On the way home

 That was about seven years ago. We came to the village for the May holidays — my husband and I were invited by our friends to barbecue. We had a barbecue on the riverbank, and, of course, we had a few drinks. To clarify, the river flows along the village. We rested on the shore behind the church. It was turned into a storage room in Soviet times, but now it has been partially restored, and it is already working.

When it started to get dark, no one wanted to leave, and we all went to a local club for a disco, which was located opposite the church. One couple in the club attracted my attention, there was a very tall girl and with her a gentleman who barely reached her shoulder height. By midnight, my husband and I went home, saying goodbye to everyone.

It takes about twenty minutes to walk from the church to our house. The road is wide, there is practically no lighting, but you can still distinguish it, since there are lampposts on the side of the road that illuminate the way through three or four idle lanterns. We walked in a cheerful mood. We were already well away from the club, and then we noticed someone trying to catch up with us - a quick click, as if from heels, was approaching us from behind. I wouldn't have noticed it myself—well, someone's in a hurry, what's it to me?.. But my husband doesn't like it when someone walks behind him, especially in the dark (probably, his long-term service in the internal organs affects). He suggested that they turn off the road to the side of the road and let the man who was catching up go ahead. We turned left — there was an abandoned house just across the street from us (there used to be a post office there). We were standing, waiting for the man to pass by, but what we saw amazed us. Something tall caught up with us, dragging its legs or something else (we couldn't see it in detail). It turned into that abandoned house. I tried to give a logical explanation for what had happened, saying that it was probably that girl from the club who dragged her boyfriend to an abandoned house to make love. Her husband nodded, "Probably. Okay, let's go home." But we both knew that we had seen something different, we were just afraid to admit it to ourselves. They walked on at a brisk pace and in silence. Then the same clatter came from behind us again, quickly catching up with us. There were only three buildings left to go to our house... I cannot describe the feeling of horror that I experienced when two adults and quite sane people flew into the light of a street lamp like frightened children. I stood behind my husband and snuggled up to him. Something was approaching along the road, but its outlines were blurry — or maybe this effect was due to the poor illumination of the lantern? My husband, who is always sane and rational, was confused then. He had a gold cross on a chain around his neck, he took it out, kissed it, and could only say, "Holy, holy, holy..." Before our eyes, this creature seemed to disappear into thin air, and it was gone. How we rushed home...

So we still don't know what we encountered that night in the village.