A fine line. Adventure, detective

Chapter 1 Finding Under the Bridge

A corpse of a 16-18-year-old girl was found under a large humpbacked bridge thrown over a sprawling branch of railway tracks, not far from the city, about an hour's drive away.  She was lying on her back.  The arms were spread out to the sides, and one leg was twisted as if it had fallen on its back, tripping over something.  His eyes were wide open, almost out of their sockets.  It seemed that her glazed gaze captured something shockingly terrible, incomprehensible and amazing at the same time.  Armand, who happened to be here by accident, passing through, shivered a little from habit.  Unaccustomed to seeing corpses, he almost vomited from the sickeningly sweet smell of a decaying body.  It was a suffocating heat, about fifty degrees plus.  On such a heat, it is easy to cook fried eggs directly in the sun, without fire and gas, simply by placing the pan directly in the hot, loose sand.  The dusty wind did not give any coolness, but, on the contrary, made the day even hotter, even more unbearably stuffy.
Strange, but the corpse was well preserved, as if the unfortunate woman had been killed just yesterday.  He didn't even have time to completely decompose.  Lifting the head of the unfortunate woman, he noticed a huge, bloody hole in the back of her head.  Torn, gaping like a sea cavity deep in the ocean, through which all the insides were visible.
Her brain was drained completely.  If it had been done by some animal, and at least by jackals or some other creature that roams around here, it would have torn clothes to pieces, would not have left a living place all over the body .. And here, the clothes are not touched.  The girl was in tight Chinese jeans, which are littered with the entire local bazaar, and a T-shirt.  But there was no blood near her at all.  Although there should be a lot, if she was torn to pieces here, and in addition a bunch of insects - scavengers, and here, almost nothing.  Only black crows circled high above their heads and a couple of flies.
Everything indicated that they had killed her not here, but elsewhere.  They just threw it out here as unnecessary trash.
It was a strange sensation, it seemed that she was alive.  He just lies there, resting, looking with surprise at the clear, cloudless sky.  Her golden, coppery curls fell to frame her beautiful, blond face.  The mouth was slightly parted and Armand noticed a cleft between the teeth.

 - Young man, thank you for letting us know.  Then we ourselves.  We will need to ask you a few questions, but this is more of a formality.  The law requires it.  - The policeman who just drove up said.  As you say, you were driving along the highway and saw ... - the policeman began, writing something down in his notebook.
 - Yes, that's right ... - Armand answered him.
 -Was anyone near you?
 - No, I was alone.
   While the interrogation lasted, a bunch of people and local television reporters came in large numbers.  By the way, nobody expected the latter.
The presenter of the local channel, taking a spectacular pose, alike.  So that her entire beautiful figure and corpse in the background could be seen, in a hurry, panting, as if she had just run a long cross in a short time, she began to distinctly mint directly into the camera:
 - As we have already reported, this is at least the third corpse in the last week.  The situation in the city has heated up to the limit!  The local police are failing at all!  As in previous cases, the victim had a similar laceration on the back of her head, through which the entire brain was eaten.  The police believe a large animal or jackal did it.  But we, the public, don't think so!  And we will find out who did it!  All together - we are power!  Recall that the previous victim was found not far from this ill-fated place, in the gorge of the local mountains.  She was presumed missing for some time until her body was found.  Follow the news on our Ret TV.  channel and stay up to date with all the latest news.  - Finishing the fiery speech, she lifted her head, as if expecting a volley of stunning ovation and lifted her nose proudly upturned to the sky, drawing something in the air.
 - Well, how?  Have you removed?  She asked her partner.
  He squinted a little and nodded his head in the affirmative:
  - Uh-huh ...
 - Come on, come on.  Get out of here ... - one of the policemen hastened them, trying to expel them from the scene of the crime.  - You interfere with our work.
 “A few words, please,” the reporter began again.  - Give your comments ...
But the policeman didn't listen to her anymore and they had to leave.
The rest of the day passed as usual.  Armand continued on his way.  Returning home in the evening, he said nothing to his family about the strange find.  I just went to bed.  He had been driving since Dzhambul and was very tired.  The road is long, bumpy, exhausting, and then there's this ...
  But no matter how hard he tried, he could not sleep.  Everything turned over from side to side.  This girl and everything said by the reporter did not leave his mind.  Every now and then he represented an innocent victim.  Who is she?  What happened to her?

