"TALES OF GHOSTS"
about Love and Death from the Land of Mists
a collection of short stories
in the “Playing Another Reality” series
"DARK TOWER"
1. The SEAL
It had been raining for many days. Dasha went out into the cold gloomy corridor. A strong wind blew through the open window. The autumn smells, coming from the park, and the gray gloomy sky, covered with clouds, hinted that summer was already over, although August was in full swing.
Dasha went to the public telephone at the duty post and dialed someone’s number, but no one answered. Anyway, did anyone live in the abandoned house, except… ghosts? Why and to whom did she keep trying to get through?..
Dasha lived there, in the strange house, called «yellow» for some reason. Uncle Sergey, as usual, yielding to his wife, had agreed with the head doctor to settle Dasha there in order to get the cottage of her parents, who had drowned a month before, right in front of their daughter, almost near the shore due to the undercurrent.
Why hadn’t they believed Dasha on the eve of…? She asked them not to swim in that place anymore and even retold her dream. Could Dasha do something else? And was it possible to save someone who had already got that very seal?
Two green eyes flashed in the darkness, and then something fluffy rubbed against Dasha’s leg. The girl bent down and stroked a local cat, which was holding a freshly caught mouse in its teeth.
«Thank you, my dear! I’m not hungry.»
Taking advantage of the absence of the nurse at the post, Dasha slipped outside.
***
There were antique lanterns along the dark alleys. Their soft lights flickered fabulously, illuminating the road. Dasha didn’t want to return to the stuffy ward, where red cockroaches crawled along the white sheets, moving their antennae in a businesslike manner. She liked wandering in the old park by the abandoned pond.
«Dasha!» a voice called out to her.
«Hey!!!» the girl exclaimed, turning around and running towards him.
Ruslan stroked her head, tickled the ribs protruding on her thin body. Looking for protection, she clung to him, so big and strong.
«Where have you been all this time? Why didn’t you come for so long?»
«I had to work hard, you know.»
«No!» the girl answered sharply and, chasing away his hands, went off into the distance along the alley.
Ruslan silently followed her, waiting for forgiveness. The girl stopped at a flowerbed overgrown with nettles, and then, plucking a few stems, ran up to Ruslan and hit him with a bunch of stinging grass with all her might.
«Don’t ever hurt me again!»
«Okay, Your Majesty!» Ruslan nodded obediently.
Dasha laughed, and they raced to the abandoned pond.
Then they were sitting on a bench. Dasha settled down on Ruslan’s lap, purring something softly, almost like a cat, her legs crossed and her cold nose buried in his soft shoulder.
«You know, I have to…» he started.
«No!!!»
«I have to leave. Tomorrow morning. I’ll be back in two days.»
Large childish tears rolled down Dasha’s cheeks, overtaking each other.
«You’re leaving me!» she whispered, sobbing.
«I will never leave you!»
«You’ll never come back!»
«I will definitely be back!»
Dasha put her hand on his lips to silence him. Ruslan closed his eyes. The girl looked at his face with his eyes closed, jumped up and ran away. The Moon illuminated the dark alleys, but its light was ominously mysterious. Dasha stumbled and fell. Ruslan took her by the hand. A wild cry sounded through the old park.
«Dasha! I didn’t mean to scare you! Well, don’t be afraid of me!»
«No!» Dasha shook her head negatively, choking from running, fear, tears, and hopelessness. «You will leave like all of them! You have got the same seal as they had! THE SEAL!!!»
«I’ll be back in two days, I promise you! Everything will be fine!»
Dasha shook her head negatively again.
They were silently returning to the sleeping hospital.
«Little Sonya lives here with me,» Dasha broke the silence. «She asks me to tell her stories about Winnie the Pooh every night. Her mother used to read her bedtime stories.»
«Did her mother die?»
«Yes. Now Sonya can hear… I often dream them calling me to their place, but I want to stay… with you!»
«When I take you out of here, your nightmares will disappear. I promise you, everything will be fine!» Ruslan said before leaving. «You have to believe it. It just takes time to think carefully about the ways to organize and arrange everything correctly.»
«They all promised me too. Everyone their own. And they all left me. I’ll be gone soon as well.»
***
«Dasha! You are back!» five-year-old Sonya exclaimed joyfully.
«Why aren’t you asleep yet?»
«I’ve been waiting for you. I will always be, even when you’re gone! You’re leaving soon, aren’t you?» Sonya said sadly and lay down on the bed in anticipation of a fairy tale.
…Dasha was next to Ruslan, although she was not really with him…
Night. An unlit highway. There are almost no cars. A large truck is rushing at a great speed, but no one can see it yet, except Dasha, because it is there, around the corner.
Dasha yells, but Ruslan doesn’t hear. HE DOES NOT HEAR!!! Now the truck is to appear going into the oncoming lane. Meanwhile on the side, from the country road, a bus is driving up. They all are colliding at the same time. Instantly!
Ruslan is there, in the car, and… he is no longer there!
«Don’t come back by car!!!» Dasha shouted and… woke up.
***
Ruslan didn’t return in two days, as he had promised…
When Ruslan came back and entered Dasha’s ward, he froze in confusion, and little Sonya jumped from her bed onto the cold floor and slapped barefoot towards him.
«She was waiting for you! And she promised me to come back!»
A childish drawing of Dasha by Sonya lay on the table.
«She had already got the seal!» whispered Sonya mysteriously. «Anyway, she’ll be back to tell me bedtime stories! She’ll come to you, too! … another she! If you can’t see yet, you should at least learn to hear her!»
Ruslan stared at the empty bed with a distant look for a long time. Then he turned to Sonya, sighing heavily.
«I hear everything WRONG,» he said sadly. «I was late because I had dreamed about Dasha. She begged me not to return by car. So I went back by train. It took me more time… If I had known…»
August 24, 1994