The skull on the mattress

The skull on the mattress
The wind and the July rain hit the old house hard, almost as if they wanted to tear it down to finally reveal her dark secret. the walls creaked under the power of the curicó winter, those walls full of memories and memories of bygone times, where the house was full of life of its inhabitants, when the laughter of a child echoed through its corridors while his beloved grandmother cooked his favorite dishes.
She could still remember that boy's smile when he was presented with a plate of freshly made ripped panties, or the crying that arises when he fell off his bicycle, even the boredom when they watched the evening novels. her beloved grandson whom she had last seen in 2010, just after that terrible earthquake on February 27th. Everything was in decline when Antonia Herrera, the daughter of Mrs. Nora Fuentealba, took the little boy, Alonso to live in Santiago, her beloved grandson was gone, poor Nora was completely alone in that house with fragile walls.


It was a rainy Sunday, ideal to stay at watching movies, instead here was the second corporal from the curicó police station, Francisco Matamala, cursing his bad luck for being on duty on a day like that.
He got out of the truck slowly, almost as if he preferred to be anywhere other than that, which was true, since he did not like this type of case, an elderly woman was missing, last seen ago For almost 10 years, the corporal knew very well what the cause could be, all he could wish was that the smell of decay wasn't so bad.

With a tired sigh, he closed the door of the truck, and walked slowly towards the gate of the house, to meet him came the young Alonso, who was already 21 years old, “Are you sure your grandmother can be here? Can you repeat what your mother told you? " Alonso ran his hands through his pants, trying to wipe away the cold sweat that left his hands sticky, << this goat is nervous >> the corporal thought, after inhaling shakily, the university student nodded, “my mom and I were arguing about my nanny Nora, I wanted to come and live here, but she didn't want to tell me where she was, she said she was in a home in Santiago and that I couldn't go to see her, but when I asked her the name of the home He still didn't answer, saying he didn't remember and I don't know what else. after an hour or so, she told me "if I wanted to see her, go to her house" that scared me, that's why I went to the police." The corporal continued writing the last details in his notebook, "His grandmother had breast cancer, right?" When the boy nodded, he told his other two companions to get out of the truck, “Okay, this is what we are going to do, you are going to open the house for us to check if the lady is there, but I warn you, We don't know what we can find, so be prepared for all possible cases. "
With rapid breathing along trembling hands as a result of fear and nervousness, Alonso Herrera looked for the keys to the house in his pockets, which came to fall from his sweaty hands, the door of the fence already open, he rummaged for the bunch of keys to search the one that would open the main door, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, when he turned towards the officer, pointed out the door of the house, which was barricaded with heavy iron, as well as the visible windows, “we will enter through the backyard." said the policeman, so he followed them to the back of the house, while wondering about the origin of that rotten smell that choked the air, << It must be the smell of the fair, they were always out here when it was boy >> already in the backyard, he observed the companions of Corporal Francisco knock down the door with some difficulty, but he did not give it much more importance when the same smell he felt before hit him with force, "what the hell?" said one of the men accompanying them, the corporal already knew very well what the smell could be attributed to, since he knew it by heart thanks to his line of work. He turned to the terrified young man and said in a low voice "Stay behind us and don't touch anything." The four men entered the house looking for some signs in the rooms that would tell them about the fate of Mrs. Nora. they met in the corridor to check the back room together, where the smell was more intense, when they opened the door they were stunned, observing on a mattress, a blanket that allowed to appreciate a human silhouette, but without a doubt what The most terrified them, it was to see the skull that was staring at them, the empty sockets piercing those present, leaving them breathless and impregnating an indelible mark on their minds. The terror was such that it caused one of the officers, but it was but a chilling scream that broke the piercing silence.
The sound produced by the cry of terror from Alonso was captured in the soul of Nora Fuentealba, whose soul still inhabited the house, when she realized that the truth of her disappearance was discovered, she remained calm, and let herself be carried away to the other side with ease, as he was finally able to see his beloved grandson for the last time.