Chapter2

Chapter 2 Dream
At night Armand had a strange, wonderful dream.  As if he was standing on the highway late at night and catching a ride to get to the regional city.  We suck at an unfamiliar place.  How he got here, he doesn't know.  He knows one thing that he needs to get there, but, as evil, not a single car.  The night wind blew through him.  Chilled to the bone, spitting on everything, went on foot.  After walking a couple of kilometers, I was exhausted.  Stopped to rest.  Suddenly, a car drove out from around the corner.  What kind of car it was, he did not understand, but it was very large, with big bright headlights drilling into it so that he closed his eyes.  Seeing the ride, he almost jumped for joy and began desperately gesticulating, waving his arms, trying to stop her.  But the car sped past ... through him!  As through a ghost!  Armand even felt a fleeting, sharp pain piercing him right to the bone!  Not understanding anything, he, that there is strength, turned and looked after her.  Not having passed even a couple of hundred meters, she also suddenly stopped and a girl jumped out of her.  It seems that something happened there, and they had a fight, because Armand heard snatches of phrases that did not say anything to him and swearing.  This was the one.  Which was found under the bridge, but in a dream she was alive.  Armand followed her.  The landscape has changed beyond recognition.  He saw a picture, like on a computer screen, bright, beautiful.  The place was both familiar and unfamiliar to him.  Like the same chamomile, dandelions, but brighter and the smells are sweeter, honey, like after rain.  The girl, sensing that she was being watched, stopped and turned around.  Armand barely managed to hide behind the nearest bush, bending down strongly and trying not to breathe.  Fearing to betray himself, he froze for a moment, but this moment seemed to him an eternity.  Almost immediately, his legs and back ached and he, staggering, almost fell, but in time he grabbed a thorny branch.  "What kind of trees are they here, so thorny?"  - he thought, examining the long scratch on his hand.  She was a little sick.  - Ay, okay ... "
  The girl still stood, peering into the darkness.  For some reason it seemed to him that she noticed him, and he even began to scold himself and this unfortunate bush, but in vain.  The girl did not notice anyone, reassuring herself that they were just mice or marmots, and continued on her way.
  Here Armand's back completely ached, and he crouched, turning away from her and losing sight of her, and when he looked again in the direction where she should have been, he saw a bright, dazzling light, even more powerful than from that very truck  that drove right through him.  Something large, like a luminous sphere, blinded his eyes.  The sphere hung motionless in the air, a couple of hundred meters from the ground.  The spectacle was very beautiful, iridescent.  Enchanted, Armand looked at her, forgetting about everything.  And then everything disappeared, as if they just turned off the light in the room, unscrewed the light bulb.  No girl, no glowing ball, or anything.  Only dark, dull, not translucent, shaky, deep darkness, mercilessly sucking him into his womb.
  ... Armand woke up in his bed.  It was already late in the morning and he was completely late for work and now he will have to come up with excuses to justify himself to the authorities.  He worked in a carriage depot, as a simple worker, although he had a higher education.
There is no work, I took on any work that just turned up.
Armand quickly pulled on his pants, and, having somehow washed himself, jumped out into the entrance.  On the way, he noticed that his right hand was itching desperately and ached a little.  Coming out of the ride, he casually looked at her and noticed a red, thin furrow, similar to a scratch, which he had already combed.
Chapter 3 Wagon Depot
Work was in full swing on the territory of the depot.  Thousands of people in red vests swarmed like ants, tapping around the carriages.  Arman noticed his boss from afar, standing right in his path.  He was looking somewhere to the side and shouting something to someone, trying to shout down the noise that reigned here.
As soon as Armand thought about how to slip past his superiors imperceptibly, he had already made a couple of steps when he heard a stern, withdrawing voice behind his back:
 - Urumbaev!  Why are we late?  Do you even know what time it is ?!
 - I AM….  Hmmm ... - Armand hesitated, tearing his cap.  He could not come up with anything worthwhile to justify himself and now did not know how to be and just stared blankly at the floor, looking at the curves, small crevices.
 - Eh-eh ... Youth ... youth ... - the chief sighed and, smiling, added - Over the weekend I had a great walk, I suppose, eh?  - With malice he looked at Armand, screwing up his left eye.
 - Well ... there was a case ... - Arman hesitated, blushing, feeling like a schoolboy, having played a trick on the break and caught red-handed.
 - Eh .. youth .. youth ... - the chief smiled, still looking at him with some malice, but already kindly, somehow in a fatherly way.  The good-natured boss was a pensioner without a week.  There were only a couple of months left, and he would go on a well-deserved rest.  The fat good-natured person already imagined himself with a fishing rod in his hands somewhere on the river bank.  It was rumored that near the reservoir there is a very good bite and you can catch a big fish that you can't even grasp with your hands.  It's so big!  - Okay, go ... - the boss nodded approvingly.
Armand sighed with relief, realizing that this time he was carried away, passed by.  Taking his tools, he set to work.
