Robert Hayes stood on the doorstep of the dilapidated house, holding seven-year-old Lily’s hand. The girl coughed quietly — almost imperceptibly — but her father heard every sigh. In that cough was their entire story of the last two years — endless hospitals, expensive medications they had to buy by borrowing money. And his wife’s gaze, gradually turning from sympathetic to irritated — then disappearing altogether along with her.
«Dad, is this going to be our home???» Lily asked, looking around the yard overgrown with weeds and the leaning fence. Her voice was weak, but it held that childish hope that kept Robert from giving up completely!
«Yes, sunshine! This will be our home,» he replied, squeezing her small palm. In the pocket of his jeans lay the last money from selling their city apartment. Almost all of it had gone toward this half-ruined little house in a godforsaken small town in rural Kansas — but here there was clean air, silence, and no one to look at them with pity or judgment!
The house looked depressing. The paint had peeled off and hung in shreds like old skin. The roof had caved in places, and the windows were boarded up with planks. But Robert saw not only that! He saw a place where Lily could recover — where they could start over, far from hospital corridors and the compassionate stares of neighbors.
Old lady Harriet, who sold them the house, had warned that the place was restless — but Robert dismissed it as small-town superstitions. He had no choice; this was the only property he could afford! Besides, what problems could be worse than those they had already endured???
When they went inside, Lily immediately ran to explore the rooms, and the house echoed with children’s laughter for the first time in many months! Robert felt something warm stir in his chest.
Maybe they would manage! Maybe here, among these old walls, his daughter would finally get better!!! The first weeks passed in endless work. Robert patched the roof from morning till night — replaced rotten boards — fixed the stove. His hands were covered in calluses, his back ached, but the work helped him not think about how little money was left — and what would happen when it ran out.
Lily helped as she could, handing tools, sweeping trash, and her cough gradually became less frequent! The neighbors were few and taciturn. Occasionally, Aunt Mabel from the next house came by — a skinny old woman with sharp eyes — who brought milk and vegetables. But she looked at them warily, as if expecting something bad!
«The house has been empty for a long time,» she said once, watching Robert paint the window frames. The previous owners left at night without saying anything! And before them, others lived there only briefly.
«Why did they leave???» Robert asked, not looking up from his work. Aunt Mabel shrugged — who knows? People said different things. But the place is restless, that’s for sure!!!
Robert didn’t ask further. He had enough of his own problems to worry about small-town gossip! The main thing was that Lily felt better! Her cheeks turned pink, the cough almost disappeared, and she started running around the yard again like a healthy child!
But then the sounds began. At first, Robert thought it was the wind in the chimney — or the creak of old boards. At night, the house made many sounds — creaking, crackling, sighing like a living thing. But these sounds were different! They came not from the house, but from somewhere deep in the yard, and they sounded like… crying. Quiet, drawn-out crying that started deep in the ground and rose up, becoming clearer! Robert listened, lying in bed, feeling chills run down his spine!!!
The sound was too human to be the wind — but too strange to be real crying! «Dad, do you hear it???» Lily whispered one night, crawling under his blanket. «What, sunshine?» Robert hugged his daughter, feeling her little heart pounding!
«Someone’s crying — in the yard!» Robert listened to the night silence.