The village of Markova is located right at the foot of the mountain. The air here is clean. Near the village, there is a mountain stream and a dense green forest where locals often picnic during the warmer months. Andrey and Olesya had long dreamed of moving here. Finally, they completed their house on the purchased land, furnished it, and began living there. Their children, Denis and Rita, quickly made friends with the local kids and now spend their days playing in a meadow near their home.
“Olesya, why is it so quiet in the house? Are the kids still playing outside?” Andrey asked.
“Yes, I’m keeping an eye on them. It seems safe and quiet here. Almost no strangers around. Remember how we couldn’t get them off their phones before? Now they seem to have forgotten about them, they really like playing outdoors,” said Olesya.
“Yeah, I wanted to move here sooner, I really like it here too: the peace and quiet. Soon Marina and Oleg will visit us, we’ll take them and go for kebabs in the forest. They’ll like it!” said Andrey.
“Let them come, they never get any peace in their city. No proper sleep, no clean air, but here at least they can drink some natural milk, breathe the mountain air. My pie is almost ready, I’m about to start setting the table. You can call the kids now,” said Olesya.
While Andrey was about to go outside to call the kids, they ran home on their own, looking scared:
“Mom, mom! We saw a witch there!” Denis said, panting.
“What witch?” asked Olesya, surprised.
“She lives right behind our wall, she’s a very scary and mean old lady! You can’t greet her, or you might get sick. That’s what Baba Shura from the corner house told us,” said little Rita.
Andrey and Olesya silently exchanged glances, then Andrey seated the children at the table and said:
“Who’s the witch? Where did you see her? Tell me more about it.”
“Baba Shura, who lives in the gray house on the corner, came up to us a few days ago. She asked where we were from and who our parents were. We told her that you, dad, work as a driver, and mom used to work at school but now stays at home,” Denis began his story from afar.
“And what about the witch!” Olesya became curious.
“Then Baba Shura said that we built our house in a bad place. She said that there’s a witch living in the house next to ours. She also said that this old lady doesn’t like anyone, especially children. If you look her in the eyes, you might get sick,” said Denis.
“And it turns out, she doesn’t like animals either. If she looks at a kitten or a dog, they die the next day,” added little Rita.
“If that’s what they say, then it must be true. Witchcraft is not good. But don’t be afraid, she can’t do anything bad to us. Try to stay away from her and not talk to her,” said Andrey.
Olesya stood up from the table and looked towards the neighboring house over the fence. It was an old shabby house with small windows. It turned out that the kitchen and children’s room windows on the second floor faced directly the old lady’s house. Olesya repeated her husband’s words that the children should indeed be more cautious. Anxiety settled in her soul. The family was clearly not ready for such a surprise.
As the May holidays approached, in keeping with family tradition, Olesya decided to bake a pie. While setting the table, she decided to call her mother to congratulate her on the holiday.
“So, how do you like it in Markova? I bet the kids are thrilled?” asked Olesya’s mother, Zoya Alexandrovna.
“Yes, the kids are thrilled. And we really like it here. It’s all so quiet and calm, we finally started getting enough sleep,” said Olesya.
“And how about the local population? Haven’t they considered you as foreigners?” asked Zoya Alexandrovna.
“We haven’t really talked to anyone yet. Everyone seems friendly. There are three houses nearby. In two of them live single old ladies, and in the third lives some farmer. They say he doesn’t come here often,” answered Olesya.
“Well, my daughter, take the initiative yourself and try to get to know the neighbors. Try to establish good relations with them. If something happens, when you’re not home, good neighbors can keep an eye on your house,” said Zoya Alexandrovna.
After talking to her mother, Olesya decided not to postpone this matter. She filled a small bag with sweets, fruits, a bit of pie, and headed to Baba Shura’s house, which was right around the corner.
Baba Shura turned out to be a commanding woman with a strong character. Although she was approaching her nineties, she held herself upright, was angry at officials, dissatisfied with the youth, and knew everything about every villager. All in the best traditions of the village elder.
When Olesya knocked and Baba Shura opened the door, she was sure it would be difficult to befriend this old lady. But when Baba Shura heard that it was the new neighbors, she changed her tone and invited them into her home.
“And why did you decide to move here exactly?” asked Baba Shura.
“The air is clean, the kids have somewhere to play, and it’s not far from the city. My husband and I looked for a plot for a long time and found exactly the kind of place we dreamed of,” said Olesya.
“I wouldn’t be so happy if I were you!” said Baba Shura, looking at Olesya with a mysterious glance.
“What do you mean? Are there some secrets in this village?” asked Olesya.
“The village is wonderful! Well, it was many years ago. Back then, completely different people lived here, but over time some of them died, the youth moved to the city. And some events played a role in this. Some families had to move away from here, leaving their homes. All because of this Serafima!”
Olesya felt uneasy. Apparently, the kids weren’t imagining things. This old lady definitely knows something. She decided to find out more details:
“Who is Serafima?”
“Well, how could you not know? She lives right next to your house. Consider that your windows look out onto her windows. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m afraid you will suffer a lot from this witch. She never spared anyone. Everything human is foreign to her. I’ve seen a lot of her deeds. Because of her, so many innocent people have shed tears! Lord, forgive me for her and protect these innocent people,” Baba Shura started lamenting. Now Olesya was really scared, but she didn’t want to believe all these stories.
“Honestly, I don’t really believe in magic. It seems to me that it all works on the level of self-suggestion. Everything depends on the decisions the person themselves makes,” said Olesya.
“Of course, you are young, so to speak, stupid. Many before you thought the same way. However, those who did not believe in her evil spells suffered first,” said Baba Shura in an offended tone.
“Well, tell me, what has she done to everyone?” asked Olesya.
“We are of the same age. You could say we grew up side by side. She was a strange girl since childhood. Didn’t really talk to anyone, her parents died early. In her teenage years, she already started living a wild life. As she grew up, Serafima got into all sorts of trouble. She walked around with other men’s husbands, broke up so many families! The men she took from families would die a few months later.
“And now, who does she live with now!” asked Olesya.
“She doesn’t live with anyone. Who would need her now, deaf and nasty,” Baba Shura said and lit an unfiltered cigarette.
“Deaf?” Olesya asked, surprised.
“Yes, she later became deaf. It seems someone asked God to punish her for all her deeds. And God did, deprived her of speech and hearing. But that didn’t help! She kept on casting spells. In the village, someone’s house would burn down, someone’s barn would collapse for no reason, someone would lose money and be sent to prison, or animals would die out in the village. This is all Serafima’s doing,” said Baba Shura.
Olesya stayed in Baba Shura’s house for quite a long time. If at first, she did not believe all her stories, after hearing these terrible stories, she really started to think. What if it’s all true? Where’s the guarantee that Serafima won’t harm her family and children?
Initially, Olesya intended to first meet Serafima, who lives right behind their wall. But now she was scared even to look in the direction of her house. In the evening at dinner, Olesya and Andrey strictly warned the kids not to approach the woman’s house.
Olesya lost her peace of mind from that day. At night, she would wake up and remember the terrible stories of Baba Shura. How to protect the children? Several times a night, she would get up and peek into the children’s rooms. She approached their window and looked at Serafima’s house. From there, it was clearly visible what the neighbor was doing in her house.
And on the neighbor’s windowsill sat a black cat, candles burned on the table. “Exactly! These are all signs of black magic,” thought Olesya and drew the curtains.
Summer came. Villagers one by one began to leave for various places. Some went to accompany their high school graduates, some to the city for work, and some to visit relatives in other regions. Olesya and Andrey were still pleased with their new life. The kids would go swimming in the nearest water bodies in the morning and return closer to lunch, also very pleased with life in nature.
This family had a habit of sleeping at noon. Olesya had just put the kids to bed and decided to read a book at that time. Suddenly, she heard screams outside. The screams grew louder, and it seemed that someone was approaching their house. Olesya went out to the gate and saw that some woman was standing at the beginning of the street calling for help. The woman saw Olesya and started shouting something, but the wind carried her words away. Then the woman quickly began to run towards Olesya’s house. A couple of minutes later, she approached closely and asked:
“Is there a man in the house?” the woman asked, out of breath.
“My husband is at work. What happened? Maybe I can help you?” asked Olesya. From the frightened look on the woman’s face, Olesya realized that something unfortunate had definitely happened.
“Oh, my God! In my house… In my house…” the woman couldn’t say what was in her house, she just fainted.
Now Olesya felt uneasy. She leaned over the woman, but she lay unconscious. Now Olesya started screaming and calling for help from anyone. She realized that it would be difficult to get anyone’s attention, all hope was on Baba Shura. She was definitely at home. Olesya ran into the house, woke up her son Denis, and sent him to Baba Shura. And the woman on the street had not yet regained consciousness.
While Denis went for Baba Shura, another deafening woman’s scream was heard from one of the houses on this street. A few seconds later, another woman ran out of the house and began to call for help.
After some time, Baba Shura came out of her gates and headed towards Olesya, where she unsuccessfully tried to revive the unknown woman. The second woman, who had been calling for help, seemed to have found some men on the neighboring street. She ran back to her house, followed by a guy. The wind was still blowing, and it was impossible to hear what they were saying.
