The next day, Paula woke up startled by a knock on the door and an exclamation thrown from the deepest annoyance by her aunt that was heard on the other side of the room.

At first Paula was confused because she was sleepy but then she understood what was happening... She remembered that she had locked the door of her room the night before. Surely Aunt Parker wanted to come in to wake her up and she could not.

Then Paula got up from the bed, put a shawl over her shoulders and pulled out the chair that blocked the door. Then she opened it. On the other side was her aunt with a rather circumspect expression.

"Excuse me, Aunt Paula," said a little uncomfortable with her attitude and not knowing how to justify herself.

"You must not close the door," reproached the woman with a serious tone.

"Well, there are no keys and..."

"I already know that there is no key for your door. The doctor told us about the rules that we had to follow said the woman, entering the room."

The woman observed the place with curiosity, looking in all directions.

Maybe she thought Paula was hiding someone in her room.

The girl looked at her surprised. What rules did Mrs. Parker talked about? She believed that the only rule was to take her medication, of course. Doctor Rush would have mentioned about it. Or not?

"Maybe we should review them today," said the woman. After giving her a quick look she left the room, but before she said: "Breakfast is ready."

When the woman left the room, Paula began to dress in everyday clothes, while thinking about what weird were Mr. and Mrs. Parker. It was evident that they were watching her, but she did not know the reasons. When she finished dressing, she drew the curtains and so the daylight entered the room.

She felt strange, discouraged because she had arrived there with the hope of reheating her life, but she had only got rejection and distrust.

Her uncle and her aunt were not what she expected and she had expected a lot, too ... now she understood. And the house ... that place seemed creepy. At night it was even worse ... Those little steps had been the last straw, but had she really heard them? Or would they have been the product of her imagination after the terror that invaded her that night?

Her eyes fell on the window and then on the landscape. Apparently that would be a nice day. The sun was shining on the horizon and there was a cool breeze that relieved that summer heat. Suddenly, her eyes met those of Uncle Parker who was smoking there, under the apple tree.

Surprised and scared, she left the window and went to breakfast. She knew that she didn't have to fear that man, but there was something in his eyes that she didn't like at all.

In the kitchen, Mrs. Parker was having hot tea. On the table there was a platter with bread and butter that seemed greasier than it should.

There was also a jar with homemade sweet and tea for Paula.

"You took a long time, your tea must have cooled down," the woman said as she watched Paula sit in front of her.

"No, it's okay," said Paula. The tea was already warm, but she didn't want to upset her aunt who seemed annoyed.

Then Mrs. Parker began to explain the «rules» that Paula should to follow at home and what Dr. Rush had indicated. Paula felt like a little girl in that place.

"Can I see the paper with the rules that the doctor sent to you?" asked the woman.

"He didn't send them written, he only mentioned them."

"But you just told me that..."

Her aunt got up from the chair and turned her back to Paula while interrupting her.

"You'd better help me with daily tasks. This house is very large and there are several things to do before lunch. Mr. Parker will arrive at night. He works beyond the village and it is a long walk which he does twice a day. That's why you'll see him only at night. Anyway, my husband is a strict man. You must be very respectful with him and ... Don't look at him into the eyes! Doesn't like."

"Ah! Well. There's no problem."

"That's why last night I warned you not to wander. He would not like it."

"Okay," said the young woman.

"Oh, I almost forgot it!... You must not to go down to the basement. It is very dark, there are many things there and you could hurt yourself," aunt Parker concluded.

Paula didn't say anything about it. She didn't want to go to the basement and her aunt's attitude started to get her angry. Besides, why would she want to go there? That house gave her chills, so the basement would be the last place she would want to go. In other words, not even being crazy she would go down to the basement!

During that morning that seemed to Paula quite long, she and her aunt cleaned the house because with the night wind, it was almost buried by dust. They washed the clothes (without washing machine) they reared the garden, although it was more appropriate to say that they wet the ground because there were no plants.

