"TALES OF GHOSTS"
about Love and Death from the Land of Mists
a collection of short stories
in the “Playing Another Reality” series
"BROKEN MIRROR"
2. A HOUSE by the STATION
This incredible story happened to me many years ago in late autumn, when all the leaves had already fallen, but there was still no snow. The weather was vile, the wind beat in the face, and there was nothing good to expect from the gray gloomy sky.
On that dark evening, I was returning from the birthday party of my friend who lived in a military town not far from the capital. Her husband walked me to the bus.
It usually took half an hour to get to the station by bus. I looked out the window remembering… once, about ten years ago, Janny and I had walked from the station to her house through ominous forests, that didn’t seem like that at all to us then. I thought, if the bus had been broken, I wouldn’t dare to walk to the station. A slight chill ran down my back, but I immediately calmed down, wrapping myself in a warm scarf, which smelled pleasantly of expensive perfumes.
I arrived at the station at 10 p.m. sharp. There was almost no one on the platform, about five people. The train must have just left. The next one was scheduled to pass at half past ten. I prepared to wait patiently.
We had lived there, in the house by the station, for several years. I looked at the house and noticed a dim light in the window. The memories took me back to my childhood.
The owner of the house, Grandpa Vasily, didn’t get out of bed after paralysis. I used to bring him newspapers and play chess with him. He was very kind. When cartoons were shown on TV, he always called me, knocking on the wall with his crutch, since my room was just behind that wall, through the corridor separating the two halves of the house.
His wife, Grandma Klava, had worked as a weaver in a factory until her retirement. She was a great cook. I especially liked her pies, they always had more fillings than dough. In good weather, on weekends, Grandma Klava used to arrange tea parties for us in the gazebo.
There lived also Andrey, their son, a cheerful man in the prime of life, his wife Lyuba and their newborn red-haired daughter Nadya. Everyone called her Sunny. I sang songs to Nadya, rocking her in the cradle. Andrey was fond of doing the farm. He built a big barn in the backyard. Everything was not in chaos there, being fixed in a strictly defined order: a screw to a screw, a carnation to a carnation. I marveled at his accuracy.
And in general, I liked their family, so friendly and happy! They treated us like their own, and later, when we moved to own dacha, I really missed that house and its inhabitants.
…Somewhere at 11:10 p.m., a passer-by along the platform brought me back to reality, saying that all trains in both directions had been canceled until the morning. I refused to believe it! There was nothing around but a couple of houses and the ominous forest! Mobile phones didn’t exist then, so it was impossible to call Janny, and getting into the military town without a pass was unrealistic, besides, the last bus left the station at 11:00 p.m. Suddenly, a seemingly obvious idea occurred to me, “Why not go into ‘our’ house?” I was sure I would be welcomed to spend the night.
Approaching the house, I began to notice changes: the wooden fence was partially missing, a huge old oak had been cut down, the house had settled down, the paint had peeled off. I remembered the house so big and majestic, but now it looked more like an abandoned barn. I trembled either from the cold, or from fear, or perhaps from a strange, unkind feeling that had crept into my soul.
The gate was wide open. However, it didn’t really matter, since anyone could get inside through the holes in the fence. I followed the path to the garden. Almost all apple trees had been cut down. The garden was overgrown with weeds. Where strawberries used to grow, a huge pile of garbage loomed up. Something creaked in the sagging gazebo, and I saw a skinny black cat running towards me. It seemed to be Grandma Klava’s favorite cat, Alice. The cat rubbed itself against my legs and meowed plaintively.
I walked towards the front door to the owner’s half of the house and stopped at the completely broken porch in thought. Maybe it was better for me to go back. However, I clearly had nowhere to return. I knocked cautiously, and without waiting for an answer, pulled the door towards me. It turned out to be unlocked, and I entered the house.
There was no one on the terrace, as expected. I opened the door to the corridor and found no lights, except for a small flickering one, highly likely from a candle, somewhere in the distance, in the kitchen.
