Little Footsteps

The crying of the child:

Paula was terrified, fear had paralyzed her senses, and she could almost hear the sound of her own heartbeat. She had her eyes on the door of the room, but could hardly see anything due to the darkness, and then she reacted due to panic: with a trembling hand she turned on the light that blinked before turning on. The faint light invaded the room and Paula blinked until her eyes got used to the clarity. In that room there was no one with her, but the door was still ajar.

She concentrated on listening. The crying had been very clear a few seconds ago. Anyway her attempts were in vain because she didn't hear anything. Then, her mind started working to give a reasonable explanation to what was happening. Driven by terror, she refused to accept reality. Soon some saving ideas came to her mind that filled her soul with tranquility... Surely it was the sound of the wind, or maybe she had dreamed of that cry. After all, she had been thinking about her child before falling asleep. Yes, the crying had been alone in her mind.

The girl sighed in relief and put a hand to her forehead full of sweat to take off the hair that was stuck in her face, but Paula shuddered as she remembered the half-open door, then she got up and walked to the door.

She took the latch and was about to close the door when she took courage who knows where and ran forward. There, there was no one in the hall.

Paula was about to return to bed when she sensed a dim light through the stairwell. Then she heard him again... A child was crying in the distance. Paula jumped in fright.

Without thinking too much, she advanced down the corridor, leaning down the railing of the stairs. The light seemed to come from the flank, but Paula could not specify where. Then she looked at Mr. and Mrs.

Parker's room ... The door was locked and she could even perceive her aunt's snoring. Everything seemed fine, so where was that light and that strange cry?

Paula was terrified of what she could find on the lower floor, but she still decided to go down. When she stepped on the second step, it creaked, then she got scared, then she looked up to see if her uncle and aunt had heard the noise but everything was in calm. Paula didn't want to be found lurking at night, because her aunt had warned her about it and besides, she didn't want to think about what would happen if Mr. Parker found her out of bed at that time. Then she kept going down.

When Paula reached the lobby, she noticed that the light was coming from under the stairs, and then she walked slowly, almost without making noise while the wind danced outside the house in the middle of the night.

As she got closer, she could tell exactly where the light came from. The basement door half-open. Paula thought that was strange because her uncle always locked that door. She didn't know why, but she had never cared before.

The strange crying was heard again and Paula jumped scared. What was that? She thought even angry ... It seemed to come from below...

Something Mr. and Mrs. Parker were hiding from her.

Then she didn't know why or how she did it, but even shaking, she opened the door and stood in front of the stairs hat descended in the dark to a dirty floor, illuminated only by the light that seemed to come from a candle.

Paula had to find out who was crying. It was a cry of sorrow, she knew it. And what if the boy of the rumors had not died... What if uncle and aunt Parker kept him hidden down there?

"What are you doing standing there?" asked a low voice behind her.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Paula shouted scared.

The girl turned so fast that she lost her balance and fell down the stairs at least four steps until she could hold with the hands of the walls.