On the fifth day, when Anna once again slipped out of the house right after dinner, Tom quickly entered her room, this time determined to uncover the whole truth. The father hurried upstairs and again did not find his daughter. He began searching through every closet. Clothes were scattered on the floor, toys were lying everywhere. He searched and searched, but everything seemed futile until he noticed a piece of paper.
What could this strange note mean? Tom lifted the pillow, took the note, and began to read. “Come to the house behind your garden at exactly 7:30 PM. Just make sure no one is following you.”
The man began to worry seriously. If he had previously thought that his daughter was sneaking out to play somewhere in the garden, now a shiver ran down his spine. What was happening? Why had his daughter been going to that house all these days? And who was the mysterious sender of the note?
When the man went downstairs, Anna was already home. He realized that trying to get the truth from her was pointless, and so he had only one option left: to follow her. On the sixth day, Tom was ready.
Impatiently, he waited in his room, slightly opening the door to keep an eye on little Anna. The clock struck 7:00 PM, snapping Tom out of his thoughts. His daughter was already gone; she was no longer in the house.
Tom ran to the back door and managed to see the girl disappearing among the trees behind his house. When Tom reached the end of the bushes, he lost sight of Anna, but he already knew which house he needed—it had been marked in the note. So, finding his daughter wasn’t too difficult. “What is she doing there?” the worried father wondered.
Tom held his breath and cautiously approached the house where his daughter had been mysteriously disappearing. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his palms were sweating from the tension. The house looked abandoned: peeling paint on the walls, a yard overgrown with bushes, dirty windows through which barely any light passed. However, one window on the second floor flickered with the faint glow of a candle.
The man approached the side wall of the house and, peeking inside through a crack in the wooden shutters, saw an astonishing sight. In a small but cozy room, Anna was sitting. Next to her, in a rocking chair, sat an elderly woman. She held the girl’s hand and was quietly telling her something, occasionally stroking her hair. Anna’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, and her smile radiated warmth.
Tom held his breath. Who was this woman? Why had his daughter been coming here? He decided not to interfere and waited a little longer. He saw the old woman take something shiny out of a box—it was a locket. Anna took it with delight and hugged it to her chest.
“You should keep this, dear,” said the old woman, her voice soft and kind. “This locket belonged to your mother when she was as little as you.”
Tom felt tears welling up in his eyes. He remembered his wife, who had passed away a few years ago, leaving him with little Anna. He had never heard that his wife had any relatives, let alone such a relic.
He realized that the woman sitting before him was his wife’s long-lost grandmother, whom his wife had never spoken about. Apparently, Anna had somehow found her and had been coming here to learn more about her mother.
Tom decided not to disturb this touching moment. He stepped away from the window and quietly headed back home, feeling a strange sense of relief. The next day, during dinner, he gently asked his daughter:
“Anna, wouldn’t you like to introduce me to your new friend?”
The girl’s eyes filled with fear and surprise, but after a moment, she nodded and said:
“Yes, Dad. Just… promise you won’t get mad.”
“I promise,” he smiled.
The next evening, they went together to the house behind the garden, and Tom finally met the woman who had so carefully preserved the memory of his wife. That night, one more person dear to their hearts joined their home.