I stepped carefully through the darkness until I reached the kitchen and froze in surprise. There were empty bottles of alcohol on the floor and a strong smell of dust, it was cold and damp, as if the stove hadn’t been heated there for a long time, and in general, it seemed that no one lived in the house, and if not for the lonely candle burning on the windowsill…
A dog howled in the forest, and I shuddered, no longer understanding what was better: to stay in the strange house, or to walk through the ominous forest to the military town and beg the security to let me spend the night somehow in their booth.
I wanted to disappear as quickly as possible.
“Asya!” someone called out to me suddenly.
Turning around, I saw a hunched old woman, and I hardly recognized the mistress of the house, Grandma Klava.
“Hello! Do you remember me?” being glad to see a living person, I exclaimed.
“I always said you would come back one day! Come in, don’t stand there, sit down! Though there’s nothing to treat you with,” Grandma Klava mumbled with a smile, pointed me to a dusty chair and sat down in a rocking armchair by the stove. “I don’t heat it. The firewood ran out. I’m used to it! After all, only Alice remained, and she’ll soon die. Ghosts gather here at night, and we talk. And yours are coming too! They’re coming…”
The old woman looked at me mysteriously and smacked her tongue. Goosebumps ran through my body. Could Grandma Klava know that I was the only alive of all the mine who lived in that house? Although, Janny had probably told her…
“Even the other day,” the old woman continued, “we played checkers remembering you. They complained that you had forgotten us completely, and I said, ‘She will be back. She will!’ I left your half of the house untouched not for nothing. Everything is in its place, as it was… And your grandfather won in checkers!”
I was silent, feeling out of place for too abrupt changes, but still glad that there was at least someone alive in that house, besides me and Alice. Of course, Grandma Klava looked, frankly, not very good, thin and pale, skin and bones, involuntarily reminding me of characters from the movies about witches and vampires. However, the main thing was not her outward appearance, but the fact that she was alive and she remembered me!
“Do you know about us, Asya? When you left, my Vasily died. And then, then Andrey and Sunny had a car accident. He was strong to survive, and she flew away to God immediately! As our Sun disappeared, all the misfortunes fell upon us! At first, Andrey lost his job and could no longer find another one. What times have come! Do you remember, Asya, the times before? Once one got a job, one worked until retirement. And now… Where do you get the nerve to work and live to a ripe old age, huh?.. Lyuba’s company was closed. We lived on my pension only. Lyuba blamed Andrey for everything, and he started drinking. She went to the city to live with her relatives, and my son didn’t go after that, completely… His drunken friends strangled him! They say that he did it himself. But I, the mother, know that he couldn’t do that, he couldn’t!”
Grandma Klava swayed slowly in the rocking armchair, while I listened to her and couldn’t believe her words. I remember Janny saying that the Grandpa Vasily had died. The rest I heard for the first time.
“In the evenings, Sunny comes here, and I tell her stories. She wants to grow up, but she is still the same small, curly-haired… My Vasily and your grandfather are talking about apple trees. Did you see what happened to our garden here? Andrey is silent, like a partisan. Imagine, to have been silent for five years! I ask him, ‘Who did it to you, Andrey?’ And he comes, sits silently and leaves, except to play a little with Sunny. In silence, as well… Your grandma comes infrequently, but she has her own chores there. Your aunt had been here twice. Your parents recently went into their half of the house to dine by candlelight… And in general, sometimes we play cards, sometimes checkers, less often chess… We remember our past talking about each one’s stories. You’ll see them tonight, too. They’ll be glad to meet you here!”
I couldn’t get a word out, I glanced first at the candle, it was burning out, then at the clock on the wall, which showed… 5:30?!
“It stopped long ago, Asya,” Grandma Klava noticed my look. “It’s midnight now, check on yours!”
I looked at my wrists watches, it was midnight, right! But how…?
“In old age, you feel the time without a watch! Well, are you going to your place? You have to spend the night, don’t you? There are no trains until the morning…”
I didn’t say her why I had come!
