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After living in Monroe for four years, there was a night Elena couldn’t sleep. Elena got up, stopped, looked towards the bed to see if she had awakened her daughters. But not even the noise made by the mattress and the old bed frame were enough to wake them up. Maggie and Amanda slept safe and sound. Elena left the room slowly, tiptoeing so she wouldn’t make any more noise.
It was so hot during that night that Elena opened the door and left home. A wind was blowing by and it dried the sweat that ran down her forehead.
At night it was very hot, and Elena didn’t have a ventilator to soften the heat. Besides the heat, it was impossible to bear the mosquitoes that stinged, leaving several red spots through her body and emitted an insufferable and abominable buzz.
Not able to sleep, Elena grabbed a chair and put it next to the window to sit. Even as the hours went by, she wasn’t afraid to be alone in the dark silence of the night. Elena liked to stargaze and feel the dew freshness of the night. Approximatedely fourty minutes later, Elena saw something extraordinary that looked like it was a woman in a long white dress, and black long hairs. Standing a few meters away from where she was. She considered having hallucinated or stunned by the darkness – the moon only shone a dim light on the dark of the night. Elena rubbed her eyes and looked again, however the woman was still there standing at the same spot. The chilling scene made Elena panic, terrified. Elena suddenly closed her eyes expecting that when she opened them again, she couldn’t see that woman anymore. When she opens her eyes, Elena looks at the same spot where the woman was and curiously she had vanished. A turmoil of thoughts went through Elena’s mind, but she was happy that the woman had disappeared. The fatique and weakness took over her body. Elena decided to go back home. When she got up and was about to hoist the chair she slightly turned her face and suddenly saw the image of the woman, but this time she was lied down, apparently floating over an also white sheet. Upon seeing that dark and haunting figure, Elena was so scared that she dropped the chair right away, letting it fall on the floor. And rushed back into the house shutting the door and locking it with the key. She remained leaned on the door not understanding what had happened and what that vision might mean. A few seconds later a heavy sound made the door squeeze. A feeling of dread, followed by a certain fear invaded the soul of Elena who fell in a rave. A few instants later the sound stopped. Elena got up and prepared some chamomile tea. Her hands were still shaking, and after drinking the tea she would try to get some sleep. Elena finished drinking the tea and went to bed hoping to forget all of that.
Two weeks later Maggie wakes up in the middle of the night with a loud noise coming from the kitchen. Maggie gets up, it was dark in her room and therefore she couldn’t find her sandals to slip into. And bare footed, Maggie arrives at the kitchen door and sees her sister crying on the couch hugging her doll. Two strangers were in the house. One of the men had medium height, black skin and dark hairs. He was holding a silver object that looked like a gun. The other guy a little taller was wearing a dark cap and looked very nervous. He kept walking from one side to the other, speaking and gesticulating with his hands. And looked outside the house constantly. Her mother was next to her sister, patting her head trying to calm her down. Maggie couldn’t identify who those men where, but they seemed bad. She didn’t say a single word, and spent a few seconds observing those strange men moving around in her house. Upon seeing Maggie standing by the door, Elena pulled her close.
_ Mommy what’s going on?
_ Who are these men? Maggie asks her mother.
_ I think it’s better, that you make your daughter shut up or I’ll take care of it myself.
_ And make the other daughter stop crying this crying is annoying me.
_ The message’s been given. Says the taller guy bracing his hands.
Every minute that went by the situation got even more out of control. One of the crooks displayed to be even more irritated, while the other guy only held the gun down apparently calm.
Elena was desperate, however she kept the balance in showing fear.
_ Be quiet daughter don’t say a word, everything will be over soon. In silence Elena asked for God to protect them. The badguys searched the house trying to find some money and valuable items.
But Elena’s house had nearly nothing, so what could they take? As they didn’t find anything of value they started to throw death threats at Elena and her daughters. That crook was possessed by rage, if he didn’t manage to take anything valuable he could become violent. On that instant, Elena remembered the watch of pure gold that she had received from John together with a watch she had bought him. It was brand new inside the box, it should be worth some good money. Elena removed the watch from the case and gave it to the robber, _ she hadn’t even had the opportunity to wear it. John’s watch Elena was able to save. The robbers decided to leaving a few domestic items, upon seeing that there was really nothing else for them to steal in Elena’s house.
_ No need to be afraid you and your daughters will be okay. Said the shorter guy with an ironic smile and then he left. Elena quickly locked the fragile door that didn’t represent any security at all, suddenly started crying uncontrollably and hugged her daughters strongly to her chest.
She never had considered that she would ever go through such a situation, maybe for being too innocent and never having seen the true meaning of the word bad.
Upon seeing her mother crying Maggie said:
_ Mommy don’t be sad and don’t worry, everything’s gonna be alright.