At lunchtime, Paula was tired, her fingers hurt from so much scrubbing the cloth. The girl was covered in dust; her feet were tired from going up and down stairs. She didn't understand how her aunt, who was already an old woman, could do that every day and end up with so much energy. She didn't look tired and, while her niece sat down to rest in a chair, she started cooking.

"I would like to take a bath," said Paula.

"Well, go to the bathroom downstairs because the one above is still broken," replied her aunt without looking at her.

Paula got up from the chair and, a few minutes later, she was under the shower while the water was pouring down her face. She was tired and the only good thing during the day was that Mr. Parker was not there and he would not back home until nightfall.

The bathroom was too small, so when she turned around, she tapped the soap with her elbow and it fell to the floor, when Paula bent down to pick it up she had a sudden bad memory.

She had very few memories of that last day... That day that now seemed so distant, the day of the accident... When everything started, and interestingly, it all started with the soap that slid from her hand to the floor.

She remembered the week before the accident, she would never forget that. That week came to her mind like a book full of images, without words ... a book of terror.

Paula used to think that her life had become wonderful since she met him... Franco had been her boyfriend, her partner, and her best friend...the great love of her life. Some friends in common introduced them and then, they fell madly in love with each other. Soon after meeting, Paula became pregnant. While at first the news was not well received and both had argued, over the months they reconciled and thanked heaven for that miracle that would change their lives. They had many difficulties, but nothing could to discourage them since then.

Paula lived in a small apartment and Franco had moved with her until they could find a more comfortable house. Everything was fine until she appeared...

Her boyfriend had found a job with which they would have enough money for them to move. Suddenly, a friend from Paula knocked on the door of the apartment. She was desperate because she had no money and no even where to go. Erika had been one of Paula's best friends, so she welcomed her into her house until she got a job. In this way Erika moved with they... this had been a mistake.

Soon after Paula noticed that Erika liked Franco, and it took less time for her to notice that he was looking at her too. Erika and Franco became very good friends in a short time and this caused a lot of distrust in Paula. However, she was exhausted by the pregnancy and about to move, so she tried to forget the matter, hoping to be wrong.

When moving to a new and more comfortable house in a quiet neighborhood, things had been arranged almost as if by magic.

It all coincided with the fact that her friend had got a job and was no longer living with them, and Paula was glad she did not have to see that brightness in her boyfriend's eyes every time he looked at Erika.

A couple of months later, Paula had the baby and the problems seemed to disappear.

The next year, Paula and Franco began to make plans to get married, but Erika reappeared in their lives and then everything went down.

She returned to help her friend with the baby, so that she would not have to pay an expensive babysitter when she went to work, but even though she really helped Paula, the old doubts and destructive thoughts that previously tormented her were reappearing.

After a while, Paula was almost sure there was something between her boyfriend and her friend. Franco gave a start every time his cell phone rang. Paula started spying on him every time someone called Franco, she was «sure» it was Erika who was calling him. He started missing work to stay at home or left work earlier to try to surprise them, she even devoted herself to the humiliating task of watching through the window, as an intruder.

But the worst of all was that her child adored Erika. He liked to be with her and cried every time she left, instead, the baby didn't welcome Paula with pleasure, even though she was his mother. Then she began to distance herself a little from him. She was offended... she didn't touch him because he seemed dirty and disgusting.

Franco, every day was more distant and distracted, and even Paula thought he was spying on her all the time. Paula believed that he wanted to be with Erika all the time. Many times the woman thought that she was disturbing in that house.

The day when everything happened began normally. When Paula came home from work, around seven o'clock in the afternoon, Franco was there and her friend had already left. The man held the baby while they watched television. TV was a luxury they had since a short time.

The young mother entered the house, left her bag on a chair and greeted them with a gesture. They both looked at her and the smile that they had on their faces was erased when they saw her attitude so indifferent. Paula was angry with them for «preferring» Erika.

Then she went up to her room and soon after she went to the bathroom. The baby was crying, but she didn't pay attention to him and decided to take a shower. The water fell on her face when the soap slid to the floor. She pulled the curtains and left the shower to pick it up, and then, near the bathroom door, she heard him...

