Little Footsteps

Mr. Parker's secret:

Mrs. Parker was crying in the kitchen. Beside her, Paula tried to calm her down. The content of the bag of potatoes that Paula had bought were scattered on the floor. The woman had lost control of herself, and Paula regretted having gone down to the basement of the house. She shouldn't have done it.

"Please, aunt, calm down," she said without knowing what to do. She felt guilty.

The woman only responded with a sob that she tried to drown up but she could not do it.

Earlier, when Paula went down to the basement, she never imagined what would happen. And how was she to suspect it? She was reaching the bottom of the basement when she had to stop to turn on the light, because although it was daylight, the only window in that room was so dirty that sunlight hardly entered.

Paula felt the wall looking for the switch and almost fell to the floor when she tripped over something. Finally, she found the switch, then the light spread throughout the place and Paula narrowed her eyes.

Paula was shaking; she hoped that when she opened her eyes she would see a child coming out from some corner of the basement. But that did not happen.

The basement of that old house was like that of any house, although a little smaller than Paula had imagined. It was a square room. In one of the four corners were two stacked chairs. There was also another old piece of furniture that seemed to be a closet, but there were so many newspapers in front of it and inside that Paula could not make sure what it really was.

Paula advanced, leaving the safety of the stairs behind her. She was baffled because she didn't notice anything weird in that place. Then she began to observe the entire basement thoroughly.

There were old paint cans, used brushes, a splintered stool and a table with tools on top. A thick green hose hung on a nail that was stuck in the wall. That disgusted Paula because the hose looked like a disgusting sleeping snake.

"What am I thinking at?" she reproached herself. "¡As if a hose could attack me!"

There were many things scattered on the floor and spider webs hanging from the ceiling and that dust that was all over the house, but there was nothing strange. Then Paula walked to the door, she and Daiana had seen through the dirty window. The door was tied with a chain and a padlock. Paula was disappointed to see it, but when she took it to examine it better, she realized that it was open, and then the chain fell to the ground. Paula had caused a lot of noise but she didn't care because she was desperate to get the boy out of his prison. Her hands were shaking because of anxiety.

The tiny room behind that door was dim and Paula needed to open it completely to be able to check inside. There was such a foul smell that she covered her nose with her hand, but what she saw in there paralyzed her heart. It was not what she was waiting for, because there was no child, but a long table with a splintered wooden bench (it was similar to the one next to the tool table) on this table was an alarming amount of liquor bottles. Paula had discovered Mr. Parker's secret.

"Well... I see you already know it," said a woman's voice behind her.

Paula jumped, scared and turned to look at her aunt. For some reason she felt ashamed to see her there, standing on the stairs, looking at her, because she had discovered her doing what she had forbidden before... entering the basement.

"I'm sorry!" the girl said without knowing how to justify herself.

The woman, however, did not seem angry, but tremendously sad. A catastrophe expression gripped her face, and then she sat down on the stairs while looking at the floor.

There was a brief silence.

"Have you come to see the boy of rumors?" said the woman with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.