_ They left, we’re okay now. Elena thanked God for those wrongdoers not having done any harm to her and her daughters.
The next morning when John arrived home and saw everything trashed. Maggie and Amanda were still asleep in their room and Elena was sitting on the bed. John asked what happened, Elena told him everything. John said that he never should’ve gotten rid o Marly – their dog, she would’ve kept the men from breaking into the house. John was furious with what happened, a feeling of revolt followed by powerlessness comes down on his very being.
Elena was upset with everything that she lived on that night and needed to leave there as soon as possible. She told John she’d go back to her mother’s home. John stayed silent, he didn’t know what to say. But he knew that his family couldn’t continue to live there; the crooks could come back, and after knowing they stayed alone in the house, it’d be too easy “they were like sitting ducks”. John meditated for a few instants and decided to talk, he said that yes obviously that was the right thing to do. She should write their parents a letter informing that she was coming to stay with them for some time, but asked that Elena wouldn’t tell them what happened for now.
Elena took out a sheet from the notebook and started writing a letter to her parents informing them that she would stay in their house for a while. But she reserved herself not to tell what happened, so she wouldn’t make them worry.
John left and took the letter with him to put in the mail. And told Elena he’d buy some packs and a bag for the trip. By dusk, John passed by the town’s precint and pressed charges. The commissioner didn’t deem the case too relevant, just filed the complaint. He said that there had been several residents on that same area that registered robbery charges and always with similar reports, two black men that broke into properties in the middle of the night. The police had already conducted a thorough search on the region, however no suspect was found. The commissioner informed John, that upon learning any new information about the case he would be immediately informed. John knew that que commissioner would barely do anything to find the bandits and decided to buy a gun.
The morning after the robbery, Maggie woke up and didn’t seem to remember what had happened. She told her mother she thought she had a nightmare. In the dream there were two criminals who robbed her house. Elena thought best not to tell her that it was all real. Maggie was still too small to grasp the situation, and it could leave her traumatized.
While having lunch, Elena told her daughters they would go on a trip to their grandparents’ and were going to spend a long time in their house.
Maggie was very hungry, and went to the stove to catch some bread her father had brought when he arrived home at dawn. After eating the bread and drinking a glass of chocolate milk that Elena prepared for her, Maggie left to play with Amanda, who was planting a few plant seeds in a small garden that she cultivated right next to home. Maggie also wanted to plant something and asked Amanda for a rose seed. She consented and delivered a plant with the stalk full of dirt. Amanda helped her sister with the plant. A few minutes later Maggie got tired and bored. And since her hands were covered in dirt, she went towards a water spout on the corner and washed the dirt off her hands. Maggie dried her hands in her dress and left bouncing to play with her imaginary friend, while Amanda ran through parts of the yard searching for new flower seeds. Right next to the grove she finds under a beautiful oaktree a nest on the ground with three little eggs inside, Maggie took them home thinking that maybe she could save the cubs.
Maggie told Sarah she was going away to her grandparents’ house.
_If you leave here, we won’t ever see each other again.
_But why can’t you come with me? Asked Maggie gesticulating with her hands.
_ Because I’m not real. I exist only in your imagination, and cannot leave here. As soon as you leave I will cease to exist. Maggie thought that was very strange, and couldn’t digest everything she had just heard from Sarah. In a single gesture of affection she hugged Sarah saying that no matter what happened; they would never be apart. _ Not even Sarah knew, but she was the spirit of a child who had passed after getting pneumonia, a long time ago in Maggie’s very residence. In a certain way Maggie was the only one who could see her, for having high sensitivity. In sequence Maggie grabbed a stick and draw a line on the floor in the shape of large squares and picked up a rock to throw in between the squares. Maggie told Sarah that she would be the first to jump. She tossed the rock on the second square. Jumping on a single foot, she jumped to the first square and picked up the rock in front of her. And then continued on to the finish line. When it was Sarah’s turn to play, a man in a yellow shirt and a bag hanging on his shoulder approached. Maggie had never seen that man before. Upon getting closer, the man asked Maggie if her mother was home. She frowned and just moved her head pointing her finger towards the house.
_ She lives there? Maggie moved her head as a yes.
_ Thank you beautiful little girl. Said the man looking at the house, and proceeded towards the residence. Upon arriving at the front door he clapped and Elena soon came to answer it. _ it was the postman who was coming to bring her mother’s mail. During her time there, Elena had never gotten a letter from her family, and hadn’t heard from them ever since Maggie was one year old. Elena’s family had never came to visit not even a single time during the time she was away. When Elena got a letter from her father she rarely responded, for it was up to John to post the letter. _ She didn’t know it, but many times John opened the letter to read what Elena had written and when he didn’t like what he read he tore the letter. Maybe that was the reason behind Arthur’s estrangement. About the letters he got from the father-in-law, when John liked the content he kept them or else he simply burned them.