Franco was talking to someone on the phone, and then Paula opened the door a bit, so she could listen to the conversation better.

"I can't go now! She's here," he was telling someone. His voice seemed worried. I can't tell her! Not now! It is not the right time!

Then Paula deduced that Franco was talking to Erika and this woman was demanding to him to talk with Paula about the relationship that they had, but Franco refused.

After that, the fog that Paula had in mind began to spread, submerging her in the dark depth. She didn't remember anything after that, only that she had come out of the bathroom and put on her clothes...Yes, Paula deduced it because when she was at the police station later, she noticed that she was wearing a pink shirt. She also knew that she had confronted her boyfriend for the first time, but could not remember the words said.

However, she remembered perfectly the child's cry. He cried without stopping, drilling her ears.

Everything was too confusing for her, there was too much fog in her mind in that moment, and so she could only figure out what happened next. She tried to remember with all his strength, but she could not.

She was still looking at the soap while remembering the facts, memories that she didn't really remember but that she had only deduced when the time passed.

After the fight she had had with her boyfriend, she had run out of the house, she knew that because she remembered the child's cry and also that she had returned for him. However, the next memory that she had, was to be driving. Evidently Paula had somehow gotten into the car with the baby. She was going full speed. Her face was wet and, for some reason, also her clothes. Then that blinding light appeared like a spectrum in a curve of the road. The accident...

The event vanished so often in her mind that she wondered after all if she had imagined some things. She barely remembered to be sitting in a chair while a man in uniform shouted at her. Where exactly? Paula didn't know, although she later deduced that it could probably be a police station. The subject was saying something to her, but she was absent... She was looking at his pink shirt stained with blood, or it was white? Then she had remembered her little boy and that same man who was shouting at her, told her that the baby had died.

That dreadful news devastated her and the veil in her mind spread for a long time.

Time after Paula knew that she had been admitted to that psychiatric hospital attended by good people and kind nuns. There she had begun to improve.

Paula sighed and removed from her mind the few memories that she had before arriving at that house. Then she was filled with optimism, certain that, as Dr. Rush said, she would soon recover, and from then she would heal the wounds of her soul. Her recovery would be absolute.

Life had given her a second chance and she was not going to waste it. Even thought that home was not the best for her, she was not going to let that discourage her.

The rest of that day was much better for her. Her aunt was in a better mood and together they talked and laughed all afternoon. When it got dark and Mr. Parker came home, Mrs. Parker returned to her distant attitude. It was as if her husband's presence nullified the cheerful character that identified her. She was transformed into a different person.

The man didn't utter more than a couple of sentences during dinner, but he kept looking at Paula from the corner of his eye.

"You have forgotten your pills," said Mr. Parker, talking to Paula for the first time.

Paula jumped. It was true! She had forgotten them and that was not right.

"Oh! Yes," it was her only answer, then she went up to her room and came back carrying the bottle of pills.

When she returned to the kitchen, her aunt was doing the dishes and her aunt seemed to be waiting for her because when she drank the pill, he went to bed. Mrs. Parker stayed a little longer and Paula helped her finish cleaning the dining table.

"Remember that you should not wander at night and neither lock the door," warned the woman.

"Don't worry, I won't," answer Paula trying to make her voice not sound angry. She remembered! She was no longer a girl!

Then Mrs. Parker did something unexpected: she took Paula by the shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. Then she smiled.

"Don't miss this second chance that God has given to you," she told her and then, as if she were her mother, she sent her to sleep.

The girl, although the issue of pills and her uncle's character, she was not discouraged. That gave her energy and helped her improve her mood. She felt loved, and love inadvertent her heart.

In her room, Paula lay on the bed, she was so tired: the terrible night before, the hard work and emotions of that day exhausted all her energies, so she soon fell asleep.

Around three o'clock in the morning, again some steps were heard in the corridor and the door of his room opened slowly... causing annoying noise. However, Paula never knew it because she was in the depths of her dreams.