Not a dog

 One autumn evening, I was returning from my summer cottage to the city. My cottage is located about twenty kilometers from the city, so I had to drive a pretty decent distance. It was dark on the road, so I turned on the high beam. There were no cars on the road, so I accelerated. Maybe he was speeding a little...

When the pale dog jumped out right in front of the car, I didn't have time to slow down and hit it. I stopped the car on the road a little further. I couldn't move for a few seconds. I was shocked. For some reason, I was sure that it was a pet dog, and I would have to tell its owners, who were about to leave the forest surrounding the road, that I had hit their pet.

I got out of the car. There was a dent and scuff marks on the front passenger side. Although the dent was noticeable, I still expected the worst, hitting the dog at such a speed. Then I had a hope that things might not be so bad with the dog. I spotted her a little ahead on the road and headed towards her. The animal was twitching. The closer I got, the more it seemed to regain consciousness. At first, I assumed that it was trying to get up, but then I noticed that something was wrong. The creature's skin—now I saw that it wasn't a dog at all—was hairless, pale, almost gray, and translucent, tightly covering the bones. Besides, this creature was too big for a dog. I didn't see any blood. His limbs were disproportionate and very strange, resembling both canine and human — most of all, I remember the gnarled fingers with large distances between them. It stood up on its hind legs, in this position resembling not a dog, but a monkey as tall as me, and turned in my direction. When his big black eyes stared at me, I took a few hesitant steps back, then ran. Immediately, the creature rushed at me, and I'm sure that if I hadn't managed to escape from it, its jaws would have closed on my neck.

I had never run so fast before, but the creature was not far behind. Finally, I jumped into the car and slammed the door. Then the creature began to pace right in front of the car, at the very edge of the headlights. I started the car, and it violently rushed at the glass on the side. Thank God, the glass held up. I pushed the accelerator pedal to the floor and drove away, squeezing everything out of the car. Because of the darkness, I couldn't see if the creature was chasing me or had long since fallen behind, but I kept glancing nervously at the rearview mirror every minute until I reached the city.

Hands

 It all started with the fact that my light bulb burned out. As usual, I was working at night, staring at my computer monitor with reddened eyes and finishing my fourth cup of coffee, when the light bulb flashed on with a loud crack and went out. At the time, I didn't pay any attention to it, since there were five of them in the chandelier. One more, one less— it doesn't matter. At least that's what I thought at the time.

When the second one burned out about half an hour later, I was a little tense — I wouldn't want to be in total darkness. The fact is that I've had a phobia since childhood — I'm afraid of the dark. No, it's not even like that — she makes me panic, hysterical, in a state close to fainting. I do not know where it came from. For as long as I can remember, I've always had to sleep with a night light. That's why now I went to bed in the early morning, because work allowed.

The third light bulb didn't just burn out, it exploded, as if the mains voltage had jumped fifty volts. However, the computer was working as if nothing had happened. Cursing briefly but colorfully, I took a flashlight out of my desk drawer just in case and went to the kitchen for a broom to remove the shards that littered the floor of the only room in my apartment with a predatory carpet. Then I heard something strange.

The sound came from the front door. Light slaps. It was like someone was tapping the metal with his palm. Armed only with a flashlight and a broom, which I held in my hand like a sword, I followed the sound.

I flipped the light switch in the hallway as usual and peered through the peephole. No one. Only darkness. The very idea of opening the door, and even more so going out there into the pitch darkness of the night entrance, terrified me, so I thought, "Well, no, you won't!" Turned around and headed back when I heard another sound that made a trickle of cold sweat slide down my spine. The distinctive creak of the front door opening. Needless to say, a couple of seconds ago, when I looked through the peephole, it was securely locked with two locks?

The following events occurred almost simultaneously. I turned toward the slowly opening door, shining the flashlight beam through the crack, when the light bulb above my head flashed on and off. I was left in total darkness, which was painfully dispersed in half only by a narrow beam of a flashlight. There was a rustle from somewhere in the darkness of the entrance, and I saw a pale child's hand feeling my door.

