Svetlana Mirrai "Eight mystical stories"

– Remember! You also wanted, just like them, to travel and see the future!

– I wanted to, but I didn’t know that the forest would turn out to be a time machine.

– And we’ve been looking for you so much! And your friends were all looking for you, too.

– They’re grown-up uncles now, and I’m a boy. I was going to the forest with them only yesterday, and today they are adults. And Mom… died…

Tears were pouring from the child’s eyes.

– Dad! I want to go home.

– Let’s go! We’ll go as soon as we get an extract, and we’ll go.

Igor Mikhailovich was called toВ the scientific laboratory today.

After all, this day was significant, Igor participated inВ aВ trial expedition, for aВ journey that he had been striving for for the last eight years.

Today he recalled the events ofВ that tragic day when he returned home from the forest, where they had already stopped waiting for him, where he had lost his mother forever, where everything had changed beyond recognition.

He remembered how he met with his classmates and friends who had grown up for twenty years inВ one day, about aВ school where his friend taught aВ physics lesson, and Lena was the class teacher, aВ classmate whom he always liked, and whom he often pulled byВ wavy red tails.

IВ remembered how after time travel IВ became aВ brilliant student with extraordinary abilities, how inВ three years IВ mastered the school

He entered the physics department at the university as an external student, and two years later defended his thesis on quantum physics.

Today he goes toВ meet his belovedВ mom.

He really wanted toВ see her again and tell her that he had found her while she was still alive. He had thought it all out inВ advance.

Galina Stepanovna was sitting byВ the window when he called her softly. She looked around and saw aВ translucent holographic image ofВ aВ young man who looked like her beloved son, but only grownВ up.

– Mommy! – Igor said softly with love in his voice.

Mom didn’t move. She was heartbroken over the loss of her beloved son, and thought she was having a vision now.

– Mom! Know that I am alive. I’ll be back. I love you very much.

Mom smiled back and at that moment the image disappeared.

The village that didn’t exist

ByВ nightfall, the temperature dropped, and Natasha shivered from the cold:

– We’re lost!

– Nothing like that, – her companion, a broad-shouldered and tall guy, shook his head negatively.

– Of course, you will never admit that I am right! She was a little offended.

Although if she is offended, it is at herself, because no one drove her on aВ trip with Pavel through abandoned villages, especially inВ autumn, when it gets dark early and the evenings are cold.

– Don’t get excited, we just probably missed the turn. It’s getting late, let’s turn into the village,» her companion suggested.

«What other village?» – Natasha was surprised, – are you kidding?

– No, – and Pavel pointed to the pointer.

AВ wooden arrow nailed toВ aВ tree pointed somewhere toВ the side. InВ the light ofВ the flashlight, the girlВ read

– «Vihreevo», I don’t remember any Vihreevo on the map.

– Well, probably an abandoned village, so they removed it from the map. Let’s go, it’s twenty kilometers to the village, and here for sure, we’ll spend the night in some house, and in the morning we’ll go.

Natasha followed Pavel. They were walking along an overgrown path, it looks like no one has been walking here for aВ long time. After about half aВ kilometer, silhouettes ofВ buildings appeared. Coming closer, they examined the village street inВ the light ofВ lanterns.

The village was probably really abandoned, it was dark inВ the windows ofВ the houses, you could not hear the barking ofВ dogs, the voices ofВ people.

It was very quiet, and it made them uneasy, although they had already seen more than one abandoned village.

The girl really wanted toВ turn around and rush toВ run from here toВ the nearest village without looking back, she was so scared, but she understood that she was hardly able toВ overcome such aВ distance today.

Pavel dragged her byВ the hand toВ aВ small house at the end ofВ the street.

The flimsy wooden door was unlocked, and they entered the dark hall. Inside there were two rooms, one ofВ them, with aВ stove, apparently served the owners once as aВ kitchen, the second bedroom and living room.

The furniture was old, worn, but, oddly enough, there was no dust on it, and the house was cleaned. It feels like the owners have gone somewhere for aВ while.

For some reason it was very cold in the house, even the jacket did not save. It’s good that there was firewood near the stove, and Pavel flooded the stove.

– What if someone lives here, comes, and we are here? Natasha was worried. – He’ll report it to the police!

– Don’t be afraid, – Pavel put his backpack on the floor and searched for something in it, – No one will come. And what can we steal here? Some old things. Better click for the collection.

Natasha took aВ digital camera out ofВ her bag and photographed the interior ofВ the house.

