Confession of a Ghost. F.M. Dostoevsky award. Playing Another Reality. Alexandra Kryuchkova

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      33 Before/8 After. House No. 4 (IC)

      Piano

      Somewhere in the Universe

      “What does this Sphere mean?” I asked the Guardian at the door to House No. 4.

      “Beginning and ending – roots, traditions, ancestors, family, earthly Motherland, real estate, circumstances of leaving the Earth.”

      “Will I finally see my parents and be able to talk with them?”

      “Not here, Rukh. So… House No. 4 begins in the Sign of Virgo. Family is very important to you, you’ll care for your loved ones and love your home. A symbol of the workhorse on which everyone plows. It’s work until the last breath.”

      “What does the degree in which this Sphere begins mean?”

      “Analytical mindset, mania for planning and structuring, increased efficiency, concentration, the sense of justice and severity in judgments. One more indication of deprivation in childhood, the lack of stability and solid ground underfoot, children feel abandoned and have the psychology of a homeless creature. You’re inclined towards cognition of the Subtle World. Don’t get hung up on trifles and don’t accumulate material wealth in reserve, try to get rid of the earthly as much as possible. Take out the keys from your Treasure Island.”

      A bunch of keys appeared in my hand. I opened the door, stepped inside and found myself … in a room with a fabulous Christmas tree glittering by the window and an aristocratic-looking ghost sitting in an armchair. He came up to me and said with a sad smile,

      “Hello, my little princess!”

      “Hello!” I was extremely surprised.

      “Your great-grandfather,” said the Guardian. “A well-known personality of his time, written about even outside your country, Rukh. Representative of the ancient Glinsky family.”

      “Glinsky?” I asked.

      “Elena Glinskaya was the mother of Tsar Ivan the Terrible,” the Ghost sighed. “For a certain period she even ruled Russia. She was accused of witchcraft and poisoned, but it’s not the point now. I came here to cheer you up, because we won’t meet on Earth. My incarnation took place in 1883, I returned to Heaven in 1945, two years after the birth of my grandson, your father. Once we had several mansions in Moscow, practically next to the Kremlin, in Gazetny Lane, in Kolobovsky Lane and so on. It’s quite possible that you’ll even visit one on Herzen Street. After the revolution, I lived here, in this flat on Tverskaya Street, where you’ll spend your first four years on Earth … One day and quite unexpectedly, you’ll receive the Nobility Certificate. Consider it my little gift. Unfortunately, even the jewels that survived the revolution were exchanged for food during the war. However, your chest of relics will keep my old emerald-colored glass, several photographs and a pre-revolutionary book with fabulous illustrations, signed and gifted to me by a famous artist.”

      “Your great-grandfather was known all over Moscow, they greeted him on the street, taking off their hats,” the Guardian whispered.

      “Don’t talk about me,” the Ghost said modestly.

      “One day,” the Guardian continued enigmatically, “you’ll take out an old photo album, and one picture will fall out of it, on the reverse side…”

      “Oh yes!” exclaimed the Ghost. “There will be a letter, Rukh. I wrote it to a woman with your earthly name, I didn’t send it. I suppose it was for you, so that you don’t despair. We are always there, even invisible. Besides, you can be proud of us – we did no harm to people and bore hardships with patience.”

      All of a sudden everything disappeared. Rather, the scenery in the room changed. I found myself in a tiny kitchen of a wooden house. It smelled of fried mushrooms, bundles of dried herbs hung on ropes along the walls, and a kerosene lamp was lit up on the table. It was raining outside the window. The ghost of the hanged man appeared in front of me.

      “Hello, Rukh! I’m really sorry! I wanted you to live here forever!” he said and just as suddenly disappeared.

      I looked at the Guardian in surprise, but before I had time to ask him, the house… caught fire and instantly turned to ash.

      The scenery changed again. Now it was a room with pen-written wallpaper, a small bed, a huge antique mirror and… a piano. In the flickering of burning candles, the room was filled with the sounds of the Moonlight Sonata, and ghosts appeared out of the mirror. They drew me into their whirlwind dance, and I heard their voices, all, at the same time, from all directions.

      “Pray for us! She killed us! Tell our children we love them!”

      “I didn’t mean to kill them! Everything was for him! He left me alone! They took me to Hell! I feel bad! So bad! Pray for me!”

      “Forgive me! I knew everything, but I was afraid of changes!”

      “You feel and know everything! I abandoned my son, and God abandoned me!”

      “You’re right, Rukh! There are too many ghosts here, it’s dangerous! Go out of here! Run away!”

      “I shouldn’t have done that! Don’t feel angry with me!”

      “Sorry, Rukh! God punished us depriving of children!”

      I clutched my eyes in horror! Who were all these ghosts?! Suddenly the music stopped. I opened my eyes, but now I saw rapidly changing pictures of different flats. They appeared and immediately disappeared. Simultaneously, one by one, the keys on the bunch melted. How many were there? Five? Ten? Twenty? I heard other people’s caustic voices in every room.

      “She’s crazy! I don’t want her to live with us!”

      “Fool! She sees ghosts everywhere!”

      “Nothing СКАЧАТЬ