Children? At night? In the entrance? I let out a hysterical laugh, almost a sob. One handle was soon joined by the other, slapping the lintel with her palm. Then a third, a fourth… I think I started to lose consciousness when I noticed that all the hands seemed to belong to one creature, and it was looking for something to grab, to pull itself up, to drag its body inside.

Then, already in a daze, I remembered where my phobia came from. I've seen this creature before. A long time ago, in my early childhood, it came to me to play. I remember that at that time, for some reason, I was not at all frightened by these children's hands feeling the pantry door. He had such an insinuating, pleasant voice. A low male baritone voice. I remembered that, being an unintelligent child, even I was happy to help him open the door. And then I think I saw him and almost went crazy. Here, my memory throws me only the blurred outlines of something disgusting in the darkness of the pantry.

It all took a split second as I stood there, shining my useless flashlight somewhere in the darkness. At this point, the coherent memories come to an end. The last thing I remember is falling to the floor with a sharp pain in my chest, crawling to the phone and dialing an ambulance.

I woke up in the hospital. As it turned out — cardiac arrest. I was dead for a little over a minute. I'm lucky I didn't become a vegetable. I would probably have thought that I was imagining everything, but when I asked a reasonable question about how the doctors entered my apartment, I received the answer that the door was wide open.

It found me. After all these years, it finally found my door.

Of course, I didn't tell anyone about it. The last thing I wanted to do was end up in a mental hospital. There are so many doors... and absolutely nowhere to hide.

As soon as I got out of the hospital, I packed my things and ran. I was confusing my tracks like a hare running away from a fox. From city to city, never staying anywhere for more than a day. Finally, I thought I had confused him enough and calmed down.

Now I live far, very far from my hometown and it won't find me here. Isn't that right? Wasn't I finally able to hide? I hope so.

We're going to have a lot of fun.

 Moving to a new city is often not particularly easy, especially for a 12-year-old boy. Usually there are problems with adapting to school, finding new friends. Roma was a little lucky in this regard, as the move fell during the holidays, and it was possible to make friends before starting school. And literally on the first day, luck smiled at him — Roma met a neighbor boy Grisha, his age, they immediately became friends and began to spend a lot of time together. A couple of times Roma invited a new friend to visit him, but for some reason he was shy. He probably thought that Roman's mother would consider him a tomboy and a bully, because from his appearance it seemed so: he often smelled of smoke, and his clothes were constantly burned (Grisha said that he loved to burn bonfires, although he never did it with Roma, he did not even offer). Disheveled hair complemented the image of a dysfunctional child, although Grisha's behavior was an ordinary boy, albeit a little unsociable.

One day, Roma came home very worried, and when his mother asked him what had happened, he replied:

"Mom, it turns out there's an amusement park here. You only pay for admission there and ride on any carousel! Grisha told me about him. And he's... he's...  Roma was panting with excitement. — He invited me there, his mom has already bought us tickets. And he promised to introduce me to his friends. They go there every two weeks. Can I go with them? Please, please, please!

—Well... is the park far from here?"

— No, Grisha says there are several bus stops. Please, Mom, Grisha promised that we would have a lot of fun there. There's even a funny clown there, and I should like him.

— What time are you going to be back?

— The park is open until five, so I'll definitely be home at five thirty, Mom. Can I go?

"Okay, just don't forget to take your phone, I'll call you to check on you."

Mom was glad that Roma had managed to find friends so quickly (it had only been a week since they moved), and that they had a place to have fun. She wasn't too worried, because, according to her son, Grisha had lived here for 7 years and knew the area like the back of his hand, and the fact that he was embarrassed to visit them and get to know each other only reinforced in her mind the image of a well-mannered and modest boy.

In anticipation of a fun day, Roma couldn't sleep for a long time. And even when I fell asleep, I had a dream about having fun with friends on carousels, eating ice cream and cotton candy and laughing at the jokes of a funny clown.

