25

That night I came home late, when the wake had already been over, and there were just a few leftovers on the table. Gran Zoya made a bed for me in the lounge room. Even though my late grandfather had used to sleep on that lounge I didn’t mind it. Having had a couple of salmon sandwiches and a few spoonfuls of salad, I fell into bed.

Yet I couldn’t fall fast asleep for a while. The electronic clock on top of the cupboard was disturbing me - it showed past midnight. And the old three-way mirror covered with a black piece of cloth frightened me in the dark.

“Really, like a ghost” I thought involuntarily. I felt like taking off that damn cloth, and just so I did in a moment. And, on the way back to bed, I didn’t forget to turn the clock backwards.

Having done it all, I fell asleep quite soon. Can’t remember what exactly I dreamed about, but some sudden fear woke me up in the middle of the night. I fancied I was not alone in the room; and, as I opened my eyes I got terrified even more - for I saw it was true.

In the middle of the room stood my grandfather and looked sternly at me.

At first I thought that he, as usual, was awake at night, wandering around the house. I was about to send him away; but then, it came home to me that it couldn’t be real because nine days ago he had passed into the next world. The creepy feeling of this sudden discovery overwhelmed and paralyzed me - if so, what the hell was he doing here?

“Go away… Begone!” I whispered, frozen with terror.

“Why are you being so unkind, my lass? You’re being very rude to me…” he said pausing and gasping for breath as he had usually done of late, “Life is gonna be hard for you… Very hard…”

I curled up in the corner of my bed, pulling the blanket over my nose.

“How could you do this to me, darl… to your own grandfather… Dancing on my grave, having fun at my funeral…”

He took a step toward my bed and began to suffocate.

“Yes… But you’re not gonna make it… Neither with him nor anyone else… Not gonna happen… That’s it…”

I shut my eyes and tossed my head in horror.

“Begone! Go away from me!!! A-a-a-ah!”

The voice of Gran Zoya called out my name.

“What’s going on here? Why were you making that noise?”

I opened my eyes. Grandfather was already gone; instead of him there was Gran Zoya standing in her long nightgown, her plait dishevelled.

“Grandfather has just been here” I mumbled still seized by fear.

“What nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense, it’s true! He was standing there and talking to me just like you are now! I’m scared!!!”

Gran Zoya headed for the door.

“I guess, you’re having some mental issues. You need to get checked out by a psychiatrist. I’ll tell your father to show you to a specialist…”

The psychiatrist was just all I needed! I had already heard and read a lot of gruesome stories about mental hospital patients being fed horrible antipsychotics turning even the sanest person into a vegetable. It was definitely a lot more terrifying than any ghost in the world, and I jumped out of bed, ran after my grandmother and began to assure her heatedly that I didn’t need a psychiatrist, that I was perfectly well, and my grandfather that had come to me had been a mere nightmare…

But it wasn’t just a nightmare. I know for sure - it wasn’t. Grandfather had really come - and it was highly likely that he had come through the very mirror I took the cloth off. He had come because he was angry with me - and he cursed me for the rest of my life.

He punished me. Not too severely - but forever.