In the darkness of the night

It was a cold autumn evening, when Adele´s parents were preparing to go out to a business dinner. Erika and Brian Brown awaited the arrival of Sophie, the girl who took care of Adele every time they had to leave home.
Erika put on her coat, while Mr. Brian looked impatiently at the clock, watching the dinner hour approaching. At that very moment, the telephone rings. It was   Sophie, warning that she could not go to Mr. and Mrs. Brown´s house, because she was sick.
Erika is worried and suggests his husband she would prefer to stay at home to take care of Adele. At that time, Adele, who came out of the shower, hears her mother saying that she would not go to the restaurant to have dinner.
Adele felt disappointed and sad because her mother wouldn´t go to the restaurant and she begged her mother to join her father to have dinner together, as she considered herself old enough to stay at home alone. She was only ten years old. Too young according to her mother, but Adele did´t think the same. Also, she would´t be alone, because she would have her little dog Valentine with her, a beautiful black French Bulldog.
Why should her mother stay at home?. No need for that.
Erika looked at her daughter surprisingly and she wondered wether to go or not to the restaurant.
Adele smiled and said: "Please, Mommy, go, go, go...".
Finally, Erika decides to go with her husband and she gives her little daughter the telephone number of the restaurant in case of emergency. But Adele is very stubborn, she doesn´t listen and she forgets where she wrote down the number phone. She is sure nothing is going to happen. But she is totally wrong!!!
Mr and Mrs Brown went to that important dinner, but they couldn´t stop thinking about their daughter, who had stayed alone at home.
The car was along the highway. The city lights reflected on the windows like shooting stars.
Erika though about her little daughter and she only hoped that the dinner finished soon. While, Adele had dinner quietly at home and Valentine jumped around her, waiting to be aware with a portion of that delicious pizza, but his owner only stared at TV.
In the distance, there were signs of storm that were very frequent at that time of the year.
A strong wind rose. Adele went to the windows to be sure they were properly closed. Outside, the streets seemed deserted, and the light of the rays illuminated the sky.
Adele picked up her blanket and she sheltered on the sofa with Valentine, but at that moment the light went out and both were in the gloom of the living room, lit only by the light that gave off those thunderous storm rays.
Adele felt afraid, and Valentine licked her hands trying to reassure her.
In the dark of the living room, and without other company than her dog Valentine, Adele began to lose the security that she had shown to her parents while she asked them to go to dinner.
A heavy rain hit the windows. Adele felt very afraid and she only prayed that the light would return soon. She looked at every corner of the house.
Outside, the trees moved like feathers, with the strong hurricane wing, which projected ghostly shadows into the room.
Panic began to overtake Adele. Ghosts with long arms moved around the room. Adele sweated, closed her eyes and hugged Valentine. She wanted that when she opened them everything would be over.
At the other end of town, his parents dined at the restaurant. Although it was raining there, that part of the city had not suffered a power outage, and the dinner went smoothly.
At home, Adele was still in the dark. There was a loud noise, and the girl screamed and ran to her room, while those ghosts with long arms and sharp teeth enveloped her. Adele ran, stumbled over furniture and doors, and Valentina followed her without really knowing what was going on.
She finally made it to her room, but she didn't recognize it. It was a dark room, full of shadows, of bright eyes that looked at her from every corner. Adele cried heartbrokenly looking for a flashlight, and after finding it in a drawer of her desk tried to light it. But God, it didn't light up!.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown were having dessert, chatting and laughing, it was a very pleasant dinner. Erika looked at her mobile phone and everything was fine, she had no message from her daughter and the waiter informed her that she had not called the restaurant either, so she was calm.
Adele quickly got into her bed and covered her head. She didn't know what to do, she was desperate. At that moment she remembered that her parents had left her the phone number of the restaurant, but it was on the living room table. She had to gather her strength and go down to it. Her heart seemed to be coming out of her chest. She began to sing the song that her mother used to sing to her when she was little so that she could relax. She sang loudly so as not to hear the thunder of the storm.