At eleven in the morning, taking his phone and money for travel and ice cream, Roma went to the bus stop, where Grisha was already waiting for him. The bus arrived almost immediately, and the boys set off. Roma actively asked Grisha about the park, but he was not very willing to answer — apparently, he did not want to spoil the surprise, which further fueled his interest. For some reason, some passengers squinted at Roma, which made him speak a little quieter.

About half an hour later, the guys arrived at the place.

"We still have a little way to go," Grisha said.

— Are your friends already there?

— Yes, where else would they be...

Soon they came to the gate, and there were two boys and a girl standing there. Grisha introduced them:

— This is Vika, and this is Styopa and Vadik.

The children carefully studied the new member of their company, which made Roma a little tense, and he decided to defuse the situation.:

— Well, let's go have fun?

—Let's go,— his three new friends replied monotonously.

Strangely enough, the park wasn't very crowded. Grisha explained this by saying that today is a weekday, and a lot of people from suburban villages come here on weekends. Many locals were already tired of the park, and they rarely came here. Roma couldn't understand how an amusement park could get boring.

We've tried almost all the swings and rides. However, there was a slight problem with one of the swings: Roma, deciding to jump off them on the move, could not stand on his feet and fell, hitting his chest quite hard on the ground. Even my T-shirt is torn. Fortunately, there were no other injuries, and the bruised area stopped hurting almost immediately. Quickly forgetting about this incident, Roma invited everyone to ride a roller coaster — he had long dreamed of doing so. But everyone flatly refused, despite Romy's persuasions. I didn't want to ride alone, because it was much more fun with the company.

Overall, Roma expected a lot more fun from the park and his new friends. Grisha now talked more with Stepa, Vadim and Vika, they were kind of depressed and gloomy. And the promised clown was nowhere to be seen.

Having somehow made it to five o'clock, Roma said that it was time to go back, because the park was closing. Grisha replied:

— It won't close.

"How so?"

"It never closes," Vika echoed Grisha.

Roma couldn't understand anything:

— You said that the park closes at five o'clock, and we'll go home.

— Why would the park close if everyone is having a lot of fun here?

— What are you talking about? Go around sulking all day! Is this fun for you?

Grisha came closer and grabbed Roma by the arm. His eyes were lifeless and empty. He said:

— Stay with us. We're going to have a lot of fun. Stay here.…

The others gradually began to connect to Grisha's words.:

— Stay, we'll have a lot of fun.…

In addition to the four of them, other children began to gather around Roma, some with their parents. Everyone was monotonously repeating the same words, forming an ominous hum:

— Stay with us, Roma, we will have a lot of fun. Stay, we'll have a lot of fun.…

Roma jerked his hand away and rushed to the gate. A clown appeared at the gate from nowhere. He was in dirty clothes, the paint on his face was chaotically smeared, his gaze cut right into the depths of the child's soul. He croaked:

"Hey, buddy, don't you like being with us?" It's all so much fun! Stay here!

Roma pushed him aside and ran out the gate. He ran without looking back until he stopped. The bus was already leaving, but the driver saw a running kid in the rearview mirror and stopped. When Roma jumped on the bus, the driver asked:

"What are you doing here at this hour?" I haven't stopped at this stop for about five years. Since the park was closed. Lucky for you, the last bus for today. If I hadn't, I'd have been riding the carousels until morning, huh.

- what? Was the park closed?

— Well, yes, there wasn't even a stop before him.

—But… Why was it closed? When?

