Returning from work, Marina witnessed a young man trying to snatch a woman’s purse. He was subdued and taken to the police station. There, she gave a statement and was soon released, asked to stay in town to later testify in court as a witness. Finally, Marina crossed the threshold of her apartment. For a moment, it felt like her first time there, and the surroundings brought a sense of melancholy.
“It happens,” Marina thought, living alone for so long now. A year ago, her parents died in a car accident. At least, that was the explanation given by the experts, which Marina agreed with, as she had no desire to delve into the details at that time, nor was she in a state to upset her already frayed nerves further.
Marina sat down in a chair and reflected, “A year has passed, and I still live in that world.” It was true; she continued to believe that nothing had happened. Suddenly, the phone rang, “Yes, grandma, all is well, I just got home. I’m not busy tomorrow, of course, I’ll come visit.” Elena Dmitrievna was the only person who supported Marina during this difficult period. She remembered her saying, “Granddaughter, it’s time for you to get married, or time will pass you by.”
But Marina kept putting it off, and when she finally had a boyfriend and they started a relationship, the tragedy with her parents occurred. Unexpectedly, the young man disappeared from her life. It seemed as if there was never any love. Now, hearing her grandmother’s voice, she remembered how she had planned to live as a family. But everything collapsed that day, as if the earth had opened up and those she knew well and trusted lost all meaning for her.
Shaking her head, Marina got up from the chair and walked to the kitchen, “Enough of dwelling on memories, or I’ll have a completely empty stomach.” She quickly prepared dinner and had a light snack. Thoughtfully, Marina smiled to herself, “Exactly, last night in my dream, I caught a criminal, and in the evening it all came true. Talk about foresight, it seems fate throws interesting plots my way in advance.” If Marina wasn’t at home right now, one might think she’d lost her mind.
The next day, as promised, she visited her grandmother, “Hello, granny, how are you? What’s with your hands?” Leading her to the living room, Elena Dmitrievna replied, “It’s all right, really, but this arthritis won’t leave me alone. I’ve tried everything, lost count, but all in vain. Okay, we’ll talk about my health later, tell me, any changes in your life? I see your mood is down again, probably reminiscing about your parents?”
Marina nodded and immediately said, “You’re right, I can’t forget that day. But that’s not the main thing: I think my dreams have become prophetic. Tell me, grandma, have you ever had a dream about an event that later happened or occurred right before your eyes?” Elena Dmitrievna looked at her with an examiner’s gaze and replied, “Honestly, I often have such dreams. But lately, I pay less attention to them. I advise you to do the same and focus on your personal life.”
The conversation smoothly shifted in a direction Marina hadn’t expected, “There you go again, as usual: either I need to get married, or it’s indecent to live alone. Have you ever thought that I might not want to be someone’s wife? Maybe the time just isn’t right? No, grandma, such things aren’t decided on a whim, and I’ve realized that I need to live for myself. Speaking of dreams, actually, they really did help me prevent a despicable act yesterday. And that guy who wanted to steal the girl’s purse will now remember for a long time what it’s like to be under the fear of punishment.”
Grandma understood that her granddaughter was intentionally steering the conversation elsewhere, “Still, I ask you, Marina, to think about my words. Of course, I won’t abandon you, but life has measured my time too. After this, you’ll be entirely alone and then you’ll have to rely only on your own strength.” Taking a breath, she continued, “Okay, let’s go to the kitchen, I baked your favorite buns. Sorry for lecturing again, but that’s just my character.” Marina laid her head on her shoulder and said, “You’re my only grandmother, with whom I feel very good and pleasant.”
Marina didn’t stay long at her grandma’s and left her apartment after an hour. Her path then led towards the city park. There, she enjoyed watching the swans swimming in the pond. Truly heroic and majestic birds. Buying a soft loaf of bread along the way, Marina began feeding her feathered friends. The swans flapped their wings, arched their necks, but still didn’t come close. Suddenly, right before her eyes, she saw her parents. They stood as if alive, and as if the accident that had taken their lives had never happened.
Taking out a handkerchief from her purse, Marina wiped her face, but the vision did not disappear. On the contrary, her parents reached out their hands and whispered something. Looking around, she noticed that people walking along the alley did not react to what she saw. Understandably, it was just an illusion arising from the depths of her subconscious. Marina wiped her face again with the handkerchief, and only after that did the vision suddenly disappear.