She kept on singing at full speed as she ran downstairs looking for the phone number to call her parents. She picked up the phone with tears in her eyes and dialed the number of the restaurant, but nothing, there was no signal.
Adele looked out the window. She looked to see if her parents came back, but no one came.
In the house across the street there was a very dim light, she opened the door to the entrance, the rain fell wetting her pajamas. The wind hit her and in a few seconds she was soaking wet.
She had to cross the street and ask for help, so she took air and mail into the light. Her dog followed her.
She knocked on the door with all her might, but no one answered. Adele turned around, she had to go back to her house, that house full of shadows and terror.
Suddenly, a "click" sounded behind her, someone opened the door and Adele turned around. She was an old woman with disheveled hair and white as snow. Her wrinkles furrowed her face, and her deep, wise eyes widened as she saw the little one.
The old woman was Ruz Selmon, a woman who at the age of ninety-one and after an intense life lived alone.
Ruz brought the little one in. The house was dark, illuminated only by candlelight.
-“It's a bad night to be out of the house," said Ruz. And the girl in a sea of tears told Ruz her story.
-“So you are Adele, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Brown," said the old woman, and the girl nodded.
-“Listen to me, little girl, you have to calm down. Your imagination has played a trick on you. Come, I'll give you a towel to dry a little and we'll make a cup of chocolate to talk more quietly," Ruz said.
As they walked to the kitchen, Adele noticed everything in the house. There were lots of objects, all kinds of pictures, postcards, figures of all kinds. There was not a single corner of the house that was empty.
As they drank the hot chocolate they talked more. Adele told her about her parents, about her nanny's illness, and how she had experienced a chilling night from the start of the storm to Ruz's house.
-“I’m sorry you went through all this, but I have to tell you that in this life not everything is what it seems. I'm telling you, at ninety-one I've lived a long time and I know what I'm talking about," smiled Ruz.
Ruz told the little girl that she had been an actress in her youth. Adele, when she heard this, she opened her eyes like plates. She could not believe this.
Ruz told her about her life, her travels around the world, all the places she had discovered and the important people she had met, such as great artists and even presidents of other countries and time, which Adele only knew from her school history books. To Adele this seemed so interesting that she had completely forgotten about the storm, and now she was not afraid.
Ruz also spoke to her about her profession, telling her that since she was very young she had struggled to fulfill her dream and how hard it had been for her to achieve it. She told her that the world of cinema is like imagination, many things can happen, but the truth is different, just like the ghosts and monsters the girl was talking about.
They went step by step talking about what she had seen in her house that night. They talked about ghosts with long arms and sharp teeth. To which Ruz said: - "Adele, have you not noticed that there are trees at the entrance of your house, their branches are your ghosts. "
-"And the bright eyes of my room?”, asked the girl.
-“You have dolls, don't you?”, said the old woman.
-“Yes.” Answered the thoughtful girl.
-“Well, there's your bright eyes.” Ruz said.
Then the little girl asked her about the loud noises, to which the old woman replied that she had also heard them and that they were probably the garbage bins carried by the wind.
-“Adele, tonight you made your own film, you saw what you wanted to see because of fear," the old woman explained to her.
At that moment the light came again, everything was fine. Through the kitchen window they saw the light of the headlights of Adel's parents' car.
-“I think your parents will worry if they don't find you at home. You'd better go.” Ruz said.
-“Thank you, thank you for everything," said the smiling girl. She tiptoed and kissed the old woman's cheek. Adele was captivated by the soft, thin skin and the smell of lavender.
Adele ran home and hugged her parents. She told them about what had happened, about the storm, the light of the ghosts and also about Ruz, that old woman who had been an actress and had gone around the world.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown were perplexed. They could not believe what they heard, not because of their daughter's history and fears, but because they had known Ruz, and I say they had known because Ruz had died several years before Adele was born.