— It was closed five years ago, when a tragedy happened on the roller coaster. They collapsed, almost everyone who skated died, and the caretaker was crushed, by the way, my sister's brother-in-law worked there as a caretaker and a clown, too. It's a pity, he was a good guy. All the local newspapers have written about this case yet. It's forgotten now, of course. I don't understand these idiotic carousels, you risk getting yourself killed, and you also pay money for it... and they say all sorts of things about this place. Everything is getting worse. About two weeks ago, a kid from the next house went there and disappeared. His mother was waiting for him, and then she went crazy and hanged herself. You're a kid, you shouldn't be hanging around this park anymore, and it's so late.…

Roma could hardly believe everything he said. He fiddled with his phone in his hands. It's strange that Mom hasn't called yet. I casually looked at the time on my phone. Eleven o'clock?! Only recently, he told "friends" that it was five. He couldn't have run from the park gate to the bus stop for six hours! One thought was spinning in my head now: "Horror, mom must be in a panic!".

And so it was. He was greeted at home by his tearful mother. It turned out that the reason for her concern was not only the late return of her son.

— Mom, I'm sorry, I didn't want to come back late, it's just there in the park.…

"What park?" Do you even know how worried I was?! I've been calling you all day, you haven't been available! At seven o'clock I called the police. When they arrived, I told them that you went to the amusement park with your friend Grisha. They said that the park had not been operating for five years! Then there's Grisha… You said he lives next door. So, the precinct officer assured me that there are no families with children of 12 years old in that entrance now. There lived a family with a son named Grisha, but they moved out after their son, being alone in the apartment, started a fire and died. Roma, do you understand what's going to happen to us now?!

—What... will happen?"  Roma asked in surprise. His mother's last sentence puzzled him.

Mom bent over the boy and kissed him on the head:

"Get ready... there's nothing more for us to do here.

Roma's eyes widened, and her breath caught in horror: a purple stripe stood out clearly on her mother's neck.

"Come on… We're going to have a lot of fun.

Mom went up to Roma and pulled down his T-shirt so that the deep wound could not be seen in the tear. The armature peak, on which he fell from the swing, pierced the boy's chest exactly opposite the heart.

Wet apartment

 It turned out that I had to rent an apartment. I didn't look very long, since finances allowed. A good one—bedroom apartment, no complaints, but clean, not far from the metro, the furniture is not particularly old, the price is reasonable - not expensive, not cheap. The landlady lives across the yard, if anything, she'll look after the apartment, she's not old herself, and she doesn't look like a hysterical brawler. In general, everything is quite good.I checked in and literally the next day I discovered that the taps were leaking. And both in the kitchen and in the bathroom. My hands are growing from where they need to — I changed the pads, it seemed to help. A week later, the kettle leaked. The old Tefal cracked at the very bottom. Well, there wasn't much water, but it got on the floor, and there was linoleum. I was afraid it would swell up, but it seemed to work out.It's been about a month. I was working all day then. He only came home to eat, take a shower, and sleep. I jumped up in the morning, drank coffee, and went to work. So I decided to have a beer over the weekend. While falling asleep, he prudently placed a half-liter bottle of mineral water next to the bed. I remember well how I put it on, I didn't even open it. I felt around this morning and couldn't find it. It was lying empty in the corner. I was kind of surprised, but then I laughed at myself.: It's necessary to drain such a bottle of water overnight. Although I didn't remember drinking it, sometimes it happens when you're drunk and half asleep doing something and you don't remember.A week later, I was flooded. I was sitting at my computer at night and I could hear the water in the bathtub squelching so thinly. I go there, and there are whole streams running down the wall, and it's good to at least drain into the tub. I have a bathtub right in front of the entrance, across. There's a sink with a mirror on the left, and an old washing machine on the right. So, there was no water there, but it was flowing down the wall opposite the door directly into the bathtub. Of course, I cursed, ran upstairs, and only on the stairs did I remember that I actually had the last floor. I thought something had burst on the roof. I ran back to the housing department to call. While I was running, everything went away. Interestingly, even the paint didn't peel off.The next morning I'm lying in bed half asleep and I can clearly hear someone moving in the kitchen. Dishes clattered a couple of times. I was surprised that the hostess had come. There was no one else to think about, she was the only one with the keys. I got up, pulled on my pants, and went to the kitchen. I go in, but there's no one there. That's when it got scary. I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen and I feel goosebumps running down my spine. He stood there, sort of moved away. I thought I heard something in my dream.That evening we had a drink with a friend at his apartment. I returned home in the morning, and an hour later the hostess comes and cunningly asks me what kind of girl I have. I look at her and wonder. What makes her think the girl showed up? And she replies that she looks out the window in the evening, but it turns out that the light in the room is on, and a girl's silhouette is visible in the window. I felt creepy. I tell her that I actually wasn't at home yesterday, I just came home. She grinned, saying she didn't care, she understood everything. She left, and I felt very uneasy. I thought maybe my aunt had decided to scare me.I didn't sleep well at night, I woke up from every rustle. I woke up in the morning, went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. He's sleepy himself, his eyes barely open. I have a mirror hanging right over the sink — while I'm brushing my teeth, I always look at my reflection. And then I notice the curtain above the bathroom moving. I turned around and looked — I feel a draft pulling at my legs. My heart was relieved. I bend over to the faucet, take a mouthful of water, straighten up and take a look in the mirror, and there...... a hand appears from the tub and plops on its edge. Green and blue, long and terribly skinny. I swallowed all the water at once, I'm standing there, I can't move. And a second hand appeared from the bathtub, as if there was some kind of dwarf standing at the edge. And I see those arms tense up, and a head pokes out, half protruding and looking at me. She looks like a woman, her hair is long, wet, hanging in strands, only her face is blue-green. I somehow turned my head, squinted my eyes, but there was nothing in the tub. It's standing there, turning white. I looked in the mirror again, and there IT was coming out of the tub, like some kind of slime shimmering and looking at me. It was like I woke up and took off so fast that I probably broke all the speed records. I didn't take any things, nothing. Then he asked a friend to pick him up, but he was standing in the hallway, he couldn't go in. My friend says he didn't see anything there, he just asks why I filled all the sofas with water and broke the bathroom mirror.And a couple of weeks later, I met the hostess. She started asking me why I had run away so abruptly. She asked if I'd seen anything. I said it was uncomfortable to live there. The landlady sighed and said that three people had already moved out of this apartment.

