"So, do you also have nightmares?" Grace asked, staring at Mishka with big eyes.
"Yes, but it's the first time that I have one at the same time as you, I think?" Mishka responded as she walked to the table slowly.
"I'm gonna drink some warm milk and you?" she announced as she poured some milk into a glass.
No, thank you, but I'm gonna have some hot chocolate. I'll make it for myself quickly, don't worry," Grace responded.
"So, what was your nightmare about, unless you don't want to talk about it?" she asked as she walked over to a grocery cupboard.
"There was chanting in my nightmare as well, but no ghosts," Mishka responded as she heated her milk in the microwave oven.
"So, who was chanting?" Grace asked with an alarmed look in her big eyes as she mixed her hot chocolate ingredients.
"Women in my bedroom," Mishka responded with a frown.
"Oh, no! At least I saw something out in the hallway, but it wasn't real of course. I'm glad I didn't see anything in my bedroom," Grace remarked with a shudder of relief.
"In fact I saw two women and one of them was my grandma, would you believe it?" Mishka added as she walked to a chair near the table and sat down.
"Now that's strange. Why would you see your grandma chanting in your bedroom? And who was the other woman?" Grace asked with a shocked look on her face.
"I didn't see her clearly enough to recognize her. Anyway it was a bad dream due to me and Milla talking about a scary movie, just before bedtime," Mishka responded.
"Do you know what? If two people in a house have slightly similar dreams or nightmares on the same night it could be because the events have actually happened for real and we heard them during our sleep. Then of course, our minds take and twist them into bad dreams," Grace remarked, looking at Mishka steadily, without any doubt in her eyes.
"You mean the chanting could be real because we both heard it?" Mishka asked, her eyes growing large in alarm.
"I definitely think so. We were just sleeping more lightly than the others who didn't hear it," Grace replied.
"Then, who or what can it be?" Mishka asked, sitting at the edge of the chair at this point.
"I don't know, because who can possibly be chanting at such a late hour and where in the house are they doing it? All the young people are asleep, as far as I know," Grace responded as she narrowed her eyes in concentration.
"Why would you think it was young people?" Mishka asked with a curious frown.
"Which mature adult would want to do that? It's usually young people who play pranks or do such weird things," Grace responded as she resumed with warming up her own cup of milk to add to her chocolate mixture.
"My grandma has been watching those weird movies which do include chanting as well," Mishka remarked in a low tone of voice.
"Then, maybe someone was watching a repeat of that program on the TV," Grace remarked, slowly nodding her head in contemplation.
"Maybe Grandma herself?" Mishka wondered to herself.
"Yes, that sometimes happens. Someone watches something on TV while other people are asleep and then those sounds become part of their dreams," Grace continued, nodding her head with certainty now.
"That does sound like a reasonable explanation, yes," Mishka agreed in relief.
"Now you don't have to go and sleep in a guest bedroom out of fear of being in your own bedroom. There's nothing wrong in your bedroom," Grace remarked. She mixed her hot chocolate with a smile on her face.
"I would have left the bedside lamp on for a few nights until I wasn't afraid anymore. It takes long to fall asleep in a strange bedroom," Mishka remarked with a smile.
"You're right. Your bed is already warm anyway. Cold beds in the deep of night can only bring on another nightmare," Grace remarked with a serious look on her face.
"No, I'm not that prone to nightmares," Mishka responded with a giggle.
"Well, you're young, so I suppose a cold bed won't disturb you too much," Grace remarked, still with a sombre look in her eyes.
"Will you be able to sleep further now?" Mishka asked with a curious look at Grace's face.
"Oh, definitely. When I think about getting up early to prepare food I will fall asleep in an instant," Grace replied with a chuckle of her own.
"Okay then, luckily you're off next weekend," Mishka remarked in response.
Before Grace could respond, the two of them both heard a door close.
"Where's that coming from?" Mishka asked in surprise.
"Someone else is up and has just gone back to their room," Grace responded. "Maybe the one who's been watching TV?" she suggested.
"But I can swear that it didn't sound like a downstairs bedroom door closing. It sounded like upstairs," Mishka remarked with a frown.
"Are you sure?" Grace asked.
"Yes, it didn't sound like downstairs," Miska agreed with a frown. She quickly rose from her chair and walked towards the doorway.
"But there are no servants sleeping upstairs. Are you sure?" Grace asked again. She also rose from her chair and tiptoed until she was standing next to Mishka.
"I can almost certainly say that it was upstairs, but Dad went to bed long ago," Mishka responded.
"Well, the only other person upstairs would be your grandma," Grace responded with a confused frown between her eyebrows.
"Grandma doesn't sleep so early. So, could it be her who was watching TV so late?" Mishka asked.
"But why would she watch TV downstairs so late when she has one in her own bedroom?" Grace asked.
"So, she was downstairs, if that was her. Then, if she wasn't watching chanting on TV then where did the sound come from if you and I didn't dream it?" Mishka asked with a serious look in her eyes as she looked at Grace.
"Do you think that she was making those sounds herself?" Grace asked with her eyes growing big with alarm once again.