  For lunch he went to the canteen at the depot.  The dining room was on the first floor of a two-story building.  It was housed in a large, spacious room.  There were always a lot of people here.  The sweet, fresh smells of freshly cooked food wafted far beyond.  Going inside, Armand even swallowed saliva.  Having made an order, he sat down on an empty table and looked around.  People discussed and argued about something, and it gave, it almost came to a fight, but the two-meter big man stopped the fighters in time, scattering them like toys in different corners.  On the opposite side of the entrance, just under the ceiling, hung a small one.  Black TV.  Local news was broadcast.
   It was about the fact that during the construction of the road, which was supposed to connect the west and east of the country, when taking soil from the hills near the local cemetery, three numb, blackened corpses were discovered at once.
  The hall became silent.  Armand listened to the news out of the corner of his ear, without turning to the screen.
   A young waitress brought the order, and he eagerly began to devour the food.  Then his tenacious ear caught the following, which attracted his attention so much that he turned and looked at the screen:
  - If you know anything about this girl - a photo appeared on the screen, by which Arman recognized the girl who was found under the bridge - please inform us or call "02".  The photo flashed on the screen for another three minutes before the announcer replaced it.
  “They are still looking for…” Armand said quietly and sighed.
 - ABOUT!  - suddenly came a lively, fervent, tipsy voice.  - Yes, this Christinka!
  Armand looked back at the voice and saw a boy in a robe standing at the window and propping up the wall.  He had not been here before, it looks like he just entered.
  The boy looked closely at the photo again, squinting strongly, and then gave out in the affirmative:
 - Well yes!  Exactly, she!  Brush!  - taking a bottle of milk, he sat down at the table at which Armand was already sitting, since it was the only free table.
  - What did you study together?  - asked Armand the boy.
 - AND?  - asked the boy, not understanding what it was about.
  - I'm talking about a girl who was just shown on TV ...
 - Uh-huh .. - the boy said after drinking a little.  - We are classmates.  This is Kristinka, Degtyareva.  Wow, beauty!  Until the 8th we studied together, and then I dropped out of school.
  - Looks like not a local, since they are looking for ...
  - Of course!  - the boy grinned.  - From Kyzalkum.
 - Where is it?  Far away from here?
 - Why do you need it?
  - Maybe I'll go and look around.  They say the places there are beautiful ...
 - AND!  Well yes.  Dunes, they are beautiful at dawn.
  - You tell the police, tell them, they say, so and so, I know her.  - Arman started
 - Nah! - he flatly refused.  - I don’t betray mine!
 - Yes, you ate a lot in the morning, as I see ...
 - She ... The heat has done its job, and I just sipped a little beer and that's it.
 - Well, come on. ... Think. ... And I went, work is in full swing.  - Armand has already finished his lunch and got up from the table.  After patting him on the shoulder, he left the dining room.
The next weekend Arman left for Kyzylkum.
Chapter 4 Kyzylkum
  Kyzyl Kum is a desert in the Kyzylorda region.
  When they drove up, it was dawn and the sands shone in the sun, changing their shades from white to pinkish-gray to almost purple and blue.  Beauty!  It takes your breath away!  It was cold.  Rare islands of white saxaul and sandy sedge were visible here and there.  And not a gram of water, not a seedy stream in the area, nothing.
  Having traveled enough kilometers, the bus on which Arman was traveling entered the nearest village.
  “We've arrived.  - thought Armand.  He looked again at the address given to him by the same boy and nodded in the affirmative.  - It is the most! "
  The bus stopped and Armand, taking his backpack, got out, the bus swaying along the bumpy, bumpy road, drove on.
The aul was small.  Life was in full swing here.
Near the aul there was a small reservoir overgrown with reeds and cattails.  The wind fiddled with the panicles of the reed and, picking up the light, airy fluff of the cattail, cheerfully carried away upward.  Armana looked up at the sky.  There, in the heights, birds flew high overhead.  Beauty!