And before them, there was a student who once opened her veins in the bathtub and lay there for a week until she was missed. I had to do a complete renovation in the bathroom...

Wedding

 At one time, there was a story in our village that allegedly happened to our fellow villager. The man went to a friend in a neighboring village to help with construction. After work, he was treated to moonshine and offered to stay the night, but he decided to go home, although it was late. The distance between the villages was about seven kilometers, and it was necessary to go through apiaries, where houses stood in some places. And so, passing through the apiary, the man noticed that in one house people were walking, there was a lot of noise, songs and dances. Then the drunk wanted to "continue the banquet," and he went into the house.

It turns out that a Mari wedding was taking place in the house — who doesn't know, they are attended by a crowd in national costumes and with national songs, but according to Mari customs. Well, the man began to walk and dance with them. He was fed, watered— and everything was as it should be. However, the man vaguely noticed during the feast that the wedding was somehow strange - no blessings, no mention of God.

At the end of the wedding, according to custom, small gifts are given to the guests (mostly from clothes). The man was given a shirt and told to try it on right here. He, out of habit, said: "Lord, have mercy!" he began to put on his shirt.

And then he woke up. There was no wedding. There was silence around him, and he was standing on a wooden chair in an empty house and he put a rope around his neck — all he had to do was twitch. It is unknown what would have happened if he had tried on the "shirt" without prayer. And later he realized that he was eating manure instead of pies.

I think it's not for nothing that people say: if it seems, cross yourself.

One for the road

 It was 22.58 on the clock. Maria became nervous: the table was set, everything was arranged, but there were still no guests... The drunken neighbors had been buzzing for an hour, and Chinese pyrotechnics were constantly exploding in the streets, but she was not in the mood for fun. It's impossible to have fun alone, you know. I've already dialed Marinka's number for the umpteenth time: unavailable and unavailable. Who said they'd be here by ten o'clock? After Marinka, I dialed all the others — they are also unavailable. Attributing this to the telecom operators, Maria opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. She hadn't even had a sip when the doorbell rang. Smiling happily, she opened the door to her guests.

