Little Footsteps

Daiana:

The next morning, Paula woke up with a terrible headache.

It seemed as if her head was going to explode from one moment to another. It had been a long time since she had such pain. She got out of bed and began to dress, still sleepy. She had rested very little that night.

When she finished, she opened the drawer of her bedside table to get some pills to calm the headache but they weren't there... what a weird!

Paula stirred the contents of the drawer a little, looking for the pills, but they had disappeared. She tried to remember if she had left them somewhere else, but the terrible headache did not leave her alone.

Therefore she decided to ask Mrs. Parker if she had anything to calm the pain.

Paula found her aunt in the kitchen, she was kneading bread. The woman did not seem to be in a good mood and like her niece, she had dark circles. Maybe Mr. Parker was working because he wasn't anywhere.

"Good Morning!" Paula said with a little caution.

"Good Morning!" the woman replied.

Paula went to prepare a loaded coffee, then looked sideways at the woman, but she was focused on her work, as if nothing mattered.

"Don't you have something for the headache? It is killing me," said the girl.

"No!" her aunt replied in such a cold way that Paula sensed that she had not forgotten last night incident.

There was a brief silence.

"I'm so sorry for what happened last night," Paula began to apologize. She thought it was the best thing she could do. "Uncle Parker must have had a big scare, but I was sleeping and I didn't think it was necessary to wake you up for a simple noise, that's why I went down to investigate. The noise seemed to come from the basement."

"The next time you think you «hear something», let us know," the woman replied. Her voice sounded angry. "And for nothing in the world you must go back down to the basement. It is dark there and could be dangerous."

"I couldn't get down."

"Your uncle keeps many things in the basement and for that reason nobody can enter there, only him."

"Okay," said the girl, but her curiosity increased. What could Uncle Parker keep there that he didn't want her to see?

The kettle started to whistle, so Paula started looking for coffee packing, but she didn't find it, although she was sure she had seen an entire one the day before.

"What are you looking for?" ask her aunt.

"The coffee is not anywhere."

"It is...", but when she saw that her niece was opening a drawer, she added: It is not there.

Paula opened the drawer where there were all kinds of utensils like a bottle opener and scissors, but she was surprised when she saw her pills bottle there. She took it and looked at her aunt.

"Ah! I had lost it," said Paula looking at the woman with distrust.

"You left it on the table last night and then I put it there," answered her aunt.

Paula didn't remember had leaved it there, but the headache did not let her thinking too much. The incident didn't seem important, but Paula noticed that her aunt was nervous and that didn't like at all. So she took the bottle and put it in her pocket with the intention of never separating from it.

"I was going to tell you that the coffee is there," her aunt said pointing to a corner of the counter.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as she thought... How could I not see it?