They had dinner with canned food, which they took on the road, and went to bed. And if Pavel fell asleep quickly, then Natasha tossed and turned for a long time before falling asleep, but she didn’t have to sleep for a long time.

The girl was awakened by a sound. At first Natasha did not understand what it was, she listened – someone was walking outside the window.

Maybe she imagined it? But no, the sound ofВ footsteps was distinct. It was aВ full moon, and inВ the moonlight Natasha saw aВ shadow flicker outside the window, then there was some kind ofВ grinding, as if someone was driving something iron on the outer wall ofВ the house.

– Pavel, wake up! She jumped up and shook her companion by the shoulder.

– Why are you yelling? «What is it?» he asked sleepily.

– Someone is walking on the street!

– Do not invent, who can walk here? Maybe some animal ran in from the forest. Paul always considered mysticism to be nothing more than an invention.

– But I definitely heard someone walking.

She spent the rest ofВ the night without sleep, dozing off only inВ the morning. InВ the morning they hitched aВ ride at the intersection where they turned into the village. The driver turned out toВ be talkative.

– Where does the young people lead the way from? – He asked, turning on the radio in the car.

«We were in a whirlwind, – Natasha replied.

It was warm inВ the car, music was playing, and the night incident seemed like aВ dream.

– From where? – the driver looked at the girl in surprise, as if she had said something out of the ordinary.

– From Vikhreev, there is a village nearby, – Pavel intervened.

– Don’t you confuse anything, guys? – the driver was surprised. – Here to the nearest village about twenty kilometers, and there is nothing closer.

Then he paused, and said:

– Vihreevo, something familiar.

Then he slapped the steering wheel.

– I remember! Before the war, there was a village called Vikhreevo here. Here, during the war, the Germans killed almost the entire village, after the war they did not restore it, those who survived moved to other places. So you messed up, there’s nowhere to spend the night. Last year I was fishing there nearby, so I only saw piles of boards and bricks on the site of houses.

The driver dropped them off at the square inВ the nearest village.

– Maybe the uncle played a trick on us? Natasha suggested.

В«We can go back and check his words,В» Pavel said.

– No way, – said Natasha, – I’m not going there.

At home, the girl uploaded the photos toВ the computer and began toВ look at them.

InВ the photos taken inВ that village, there really were no houses. And instead ofВ them there were bricks and planks.

AВ terrible curse. One urban legend

Preface

The hatred ofВ aВ dying person will forever remain inВ the world ofВ the living. And sometimes it becomes aВ monstrous curse from which there is no escape. The curse is worse than death itself.

Every day we do something, both good andВ bad.

But do we think that our every action will come back toВ us like aВ boomerang?

For good, we get happiness, health, love, and for evil, troubles and sufferings fall uponВ us.

The reckoning can come both on the day ofВ the offense, and after many years.

And sometimes a terrible curse falls on a person who has committed a grave sin, which turns this person’s life into a horror as black as a moonless night.

When retribution is many times more terrible than evil deeds, and when death becomes mercy. The heroes ofВ this story considered themselves gods inВ life and never thought about the consequences ofВ their actions.

Murder

1996.

The gloomy, gray sky hung low over the ground, and it seemed that it was about toВ crush the landings and smear passing cars on the asphalt. AВ fine, nasty rain was falling, and despite the fact that it was the height ofВ summer, the northwest wind was blowing, always bringing bad weather and dampness. The weather that day was cool and chilly, like late autumn.

AВ Zhiguli В«SixВ» appeared on the federal highway, driving at aВ fairly high speed, the car turned off the landing and then drove along aВ dirt road, threatening toВ get stuck inВ the mud at any second.

After driving away from the busy highway, the car stopped, and three shaven-headed, hefty lads got out ofВ it.

Shivering from the coolness and wrapping themselves inВ their leather jackets, the guys walked around the car and approached the trunk.

– Well, come on, Koshchey, unlock it, – said one of the guys.

The one who was called Koshchei opened the trunk.

The guys saw aВ beaten and bloody homeless man lying inВ the bowels ofВ the trunk.

One ofВ the bandits, with obvious disgust on his face, pulled this man ofВ indeterminate age into the light ofВ day and with aВ sharp push sent him toВ the nearest puddle toВ swim.

– For what? What have I done to you? What? The tramp looked hunted at his tormentors.

– Shut up, you bastard! The bandit replied. «Just because you’re a rotten, smelly, always drunk brute, just for that you should be sent to eternal rest.

The guys considered themselves cool, gods and thought they had the right toВ decide the fate ofВ people.

Killing homeless people was their favorite pastime: no one would look for them, no one would miss them.