she added, shuddering. „I feel that I don't have forces to go elsewhere. And... to be honest, I don't think that I have somewhere else to go," she mumbled, staring into Eva's eyes, who was staring at her, thunderstruck, unconfident, not understanding what the hell pushed Anne from behind to hit the road on such weather when a good master doesn't allow even the dog to stay outside, much less a human to wander the world with another baby-human under her heart.