Baba Shura recognized the unconscious woman from a distance:
“Natashenka! Natasha, is that her? Oh Lord! What happened to her?” Baba Shura quickened her steps.
It seems Natasha heard her name and began to come to.
“A snake… There’s a snake in the house… I’m afraid of it!” said Natasha.
“Where did snakes come from here? I’ve lived here for 80 years and never saw that snakes were found here. Natashenka, maybe you imagined it?” asked Baba Shura.
“Go look for yourself, it crawled out of nowhere and lay right on the table. My God! How frightened I was!” Natalia clutched her heart.
“And what about Stepanovna shouting?” Baba Shura remembered the second woman who was calling for help. “Let’s go, find out what’s wrong with her,” said Baba Shura and headed towards Valentina Stepanovna’s house.
By this time, the guy who ran to her for help came out onto the street with a cloth bag in his hands. Something inside the bag was moving and trying to escape.
“These are water snakes, they are harmless, nothing scary,” the guy reassured Valentina Stepanovna.
The women explained that Natalia also found a water snake in her house. The guy took the bag somewhere away from the residential area, released the snake, and returned for the second one. During this time, Denis watched the entire process with great interest and asked the unfamiliar guy to let him touch the snake. Olesya scolded him for that.
Both women returned to their homes. Baba Shura and Olesya walked down the road and talked to each other:
“It’s definitely her doing, the witch! Serafima never got along with Natalia’s mother, she died 10 years ago, apparently decided to harm her daughter,” Baba Shura told.
“Alexandra Ivanovna, why would this old lady need all this? Is she really that malicious?” asked Olesya.
At which Baba Shura started to retell all the horror and mystical stories, the organizer of which is the deaf and lonely old woman Serafima. The stories sounded captivating, but something inside Olesya suggested that there was some untold story in this story. While she can’t understand what Baba Shura is omitting.
Every morning at the central stop of the village of Markova, a crowd of residents gathers. They are waiting for the milkman Mehmet. Olesya came last, when everyone else had already bought what they needed and were dispersing to their homes. The kind milkman Mehmet poured Olesya some milk, homemade sour cream, kefir, weighed some cottage cheese, and even let her try his cheese. Olesya thanked him and was about to leave, when a strange woman came up for milk.
Despite the summer time, the woman was dressed in a woolen burgundy coat. Such coats used to be scarce and hard to come by. In one hand, she had a staff with stones on the handle. In the other hand, the woman held a metal can. She approached Mehmet, opened the lid of her can, and tried to explain with gestures what she needed.
But Mehmet quickly closed the lids of his large flasks and responded very sharply to the woman:
“I will not sell you anything! Don’t even think about it, and don’t try to appeal to my pity!” said Mehmet and began to gesture with his hands for the woman to go away.
But the woman did not want to leave, she made some sounds and insistently asked to pour milk into her can. She immediately took out an old cloth wallet from her pocket and took out some money. She continued to make short sounds and with one hand extended her money to Mehmet, and in the other held her can. But the milkman Mehmet was adamant. When the woman in the burgundy coat persisted, Mehmet got angry and pushed her away from his truck.
Olesya felt sorry for the woman, and she asked the milkman:
“What’s the matter? Why don’t you want to sell this woman what she wants? She has money with her,” said Olesya.
“My daughter, you are new here, probably you don’t know. This is a witch. She causes all sorts of problems here. Last year, my two cows died. I’m sure she bewitched something,” said the milkman.
Olesya was of course surprised by such a confident statement from the milkman. But no matter how much the strange old lady in the red coat pleaded, the milkman did not sell her milk. He turned around and drove away. Olesya felt sorry for the old lady. She approached, took the old lady’s can, and poured half of her milk into it. The old lady teared up from surprise. She placed her palm on her heart, slightly bowed her head, thus expressing her sincere gratitude for such a trifle. Then she made a gesture with two hands, thumbs up, indicating to Olesya that she is a good person.
Olesya walked back home. A few steps behind her, shuffling old slippers and jingling her staff, walked that very Serafima. No matter how terrible the stories about her were, Olesya thought that this was just an ordinary harmless old woman.
Olesya could not forget how rudely the milkman treated this poor woman. If even the milkman refuses to sell her milk, then how does she really live? What is the scale of her bad reputation? Olesya was torn between her pity for this woman and curiosity. She didn’t want to blindly believe everything that was said about this woman.
Autumn arrived. Children started going to school, adults were busy preparing for winter. Each family here has their own decent vegetable garden. Some have orchards. The strange old lady Serafima behind the wall has a well-kept garden too. In her garden, different varieties of apples, pears, and even berries grow. With the onset of autumn, Serafima began to gradually gather her harvest from the garden. But how much can an old weak woman gather? Yet, she cannot ask anyone for help.
Olesya thought about sending Denis to help the old lady manage her harvest over a couple of days. But before doing that, she decided to discuss it with Andrey. Andrey was categorically against it.
“Mother, are you out of your mind? Everyone talks about what this old lady is capable of. Aren’t you scared to send our son there? What if she gives him something to drink or scolds him in some way? Where will we seek help then?” Andrey was outraged.
“I’ve encountered her a couple of times, I think she’s not such a malicious old lady. Maybe people are exaggerating? At least we don’t know the old lady’s version. She can’t tell us anything, who knows what can be made up behind her back,” Olesya insisted.
“No, don’t you dare do it! If you really want to help, go yourself, but don’t involve the children,” Andrey said sternly.
Olesya thought that Andrey actually had a good idea — she could go and help the old lady herself. So, the next day, when Andrey went to work and the kids were at school, Olesya took some food from home and headed to Serafima’s place. She decided to help the old lady with apple picking and at the same time find out whether she really practiced witchcraft or if it was just someone’s fabrication.
Olesya saw how modestly the old lady lived. Her house consisted of just three rooms. In one of them, there was a stove heated with wood. In another, there was a single bed covered with an old blanket. In the third room, where there was nothing but bare walls, the old lady decided to store her harvest. Olesya managed to collect only a few apples in one day of helping. It was indeed hard work.
But, when she was about to leave in the evening, the deaf old lady endlessly expressed her gratitude using gestures and short sounds. She wanted to give some money as a token of gratitude, but Olesya refused to take it.
A couple of days after this, Olesya decided to visit her mother. She had promised her mother a visit long ago, and her mother was starting to take offense that her daughter kept postponing her visit. Olesya spent 3 days there with the children.
When she returned, she noticed that in Serafima’s garden, two unknown men were gathering apples. Perhaps they were her relatives or had the old lady herself hired them for help? But everyone said she had no close relatives. Olesya decided to ask the men who they were.
One of them informed her that they were merchants. Allegedly, the homeowner herself had sold her apples right off the branches under the condition that they would gather and take them away themselves. Olesya thought that Serafima had made the right decision. The men quickly gathered all the apples and left. That same day, later in the evening, as Olesya was busy in her yard, she heard someone crying. She listened carefully and realized that the sobbing and crying were coming from Serafima’s house. She wanted to go and inquire what happened but didn’t want to irritate Andrey with her attention to this woman. She decided to postpone it until tomorrow. Since the old lady was crying, apparently something had happened again.
The next day, after sending her husband to work and the kids to school, Olesya cautiously went to Serafima’s place. She found her sitting in her empty room with eyes swollen from crying. Olesya gestured to ask what happened. The old lady began to gesticulate actively and cry, but Olesya didn’t understand anything. After several attempts to explain to each other, Serafima tired out. She stood up, took a notebook and a pen from a shelf. Right! Why hadn’t Olesya thought of it before, deaf people are usually literate; they know how to write and read.
Serafima wrote beautifully on paper that someone had sold her apples to unknown people. Olesya was shocked. How could this have happened? Serafima wrote on paper that unknown men had locked her in the house, gathered her apples, and left.
Olesya couldn’t get over what she heard. Consulting with Andrey on this matter was useless. He still believes more in what other people say. Then Olesya decided to act alone. From the same Baba Shura, she learned the address of the local police officer and headed to his workplace. She took Serafima’s documents and her paper messages with her, which stated that her apples were sold without her consent.
The police officer listened to Olesya’s story but was not in a hurry to act.
“Why didn’t this old lady come herself? How can we be sure, maybe she agreed with these men and took the money? People can make up anything if someone is willing to deal with them,” said the police officer.
“Please check it out just in case. I don’t believe an elderly person would lie…” pleaded Olesya.
“Then bring your neighbor here. Let her write a statement herself. We’ll try to do something if she has evidence that it was a criminal act,” the police officer said and asked Olesya not to disturb his work further.
From the police officer’s attitude, Olesya realized that it was pointless to expect help from him. Indeed, apart from words, Serafima had no evidence. Thus, the lonely deaf old lady was left without the harvest she had cared for every day throughout the spring and summer.
The end of autumn was unusually cold. A thick layer of snow already covered the ground, and the temperature had dropped well below zero. Frosts persisted day and night. Olesya and the children enjoyed the coziness of their new home during these days. As usual, she baked delicious pies in the evenings. After dinner, the kids sat down to do their homework, and Olesya settled by the window with a cup of tea.