“I went to the station in the evening,” Grandma Klava added, “they should put up notes. Yes, you see, paper spared! The keys to your half of the house are in the cupboard, in the top drawer, on the left. Go, and I’ll stay here for a while. If you want, take these keys forever. I kept them for you, for whom else?.. I always knew you would be back!”
I went to the cupboard, opened the top left drawer and indeed found our keys in it!
“Thanks!” I said, happy to leave.
“Good night, Asya. Sweet dreams!”
***
I opened the door with the keys and went to the terrace. I automatically touched the light switch with my hand and clicked it in vain, there was no electricity. Then I took out one of the candles that we had always kept in reserve in a small table at the entrance on the left, and a lighter from my pocket.
I ran a lit candle along the walls, illuminating every object, every corner, and, indeed, everything there remained the same as before, not a single thing had been moved from its place, only dust and cobwebs reminded me that many years had passed and nothing could be taken back.
I entered my room, put the candle on the windowsill and sat down on the bed next to the big teddy bear. On the bedside table by the antique mirror in a wooden frame, there was a picture of us drinking tea in the gazebo in the garden, all together: my parents, my aunt with two daughters, my grandparents, Grandma Klava with Andrey, Lyuba and Sunny. And I wanted to return to that time, when nothing foretold our separation and everyone was happy…
I put out the candle. Without taking off my fur coat, I climbed under the blanket and, out of habit, covered myself on top with an old knitted plaid.
I dreamed about summer. The sun was shining. We sat in the gazebo talking cheerfully about something. Grandma Klava had baked pies. Andrey poured tea. My aunt came to visit us. My grandpa was smiling. My grandma brought jam. Mom took pictures of us all. Then the owner of the house appeared. At first I didn’t recognize him, because Grandpa Vasily looked absolutely healthy and much younger than his years! He handed me a bouquet of wild flowers. Sunny was swinging on the wooden swing. At some point, all the present gathered to play cards, and I realized that it was time for me to leave. They waved their hands at me, and Sunny ran up and quietly whispered, “You will be happy, surely!”
***
I woke up early in the morning and stretched sweetly. Probably, that dream was one of the most pleasant in my life, and mentally I thanked fate for cancellation of trains, “Do we often return to our carefree childhood?”
It was snowing outside, for the first time that year. I decided to take with me the picture by the antique mirror, but then I changed my mind and put it back. The teddy bear looked at me sadly. I waved my hand at him, but didn’t say goodbye to Grandma Klava, “Perhaps she’s still sleeping. There’s no sense to wake her up.”
Having risen to the platform, I thought, “I have to come back somehow, with gifts for Grandma Klava. Moreover, now I have the keys again!” I tried to fumble for them in my pocket, but suddenly realized that I had forgotten the keys on the table by the mirror and automatically clicked the door lock!
The train pulled up, I stepped inside and got surrounded by people. Still alive people. They were talking, smiling and even joking.
***
…Opening the door to my apartment, I heard the phone ringing. Without taking off my boots, I ran up and picked up the phone. It was Janny.
“How did you get home? They say all trains were canceled yesterday after ten. Did you catch the last one?”
“No.”
“Where did you spend the night then?”
“In our house by the station.”
Janny suddenly fell silent for a while.
“So how was it?” she asked in a mysterious voice.
“Great! But why didn’t you tell me anything? About Lyuba, and that Nadya died in an accident, and Andrey was killed?”
“You have never asked me. I thought you didn’t care. And who told you about them?”
“Grandma Klava, who else… Yesterday we sat in the kitchen until midnight. Then she gave me the keys to our half, and I left for my room…”
Janny sighed heavily.
“Asya, you seemed to drink nothing yesterday…”
“What are you hinting at?”
“That house is planned to be demolished. No one has lived in it for a long time.”
I froze.
“And what about… Grandma Klava?” I barely squeezed out of myself.
“She died … a year after Andrey… Her grave is next to my grandfather’s.”
November 09, 1994