The story
The afternoon dust kicked up with every dry click of the marbles hitting the parched earth. Esteban, a boy with agile limbs and a sharp gaze, was playing the final match by the old mill in the rural district while the sun began to dye the sky a heavy, copper tone. The air smelled of dampness, dried grass, and the distant whistle of the wind coming down from the hills. Suddenly, a shout cut through the stillness of the evening: it was his mother, who from the doorway of the finca, a small country farm, ordered all the boys to return immediately.
Esteban's companions obeyed without a peep, running toward the safety of home with muffled laughs. However, Esteban lagged behind for a few seconds, crouching among the bushes to rescue the last glass marbles that had been scattered near the irrigation ditch. It was in that moment of silence when the light seemed to shrink.
When he looked up, a female silhouette blocked his path. She was dressed in dark clothes, and her presence radiated a strange stillness. But before the boy could utter a single word, the figure underwent a grotesque and unnatural metamorphosis. Her features stretched with a dry crack; her limbs lengthened impossibly, transforming her into a starved, disproportionate creature topped by a wide-brimmed hat that hid the depth of her eye sockets. With a feline and threatening movement, that abomination planted itself right at the foot of the threshold, completely blocking his only escape route toward the house.
Esteban's heart hammered wildly against his ribs, a freezing terror paralyzing his throat. With a superhuman effort, gathering the last breath he had left, he lunged into the darkness and managed to bypass the entity, slamming the door shut behind him while letting out desperate screams that tore through the tranquility of the home.
He fell to the floor, his face pale and on the verge of fainting, unable to string together a coherent sentence. Trembling from head to toe, he could only beg his family members to kneel and start praying, while outside, in the gloom of the mill, the echo of strange footsteps kept prowling around the entrance.