“It’s so cold outside, how nice it is to sit in a warm house at this time. I wonder if Serafima managed to stock up enough coal and wood for the winter,” Olesya thought.
The next day she decided to visit her neighbor and also find out if it was warm in her house. It turned out Serafima was too weak to buy coal. And the wood did not provide enough heat, they burned out quickly, and the temperature in the rooms was little different from outside. No wonder the old lady had become severely ill under such conditions. She had a high fever, constant cough, and looked very weak. Olesya ran home, pulled an old heater from the storeroom, which they had not used for a long time, and took it to the neighbor.
Within half an hour, the room became noticeably warmer. Olesya also brought some medicine from home and gave them to Serafima. Thus, after 3-4 days, Serafima gradually started to recover. As usual, at every meeting with Olesya, she repeatedly made her gesture of gratitude. Andrey and the kids still didn’t know that Olesya was secretly helping this neighbor. They still believed that this old lady was a real evil witch and could harm anyone who got close to her.
Once again, when Olesya visited the neighbor and was leaving her place, Baba Shura noticed her. At that time, she was returning home from Mehmet, who brought delicious dairy products. Baba Shura clearly did not like this, but she did not show it. She greeted Olesya, asked her to come in for tea, and went to her house.
From that moment on, Baba Shura lost her peace of mind. What is this new neighbor doing visiting that Serafima? She had told the whole story of Serafima to warn the family of the new settlers.
“People have no fear! I must come up with something new to open this Olesya’s eyes,” thought Baba Shura.
The very next day, someone knocked on the gate. When Olesya opened it, she saw Baba Shura in front of her:
“Hello! We’ve been neighbors for almost a year, and I haven’t even congratulated you on your housewarming,” said Baba Shura.
Olesya invited her inside. Baba Shura slowly looked around all the rooms. Then Olesya set the table, and they sat down to have tea. They talked about many things. Baba Shura kept waiting for Olesya to start talking about Serafima. But Olesya didn’t mention her even once. Then Baba Shura decided to take the initiative and asked:
“How do you like living here? Isn’t that witch bothering you?”
“No, we hardly see her. I think she’s not as scary as they say,” said Olesya.
“Well, yes, well yes, you naive girl. And when your husband bought this plot with the old house, didn’t he inquire where the owners had gone?” asked Baba Shura.
“We bought it together. I remember it was sold by the grandson of the owners. The house was left to him in a will. The documents were all in order, everything clean. The grandson said that the grandmother and grandfather had lived out their lives,” said Olesya.
“I’m telling you, you’re naive!” said Baba Shura and shook her head.
“What else was there? You probably know more about the history of this plot, tell me,” asked Olesya.
“What’s the use of telling you? You don’t believe it anyway. You should have learned from others’ mistakes, but people are designed to understand when they personally experience something fully. You continue to visit her, and very soon you will see for yourself, then remember my words,” said Baba Shura.
Olesya didn’t attach much importance to these words. But Baba Shura now seriously thought about Olesya’s friendship with her sworn enemy, Serafima. She thought for several days and decided to act differently.
Baba Shura now eagerly awaited the weekend to see when Andrey would come out of the house to sit with neighbors on the bench under the tree. That day did not take long to come. Baba Shura took a shopping bag in her hands to pretend she was on her errands. She headed towards the only store in Markova. The men sat on the bench and were not about to disperse. Baba Shura decided not to waste time and looked around for someone to chat with. No such person was found. So, she had to act in her usual way – talk about the latest news with the store’s saleswoman.
When Baba Shura managed to tell all the news to the saleswoman and was returning back, the men were already dispersing. She hastened her steps to catch Andrey.
“How are you living here, new neighbors? Is anyone bothering you?” she asked Andrey.
“Hello, Alexandra Ivanovna! How are you yourself? Everything’s fine with us, we’re not complaining,” said Andrey.
“I’ve been wanting to tell you something for a long time, but I’ve been worried…”
Andrey invited Baba Shura to sit next to him on the bench and said:
“I’m listening.” Andrey became interested.
“Is no one really bothering you here?” Baba Shura asked in a whisper. Andrey didn’t understand what she was getting at. He just shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe I should have said this earlier. If something happens to you, I won’t be able to forgive myself. Knowing something and not warning others is a grave sin,” Baba Shura continued to intrigue Andrey.
“What are you talking about? Did something happen?” asked Andrey.
“Thank God, nothing has happened yet. But who knows what will happen tomorrow? I previously warned your Olesya to be on guard with this Serafima. But I see she doesn’t believe in her evil spells. Your Olesya seems to have befriended this witch. I’ve seen her several times leaving her gate.”
“But maybe she’s just visiting as a neighbor. I don’t think any trouble can happen because of this,” said Andrey.
“But that’s exactly what the late Viktor Sergeevich, the owner of that old house you later bought, said sitting on this bench many years ago. It wasn’t even three months before his wife, the late Maria Vladimirovna, fell ill with a terrible disease and suddenly left him. And then Viktor Sergeevich himself gave up his soul to God. And they were healthy, not frail, dreamed of dancing at their grandson’s wedding. But instead of a blessing from his grandparents, the grandson got an unpleasant surprise. When the grandson came to conduct the memorial service after 40 days of Viktor Sergeevich’s departure, he finally understood whose fault it was that his grandparents had prematurely left this world.
Andrey was really interested now, and he listened to Baba Shura very attentively. She noticed this and continued speaking:
“His name is Slava, and he’s a fine boy. So, he was cleaning up the yard and found a small bundle right under the threshold. He unwrapped it, and from it spilled earth mixed with hair and nails. There were also photos of Maria and Viktor. There was another small bundle, in which some kind of spell was written. Slava took all this and ran to me. I immediately understood whose handiwork this was. It was Serafima who often visited them. Only she engages in such activities, no one else.” Baba Shura made a sad face and shrugged.
“Well, okay, the neighbors died, but what benefit is there for this old lady Serafima from this?” asked Andrey.
“My grandmother used to tell me that witches cast spells not only by order but also by the will of the soul. And their souls have long been inhabited by the devil and multiplied. No one goes to Serafima and orders any rites. But her dark power demands application. So, she chooses her victims from those nearby,” said Baba Shura.
These words instilled real fear in Andrey. He went into the house and talked to Olesya. They had a serious argument:
“Why should we care what other people say? Baba Serafima is deaf, she can’t tell her version. I believed at first, but then I specifically went to her house to see if there were any signs of a witchy lifestyle. But I saw nothing like that,” said Olesya.
“And what does a witch’s house look like, according to you?” asked Andrey.
“Well, probably there should be skins and nails of killed animals…” said Olesya.
“Where did you get such knowledge?” asked Andrey.
“I saw it in movies on TV,” said Olesya.
Andrey laughed and said:
“I think that your defense of this old lady is just as naive as defining a witch by images from movies.”
“Not only that, I have intuition too. Something inside me suggests that this old lady is not as scary as they say about her. Just look into her eyes, there’s so much pain and suffering. If she were a witch, everything would be much easier for her: cast a spell on the offender and that’s it. But she suffers,” said Olesya.
The family dispute ended in a stalemate. Each remained of their opinion. But the scary stories about Baba Serafima were not over yet.
Very soon, Baba Shura saw Olesya again, as she entered Serafima’s gate with a bag in her hands. Baba Shura was seriously angry this time. She realized that even talking to Andrey didn’t help to persuade this stubborn Olesya.
Life in the village went on. Winter was coming to an end. Baba Serafima was very weak after a severe cold. But Olesya managed to nurse her back to health and strengthen her. The electric heater was very timely. Thanks to it, the old lady did not have to drag wet wood into the house several times a day. Her gratitude to Olesya knew no bounds.
One of the last days of winter prepared a new unpleasant surprise for the residents of Markova. At night, one of the houses on the side of the central road caught fire. The fire was extinguished by joint efforts, but the house became practically uninhabitable because the roof collapsed. The most unfortunate thing was that this house was inhabited by two teenagers — Valeria, who was 13 years old, and her 17-year-old brother Matvey. Their father was imprisoned when Valeria was just born. Then news came that he had died in prison. Their mother was an ordinary village woman who raised two children on her own. But last autumn, she suddenly fell ill and died.
No other close relatives were left. Thus, Valeria and Matvey remained living in their house. Indeed, representatives of social services helped them, watched over them. And now these two orphans were left without a roof over their heads. The fire broke out early in the morning. Fortunately, the thick smoke coming from their window was noticed by neighbors who came to help. They barely managed to pull the brother and sister out of the house before the roof collapsed. Now they sat on the snow near the rubble of their house and cried incessantly.
In the morning, all the residents of Markova gathered near the burned house except for Baba Serafima. Each of them sympathized with the victims. Someone brought a warm blanket from home, someone brought hot tea with sandwiches to feed them. The villagers tried to understand what caused the fire. Then someone stepped out of the crowd and began to speak:
“Here we stand guessing what caused the fire. But does it even matter? We won’t find out anyway. Disasters often occur not without human involvement. Maybe we should be looking for the culprit of the fire, not the causes?” a female voice declared loudly. And it was Baba Shura.
