The Queen of Spades

 I'm almost sixteen, and I'm going to die soon, not from an incurable disease or a deadly virus, but because of my own stupidity, thanks to which my friends and I opened the door to the other world, releasing evil from there.

At my age, the word "death" is just a word you hear in movies or find in books, a kind of abstract concept. It never occurred to me to use it in relation to myself. I was always sure that if I died, it would be very, very soon, at a very old age. However, to be honest, I didn't really believe in my own old age, and even more so in death. At the dawn of life, no one thinks about its decline. I've never gone on a date with a guy, not even kissed yet.…

Tears stung my eyes.

Trying not to cry, I took a few shuddering breaths.

Daria was the culprit. She's the one who's crazy about black magic. Spells, love spells. Lesya and I only laughed at her at first, because her witchcraft was of little use. Take, for example, the fact that Sergei from 10 "B" never fell in love with me, despite all Darya's manipulations with his photo and the creepy entourage in the form of thirteen burning candles and thirteen dried roses. That's why, when our homegrown witch suddenly announced that she could use the dark forces to cancel the annual math test, we almost burst our bellies with laughter.

— What, your dark forces will dry the pasta in all the pens?  Lesya moaned through her laughter.

— Maybe our notebooks will self-ignite? — I put forward my version.

Twirling her finger at her temple in response to our jokes, Daria dryly said:

— You'll see!

That Saturday evening is etched into my memory in every detail.

Daria was at home alone, her parents had gone to the country for the whole weekend. Lesya and I came to her at the appointed hour with a box of cakes, which, alas, we were never destined to taste.

Daria opened the door and motioned for us to enter, then, without saying a word, led us through the dark hallway to her room. Slightly discouraged by the mystery of what was happening, Lesya and I were also silent. He made not only a frightening, but also a fascinating impression of Darya's unusual appearance. She was wearing a long black silk dress, black ballet flats on her feet, and a black nylon scarf tied with a tourniquet decorated her head. The makeup was also designed in the "vampire" style: lips in black lipstick, black nail polish, black eyeliner.

Everything in the room was ready for the upcoming "sacrament": the windows were tightly curtained, candles were placed both around the perimeter and around the mirror placed on the carpet.

Daria nodded at the pillows. We obediently sat down on them, forming a kind of enclosed space between the three of us, the center of which was a mirror surrounded by burning candles.

— What kind of folk art is this?  Lesya couldn't resist asking.

A symbolic staircase was painted in black lipstick in a mirrored circle, ending at one end in a closed door.

"This?"  Daria smiled mysteriously. — A ritual image to summon the Queen of Spades!

"The Queen of Spades?" But Herman's not here!  Lesya made a mocking face and, becoming serious, added:

— We're doing stupid things!.. How can you believe in all this nonsense?..

— Wait, you'll believe it yourself soon!  Daria smiled promisingly.

Admittedly, I myself have always been skeptical about girls' stories about the spirits of the Queen of Spades or Bloody Mary, supposedly fulfilling any desires of those who cause them. But it was a pity to upset Daria, the poor thing wanted to surprise us with her ability to do black magic. I supported her.:

— Let's get started! "The devil pulled my tongue!"

Daria held out her hands to us, and the three of us completed the ritual circle, after which we bent over the mirror so low that our heads touched, and repeated the necessary incantation three times: "Spirit of the Queen of Spades, come!"

The main wish was voiced, of course, by Daria:

— Help us, please make sure that we don't write the annual math test!

There was silence for a moment, but the next thing Lesya giggled nervously.:

— It's a madhouse!

—Shh...— Daria stopped her, putting her finger to her lips.

An unexpected sound, like the creaking of rusty door hinges, startled us all. I noticed Lesya tensing up in alarm. Daria's pale face, wreathed in a kind of triumphant smile, looked like a grotesque mask of Death in the darkness. It was cold, as if someone had entered the warmth from the cold, without immediately closing the door. I shivered instinctively. And suddenly there were footsteps, light, swift, like a gust of wind that immediately extinguished all the candles. Lesya screamed in fright. We squeezed each other's hands with all our might. I can't tell you how scary it was! I was afraid to move and almost fainted when a woman's crazy laughter sounded in the pitch darkness. The footsteps were getting closer. It felt as if someone invisible had descended an invisible staircase and passed by us. The door of Darya's room suddenly opened and slammed shut. Everything went quiet. There was no sound, no movement, not even the cold. The chandelier flared up on its own. I don't know how much time passed while we were in prostration. Maybe a few seconds, or maybe even half an hour, as Lesya claimed the next day. By the way, she was the first to come to her senses, and her angry scream still rings in my ears.:

—It's a nightmare! Daria, I'll never forgive you! What was that?!

— The Spirit of the Queen of Spades, which you didn't believe in! — came the victorious reply.

"Stop messing with my head! It's clear that you've played a prank on us!  Tossing aside the pillow she was sitting on, Lesya ran around the room. — Come on, tell me, where did you hide it?..

"Who did I hide?"  Daria screamed, offended by the incredulity. "What are you doing?" Stop going through my stuff!

— Not who, but what!.. Phone, tape recorder, laptop!.. Where was the sound coming from?.. You wrote down all these steps and creaks in advance to scare us, and we idiots fell for it!..

— I didn't write anything down!

— Yeah, tell the donkey, his ears are more authentic!

I stopped the argument by pointing with a trembling hand at the cracked mirror.:

— Girls, look! — The rays diverged at an angle from the painted door, crossing the schematically depicted staircase, in the direction of the exit from the room...

On Monday, in math class, we were informed that the final test in the tenth grades had been postponed to Thursday.

— Okay, at least Darya's witchcraft partially worked!  Lesya laughed.

It was funny to me then, too, but now I realize that witchcraft worked one hundred percent. The Queen of Spades fulfilled Darya's request exactly: none of the three of us are destined to write an annual test... ever!..

Daria didn't show up at school that day. At the last break, we called her, and when we found out that she was in the hospital, we rushed there, but we were too late. The disease developed so rapidly that the doctors did not even have time to make a diagnosis. "It's all blackened, like it's charred!" was all the nurse on duty in the intensive care unit could tell us.

It's Tuesday night.

Lesya died this morning.

I can hear my mom sobbing into the phone, listing my symptoms to the ambulance dispatcher. My fingers and toes became numb, lost their sensitivity, and began to turn black. The blackness is rising higher and higher by the minute.…

And I'm not even sixteen yet!..