The usual cheerful noise and uproar that is inherent in the Russian New Year began. Masha was immediately presented with a huge beautiful postcard, but they did not let her read the congratulations. Everyone was already pretty tipsy, except for the driver Alexei. Marinka had already had a fight with her husband Nikolai (it was a common thing for them, and as soon as they live together). Katya could barely hold her restless husband Mikhail, who kept trying to light a sparkler out of nowhere.

Finally, Maria managed to calm everyone down and put them at the table. She looked at her watch: 23.18. She raised her glass first.: "Let's spend the old year as soon as possible, there are forty minutes left before the new one." The toast was well received, and soon the second, third, and fourth were said. They didn't even have time to look around, as it was already 23.56. They immediately started looking for the remote control: everyone was screaming about the president's congratulations. Having finished his short speech, the president raised a glass of champagne. Chimes appeared on the TV. The whole company raised their glasses in unison and began chanting, "Happy New Year!" When the chimes struck twelve, Maria screamed alone. The others fell silent with a smile on their face.

"What are you guys doing?"  Maria asked in surprise.

After a short silence, Nikolai replied:

— On the staff!

"What kind of stick?" Guys, it's New Year's Eve!  Masha replied with a smile.

— On the staff! — all the others echoed Nikolai.

Maria looked at her friends in amazement:

"Is this some kind of prank?"

"You know, Masha," said Alexey, the sober driver. — We have to go now. Sorry. That's why they drank on the staff.

— Yes, yes! It's time for us to go! — the others supported it.

Maria just blinked in surprise. I thought, "Have you prepared some kind of surprise?" Everyone wished her happiness, good luck and love in the New Year and left. She waited ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty. No one came back. Taking a bottle of champagne, Maria sat down on the sofa and began to drink it slowly in the company of the TV. When she finished it, tears welled up in her eyes; "What are they doing to me...right?".

Suddenly the phone rang. She smiled: they didn't leave me after all. But no, the screen said, "Anya."

"Hello?"

— Masha! It's just a nightmare! I haven't been able to reach you for the second hour! Why didn't you call me and tell me?

— What did you call? What did she say?  Maria asked in amazement.

"Are you crazy?" Marina, Kolya, Katya, Misha, and Lyosha are gone!

"Why not?" They left me half an hour ago...

They started crying on the phone.

— Masha, what's wrong with you? Why are you kidding me? They crashed at twenty minutes past eleven, the car was thrown into a ditch, caught fire, they could not save anyone... And you're talking... — choking on sobs, Anya hung up the phone.

Uncomprehending, Masha went to the kitchen to get a bottle of vodka, and as she walked down the hall, she noticed a postcard on the table. Oh, yes, she was never allowed to read it. Now she has succeeded. Closing the postcard, she went into the kitchen on shaky legs, poured herself a glass and immediately drank it. In the postcard, in addition to the banal printed congratulations, it read:

"I'm sorry for what happened, it's not our fault. But don't worry. I'll see you soon, because you forgot to close the door. Happy New Year!"

There were some strange sounds near the front door, at the same time similar and unlike the sound of footsteps in the usual sense. It was more like the footsteps of a broken mannequin. The door opened. The smell of burning meat entered the apartment. Masha turned away from the door and filled a glass. The "footsteps" were getting closer. Masha closed her eyes and raised her glass.

The "footsteps" stopped behind her.

— On the staff!  She managed to whisper with just her lips.

How I guarded the office

Once I was guarding the office at night. My duties were minimal — to make sure that no one broke in (I'm a noble drish, but if someone had managed to break down this unrealistic iron door at night, even a riot policeman would hardly have been able to stop him, so I was there rather for form's sake), to let the authorities in and also to keep the ceiling from flowing — sometimes there The pipes on the second floor were bursting. And once a week it is necessary to wash the windows from the inside. In general, the job is simple and dust-free. And there were computers with all sorts of simple toys, like "Heroes of Might and Magic," and I didn't need any more. I spent my nights in this office from Saturday to Sunday. Everything was always quiet, only the director, some manager and me had the keys.

