Little Footsteps

Night terrors:

The aunt and the niece had a long discussion as they walked through the forest back home. Mrs. Parker had been so scared by Paula's behavior that she called Dr. Rush. She wanted to talk to Paula to explain the reason why she called the doctor, but Paula was in a very bad mood. At first they were very quiet but when they got to the house they both started screaming at each other. Paula reproached her aunt for calling the doctor for nothing.

"Nothing wrong with me. I've only had a bad week."

"But you have to accept it, Paula. You are not well, you are very upset."

"Mrs. Parker did not say that what really worried her was that Paula heard voices, saw things and hurt herself."

"I repeat that nothing bad happens to me," Paula said with an aggressive tone of voice.

Paula stopped to observe, almost without realizing it, the first floor window. There was nothing there, of course, but the fear was reflected on her face at this unpremeditated action, would her aunt have noticed? Paula looked at her sideways but Mrs. Parker was immersed in her own thoughts, and then continued walking to the door of the house.

The girl stopped a few seconds at the door. She was afraid to enter but had to pretend that nothing bad was happening. She had to be very careful because anything out of the ordinary she did would tell the doctor. Paula convinced herself that she would be able to pretend for at least twenty-four hours, no matter what it cost.

"You must heal those wounds," she heard her aunt's voice as she closed the front door.

Then the girl made a quick decision.

"Now I remember last night I thought something had stung my back. Maybe I scratched a lot. I never realized that I had hurt myself... and I forgot," she said to justify himself.

Mrs. Parker didn't answer and then Paula thought she had half convinced her. It was not so, however the woman had concluded that she was hurting due to nervous stress. The medication was hurting her, it caused allusions.

Dr. Rush had asked them to let him know if the medicines hurt Paula. These were the thoughts Mrs. Parker used as an excuse to cover her greatest fear: she had given her niece a sleeping medication that the doctor had not prescribed, although not for too long. She had doubts about whether that medicine might have caused those hallucinations.

Paula used to be «normal» before that, she was sure. She wasn't going to tell her husband because she was sure he wanted Paula to leave the house. She didn't believe in his arguments that he was afraid of her because she was crazy. Mrs Parker was certain that her husband's love for money had blinded him. She felt the duty to help the girl because she was her sister's daughter.

The rest of the day was normal for Paula, she almost didn't have to pretend except for the times she was startled every time she heard some noise. On the other hand, she had realized that her aunt was watching her. She did not leave her alone and often tripped over her gaze, but the woman turned her head away and continued with her daily work. The arrival of the night brought Paula other fears and she wasn't sure she could contain herself when the darkness gave her a new terror motive. However, she restrained herself during dinner; she was not startled when her uncle entered the kitchen and slapped her on the back, causing her some pain.

"Can you give me the bread?" he asked with his usual humor.

Paula gave it to him, hiding the discomfort of her back and at that moment Mrs. Parker decided to tell the news to her husband.

"We were looking forward to you, honey," her flattering and mellow voice hid the lie a little. "We have had news regarding the visit of Dr. Rush."

He looked away from the soup and looked at the woman in surprise. Paula did it too.