What could this mean, why did her parents appear to her? A reasonable question, but Marina didn’t yet have an answer. Asking her grandmother would be awkward. She would probably think that her granddaughter had gone mad. No, it wasn’t necessary to tell grandma anything yet, especially since it wasn’t clear why her mom and dad appeared at this particular time when Marina was at a crossroads and couldn’t choose her path.
Squinting and imagining a blooming garden, she tried to detach from the vision. But then, for some reason, an image of her brother appeared. He was waving at their parents and shouting something. It was like watching a movie, but in an empty hall. Marina threw the rest of the loaf into the water and got up from the bench. At the park’s exit, she glanced back at where she had just sat, but saw nothing unusual. The vision disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
At home, she pondered why her brother had suddenly appeared. He had long ceased communicating with the family and hadn’t even come to his parents’ funeral, just called his sister to offer his condolences in a few words. Later, he did rush over, but only to inquire about the inheritance. As it turned out, the parents left him a small amount of money, while Marina was bequeathed the family’s Stalin-era apartment in the city center. Moreover, she also inherited an old house with a centuries-old history, located so far away that she had only visited it once in passing.
After that, her brother left, but not without uttering so many unpleasant words that it seemed to last a lifetime. He even hinted at the house, claiming everything went to his sister while he got only pennies. He even wanted to sue for a larger share of the inheritance but changed his mind at the last moment, and they hadn’t seen each other since. Marina regretted pushing her brother away. She should have shared the property with him to avoid any hard feelings. But, as they say, a fresh idea comes when it’s already too late to think about it.
The division of the inheritance then exhausted her: it required gathering a bunch of certificates and documents, plus paying real estate agents. However, she now lives in the apartment where her family once rejoiced every day. As for Vadim, her biological brother, he chose such a fate. But then Marina remembered the last words her mother said, half a year before the tragedy. She asked her to be cautious about her brother. It seemed like her mother was afraid of something.
Sometime later, her father echoed the same warning word for word. But Marina didn’t believe them, deciding that her parents were simply being overly suspicious of suspicious events. Who would have thought that a year later, she would remember it again. It was as if an invisible assistant was suggesting how to proceed next. But where to start, and were these extra moves even necessary? Marina didn’t know what to come to, most importantly, she feared uncertainty.
Gathering herself to have dinner, she called a friend, “Hello, Anyuta, do you want to come over? Excellent, then I won’t eat the cake alone, I’ll wait for you.” Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door, “Oh, you came so quickly, probably flew over as soon as you heard about dessert, right?” The friend nodded and immediately went into the kitchen, “I’m not standing on ceremony because I really want to treat myself to sweets. You won’t believe it, but I’ve been on that diet.” With these words, the friend touched her chin.
Laughing, Marina said, “Yes, it’s great how Anton has taken to you. How do you still put up with him?” Anya sadly lowered her head and whispered quietly, “I love my man, that’s why I keep quiet, but you have the opportunity to fully compensate for the missed opportunities. Okay, why are we always talking about food, tell me, what happened?” Marina didn’t even realize how her friend guessed the true reason for the call, “Wow, you see right through me.”
Anya waved her hand in response, “It’s normal, especially in my profession or did you forget that I work as a psychologist?” Marina nodded in agreement, “Well, yes, it completely slipped my mind. You know, Any, lately I’ve been worried about my brother. He seems independent, but what happened a year ago doesn’t quite fit his style of life.” The friend moved her chair closer and asked, “What do you mean? Your parents, as far as I know, died in an accident. Maybe there are other versions, Marina?”
But she just shrugged, “No, I won’t even dispute the experts’ conclusions. But I recently had a vision: my parents were calling somewhere, and then the image of my brother appeared. And it seemed as if he was arguing with them about something.” The friend put a piece of cake on her plate and said, “It’s all from a lack of attention. You’ve forgotten when you last went out in public. Look, let’s do this, I have a day off tomorrow, you seem to be free too, and let’s go to nature. The weather is so nice that it would be a sin not to take advantage of the convenient moment. In general, I’ll pick you up at eleven o’clock, be ready.”
They chatted a bit more, and then the friend started to head home. Seeing her to the taxi, Marina returned to the apartment and suddenly tears streamed from her eyes. It seemed there was nothing to worry about, but old memories somehow brought up nostalgia and with it sad emotions. Pouring herself some tea, Marina took a couple of sips and calmed down a bit. It was time to realize that loneliness only exacerbated her situation. And her friend was right when she said that she hadn’t been out in public for a long time.
