Witch

 This story happened in February 2009. I have been studying singing canaries for five years now. In order for a bird to have a beautiful, choreographed song, it needs good "teachers" — canaries with a choreographed song, as well as forest birds, robins, buntings, nightingales and great Moscow tits. One frosty day in February, I went to the nearest small forest to catch chickadees. I only had to catch two birds. I took my faithful Labrador named Lord as a companion. The road to the forest passed through a small village.

I let the dog off the leash and walked down the main street. In the distance, I saw an old woman with a bucket at the pump. My dog suddenly growled and ran barking in her direction. How I regretted that I had made the mistake of letting her off the leash!.. The woman, frightened, screamed all over the street. I quickly ran over and grabbed the Labrador by the collar. I immediately tried to apologize, but the old woman, grinning unkindly, spat in my face, then grabbed the snow and threw it at us like a dog, saying something like that this was our last way. The lord whined loudly and backed away. After saying a few harsh words to her, I moved on, not giving the incident much importance. It was about 10 a.m. on the clock.

As soon as we entered the forest with the dog, a strong wind blew — it seemed to me that a real hurricane had begun. Broken branches flew from the trees to the ground, they scratched my face hard, and the dog howled loudly. Deciding not to push my luck (and even in this weather it's unlikely you'll catch a bird), I started to get out of the forest. There was no limit to my surprise when I realized that I was in a place unknown to me. I knew this forest like the back of my hand — you can go through it all in half an hour at most. But the area seemed completely unfamiliar to me. The dog, already with its tail between its legs, was whining softly.

The wind was rising, and it was snowing heavily. For some reason, I was seized with wild horror — it seemed to me that there was something terrible and huge behind my back, ready to kill me at any moment. I've never been particularly impressionable, but what was going on inside me at that moment defies description. I thought of that old woman at the well, and I was even more terrified. I started screaming like a madman, but no one responded to my screams. For some reason, it began to darken sharply, although the clock showed exactly noon. I had no strength left at all — it seemed that someone had pulled them out of me. It was obvious that the dog was also completely depressed.

I didn't even notice how we finally got out of the woods. The weather was calm, there was no wind, it wasn't snowing, but it was either late evening or night. The clock was still showing 12 o'clock.

I started walking with the dog towards the house. As soon as we approached the village, the Labrador started whining again. This continued until we passed the village, fortunately, without meeting anyone. The streets of the city were deserted. When I got to the night stand, I asked the saleswoman what time it was. She replied that it was one thirty in the morning. I broke out in a cold sweat when I found out that I had been in the forest for more than half a day. It seemed to me that no more than two hours had passed...

When I returned home, I calmed my worried wife and went to bed, deciding not to tell her the truth about the story that had happened to me.

After that incident, I don't go to that forest, and no matter what happens, I won't set foot in that village. For some reason, I'm sure that the culprit was that unfortunate old woman.