I twisted and turned—I was hot, even though I was only wearing an undershirt. I turned my pillow over, turned the duvet over, lay on my tummy with one ear against the floral fabric, which smelled clean, and the other out toward the darkness. And then I heard something.

A faint, howling sound, something unfamiliar, an animal—was it an animal, someone outside, in the garden?

At first, I just lay there, listening to the sound with one ear. The other ear couldn’t hear a thing because it was pressed down against the soft fabric of the pillowcase. But the howling continued. I sat up and then I could hear the sound more clearly.

It was not coming from the garden, it came from the house. It was inside, in my house, a wild animal, a night creature, maybe injured—it howled like it was injured and nobody heard it except for me.

I got out of bed. My undershirt went down to my thighs and suddenly I was cold, I got goose bumps, and wanted to be with Mommy and Daddy, even though I had stopped sleeping with them.

I opened the door, and as I did so the howling grew louder. I walked out into the hallway, it was even louder there, it grew louder because I came closer, but also because the animal or the person making the sound was howling louder and louder all the time.

I was afraid, but at the same time, I thought, Should I be careful? Should I bring something, a weapon, the fire shovel from my room, should I go get it? But I didn’t, because in one way or another I knew that I shouldn’t or needn’t be afraid, that the sound wasn’t dangerous, not in that way.

It was coming from Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom, I could hear it now—and it was not just the sound of one, but of several creatures, because a lower and deeper moaning had commenced, and it wasn’t an animal, it was a person, as if somebody was in a great deal of pain.

Don’t think, just look. I hurried toward the door, I wanted to see. Then I put my hand on the handle and pushed it down without making a sound.

They didn’t notice me, didn’t see that the door had opened a crack, didn’t notice that I was standing there, in just my undershirt and underpants, that I was watching everything.

It filled the whole bed, the whole room.