Paula was terrified, fear had paralyzed her senses, and she could almost hear the sound of her own heartbeat. She had her eyes on the door of the room, but could hardly see anything due to the darkness, and then she reacted due to panic: with a trembling hand she turned on the light that blinked before turning on. The faint light invaded the room and Paula blinked until her eyes got used to the clarity. In that room there was no one with her, but the door was still ajar.

She concentrated on listening. The crying had been very clear a few seconds ago. Anyway her attempts were in vain because she didn't hear anything. Then, her mind started working to give a reasonable explanation to what was happening. Driven by terror, she refused to accept reality. Soon some saving ideas came to her mind that filled her soul with tranquility... Surely it was the sound of the wind, or maybe she had dreamed of that cry. After all, she had been thinking about her child before falling asleep. Yes, the crying had been alone in her mind.

The girl sighed in relief and put a hand to her forehead full of sweat to take off the hair that was stuck in her face, but Paula shuddered as she remembered the half-open door, then she got up and walked to the door.

She took the latch and was about to close the door when she took courage who knows where and ran forward. There, there was no one in the hall.

Paula was about to return to bed when she sensed a dim light through the stairwell. Then she heard him again... A child was crying in the distance. Paula jumped in fright.

Without thinking too much, she advanced down the corridor, leaning down the railing of the stairs. The light seemed to come from the flank, but Paula could not specify where. Then she looked at Mr. and Mrs.

Parker's room ... The door was locked and she could even perceive her aunt's snoring. Everything seemed fine, so where was that light and that strange cry?

Paula was terrified of what she could find on the lower floor, but she still decided to go down. When she stepped on the second step, it creaked, then she got scared, then she looked up to see if her uncle and aunt had heard the noise but everything was in calm. Paula didn't want to be found lurking at night, because her aunt had warned her about it and besides, she didn't want to think about what would happen if Mr. Parker found her out of bed at that time. Then she kept going down.

When Paula reached the lobby, she noticed that the light was coming from under the stairs, and then she walked slowly, almost without making noise while the wind danced outside the house in the middle of the night.

As she got closer, she could tell exactly where the light came from. The basement door half-open. Paula thought that was strange because her uncle always locked that door. She didn't know why, but she had never cared before.

The strange crying was heard again and Paula jumped scared. What was that? She thought even angry ... It seemed to come from below...

Something Mr. and Mrs. Parker were hiding from her.

Then she didn't know why or how she did it, but even shaking, she opened the door and stood in front of the stairs hat descended in the dark to a dirty floor, illuminated only by the light that seemed to come from a candle.

Paula had to find out who was crying. It was a cry of sorrow, she knew it. And what if the boy of the rumors had not died... What if uncle and aunt Parker kept him hidden down there?

"What are you doing standing there?" asked a low voice behind her.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Paula shouted scared.

The girl turned so fast that she lost her balance and fell down the stairs at least four steps until she could hold with the hands of the walls.

Mr. Parker continued to look at her from the top of the stairs. His face was upset by anger.

"You shouldn't be here!" he said furiously.

He went down the steps, took the girl by the arms and helped her up. Uncle Parker almost dragged her up the stairs and when they had reached the door, he locked it.

"I'm sorry!" the girl stammered in terror but could not think of what to say.

"Laura! Laura!" he began to call his wife shouting while taking his niece to the lobby.

Paula wanted to break free but her uncle held her tightly. On the upper floor a light turned on and soon after her aunt came down. She wore a nightgown and her hair was messy.

"What happened?" she asked upon reaching the lobby.

"I found her wandering around the house," the man shouted as he released the girl.

Aunt Parker looked at her with a terrified expression.

"You must not wander at night," she said in a high, improper voice of her.

"I'm sorry! I heard noises and saw lights. I thought someone had come to steal," Paula lied desperately.

It seemed as if her uncle wanted to slap her.

"There is always noise! There is a damn gale outside!"

"Maybe you should go check around, dear?"

"I secure all the doors myself, Laura! There is nobody here!" the man looked at his niece as if she suspected she was hiding something.

Paula, who did not suspect where such anger was coming from, thought that her uncle's reaction was exaggerated. His wife tried to calm him.

"Keep calm Please!" she told to her husband, and then looked at Paula. "You should have let us know, Paula."

"I'm sorry! I didn't think about that."

Mr. Parker said nothing, just left the candle on a ledge on the wall and left. Aunt Parker gently took Paula's shoulder and led her to the upper floor.

When they both entered Paula's room, Aunt Parker finally spoke.

"I think I've been clear with you before. I've warned to you hundreds of times about not to wander at night. Something bad could happen to you."

"I'm really sorry, but... but I heard noises and I thought..."

"This house is old and the wind gets through the holes in the windows and the loose boards. There are always noises," the woman interrupted.

"I know, but it was strange. I think... I think I heard the cry of a child," Paula confessed.

Aunt Parker's face remained impassive.

"Of a child? Clearly it was the wind that caused the noise."

But Paula noticed a strange glow in her eyes and muttered.

"I don't know."

"Or maybe you were dreaming," Mrs. Parker reasoned. "Sometimes darkness and fear play tricks on us. We hear things that don't exist... or we think we hear them. Do you understand? Now go back to bed and don't come out again, please. My husband is very angry tonight. I will go down to see him."

Mrs. Parker left the room, leaving her niece worried. Paula was almost certain that she and her husband were hiding something. Why had Mr. Parker become so angry when he saw her out of the bed? Paula then walked to her bed and sat on it.

A short time later Paula heard the Parkers climb the stairs and then, one of them closed the door of the room tightly. Apparently they had started fighting. Suddenly she heard noise, as if something had fallen to the floor. Paula was scared to think that suddenly her uncle might be beating her wife, so she got up again and opened the door, ready to intervene if the situation got out of control. The voices of Mr. and Mrs. Parker reached the corridor.

"Look what you did! That belonged to my mother!" said Mrs. Parker. Apparently something was broken.

"I don't care, just like your stupid niece!" the man shouted.

"Don't say that!"

"Don't tell me what to say! I'm fed up!"

There was a brief silence in which only the noise caused by broken glass was heard.

"Honey, she's scared because she heard noises. I asked her. Mrs. Parker broke the silence with the obvious intention of calming him. Nothing bad has happened."

"Anything could have happened considering her background!" the man shouted.

"I don't think so. Don't talk like that!"

"She is crazy! Crazy!"

"She is a good person," she defended her niece with determination.

"I don't want her in my house! They don't even pay me for her support!"

"We don't have money! And that doctor... He hasn't even come. We can't take care of a crazy woman."

"Sh! She could hear you. Don't say that!" his embarrassed wife rebuked him.

Paula, who was listening to everything, frowned. Her uncle didn't want her there because he thought she was crazy... only God knows what else he thought about her. For that reason Paula was afraid to talk to people. Would everyone think the same as Mr. Parker? Would she have to spend her life fighting against the prejudice of others? And to top it all the money was not left in that house. She knew it.

Paula then felt like a burden for her uncle and aunt. Tears began to flood her eyes. Feeling sad she closed the door of her room and returned to bed and she lay down trying to remove all the worries that invaded her.

The noise of the Parker's fight extended until later that night and when the house was finally silent, Paula's fears did not disappear. She couldn't think about everything that had happened... She was sure there was something in that house.