“What are you suggesting? Are we all detectives here, to find the culprit?” someone responded from the crowd.
Vasily Petrovich, you’re right, of course. We can’t conduct an investigation, but let’s apply some simple logic and think carefully. I personally saw someone from this village lurking around this house last night. We need to know this person’s name. If we identify the troublemaker, then everyone else can sleep peacefully without risking ending up on the street tomorrow,” said Baba Shura, gesturing toward the crying Valeria and Matvey, then clutching her heart.
“Who did you see there? Tell us, while we’re all here,” Vasily Petrovich’s voice came from the crowd again.
“Yes, yes, tell us, Baba Shura!” several people echoed.
“It was the witch Serafima! I saw with my own eyes how she came out of her gates last night and headed to this house. From my windows, everything is visible as on the palm of my hand. She has already been caught red-handed like this before. We must not forget that the devil has long lived in her soul and he demands misdeeds. And we have been suffering from this for years,” Baba Shura said, beating her chest.
People in the crowd began whispering among themselves.
“Alexandra Ivanovna, forgive me. I visited my neighbor Baba Serafima last night. She was very ill, had high blood pressure. I gave her medicine and put her to bed. She fell into a deep sleep. She couldn’t have left her house at night to set fire to someone else’s house. She simply isn’t capable of doing that! Don’t blame someone without evidence,” Olesya’s voice spoke up.
Baba Shura recognized the voice and began to seethe inside, annoyed that Olesya had now become a thorn in her side. “Olesya, my dear! You’re young and naive, you don’t understand many things. I’ve warned you several times, don’t get involved with that old woman, you’ll suffer! But you didn’t believe me, you’ll see everything for yourself soon,” Baba Shura continued to lament.
“Alexandra Ivanovna, is it true that Serafima practices witchcraft? If so, it’s a very grave sin. We need to take her to church and cast the devils out of her,” someone from the crowd said, stepping forward. It was the local priest. The crowd again stirred and began to whisper.
“The Lord commanded us to live by his laws. Only the devil tries to confuse people at every step. Until the devil is cast out of a person, he will continue to do evil through this person’s hands. I insist that you bring Serafima to church, and we will soon set her on the right path. And with that, all the troubles and suffering in our village will end,” the priest said.
“Amen!” added the local alcoholic, Sergey.
The next day, several villagers gathered and brought Serafima to church by the hands. The priest delivered a sermon and invited those who do not believe in devils to stay here and observe what they can do to people.
Baba Shura, Olesya, and several other curious villagers attended the exorcism ceremony. However, no one bothered to ask if the simple village priest had permission to conduct this rite.
The priest began to read a prayer. Those present also read along. After some time, the prayer began to show its power, and the behavior of those present began to change. Baba Shura first started to yawn actively. Gradually her yawn turned into strong spasms of the respiratory organs. Now she made hoarse sounds, accompanied by screams. But those present were engrossed in a trance, they thought the process was working, and the devil began to leave Serafima. Surprisingly, Serafima quietly sat in the middle of the hall and silently observed what was happening. After some time, Baba Shura’s strange sounds intensified and turned into hysterical screams. Some of the attendees seemed scared and began to gradually leave the prayer hall. But Baba Shura’s suffering didn’t seem to stop.
Exhausted from the strong spasms, nausea, and her own screams, Baba Shura sought a way to stop it. She hopefully looked at the priest, but he continued to read the prayer right above Serafima’s head and didn’t look her way. Then Baba Shura found a simple solution — she headed for the exit. But, her legs refused to obey her. She stumbled on flat ground and fell with every step.
Someone from the attendees decided to help her get outside. Once outside, Baba Shura immediately wanted to run away from this place. The priest finished reading the prayer, Serafima crossed herself and with the help of her hands showed a gesture of gratitude to the priest. She was glowing and radiant. Olesya took her by the hand, and they went home. No one commented on what happened. Thus the exorcism session passed.
Days went by. The village lived its everyday life. Everyone eagerly awaited the spring after a long cold winter. Soon the spring fieldwork would start, and the villagers would collectively begin their farming tasks. Denis and Rita reminded their father during these days that after adapting to the new village he had promised to buy livestock, and they could graze it on the meadow. Andrey and Olesya liked this idea. Choosing a domestic animal also posed no problem. The children wanted a goat.
Within a week, a goat was purchased and peacefully grazed grass in the yard. The children’s joy knew no bounds. They fussed with the goat until late at night. In the evening, they dragged it to the playground to show it to other children. And those laughed, because some of them had a full barn of such goats and for them, it was nothing new.
Rita consulted with her friends and named their goat Fairy. So now they would call this lovely animal.
“Mom, can I take Fairy with me to school? While I’m at lessons, she can graze on the hill near the school. There are many sheep and goats walking around there,” Rita said during dinner.
“Darling, what nonsense? How would it look for a sweet girl to drag a goat to school, huh? Just imagine,” Olesya said, stroking her daughter’s hair.
Denis and Rita laughed at their own idea and agreed with their mother’s decision. The goat would live in the yard for now until Andrey built a small barn for her. In just a few days, Fairy became the family’s favorite.
One day, Rita returned from school and started crying right in the yard. Olesya heard her daughter’s crying and rushed outside.
“What happened, Rita? Why are you crying?” she asked.
“Fairy is lost. She’s not in her place.” Rita began to cry even louder.
Indeed, Fairy was not visible in the yard. Olesya was surprised; she had not gone out or opened the gates for the animal to escape.
“Your Fairy will be found, I think she’s somewhere in the garden grazing. Get changed and sit down, dinner is getting cold,” Olesya said and decided to check the gates just in case. They were indeed tightly closed.
Rita refused to eat. She was still worried about her Fairy. Olesya promised that they would wait for Denis to come back from school and then all go look for her. Denis was also upset about Fairy’s disappearance. They spent the rest of the day walking through different streets of the village, asking everyone about Fairy. It turned out that no one had seen the goat.
Only in the evening, when Andrey came back from work, they were able to find the goat. Actually, she had not gone out through the gates at all. Goats find it uninteresting. Usually, they choose spaces with obstacles and go through them. And so, Fairy saw a low fence between her owners’ garden and Baba Serafima’s garden. When Andrey saw her from afar, she was peacefully grazing right in front of Serafima’s house.
Olesya and Rita went to Serafima, entered the house, and explained the situation. When everyone came together to lead the goat out, they saw that Fairy had trampled all of Serafima’s plants. Olesya apologized profusely, and Baba Serafima made it clear through gestures that she was not offended and that she would plant new ones.
Olesya got up early in the morning as usual today. Now she needs to hurry to prepare breakfast for her children, prepare her husband’s change of clothes, and then deal with her own business. She went to the bathroom for some trifle and her gaze fell on the sink. Olesya was frightened by the sight: there were bloodstains on the sink. They appeared quite some time ago, as they had already dried up.
Olesya recalled the evening before. The children came home, had dinner, did their homework, and went to bed. Andrey came later, but he had no problems to bleed like that. Olesya decided to wait for Andrey to wake up and show him this gruesome picture. But while she was preparing breakfast, she heard someone rushing from the second to the first floor with a crash. It was Denis.
He closed the bathroom door, flushed the sink, and was in there for quite a long time. Olesya was worried and knocked on the bathroom door:
“Denis, is everything alright?”
“Mom, I can’t stop the blood.” Denis said in a barely audible voice.
“Son, why didn’t you tell me? Open the door immediately, what happened to you?” Olesya started fussing.
Denis opened the bathroom door, and Olesya saw blood flowing from both his nostrils. It seems the bleeding started a long time ago, as Denis had turned pale and weak.
Olesya rushed to the kitchen, took out her home first aid kit, and started looking for medicine. She applied all kinds of drugs she could find, but the blood could not be stopped.
Andrey and Rita, who came down later, were also shocked by Denis’s condition. Olesya insisted that Rita go to school. She herself got dressed, and they decided to take Denis to a doctor. But the stubborn Denis refused. He kept saying that it would pass soon. To Olesya’s questions about what happened and when it all started, Denis gave vague answers. Well, Olesya guessed that Denis had already suffered from nosebleeds at night.
The doctor examined Denis and could not find any signs of illness. No temperature, no signs of poisoning, blood pressure normal, no injuries the day before… What a strange disease is this? The doctor helped stop the blood and prescribed strict bed rest for Denis.
When Denis was brought back, Andrey no longer hid his anger and scolded Olesya:
“See, everything happens just as Baba Shura described, it’s all done by your mysterious old woman. A mysterious illness is always from witchcraft! Well, you continue to fuss with her and endanger our children’s health,” said Andrey.
Olesya sat silently and did not comment on her husband’s words. A few days later, Denis began to recover.
During this time, Olesya accidentally learned from neighbors on the street that the night before Denis had indeed fought with some boys. Olesya was scared, ran to her son, and started asking everything. He still denied it. Then they had to take Denis to the doctor again, where it turned out that the boy had indeed broken his nose. He was facing surgery.
As a result of the disputes, each remained at their own opinion: Andrey was sincerely convinced that it was the work of the evil old woman. Olesya just scolded her son for getting into a fight and hiding it from his parents.