Chapter 5 Abandoned House
 - Here are the ones.  I didn't even have time to ask.  - Armand scratched his head when he saw three cyclists passing by, and, putting his cap on his forehead, taking his backpack, went about his business.  The backpack was lightweight and did not stretch the shoulders at all.  I could even do without it, but I didn’t know why, so, just in case, threw in something to eat on the road, and a bottle of water, matches, a couple of towels, and a knife to open canned food.  I already drank water, there is almost no food, until I got to Kyzylkum I quietly ate everything, dragging one by one.  Armand walked where his eyes were looking, not knowing at all what to do now.  The empty, narrow, crooked, dusty streets of the aul twisted, forming a large, tangled ball of threads.  Realizing that he was completely lost, Armand looked around, trying to find at least someone to ask, if not about Kristinka and her parents, then at least how to get out of here and get out as soon as possible.  The heat wore him down greatly.  A hot, blazing, blinding sun hung directly over the crown of his head.  Not a single seedy tree, not even a column to drink.  Everything seemed to have died out.  Small, flattened to the ground, rickety houses coexisted side by side with large, spacious, rich mansions, near which green palm trees and small flowering lawns bloomed with might and main.  Unless there were no fountains.  But in vain!  They would greatly decorate the landscape, creating the impression of a cool, salutary oasis in the middle of the sands ... But there, at the end of the street, stood an abandoned, large mansion that did not fit into the general atmosphere at all with the remains of its former grandeur.  Dilapidated, with windows completely boarded up, it still attracted attention.  The former, once blooming garden near him, was mercilessly burned out by the scorching sun so that only stunted, naked, completely without leaves, trees sticking out from the ground with charred, crooked sticks here and there were left of it.  The sultry wind filled him with sand almost right up to the second floor.  Driven by irrepressible curiosity, Armand, not knowing how, found himself at the very front door.  Fortunately (or unfortunately?) The window, located a meter away from the door, was not boarded up, only covered with half-rotten plywood.  Pushing it aside, he climbed inside.  Cool twilight in frightening silence added to the picture of crying horror.  Once in the spacious hall, Armand, turning on the flashlight, went up to the second floor.  Walking down a narrow corridor, he saw a door leading into a room.  He touched her, but she did not give in.  Having understood.  That it was locked with a key, he went to another door, but that one was also locked tightly.  Then Armand went downstairs and noticed a small pedestal with a mirror.  Digging through it, he found a small key.  Taking it, he went up to the second floor again, trying to open the doors.  But the key did not fit any of them.  - "Strange," thought Armand.  Going downstairs, he again approached the curbstone and began to scour its womb., Hoping to find something else.  But I found nothing but a huge black spider with a cross on its back, hiding in one of the boxes.  He was about to leave, when one strange object, which could be seen under the curbstone in a heap of sand, attracted his attention.  Armand bent down and picked him up.  This was a diary page:
 “She talks to herself all day and hasn't left her room for a week.  I don't know what to do ... I tried to talk to her, but she doesn't answer.  Maybe call the doctor again?  Will it only help?  The last time he left with nothing ... ”- it was written in diligent, but slightly fluffed, uneven handwriting, showing the excitement of the person who wrote this.
At the bottom was a postscript:
 “She really sees someone!  When she walked into the hall, at first she politely let someone in front of her, and before sitting down in a chair, she invited someone to sit on an empty chair, saying “Please, sit down” although there was no one next to her.  I spied it while hiding behind the curtain.  Then, she called me and asked me to pour tea for her guest!  So she said: “Bring me, my dear, tea to my guest and nodded to the empty chair next to me…” - the last sentence was even more clumsy, going beyond the lines in the notebook sheet.  Armand put it in the place where he took it, and decided to look at all the other doors.  All doors were locked.  From the end of the corridor, from somewhere below, a woman's voice came.  He went to the voice, although he did not like it very much, but cursed curiosity prevailed over fear and, behold, he is standing in front of the door leading here all over the basement.  He touched her, and ... she opened quietly, without a squeak.  He went down a narrow, broken stone staircase.  The ceilings and walls were completely covered with cobwebs, and he had to work his way through them, covering his face with his hands.
  - Help ... - a thin girlish voice groaned.
"Oh my God, there is a child!"  - thought Armand with horror and rushed to help with even greater zeal, but when he went downstairs, he saw a black creeping, floating shadow that grew more and more, obscuring the only dim light that was left by the open front door.
  - Now, now ... - I'm coming!  - Shouted Armand, and jumping in one fell swoop over the piled boxes filled with something, blocking his path, he finally saw the thin silhouette of a young woman in a hood.  He gently touched her shoulder, as she ... crumbled to dust and right in front of his nose a huge, yellow snake with twisted patterns grew, Swelling in the hood, she pulled out her sting and wanted to swallow her prey, but Armand, groping for some piece of iron,  with a sharp end, similar to a peak, stuck it into the belly of a snake.  But the piece of iron only scratched her, without causing her significant harm as if it were a thin needle, and she continued her attack with even greater force, blazing with hellish rage and revenge, overcoming the distance in one fell swoop.
  - A-ah!  - shouted Armand, taking off his feet, but the monster beat him.  It was like playing cat and mouse with him.  Not eating it right away, but also preventing it from leaving.  Armand got out of the basement and rushed to the front door.  There must be a window through which to get out.  But ... it was boarded up!  Armand began to fumble on others, trying to tear the boards from the windows, but he was injured by the large gypsy needles stuck with the tip outward, blackened with time.  These needles left by someone tore his hands to pieces when he tried to grab the jamb.  Only God knows how, but he managed to get out of there alive and well, except for the wounds on his arms and legs.  In addition, the old scratch on the hand did not heal for a long time and was already festering.  The hand began to swell.  Armand ran for a long time without looking back, until, finally, exhausted, he fell to the ground, but no matter how far he ran, no matter which direction he ran, the gloomy outlines of the accursed house could be seen everywhere.  Armand lost consciousness.