One Saturday, I was sitting behind the heroes and suddenly something rustled on the other side of the door. Once. I went over and looked through the peephole, but there was no one there. I decided that they had passed by and returned to the game, but before I could sit down on a chair, something scratched again and I heard a completely unintelligible male voice and a knock on the door. I thought it was the director, so I put the keys in. I turned it one turn and looked through the peephole again — there was no one there. I said loudly, "First name, patronymic, is that you?" There is silence in response. I turned the key back, and immediately a voice came from the other side of the door—a woman's voice this time, again I didn't understand a word—it seemed to be speaking, but it made no sense syllable by syllable. Then I sent them all through the door loudly and threatened to call the police (I was lying about that — there were no phones inside, I just knew that theoretically there should be a fire alarm button somewhere, I still don't know if it's there or not). About a second after that, the woman's voice stopped and there was a soft knock on the window. I pulled back the blinds and freaked out. No, not just fucked up.

I was scared out of my mind — my legs buckled and I sat down on the floor. There was a man hanging on the grate (I want to think it was a man). Everything about him was completely unnatural. It's like someone has only seen people in movies and made themselves a costume to look like a human and put it on themselves. I can't even begin to determine what gender it was. And as soon as he saw me, he began to speak — first in that feminine voice, then alternating in syllable with a masculine one, then in general, as if the voice came from several sources, with some creaks and rustles. My God, his facial expressions were completely inhuman — he was simultaneously moving all his facial muscles in all possible directions. At the same time, he was banging on the glass with his hands and feet, and he was climbing up. Maybe he had the bars between his knees and was climbing, I don't know. At that moment, it seemed to me that he was taking off. It was perfectly visible, and it hung there for a very long time, probably for a minute, but I couldn't do anything at all — I just sat on the floor and stared at this creature, frozen.

About a minute later, a sudden release came — suddenly the whole cacophony stopped, and he abruptly turned (I swear, he turned his head 100 degrees, right over his shoulder) and froze for a few seconds, staring somewhere, and then abruptly jumped off and saying something in a new, low-vibrating voice, walked away. I couldn't see where he went from the floor. I only had the strength to close the blinds and crawl into a room from which neither the door nor the windows were visible. So, on the floor, I sat until 6 a.m., scared of every rustle, until Artyom's replacement came. I probably looked at him through the peephole for two minutes and asked him to step back or say "something."

In the end, I let him in, and he slapped me on the back of the head, and I just laughed happily and hysterically in response. Anyway, I came home — my parents can't figure out what happened to me — pale, circles under my eyes, weighed myself — I lost seven kilos overnight. Since then, I often don't sleep well at night and have nightmares. No one I know will laugh, not a word, not a hint...

Fortune-telling on Christmas night

 We have a strange ceremony for unmarried girls in our village on Christmas Night. The girlfriends come out, twist the girl and she throws a boot in some direction. Whichever way the boot falls, the groom will come to the girl from that side. And in order to find out for sure about your beloved, you need to go in that direction and ask the first man you meet his name.

Maybe once the girls took it seriously, but the girls and I were just fooling around. Already walking towards the center of our town, we giggled and had fun, anticipating the entertainment. I took an old boot from my grandmother, and it was in these boots that she married my grandfather. We drove the guys away to caroling sweets to us, and we gathered in a circle. We promoted my first girlfriend, she threw a boot, almost hitting the girls. Laughter rang out throughout the village.

I was next in line. They blindfolded me and handed me a boot. When I was being twisted, I remembered my grandmother's proverb: "I'm spinning in place, I want to find out my fate, where the boot will fall – my darling will come from there." I honestly can't understand why these words came to mind, because I hadn't even thought about them before. I dropped the boot, and my friends laughed. As it turned out, I threw it far away. My friends sent me in that direction, while they giggled and discussed further actions.