A couple of days later, Rita came home from school and started crying in the yard again. Olesya ran out to the yard and saw her daughter sitting hugging a goat.
“Mom, why didn’t you watch, Fairy is sick? Look, she’s barely breathing and not eating, why didn’t you watch her? Is she going to die now? I’m so used to her! Mom, please do something,” Rita sobbed.
Olesya approached and saw that the goat indeed looked very weak. Fairy’s eyes were dull and there was none of her usual vivacity, no desire to run and jump. Olesya barely calmed her daughter, promising to soon invite a veterinarian and show Fairy.
Denis and Rita did not leave Fairy’s side for the rest of the day. In the evening when Andrey came home from work, he saw Fairy’s condition and was also upset. He promised that he would take the goat to the vet first thing in the morning and that he would surely cure her.
But the most tragic event for the children happened the next morning. Fairy did not survive the night and died. Rita cried bitterly, Denis sobbed next to her. They were inconsolable. Their parents also felt very sorry for the goat. Andrey had a hard time convincing his children to give up the goat’s body to take it away and bury it somewhere. The children remembered Fairy with sadness for a long time.
In the evening, when the children were asleep, Olesya and Andrey discussed this issue.
“I think there’s some truth in Baba Shura’s words. How can a healthy goat die without any apparent reasons?” Andrey asked.
“Do you also think that Baba Serafima possesses evil power and directed it against us? Andrey, but that’s absurd. Alright, it’s possible against people. But why a goat? And besides, does magic affect animals, right?” asked Olesya.
“Just think about it, first she gets into Serafima’s garden, tramples her plants, then gets sick and dies. Don’t you see a direct connection? Besides, the old woman has a reason to be angry at our goat,” said Andrey.
“Andrey, get rid of such thoughts. She’s just an ordinary old woman. She doesn’t have any evil power. And what they say about her, it still needs to be checked how much of it is true,” said Olesya.
But this, as before, did not convince Andrey. Baba Shura’s stories had a strong impression on him. He was angry at Serafima and not averse to avenging her for the life of an innocent animal. In addition, he did not like that Olesya ignored all warnings and continued to closely interact with this strange woman.
With the arrival of the summer holidays, Olesya decided to visit her mother. She hadn’t seen her for a long time. Besides, her mother had long said that she missed her grandchildren and wouldn’t mind pampering them at her home. Olesya prepared plenty of food for Andrey, bought gifts for her mother, took the children, and set off.
Zoya Alexandrovna was very happy about the arrival of her daughter and grandchildren. Olesya, in between, told her mother the story with Baba Serafima.
“Mom, do you believe that some ordinary old woman can do so much evil?” asked Olesya.
“Anything can happen in life. Yes, witches are a special caste of people. They are driven by demons. We think that witchcraft is done only on a specific order, but who prevents a person from using it out of a feeling of malice or offense? When you have the power, how important is it who you use it against?” said Zoya Alexandrovna thoughtfully.
If Olesya argued quite confidently with Andrey, her mother’s statement made her think. Indeed, Olesya had almost no interest in such things before moving to the village of Markova. Only now she is learning a lot of new things.
“But on the other hand, even if she casts a spell, I feel sorry for this old woman. She’s deaf-mute, moreover, completely alone, she has no close ones. I want to support her sometimes. And now what, stop interacting with her? And it’s not even interaction, I just occasionally treat her to something tasty, and that’s it,” said Olesya.
“Your grandmother, my mother, told me that she also encountered the witchcraft powers of her friend in her youth. The witch may not wish evil to her close ones, but the influence of evil on them occurs regardless of the witch’s will. She may not even know about it. Because of the influence of her friend, my mother almost became disabled in her youth. But fortunately, knowledgeable people warned her in time, and she managed to escape. In the end, she had to flee the village altogether so that the witch-friend completely lost contact with her. So don’t ignore the advice of knowledgeable people. Your pity for her may play a cruel joke on you,” said Zoya Alexandrovna.
A week passed since Olesya had been visiting her mother with her children. They missed their home and decided to return. Zoya Alexandrovna packed a large bag of treats and saw them off at the bus station.
The children missed their father and were eager to get home. Olesya also had many plans for the coming days. All the way, she thought about her mother’s words and made a decision. Most likely, she would now greatly limit her visits to Serafima. Even if the old woman would have a hard time, she somehow lived before Olesya appeared. If it becomes unbearable, let her now seek help herself.
A few days later, by habit, after dinner, Olesya sat at the window and drank her favorite fruit cocktail.
She looked at the neighboring window and noticed that there was no light there. She thought that perhaps Baba Serafima had gone to bed early. The next day, Olesya noticed the darkness in the neighbor’s window again. The light did not come on the third day, nor the fourth, nor the fifth. Olesya became concerned. Once again, after sending her husband to work, she went to the neighbor’s house herself.
How surprised she was when she found no Baba Serafima in the house. All the doors were wide open. There was even unwashed dishes and stale bread on the table.
The elderly woman usually loved to dig in the garden all day long. Olesya searched her entire garden, but she wasn’t there either. In the evening, she told everything to Andrey, but he quickly changed the topic of the conversation and pretended he was completely unaware of what was happening in the neighbor’s life.
Olesya thought that perhaps Serafima had gone somewhere to her old acquaintances or maybe to distant relatives. If so, she should return soon. Besides, she didn’t lock her house doors for some reason. She periodically watched Serafima’s house, although there was absolutely nothing to steal there.
Summer ended. The vegetables, greens, berries, and fruits that Baba Serafima had carefully planted in the spring were fully yielding their fruits, but there was no one to collect them. Obviously, Serafima did not go visiting. Olesya tried to find out from other villagers if the old woman had any close friends in other lands. It turned out that almost all the residents of Markova had moved there relatively recently. And the local residents either moved somewhere else or were no longer alive. Only Baba Shura could know the details of Serafima’s life. But she, after public verbal altercations with Olesya and after the story with the exorcism, prefers to lead a reclusive lifestyle. She no longer appears on the street as often. If she does appear occasionally, she tries not to communicate with anyone. Olesya realized that it was pointless to turn to her for information. But she couldn’t forget about Baba Serafima: where did the lonely elderly woman disappear to? What if something unfortunate happened to her? Many thoughts troubled Olesya. Moreover, she sees the empty house from every window of hers every time.
The golden autumn was already ending. The harvest in Serafima’s garden was rich this year. But there was no one to collect it. All the plants remained on their branches. Olesya thought for several days about collecting all her crops and bringing it into her house, but then she remembered her mother’s words again and abandoned the idea.
Winter came. Life goes on, but the light in the neighboring house has still not come on. Olesya’s curiosity gradually began to fade. Maybe it’s for the best? Perhaps, if Serafima was to blame for everything, maybe now all the residents of Markova can finally start a new life? If so, let it be so. Olesya now began to think so.
Being an exemplary housewife, Olesya never neglected her house and always conducted general cleanings on time. During this usually family event, everything extra is taken out of the house and sorted. Some of the items go for recycling, some go to the old pantry. This time, there were quite a few things for the pantry. She gathered them in a separate bag and asked Andrey several days in a row to take them to their place.
Andrey had allocated a separate area in his garage for storing such things and designed it as a separate room. When Olesya got tired of asking Andrey, she decided to take these things to that room inside the garage herself.
Olesya was speechless when she opened the door of this pantry and saw what was lying on the floor. It was an old burgundy woolen coat and a wooden staff. These items belonged to Baba Serafima! She never parted with them. She wore her burgundy coat even on hot summer days. Olesya now seriously wondered what had happened last summer in her absence?
The garage is completely under Andrey’s control. It seems that this family is facing a serious conversation this evening. Until the evening, Olesya struggled with her negative thoughts. She didn’t want to believe any of them, but her new findings seriously disturbed her mind.
In the evening, when the children were asleep, Olesya called Andrey into the kitchen and started a conversation:
“Do you have anything you want to tell me?” Olesya said.
“I can tell a joke, a bedtime story, or the latest football news. What are you more interested in?” Andrey tried to turn everything into a joke.
“It’s not funny at all, Andrey! I’m barely holding back my emotions. This thought has been bothering me before, but now I’m practically beside myself. Today I found Baba Serafima’s burgundy coat and wooden staff in our pantry. Please tell me, my dear husband, how did they end up there?” Olesya asked.
“That’s impossible! What are you talking about?” Andrey was puzzled.
“Come on, I’ll show them to you. I haven’t touched them, they lie as they were.” Olesya said and took her husband by the hand. Andrey was bewildered and followed his wife. Indeed, opening the pantry door in the garage, he saw that very burgundy coat and wooden staff.
Andrey did not know how to explain all this to his wife. Olesya was not going to just close this issue. She was now restless with anxiety. Although it was difficult for her to express her main suspicion, Andrey understood it perfectly. The next few days they spent between themselves in constant disputes.
“How can you even think of such a thing?” Andrey protested. Do you want to say that I somehow dealt with this old woman and hid the evidence in the pantry?