He woke up from the fact that an unknown aksakal splashed cool water on his face.  There was a crowd of onlookers around him.  After drinking water, Armand asked the old-timer about the abandoned mansion.  The old man just shook his head, saying.  that this is a bad place and that its owners had moved long ago and that it was better for him not to meddle there, and one still old woman added that the first owner of the house was the director of a creamery, but then something happened.  The house changed its owners, but no one stayed there for more than a month.  Just one fine day, everyone disappeared somewhere.
  Armand asked:
  - And where do its first owners live now?
 - Over there, behind the first turn, the last house for two owners.  Ask there ... - they answered him.
  Armand thanked them.
The house indicated to him turned out to be the house in which Kristinka lived.  It was old, adobe, embedded in the ground under the very roof.  There was no fence.  Rather, there were two or three sticks sticking out here and there, all that was left of the fence.  The front door was ajar.

Chapter 6 The beginning of the end.  Ancestors.
Armand went to the door and touched it lightly.  The old door creaked and groaned.  like an old, sick ruin, always complaining about all its sores, emitting a snagged, disgusting, loud groan.
 - Is anybody here?  - asked Armand, hesitantly going inside.  The harsh, stagnant, musty smell of a long-unventilated room hit right in the face, almost knocking him down.  There was no one in the house.  There was complete chaos.  The house itself consisted of two rooms.  In the first there was a large, almost half of the entire room, a stove that was heated in winter with wood and coal, and in the second there was a round, low table in the middle of the room, an old wooden chest in the corner, and an iron bunk opposite it, with dirty piles on it.  , tattered, wadded blankets of red-gray, faded, faded color.  The room, like the rest of the house, was a mess.  Empty bottles, cigarette butts, dried crumbs and other debris are scattered all over the place.  Bright, sunlight, from a single, but small window, poorly illuminated the entire space, but it was enough to somehow see the room.  Suddenly, something furry and black swept through the air, barely touching him, and disappeared somewhere in the corner.  Arman, feeling a strange touch, stood up as if dug, peering into the corner, and trying to see what was there.  But in vain.
  The black cat, growling "meow!", Pounced on him, jumping out of the opposite corner and ... slipping between his legs, slipped into the open gap.  The door gave a long groan.
 - Just a cat, and I was scared!  - Arman laughed at himself and went out into the yard.  Although, some vague sensation made him understand that this is far from what it seems and the cat has nothing to do with it.  Trying to drive away these strange, terrifying thoughts, he cheered up, turned his head, as if trying to shake all these ridiculous thoughts out of her.  When he came to, he was a little embarrassed.  Before him stood the mistress of this house.  Drunk, barely keeping her balance so as not to fall, middle-aged, unkempt, dirty, with disheveled, long-unkempt, unwashed, black hair, tied up somehow into a muzzle, she drilled through him with a glazed, cold, X-ray look.
- Guests have arrived!  Welcome!  - having made a "pas", mocking, with some malice, she offered to enter her mansion and, after walking a couple of steps, stumbling over an empty bottle, collapsed right on the dirty, dusty floor and snored right there.
Armand spat in disgust.  Didn't like it when a woman drinks.  In general, drinking is bad, but when a woman drinks, it is a hundred times worse and looks disgusting.
 - Ugh!  I'll have to go to her later, when he sleeps.
He had nowhere to go, and he stayed in the yard.  He sat down under a branchy tree and waited.  Half an hour later, the hostess, finally waking up, for some reason left.  Seeing Armand, barely moving her tongue, she issued:
 - AND!  Are you still here ... Are you social security or police?  Eh .. Ik-ike-ik….  Oh!  - she hiccupped, then, embarrassed, splashed myoma in her torn slates.
  After taking a couple of steps, she stopped:
 - So, you are from the police?  She asked.
  Armand did not answer, only nodded his head vaguely.
 - What did she do again ?!  Wow bitch!  There is no life from her!  - she began her monologue - maybe I too, I want to live!  I may not be old at all, but quite even nothing ... - after these words, she even straightened up, trying to walk straight with a graceful gait, but she did not succeed, and she almost fell face down into fresh cow dung.  And she would have fallen if Armand had not picked her up in time, catching her in the air.
  - And you, young man, gentleman!  Respect!  - her drunken fume blew right into Armand's face and he turned away with disgust.
 - Also turns up his nose ....  You are all the same ... - she swore, then, remembering why she still left and without remembering, again went into the house, closing the door behind her.