I stomped down the path, looking for my boots in a snowdrift. A little ahead, I saw the silhouette of a man – he called me. I wasn't scared at all, I knew everyone in the village, and I had nothing to be afraid of. To my surprise, the man was a stranger to me, but he was holding my boot in his hand and smiling. I went up to him and said, "Hello, what's your name?" He smiled and said, "My name is Andrey, and yes, that's what your husband's name will be, but I'm here to warn you not to contact Vladimir in any way." He handed me a boot and told me that my friends were waiting for me. I turned for a second to look at the girls–they were walking right towards me. When I turned around to thank the stranger, there was no one there.

To my surprise, my girlfriends didn't see anyone. It was very strange, and we decided to stop this entertainment. During the fun in the company, everything was quickly forgotten. Two whole years have passed and suddenly I have two boyfriends: Vladimir and Andrey. Vova conquered me with his love of freedom, he rode me on a motorcycle, and Andrei was domestic, but very kind. In the end, I chose Andrey. I married him, and after a while I found out that Vova died riding a motorcycle.

Demonic lust

 It happened on the night of January 12, 2005, when I was sleeping with my husband in our bedroom. So, I was sleeping, and then, as if in a dream, someone started kissing and hugging me. It was so pleasant to me – just an unearthly pleasure; I was shaking all over, I wanted a man so much, and I woke up from this unbearable desire. I clearly saw my sleeping husband and thought in perplexity: "Then who is doing this to me?" But immediately pushed this thought away, as the desire drove me crazy and I began to feel the mysterious stranger. There was something shapeless under my hands, and besides, it was completely covered with long quills, like a porcupine's. The most amazing thing was that this creature was also asexual!

I was still feverish with desire, but then I had an epiphany: I sat up in bed, clearly realizing that this was not a dream, and saw a creature crawling into my bed. I don't know where the strength came from, but I grabbed It, threw it on the floor and began to baptize him. After each sign of the cross, It decreased right in front of my eyes and then disappeared completely. I didn't know what kind of creature it was, but I sensed it in my gut–a devil's spawn. So, I think, a 46-year-old woman almost gave herself to a porcupine.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wake my husband up until morning, and in the morning I told him everything. Of course, he waved his hand, saying, well, you always have something. It's easy to dismiss, but you can't get rid of the trouble.

The next day, I had a high fever, became seriously ill, and was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of pneumonia. However, later they told me that it wasn't pneumonia at all, and they treated me for everything.… I was sick for almost a year, then nothing happened. But while she was in the hospital, her husband got drunk, and he was kicked out of work. And so it went, and so it went – and to this day misfortune does not leave my house because of this devilish brat that got under my blanket at night.…

The face outside the window

This is the case my wife told me, which happened to her in Tula. My wife works as a lawyer in one of the state institutions. She is often sent on a business trip to another city for advanced training. This time, it was winter, she was sent to the city of Tula.

When she arrived there, she checked into a hotel. The next day, after attending her lecture at work, she walked around the city and returned to the hotel. After undressing and washing, she went to the kitchen to have dinner. When she turned on the TV, she felt that someone was watching her. She turned around, but saw no one. Then she went to the window and pulled back the curtain and immediately jumped back. A girl's face was looking at her from the outside of the window.

Her face was as white as snow. It was only by her blue eyes that my wife identified her as a girl. The wife thought that this simply could not be, her room was on the fourth floor, and looked at the window again. There was still that face in the window. My wife came closer and leaned her hand against the window in front of her face.

The girl smiled maliciously and somehow made the glass shatter into small pieces and immediately disappeared. My wife called the hotel administrator and told him everything. The administrator, of course, did not believe the story, but only said that my wife would pay for the damage. The wife paid and soon flew back. He's going to quit now. She said she couldn't take it anymore.