“I don’t even want to think that close. What if someone else did it and planted the evidence in your garage? How will you prove to the police that you are not involved? The old woman disappeared — it’s a fact, her things are lying in our garage! How did they get there? What if someone finds out tomorrow and starts investigating? I’m even afraid to think about what happens next,” Olesya continued to insist.
“Do you even understand what you are accusing me of? I see all this here for the first time! Doesn’t it seem too offensive to you — to accuse me of being complicit in a crime?” Andrey denied.
Olesya indeed had her head spinning. If she had previously only worried about the old woman, now she had a real fear that someone might knock on the door at any moment and ask Andrey to show his garage. Endless disputes except for mutual grievances and reproaches gave nothing.
Olesya was now trying her best to forget the whole murky story. She invented various activities and hobbies to distract herself mentally. But as soon as her eyes fell on the neighboring house, she plunged back into dark thoughts. Eventually, she realized that she couldn’t just close her eyes to everything. Something had to be done. And she decided to take action on her own.
After sending her husband off to work, Olesya headed to the house of old lady Serafima. She began to rummage through her meager belongings in the hope of finding any information about her relatives. Among old books, she found a stack of black-and-white but yellowed photographs. In them, Serafima was still young. The photographs showed that there had been happy times in her life. In one of them, Serafima was a blooming young woman with a long braid. In another, she was in a wedding dress. And her husband was such a handsome young man! And there was a photo with her one-year-old son.
No matter how much Olesya searched, she couldn’t recognize anyone from the photos as someone living in this village. Old lady Shura was right when she said that only she and Serafima remained from their contemporaries. Olesya now began to leaf through the books. On the main page of one of them, she discovered a memorial note: to my dear classmate Serafima from Yefim.
Olesya remembered that at the other end of the village lived a certain lonely old man, Yefim Borisovich. True, he had been bedridden for a long time and did not go outside. But for Olesya, this was the only chance to get any information about Serafima. Olesya took the book and left the house.
Finding Yefim Borisovich’s house was not difficult. True, he lived quite far away. When she arrived, Yefim Borisovich was receiving another IV drip. This frail old man spoke with great difficulty and heard poorly. His young granddaughter took care of him. Olesya explained the purpose of her visit. Yefim Borisovich began to tell something, but his speech was indistinct. His granddaughter, Liza, helped Olesya understand what he was talking about.
It turned out that Serafima really was his classmate. She had been a completely healthy girl in her youth, losing the gift of speech and hearing only in adulthood. After finishing school, Serafima received vocational education, worked at the local factory, and was among the best workers. All the enviable bachelors in the village tried to win her favor at the time. Later, Serafima got married and had a son. Some time later, the son died.
Among the villagers, rumors still circulated that Serafima had allegedly killed her own son. They also whispered that after some time, she killed her husband and no one could punish her because she did all this using black magic. That’s all Yefim Borisovich could tell. Regarding relatives, he remembered that Serafima’s parents had an older son who moved to the city when he was young and stayed there. Allegedly, that son has children, Serafima’s nephews. In their youth, they visited their aunt a couple of times, but then they never appeared again.
Olesya pleaded to remember the names of these nephews, but for Yefim Borisovich, it was an impossible task. Then he advised her to turn to another contemporary of theirs—a former history teacher, Ignat Mikhailovich, who, like him, had been bedridden for a long time.
Now Olesya headed to Ignat Mikhailovich. He turned out to be more alert than Yefim Borisovich and told her a bit more. Olesya managed to learn the surnames of Serafima’s nephews specifically.
Going to the city without knowing the exact address of the person was a dubious idea for Olesya. And Andrei would have been upset in this case. Moreover, the dark thoughts had severely deteriorated their relationship, and he had become very despondent. Olesya now began to search for these people through social networks. She had to spend a lot of time corresponding with dozens of strangers until she found those very nephews of Serafima.
The fact that Olesya found the right people and contacted them did not help her at all. It turned out that these people really were Serafima’s nephews, but the last time they contacted their aunt was 20 years ago, and now they hardly remembered her at all. There was no question of them taking Serafima in. Neither nephew showed interest in why an unknown woman was looking for their aunt. Olesya realized that the fate of her aunt was completely uninteresting to them. Thus, Serafima’s disappearance was definitely not connected with these people.
Olesya was disheartened. She still tries to wave everything off, forget this strange story, and continue living her carefree life, but it doesn’t work out. But she also fails to find out anything that could refute or confirm her husband’s involvement in the old woman’s disappearance.
Several months passed. Olesya lives in constant fear that if Andrei is involved in this story, they might come for him. But Andrei continues to deny everything.
One of those days, she had a vivid dream. In it was Serafima. She was dressed in a bright dress and picking berries in some small garden. Olesya was outraged and told her that she was looking for her. To which Serafima only repeated one word—Znamensky. Olesya kept trying to find out more, but Serafima had only one answer to all questions— “Znamensky.”
Olesya woke up, but the word “Znamensky” still rang in her ears. In the morning, she forgot about her dream. She tried to distract herself with her activities for several days, but as soon as the pattern fell on the neighboring house, she remembered the old woman who seemed to have disappeared through the earth.
The next important thought illuminated Olesya only a week later. She decided to find out more about what the word “Znamensky” meant. It turned out this name appears in many places. There’s such a city, such a village, such an educational institution…
Olesya’s attention was drawn to another place—the Znamensky Women’s Monastery, which is located not far from their village.
Olesya was not sure that she had correctly interpreted the hint. But she was used to relying on her feminine intuition, and often it turned out to be right. Now she had only one option to check it—go to this monastery and find out if Serafima had gone there. Consulting about this with Andrei was not the best idea. So she had to lie that she would soon go to visit a friend in the neighboring village.
The day finally arrived. Olesya easily found the Znamensky Women’s Monastery. True, she got a little lost with the street and had to search. While she was standing and wondering which direction to go, a young woman approached her:
— You don’t seem local? Maybe you need help with something? — asked the woman.
— Yes, I heard there is a women’s monastery here. I need to get there…
— Follow me, I’ll show you where it is. — said the woman, smiled, and led Olesya. After they walked some distance, the woman turned and asked:
— Did you want to visit someone here?
— I’m not sure, but I decided to try. — said Olesya, but did not elaborate on her story seen in a dream and the complicated story of old lady Serafima.
— The thing is, a woman who recently came here warned all of us that she might be looked for. That’s why I noticed you and asked. — said the woman.
Olesya didn’t quite understand what this woman was getting at, so she didn’t pay attention to these words. They quickly reached the right place.
— Thank you for the hint, I’ll manage from here on… — said Olesya.
— We’re going the same way, I also serve in this monastery. Just tell me your purpose, I can help you. — smiled the woman. Only now Olesya realized that some bright forces themselves were guiding her way.
— Her name is Serafima. Is there anyone here by that name?
— There is, she just told me the other day that she might be looked for. Let’s go, I’ll take you to her. — said the woman. Olesya was still doubtful because what she was told didn’t quite fit with Serafima. She was deaf and mute, she couldn’t have said anything like that.
But what a surprise it was for Olesya when, after a few seconds, she saw that very neighbor, old lady Serafima.
— Here you are, my dear! You’ve been looking for me, I felt it all. — said Serafima and hugged Olesya.
— What do you mean? You started talking?… — Olesya couldn’t believe her eyes.
— With God’s help! God finally heard my prayers and returned my speech and hearing. — smiled Serafima.
Then Serafima invited Olesya to a bench in the garden. They really had a lot to talk about.
— You must have a lot of questions for me? I’ll tell you everything now. But first, I’d like to know the name of such a kind woman with a big heart? — asked Serafima.
— Olesya…
— Olesya, why were you looking for me? God gave me a sign that we definitely needed to meet… — said Serafima.
— I went to my mother for a week, and when I came back, I didn’t find you at home. I thought you had gone somewhere. But enough time has passed, and you don’t show up at your house. Then I accidentally discovered some of your personal belongings in our closet. I thought… My thoughts painted different pictures and it was very important for me to know what happened to us. That’s why I was looking for you. — said Olesya.
— I had to leave the village in a hurry because I was very scared. — said old lady Serafima. Olesya did not interrupt and listened to her further.
— The thing is, when you weren’t there, local layabouts Sergey and Vanya came to your house. From what I understood, your husband hired them to clean up your yard. He’s not local, doesn’t know that Sergey and Vanya have a bad habit. They drag along everything that catches their eye. That day, for some reason, their eyes fell on me. I was working in the garden and saw one of them climb over the fence and enter the house. A few minutes later, he came out with my only suitcase, in which I kept my most valuable things. I tried to catch him and take back my suitcase, then Vanya threatened me with his fists. He made it clear that they would return. And I thought they might kill me. After all, there’s no one to stand up for me. I was afraid that if they killed me, my body would be left to the cats and dogs to eat until you returned home.
That’s when I remembered this place and ran without looking back.
— Forgive me, but the villagers talk so much about you… — said Olesya, hinting at the horrible stories about witchcraft.
— I know! I know where it all started and how long it has been going on. For you to understand everything as it is, I will have to tell you the story of my entire life. — said Serafima. Olesya was intrigued, she nodded her head and expressed readiness to listen to her story.