  With a feeling of emptiness and helplessness, full of utopia, Armand left the yard.
 “She wasn’t always like that…” he heard the voice of a neighbor, who was watching this whole picture near her fence on her side of the yard.  The house was shared by two owners, but the difference between them was striking.  On her side, the courtyard is well-groomed, clean, the walls of her half of the house are whitewashed, the shutters are painted blue.  Armand looked and wondered.

- Her husband left her, so she drank herself.  Every day she began to bring new "dads" to her daughter, the same bums like herself.  So, she went to her father ... I feel sorry for her and the girl, and ... I feel sorry for her husband too ... I feel sorry for her ... - at the last words she shed tears and brushed away her tears with the edge of her handkerchief, looked into the distance, not seeing anything in front of her.
  - Husband?  - asked again, not understanding anything, Armand.  He was already ready to hear about that again.  That all the men are cool ... but here I feel sorry for my husband!
 - And where are you from: from social protection or from the police?  Only I have already told the police everything ...
  - No, I'm an old friend.  I didn’t expect to see this ... H-yes ...
 - The end may have a good beginning, one might even say, promising, cloudless, like a hot, summer, clear sky, with hope for a great future and their story is one of them.
Krisinka's parents, Aruzhan and Sema, loved each other.  Everywhere and everywhere they walked together, holding hands.  They were pleasant, expensive to look at.  Beautiful, happy, young couple.  They got married for love.  Both are local, they came here on assignment, after graduating from technical school.  So they stayed here.  They were given a house large and spacious, not at all like this wreck.  Sema went on promotion and even became the director of a creamery.  A beautiful couple ... - the grandmother sighed deeply and sadly, looking at the sky.  Her voice trembled.  Treacherous tears appeared in my eyes again.  She brushed them off with the edge of her handkerchief and continued her story.  - As Kristinka appeared, everything began to collapse with them.  Quarrels, scandals almost every day.  In addition, the girl was weak and was often ill.  I told her then to show her to her grandmother.  And that one.  He grins, does not believe.  He says the twenty-first century is on the street, and you, Anastasia Ivanovna, are a dark, illiterate person!  Yes, and said "a dark, not literate person ..." - the grandmother said this with some resentment towards her ward.  She did not believe.  Only he has changed beyond recognition.  Can't please him with anything, it's not that, this is not this!  He finds fault with everything!  The nose turns up!  Word for word, quarrels and scandals went on with them.  Previously, they did not swear at all, they understood each other perfectly, but now they shout, they don't even want to listen to each other, not to give in.  And one more thing, Aruzhan had one friend, who also liked Sema before, but Sema did not look at her then.  And now, as he envies her, he whirls around her, dismisses the tail, smiles, blooms all over.  He only talks about her, praises her, cannot boast.  She began to visit them often, and not with empty hands, but with gifts!  I always carried sweets, chocolates, which Sema loved.  Aruzhan didn't like sweets, but he loved!  So I fed him!  Sema was getting worse every day.  Everything is floating in a fog with him and she, this friend, always stands before his eyes!  I just wanted to see her and that's it.  He even looked for her to invite her or go himself.  I started my work, quit.  The bosses reprimand him for absenteeism, but at least henna!  Only she p everything!  As she left, Aruzhan found all sorts of strange objects.  : now a tuft of tangled, light brown hair (Aruzhanto has black, and Sema has red), then stove ash poured out at the very threshold, or even large gypsy needles stuck in a wooden door frame or on a windowsill.  Sema began to kiss the bottle often, he was ill.  And Aruzhan herself began to feel bad.
- Well, tell me too ... - Arman chuckled - Ash, sweets, ... What's so strange?
  But the grandmother ignored his question and continued ...
Once Aruzhan stayed in the house alone at night.  The husband left somewhere.  He only got a new job then.  Here, at work and sent.
  She can't sleep.  The child was constantly sick and crying.  They will only be discharged from the hospital, and after two or three days they will be put back again.  Barely calming the baby down, she put her in the cradle.  She herself was away for a short while, and when I entered the room, I saw something black and large, shaggy, spinning near the cradle.  It sat down on the baby's chest, near the neck.  As she saw this, Aruzhan rushed to her daughter, waved her hands, trying to drive away the monster.  Only in vain.  He will fly off and again strives to sit down and grab the baby.  Aruzhan then only "Bismilla" and knew from all the prayers.  So she began to repeat it.  As I read it, it immediately disappeared.  And on the baby's chest, two marks remained, as from fangs, and scratches on the tummy.  It was then that Aruzhan believed and began looking for her grandmother.  I searched for a long time.  I found some in a distant village, which she read with prayers and healed with herbs.  I took my baby there.  I stayed with her for a week.  The child is on the mend.  Gradually, everything began to improve.  The quarrels in the family stopped.  The husband again became affectionate and gentle with her as before, before the wedding.
