Carol sat on the windowsill, resting her forehead against the cool glass. The rain drummed against the roof and she stared at the vague outline of the old lime trees growing behind the house. Shadows danced lazily across the walls of her new room, which still smelled of raw wood and paint. She had recently moved into this villa, referred to by the neighbours as 'The House on the Crossing'. From a sixteen-year-old's perspective, this change seemed almost like an erasure of her previous life - a different school, new people, loneliness pulsing under her skin. Not even her parents, eternally busy with their own affairs, noticed how much she missed her old friends. It was the end of October. The evenings were getting longer and thicker with thoughts that Karolina couldn't speak out loud. That day, when she returned from school, she felt shattered, as if one unpleasant remark thrown in the school corridor could blow her into dust. She felt like disappearing under a blanket and waiting it all out; instead, she locked herself in her room and tried to ignore the world. Suddenly, out of the grey twilight of the loft, she heard a quiet sound. Something between a rustling and a sigh. She froze. The attic, which she had not yet dared to enter on her own, had always seemed peculiarly alive to her, even though her parents had said it was just an old building that made noises like any other. But this sound was different: non-accidental, even, repetitive. She felt shivers run down the back of her neck and her heart speed up, as if someone had squeezed it with their hand. For a moment she fought with herself: stay or check? She remembered her mother's warnings not to enter the attic in the evening. However, curiosity was stronger. She left the room, trying to breathe quietly. Her every step echoed through the empty house. She stopped at the door leading to the attic. With a trembling hand, she reached for the handle, pressed it slowly and swung the door open. The stairs creaked under her feet. With each step the sound seemed closer, as if something was calling her. Somewhere in her head she felt a growing anxiety, but also a strange excitement - the same excitement that always accompanied her when she was about to do something she feared. As she touched the last step with her foot, she heard a soft melody that she recognised as a beloved childhood lullaby. The melody came from the darkest corner of the attic, behind an old trunk where the light barely reached. Karolina hesitated only for a moment. She took a deep breath, felt her hands tremble, but her heart already knew - she had to find out what was hiding in the darkness. She moved towards the trunk, when suddenly....