When I turned 18, which was 60 years ago, I fell deeply in love with my Konstantin Viktorovich, God rest his soul. But my mother insisted that I get an education. I wanted that too, so I had to leave my Konstantin for a while and go to a teachers’ college. Konstantin often visited me, we walked together, holding hands, and dreamed of a happy future together. But when I graduated and returned to our village, I heard from neighbors that Konstantin had married Alexandra,” Grandma Serafima recounted.
Olesya was once again convinced that her intuition about the special tension between Grandma Shura and Grandma Serafima was correct. It seemed there was an ongoing rivalry between them. But for now, Olesya decided not to interrupt and continued listening.
“I also learned that Alexandra had married Konstantin because she was pregnant by him. Later, they had a daughter who sometimes visits Grandma Shura. But over time, my Konstantin fell seriously ill. Alexandra, who was a nurse in our village, tried everything to cure him, but nothing helped.
I was dying of heartache and worry for him, but I wasn’t planning to take him back. One day, I couldn’t bear it anymore and went to the hospital to visit my beloved. I gave him an amulet that had belonged to Konstantin’s grandmother. His grandmother loved me very much and wanted to see me as a member of her family. She was unhappy with her son’s choice and did not approve of their marriage. But soon after, she passed away.
I thought the family amulet might help Konstantin recover. And it did. A few days after my visit, Konstantin began to improve. Somehow, Alexandra found out.
She didn’t rejoice that Konstantin Viktorovich was getting better; instead, she harbored jealousy and malice towards me. She came to me, called me an evil witch, and promised to make my life hell. She succeeded,” said Grandma Serafima.
“Why would she be so angry if she was already married to him?” asked Olesya.
“Because Konstantin never forgot about me. Even though they lived together and raised a daughter, he kept saying he had promised to be with me. Eventually, Alexandra couldn’t contain her jealousy and started to torment Konstantin. She monitored every step he took. If Konstantin Viktorovich was delayed somewhere with friends, Alexandra would come to me and threaten me. She always thought he was secretly visiting me, but that was not the case.
I respected their marriage and their daughter and genuinely wished Konstantin happiness there. But it didn’t work out. Konstantin started drinking. And now he really started seeking solace with me. I didn’t accept him, sent him back to Alexandra. But one day, he came to me and firmly stated that he would stay with me.
After that, he never changed his mind and did not want to return to Alexandra. But he regularly saw his daughter. After experiencing enough time, I realized the seriousness of Konstantin’s intentions. He really wanted to spend his life with me. I am also a woman, I couldn’t resist… especially since he was my first love and I never forgot him.
We got married, and this enraged Alexandra even more. Although many decent men courted her, she rejected them all. Her thoughts were occupied with how to take revenge on me. I always hoped that Alexandra would eventually calm down. When it came time for me to give birth to my late son Alexei, I knew I should not fall into Alexandra’s hands.
Then Konstantin Viktorovich took me to the city, and our son was born there. We returned when he was over a month old. Our son was very charming, a spitting image of Konstantin Viktorovich. I still hadn’t lost hope that Alexandra would come to her senses. I even wanted Alexandra’s daughter and my son to interact with each other like siblings, but Alexandra would never allow it.
“That’s why she calls you an evil witch,” laughed Olesya.
“Yes, she warned me about that. But her schemes didn’t end there; they were just beginning. Truthfully, Alexandra sometimes became very friendly. I began to relax, thinking she had resigned herself and let go of Konstantin. But my naivety played a cruel joke on me.
Two years later, my Alexei suddenly fell ill. Instead of taking him to another doctor in the city, I rushed and asked Alexandra to prescribe medicine for my son. She was extremely friendly. She offered to come herself and give him a few injections. She promised that this way, my Alexei would recover faster. I believed her words. I thought she valued her medical profession and would not harm a small child. But, after her injections, Alexei suddenly got much worse, and he died in my arms at night.
Then, with my son’s lifeless body, I ran to Alexandra’s house and begged her to do something. But she looked at me with a triumphant gaze and said:
“Why do you think your son died from illness or an injection? Maybe he died because you fell asleep while breastfeeding him. Maybe you smothered your son?” that’s what Alexandra told me. And only then did I realize that she had taken revenge on me by killing my son.
I begged her until morning to do something and bring my son back. I promised and swore that I would not keep Konstantin Viktorovich, I would bring him to her myself tomorrow and renounce him if Alexandra saved my son. But it was already too late, his body had gone cold in my arms.
After we buried my Alexei, all the villagers began to avoid me as if I were a leper. Only after some time did I learn through acquaintances that Alexandra had told everyone her version: that I smothered my son in my sleep and blamed Alexandra for improper treatment. This was an unbearable blow for me.
My Konstantin Viktorovich tried his best to support me. I knew that only the birth of another child could save me from my grief. So, I took myself in hand and began preparing to become a mother again. But luck was not on our side. Konstantin Viktorovich fell ill again. He had tuberculosis. True, Alexandra did not know this earlier when she married him. But I knew from the beginning, so I tried every day to give him happiness and enjoy his presence myself.
The second time, during the exacerbation of his illness, even the family amulet could not save him. Thus, three months after losing my son, my beloved husband died in my arms. I still refused to believe all this. Only at the moment when the priest was saying the last rites for my Konstantin, pronouncing ‘deceased Konstantin’, I remember how loudly I screamed at those words and covered my ears. Those were the last words I heard. That day I lost my hearing and speech.
Olesya of course suspected that the story could be something like this, but the malice of Grandma Shura apparently knows no bounds. She decided to continue listening to Grandma Serafima, who was eager to continue her story:
“And Alexandra’s schemes did not end there. After the death of my husband, I could not come to terms with it for a long time. But for some reason, idlers and alcoholics from our village frequented my house. They came at night and tried to break into my house. I lived in constant fear. But that wasn’t enough, the next day their wives would come and taunt me. Only later did I understand that Alexandra was pushing them towards me. I don’t know under what pretext… but probably she was telling their wives that they were visiting me.
“Yes, Grandma Shura told me about this. Only she presented it as if you constantly lured away other women’s husbands from their families throughout your life,” added Olesya.
“It seems so. Over time, I noticed that almost all my fellow villagers began to avoid me. But over time, some of them died, some moved away, some resettled like you. But the newcomers shunned me even worse. Thus, I became an outcast in my village.
“And when did you start speaking again? That was a real surprise for me,” said Olesya.
“I prayed to God about it every day. When I ran away from my home, I recited a prayer to myself. It seemed to me that I was praying silently. Only when I reached this monastery did I realize that I was praying to God in my own language and could hear everything myself. So I came here not deaf and mute,” said Grandma Serafima and smiled.
“And I kept blaming my husband. My foolish head thought that he got angry about the death of our goat and suddenly did something in my absence,” said Olesya.
“I’m not offended by this. There have been thousands of such stories in my life. If someone’s house burned down, the next day they would come and scold me. If someone got sick or died, I was blamed again. I couldn’t hear all this and argue back, but I understood perfectly that our Grandma Shura just couldn’t calm down,” said Grandma Serafima.
“And what have you decided about the future? Will you return to your home or stay here?” asked Olesya.
“I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet, but I have no desire to return to my home,” said Grandma Serafima.
With that, the two women said their goodbyes amiably, and Olesya promised to visit Grandma Serafima soon. She returned home with a calm heart and immense astonishment at how far female malice could go.
Andriusha, I need to tell you something. But you must promise not to get angry,” Olesya said to her husband that same evening.
Andrei had been sullen and angry for a while due to their talks about the neighbor. It seemed his resentment hadn’t faded yet. Therefore, Andrei didn’t promise anything to his wife.
“Actually, I didn’t go to see a friend,” Olesya began her story.
“Did you find some troublemaker again and now you’re visiting her?” Andrei asked with sarcasm in his voice.
“No, it’s still about the same old lady, our Serafima. The thing is, I found her. It turns out she went to a convent. And she left on the day you hired Sergey and Vasya to clean up our yard. Those loafers decided to rob our old Serafima and sneaked into her house through our fence. They stole her old suitcase and apparently, didn’t find anything valuable, just her old coat and staff. So they threw them in our storage room along with our junk in the yard. Please forgive me for thinking badly of you…” said Olesya.
“So, she’s alive then? How did you find her?” Andrei also became interested.
“That’s not so important now. The main thing is, everything turned out exactly as I suspected. Serafima isn’t involved in any witchcraft. She and old Shura have long-standing grudges against each other over a man. And that man has been dead for 30 years, but these women couldn’t reconcile with each other. Serafima is now talking normally, and she told me everything herself,” said Olesya.
“Really? Is that even possible? I thought she was born deaf-mute. If she’s talking now, that’s cool,” said Andrei.
Olesya recounted the entire life story of these two old women until midnight. Andrei sat with his mouth open, continuously amazed by the scale and cunning of this story.
“But I think these women should forgive each other. They’ve caused so much trouble that some people can’t even dream of. I won’t let this story end here. I’ll try to fix everything,” said Olesya and smiled mysteriously.