And then again - scandals and quarrels and even worse than ever.  It all started when Aruzhan's girlfriend, with whom she no longer spoke, unexpectedly entered the house and poured black ash right on her head, muttering something incomprehensible out loud, and ran away right there, only she was seen.  Stunned, Aruzhan could not move.  She saw that in front of her stood, sticking out a sting, a yellow, huge, human-sized snake, and not a man.  A real monster!  A strange, incomprehensible noise and voices were heard from all sides, but who spoke, she did not see.  Everything went dark before her eyes, and she fainted, and when she regained consciousness, there was no one else around.  The ailments started again.  But this time only Aruzhan herself was ill.  Constantly on sick leave.  The bosses did not like this and she was fired from her job.  I changed several places, did not stay long anywhere.  I went to my grandmother.  Who saved her once, but it's too late.  The grandmother died.  The old one, after all, was.  So she returned with nothing.  And I was afraid to go to others.  The store became the last refuge for Aruzhan.  The husband again began to come home late, and sometimes did not spend the night at all, disappeared for weeks.  I went to my mistress.
  One day as she fiddled with laundry, she noticed red lipstick on the collar of his shirt.  Sniffing, she smelled alien, female perfume.  Sharp, sweetish-sour smell of cheap consumer goods.  Aruzhan did not use these at all.  She grabbed the shirt in anger and threw it right in the face of her husband:
  - You are cheating on me!  Again and again!  You promised, swore, said that it would not happen again ... - tears of resentment, hatred, self-pity and disgust for him appeared in her voice.  Her heart again and again was ready to hear and believe the next, already the thousandth lie, and he wanted to do it.
  He tried to calm her down and explain, but she, ... clenching her fists, did not listen anymore, pushing him away from her with force.
 - Do not touch me!  Do you hear!  She screamed. "Get out!"  Take your belongings and get away!
Little Christina woke up and whimpered.
   - You woke up the child ... Fool ... - he said and was about to take Kristinka in his arms, but Aruzhan literally snatched her out of his hands:
 - Don't touch her!  This is my daughter!  Get out!  - she hissed through clenched teeth, drilling him through with a steel, chilling gaze.  Barely restraining himself, he was about to leave, as he immediately received a blow to the head.  In the next instant, a crystal vase on the coffee table whistled about a centimeter from his head.  He looked at Kristinka one last time and left.
 - Dad ... - the girl whimpered - don't go ...
  Aruzhan collapsed to the floor with powerlessness.
 - Gone ... I gave up ... - she sobbed into her voice.  Tears choked her.  Hatred, resentment, despair, helplessness, self-pity and ... love for him - all intertwined in her head into one big, tangled lump, crushing and destroying her.  But some small, weak, timid, like the flame of a smoldering candle, hope still lived in her soul.  She expected him to plunge in.  Will think over and come back.  Although she did not admit to herself.  I've been waiting for years.  That day, that night for her all became one.  After her husband left, Aruzhan was gradually exhausted completely, to the point of not being recognized.  She became nervous, gloomy, always not happy with everything.  She even stopped looking after herself.  They began to notice something behind her that had never existed before.  She began to talk, talked to herself, which frightened the girl very much.  Once she even attacked a man with a knife.  Aruzhan swore that she saw a huge snake creeping behind the stove.  Without hesitation, she grabbed a sharp large knife and pounced on her, tearing her flesh, the snake got scared and escaped, hiding in the sands.  Only this snake, except for herself, was never seen.  They barely stopped her, otherwise she could have killed someone.  Kristinka then was very frightened, her mother did not let her close to her, she hid with her neighbors for a long time.  Aruzhan dreamed of everything.  She began to drink so as not to see anything.  Drunk and tipsy, she applied for work.  And then she left her.  They took him as a janitor.  Christina is already big.  She was ashamed of her mother.  She asked to stop drinking, cried, begged, and when she realized that it was in vain, she began to move away.  Especially when we moved to this wreck.  I couldn't forgive my mother for that.  In front of her friends, classmates, she passed by, as if it was not her mother at all, but a person she did not know at all.  She did not help around the house at all, avoided her, was rude.  She could shout right on the street in front of everyone, send obscenities.  People just shook their heads and passed by.  Nobody intervened.  It was then that she often ran away to her father.  He lived well, richly.  Then she did not disappear from sight at all.  - having finished her story, sighing heavily, she turned her back to Armand and quietly, silently, trudged on her side of the yard until she disappeared from sight.