At night, the heat kept her awake, although the windows were fully open. Trying to cope with insomnia, Marina briefly closed her eyes and then saw her parents again. Moreover, behind them stood that very old house, to which her mother and father pointed their fingers while saying something indistinct. What did they want from her? Getting out of bed, she walked along the room, then suddenly sat back down. Not a single effective thought came to mind, nothing fit together.
In the morning, Marina decided to visit the house anyway, perhaps it held the answer, and she might understand why her parents hadn’t left her alone all this time. It took two hours to get to the right place. The old house was located in a village, surrounded on two sides by swamps. Pulling up to the gates, Marina paid the driver and opened the gate. Inside, it was desolate as if the house had been standing for centuries. Quietly stepping on the creaky and shaky porch, she approached the door and with difficulty unlocked the hefty lock.
A wave of mustiness hit her nose, “Yeah, this dwelling is quite the surprise, resembling some ancient refuge with kilograms of dust and cobwebs.” Marina wasn’t just saying this: she had never been inside the house before, having only seen it from the outside. Her parents, however, had come here just to check whether the frame was still intact or if locals had already dismantled it for firewood. Once, her mother had mentioned, “Daughter, this house belonged to my great-grandmother, and it was passed down to me in memory of the fact that I was the only teacher in the family.” This was absolutely true: Marina’s mother taught history lessons at school. And interestingly, no one else in their family, except her, had tied their life to education.
After walking around the house a bit, Marina was about to go back outside when she noticed an icon. The holy image was located in a corner almost under the ceiling and strangely, knowing it was there, her parents hadn’t taken it to their apartment. Placing a chair, Marina climbed up and reached for the icon. As soon as she moved the sanctity, something fell out. Picking it up from the floor and turning it in her hands, Marina realized she was holding a USB drive. “Interesting, what’s inside?” With the same taxi, she returned to the city. And the first thing she did was insert the USB into the computer. There was an audio recording on it, and on it, the voices of her brother and mother. They were animatedly arguing about something, probably in the kitchen, and the device recording them was probably in another room.
Trying to understand what they were talking about, she suddenly heard her brother’s loud shout, “I will destroy you all anyway, and the apartment will only be mine.” Marina was stunned by such words, “How could you, Vadim, you couldn’t have harmed your parents?” It was a rhetorical question, and of course, there was no answer yet. The recording stopped with a creak, as if someone was trying to turn off the device several times.
At that moment, Marina realized, “Now I understand what mom wanted to warn me about. She recorded everything on her phone, fearing a massacre.” But Marina still couldn’t understand how her brother decided to take such steps. There was no doubt in her mind that he was somehow involved in the accident. The only thing left was to find evidence, though so much time had passed, but Marina hoped that some threads could still be found.
And she was lucky: on the day her parents, supposedly in a hurry to a friend’s birthday, met Vadim in a café. Mom had called on the road and told her that they had to listen to his apologies and have a cup of coffee. But only after that did the connection break, and soon they were informed that her parents had died. Not hoping for success, Marina still approached a police acquaintance with this recording. He promised to help and do everything in his power.
It was necessary to use certain resources and simultaneously interrogate Vadim. And he, under the influence of emotions, or maybe just his conscience gnawing at him, confessed that on that fateful day, while in the café, he had surreptitiously added sleeping pills to his parents’ cups. What happened next is obvious. But the question remains, why did Vadim commit such a crime? Here, he did not hide the fact that he had held a grudge against his parents since childhood, supposedly because they loved Marina more, and he always got less attention.
But these were just childhood grievances, and the true reason was different. Three years ago, after barely graduating from university with his parents’ help, Vadim became heavily involved in gambling, unwilling to work or build his life in any way. Asking his father and mother for money every day for drinking and slot machines had become routine for him. The parents were tired of enduring their son’s antics and soon confronted Vadim with the facts. Then, after buying him a one-bedroom apartment, they helped him move to set up an independent life. Another major loss at the casino prompted Vadim to put his living space up for sale, and when his parents refused to help, a crazy plan came to mind.
Learning about this, Marina was in shock: she couldn’t believe that her brother, over some real estate, deprived their parents of their lives. The statute of limitations on the crime had not yet expired, and this was enough to hold Vadim accountable. Moreover, they miraculously managed to restore recordings from the cameras in that café. The moment of mixing the white powder into the coffee cups was captured on camera, and minutes later, the parents appeared, and there was clearly not a friendly conversation between them.
The dream Marina saw the night before helped uncover details that made her blood run cold. But, as they say, better late than never. And who knows how Vadim would have dealt with his own sister if he had decided to grab both the apartment and the decrepit house. One can say that the parents protected her from the beyond and prevented a terrible event from happening.