But it got worse every day. He would wake up screaming in the middle of the night, run into our bedroom crying, and kept repeating the same thing:

 

hear them… They’re whispering… There’s someone there…

My husband and I first joked about it. Then we just tried to calm him down. I hugged him, stroked his head, and said:

— It’s just a dream, sweetie. There’s no one there. We checked.

Several times for his peace of mind, we thoroughly searched the entire room: under the bed, in the closet, behind the curtains — and of course, behind that big mirror hanging on the wall. Nothing.

But yesterday everything changed.

My husband and I were sitting in the living room watching a movie. It was quiet and calm. Suddenly, our son ran in, tears streaming down his face, his expression twisted with fear, lips trembling, shouting:

— He’s back! He’s there, behind the mirror! The monster! I hear him!

— Son, — my husband started, — we’ve talked about this…

— Please, get him away! He’s there! I hear him hissing!

 

My husband sighed deeply and stood up. I followed him. The son’s room was quiet. Too quiet. Only a slight tension hung in the air.

— There, — whispered our son, pointing at the mirror. — He’s there…

We approached. Looked. Silence. But at one point, it seemed to me as if… the mirror had slightly moved. Just a little, as if a faint breeze had passed by. My husband stepped forward sharply and ripped the mirror off the wall without warning.

Behind the mirror, in the gap between the wall and the drywall, slithered a huge black snake.

Its scales softly rustled against the concrete. That was the sound my son heard. He wasn’t making it up. He felt it.

 

We immediately called the rescuers. Specialists came, and only they managed to pull the reptile out of the wall. It turned out it had somehow crawled up from the basement and lived there, in the narrow space between the wall and the paneling — right where the mirror hung.

Now the mirror is removed. The wall is patched. And I, as a mother, drew an important conclusion:

I will always believe my son. Even if he talks about monsters. Sometimes children sense things that adults just don’t want to see.