Olesya was awakened early by knocking at her gate. She ran out to the yard and hurried to open the gate. There stood her neighbor Maria:
“Masha, are you kidding? Who knocks on their neighbors’ doors so early on a weekend morning?” Olesya protested to the unexpected guest.
“You’ll have plenty of time to sleep! First, listen to me, I have such news! There are important events coming up,” said Maria and headed towards the front door of the house, not waiting for an invitation.
Olesya led her neighbor into the kitchen, seated her at the table, and began to leisurely make coffee. It seems the neighbor really had something important; she was excited.
“Well, tell me, what brings you here so early?” asked Olesya.
“I just found out — my Ruslan, my eldest son, is getting married,” said Maria.
“And who is the bride?” asked Olesya indifferently.
“The bride is not from around here. They have been seeing each other for a long time and know each other well. I’ve seen this girl a couple of times when she visited my son. I like her,” said Maria.
“Well, how can we be of help?” asked Olesya.
“You, my friends and fellow villagers, will all be needed. I’ve dreamed of my son’s wedding. He declared he doesn’t want those stiff city celebrations. He wants to celebrate everything at home. He’ll bring his friends here. The bride’s parents also agreed to come to us. And Igor and I are planning to throw a feast for the whole world.
“Can you afford all these expenses?” asked Olesya.
“We can handle the expenses, but I’m afraid we have nowhere to accommodate the bride’s family. Our house has only three rooms and they are small. Please talk to your Andrey, maybe our guests can stay at your place? They will arrive during the day, we’ll have the wedding in the evening, then a day to rest, if possible, and they will leave the next day,” said Maria.
“That’s no problem. We have enough space. How many people are coming?”
“Five, maybe seven people, but I’ll let you know,” said Maria.
“Are you planning to invite the whole village to the wedding?” asked Olesya.
“Yes, definitely! My Ruslanchik is known by the entire village, he has friends in every house here. And Igor and I are not strangers here, so everyone will celebrate at our wedding,” said Maria.
“Well, then I have a counter-request for you,” said Olesya. “Remember the deaf-mute grandmother who lived here behind the fence?”
“You mean the witch? By the way, haven’t seen her for a long time. Is she even alive?” asked Maria.
“She’s alive and will live longer. She has an important role in this world. Will you invite her to your wedding?” asked Olesya.
“Oh, I don’t know… My Igor can’t stand her. Because this grandma once tried to steal his father and break up his family. His mother, my mother-in-law, suffered so much, oh… Really, everyone in this village has suffered because of her. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to see her at our wedding,” said Maria.
“Well, the choice is yours. Then I’ll have to refuse to host your guests,” said Olesya.
“What does it matter to you? I think you’re making too much fuss over this witch. Be careful not to get hurt yourself.”
“Do you also believe Baba Shura’s words?” asked Olesya.
“Not only her words, my mother-in-law personally told me that Serafima used to hover around my father-in-law, luring him to her house soon after her husband died,” said Maria.
“Masha, I hope you’re not in a hurry? Now let me tell you what’s happening with this old lady Serafima and where she is now.”
Olesya poured herself coffee, sat at the table, and made herself comfortable to start her long story. Maria initially didn’t believe much, but when Olesya told everything in detail, she too was amazed by the scale of this story.
Eventually, Maria stayed at Olesya’s almost until lunch. They agreed on everything: Olesya would host Maria’s guests, and Maria now didn’t mind having old lady Serafima as a guest at her son’s wedding. Of course, neither of them would warn Baba Shura.
On Ruslan’s wedding day, all the villagers eagerly awaited the evening. The evening promised to be merry and long. The wedding was decided to be held right in Igor and Maria’s garden. During the day, neighbors helped them set up a lavish table.
The bride’s family arrived and settled in at Olesya’s house. Closer to the evening, everyone gathered around the long wedding table and began congratulating the groom and bride. Baba Shura also arrived. She didn’t yet know that Serafima had returned home and was planning to come here too.
“Well hello, Shura!” called a voice that she hadn’t heard in a very long time.
Baba Shura turned around and couldn’t believe her ears. Before her stood Serafima in a fancy dress, her head adorned with a beautifully patterned scarf, glowing and shining as in her distant youth. Between them stood Olesya.
“You? Serafima, what brings you here? We thought you had gone away to relatives. Apparently, you visited and returned, right?” Baba Shura tried to smooth over the awkward moment.
“Yes, I’ve returned, as you can see. And I’ve come back changed, on my way home I regained the ability to speak and hear. And I hear that you’ve been telling a lot about me to all these people,” said Baba Serafima, gesturing in front of her face.
“Do people say a lot of things to you? If you’re talking about our old topic, forget it. I’ve long forgotten it and regret nothing,” said Baba Shura.
“Yes, peace between you must surely come. But now, Baba Shura, it’s up to you to try,” said Olesya. She moved closer to Baba Shura and whispered in her ear:
“I know everything! I know the full version of every story you’ve spread for half a lifetime. And now you need to dispel the myth in front of everyone that Baba Serafima is an evil witch. You don’t have to admit that you’ve been crafting the legend against Baba Serafima for years. You just need to tell everyone that she’s not an evil witch and has never harmed anyone in her life,” Olesya said softly.
“Who do you think I am, girl? Here, everyone knows me and respects me all my conscious life. And you want me to justify myself before them? No way!” Baba Shura was not ready to give up.
“Well, then I will have to do it myself,” said Serafima.
“And I, as a witness, will help you,” added Olesya.
After a long argument, Baba Shura agreed to say a few words in support of Serafima. Olesya waited for this moment. After some time, Baba Shura asked for a toast. She stood up and began her speech:
“I congratulate the newlyweds on their bright holiday today. I wish them a happy life together and good health. Taking this opportunity, I would like to say a few words about the residents of our village. As you all know, most here are newcomers. Many residents of my generation have long left this world, but they have left behind a whole history.
It’s no secret anymore that various rumors circulate about our neighbor Serafima. I want to dispel them now. The fact is that different people lived here at different times. Someone said too much in a burst of emotion, someone intentionally wanted to harm, thus trivial rumors grew with various assumptions.
Serafima and I are of the same age, grew up together, saw a lot in this life together, and today we are the oldest residents of Markovo. I would ask each of you to show respect and mercy to our Serafima. We don’t know how much longer we have to live, but we very much want to spend these days in peace and harmony. I also want to add, may today’s youth, wives, and their parents live to our age in good health,” said Baba Shura and everyone applauded her.
“I also have something to say!” Baba Serafima stood up from her place and took a glass of juice. “I have experienced true love in my life. True love is when you sincerely wish happiness for your loved one, no matter the circumstances. Whether your loved one is with you or with another woman, you want him to be healthy and happy. I came to this conclusion in my younger years. I had a loved one, Konstantin. But it turns out, we were not meant to live life together. At some stage, Konstantin chose another woman, I did not resent, I just let him go,” Serafima looked towards Baba Shura and continued her long toast:
“But anything can happen in life, as in our case. At some time, Konstantin decided to return to me, and it was his big mistake. Maybe our love was given to us to carry in our hearts, not to translate into reality. Konstantin and I tried to build our happiness, but it did not work out. Now, he has been dead for 30 years.
But I let him go much earlier. I sincerely wished him happiness with his new chosen one. It’s such a complex and tangled love story that later left its marks for many years. Why am I telling all this? To the point that it’s important to love a person with all your heart. And if you loved, then keep fidelity to him. The will of fate is also important. If your paths crossed, then you should hold on to each other.
Also, taking this opportunity, I want to ask for forgiveness from my friend Alexandra,” Serafima looked at Baba Shura, placed her hand on her heart, and bowed her head.
“There’s no point in telling the long story of our friendship now, but I want you, our Shura, to know that I am asking you for forgiveness for everything that happened between us. And don’t ask what I mean,” concluded Serafima her long speech.
Many guests sitting there didn’t understand what these two old women were talking about. Others wrote it off as the strength of alcoholic drinks. But those who knew well the myth that Baba Serafima was a witch seemed to think today and vaguely guess where the roots of this strange story grew from.
When everyone went to dance, Serafima approached Shura and informed her that she sincerely asked for forgiveness. She expressed readiness to declare peace between them and live the remaining days in friendship and agreement. Baba Shura at that moment cried and was ready to ask for forgiveness. She even wanted to tell everyone that she herself had concocted the legends. But Olesya dissuaded her from this idea.
“Let it all stay in the past. There’s no need to bare your soul before everyone. It’s enough for you to forgive each other,” said Olesya.
Several months passed after the wedding. It seems the villagers really changed their opinion about Baba Serafima. They began to visit her more often, invite her to their celebrations, and sometimes bring pleasant gifts. After some time, Serafima fell seriously ill. She called Olesya to her and said:
“You turned out to be the only person in my life who believed in my innocence without demanding proof. And this helped me not to break down and to continue living. I have seen enough in my life. Now my time has come, I gratefully let go of my life. If you want my soul to be content, please accept my humble gift, here are the documents to my house. If you want, join my garden to yours, if you want, demolish my house and build a new one, grow your grandchildren there and live happily. Because you deserve it. I will not forget everything you did for me,” said Baba Serafima, turned her head to the side, and quietly released her soul to God.