5 October 2024
The monitor pinged at 02:17. Motion in Mila’s room.
It’s been oversensitive since the last update and sometimes picks up the curtain, so I nearly ignored it.
She was sitting upright in bed when I checked the monitor. Not crying. Just looking towards the corner by the wardrobe.
When I went in she was already half out of bed, pointing.
She asked why I had “turned him off.”
I said I hadn’t turned anything off.
She said he’d been standing there and now he’d gone paper.
I asked who.
She frowned at me like I should know.
“The tall one,” she said. “He was there.”
I told her she’d been dreaming.
She shook her head. “No. He was humming.”
Her voice had that wobbly edge it gets when she’s overtired.
I stayed in there longer than I meant to.
This morning I watched the clip properly. She sits up, turns her head to the corner, and says something. The last word might be “down.” The audio catches.
There’s nothing in the corner. No shadow. No change in the light.
I moved the wardrobe round this afternoon. It needed dusting behind it anyway.
She says it’s better like that.
We’ve left the hall light on tonight.