Little Footsteps

Suspect:

The hours passed and Paula could not sleep. When she noticed that her uncle or uncle had locked her up, she became very angry. First she was afraid, but then that feeling turned to anger. They couldn't do that to her! And what if she wanted to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?

Paula began to walk from one side of the room to the other, not caring about the noise she caused. But suddenly she began to calm down because she heard noises again. It was as if someone had slammed a door on the lower floor of the house, then she heard hurried steps going up the stairs and stopping in the corridor.

Then Paula's fear increased when she realized that the steps did not stop in Uncle and Aunt Parker's room but in front of her own door. Before that, she believed that her uncle Parker was who caused the footsteps, maybe he was returning to her room.

The girl almost ran on tiptoes to her bed and then she turned off the light. She had been so angry that if she had been sure that it was her aunt who was approaching, she would have faced her without fear, but if it was her uncle Parker who was approaching... it was something different because Paula was very afraid of that man. The door made a noise. It seems as if someone was opening it, then Paula covered herself with the blanket to her head, trying not to make noise. The door opened and a dim light illuminated the wooden floor of the room... Someone was watching her from the threshold.

After a few minutes eternal, the door was locked again. Paula then heard the sound of steps moving away and then a door that closed in the distance. Her hands were shaking so much that it took a long time trying to open the drawer of her bedside table to take the bottle out of her pills. She needed to take a painkiller because her anxiety had risen like foam in a very short time.

Her hand felt in the dark, but she couldn't find the bottle in the dark, then she turned on the light. The girl searched desperately, but noticed that the bottle was not there again. It was clear that her aunt had taken away her medication and locked her in that room. Paula was furious. How could they do that?

That night it took a lot of time to fall asleep for Paula, it was already dawning when she got it. Suddenly a disturbing feeling interrupted her sleep. What if she had discovered the truth? What if her Uncle and Aunt Parker did have a child locked in the basement? Aunt Parker maybe pretended to be offended when Paula told her about the rumors and then, maybe she would have told her husband everything.

That explained why she had locked her up that night and also her constant vigilance. All that was so that Paula would not discover her secret, but why had she taken his pills? Paula didn't understand the reason. Paula's mind worked all night to give an explanation to all the questions she had.

The next day she woke up quite late, she had a headache again and her mood had fallen. She had dreamed of her own child, maybe because the cry she had heard last night had reminded her of her own baby's last hours. Paula regretted not being able to attend his funeral.

At that time she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital, heavily sedated. She couldn't see him or say goodbye to him and that made her feel guilty. Her Doctor had asked her once why she didn't love her baby, and she who was surprised by those words responded with a slap in his face.

When Paula was alone with her aunt she asked about the bottle of her medications that had «disappeared». Her aunt denied knowing where it was and Paula was about to lose control of the anger since she was sure that her aunt was lying. Anyway, that night the bottle appeared «by miracle» in the same drawer where she used to keep it. Paula, angry, went around her room looking for a good hiding place for her medications, until she found a loose table on the floor. She picked up the table and hid the bottle there. She didn't understand the Parker's attitude, but she understood a few days later.