Chapter 7. Short Conversation
  In a stuffy office in a distant southern town, two cops were talking about a case that had fallen down as not, by the way, on the very eve of holidays.  One of them is fat, clumsy, a little lazy because of the heat, nervous because his colleague did not understand him or did not want to understand quite simple things as it seemed to him:
 - Listen, close this case and that's it!  What's there to mess around with?  Is it clear as day?
 - What is clear ...?  the other answered him reluctantly, lifting his head from the pile of papers that he had just finished reading.
  - Well .. this is ... - the fat cop scratched his head.  - She fell on a stone and broke her head ...
  - How is it yourself?  Do you even think what you're saying ?!  - the second was indignant.
  - Yes herself!  And as herself!  In the same place a stone was found next to it, bloodied and there was blood on this stone!  And it's pointless to argue with science!
 - It doesn't mean anything yet….  - the second did not give up.
  - So!  How does it mean!  You still can't understand this!  And you and me just take out the brain!
  - I can’t stand anything .. - the second answered him calmly.  - I'm just doing my job.
  - Not.  You endure, and there is no rest from you!  As you can't see, it's obvious!  It's just an accident!  Just think, compare the facts!  The girl ran away from the guy.  We questioned him.  How is it there.  Sydykov ... He said that they had a falling out, and she just ran out of his car straight into the steppe!  But he did not catch up with her.  I dropped it and that's it!  And then they found her with a torn head and next to this stone!  Most likely, or rather, I can definitely say that she just fell, stumbled and fell right on this stone.  And he's big!  And it is exactly the same size as her hole in her head.  All!  Clear?  Or explain to you again ?!  Close you and go on vacation, huh?  - on the last word he even softened and stopped yelling like a cut.  - Just imagine ... the sea ... the beach ... girls ...
- It doesn't say anything yet.  They can put a stone ...
  - Yeah.  Having smeared it in her blood ... - the first quipped.
  Then the bell rang and interrupted their conversation.  The chef called to the carpet.  Expecting a stormy meeting, the second gathered a pile of his papers and tried to scroll through them in his head with the boss about why he still does not close the case and what other evidence can be presented in this case.  The first one, anticipating his victory, was absolutely calm and even sang a simple song under his breath:
 - My bunny, I'm your tail!
To this song, they left the office.
Chapter 8 A hole in the wall.
In a distant aul, in the former Degtyarevs' mansion, which was buried in the sands, two boys, pushing each other to exploits, tried to crawl through a narrow hole, a floor of rotten boards, which were blocked by the windows from the backyard.
  - Let's go there!
 - Are there really snakes there?
  - Aha!  What more!  My grandmother said there was a huge cobra guarding a golden chest.
  - Golden chest ... - for a moment the little boy imagined that he could help his loved ones if he found this chest with money and, in general, it would not even be possible to go to school.
  When they got inside, they found themselves in twilight.  There was even a cold, unnatural, grave wind blowing here.

They went up to the second floor, but the doors to the rooms were closed and there was no key.  Then one of them picked up a nail that was lying on the floor and began to pick it in the keyhole.  After a couple of minutes, the lock gave way and the door opened.  The richly decorated room was covered in dust.  On the armchairs and the bed, the mirror was hung white once, but gray with time sheets.  Having ripped them off, they almost choked with coughing, because the dust rose up to the very ceiling and for a moment hung in a dense fog.  But even then, they noticed huge pools of blood all over the room.
  - What happened here?
 “They fought over money.  Don't you see ...
  - Listen, let's get out of here in an amicable way, before they kill us here ...
 - Who?  Nobody's here!  Only us, you fool!  Didn't you see the blood?  Let's see in the closet, maybe there is something interesting ... - he opened a large, wooden wardrobe, made of expensive black wood, and began to dump everything on the floor.
  The second, red-haired and thin, walked over to the boxes in the corner and opened one of them.
Suddenly, the first boy called him?
  - Look, there is a hole ...
  - Where?  - the redhead ran up to him.
  - Look ... - they stood in front of a huge hole in the wall, which opened to them when all the things from the closet were thrown out.
The curiosity that possessed them overpowered their fear and, sticking their heads in, one by one disappeared into this hole.  Having sucked them in, the hole closed up again as before, turning into an ordinary gray, long unbleached wall.

Chapter 9. Another world.
Once on the other side, they are in an old, dilapidated, adobe house, which consisted of one room.  Coming out of it, they found themselves in a blooming meadow, surrounded by cone-shaped not high mountains, more like the hats of dwarfs from a fairy tale.  Just look, the gnomes are about to come out with their tools for the extraction of diamonds and other precious stones.  Indeed, after a moment, a thick fog enveloped these very "hats" in a solid wall, and because of them humanoid outlines began to appear.  First one, then followed by another, a third ... They really had bags behind them.  As soon as the fog began to dissipate, the outlines of these gnomes also began to disappear.
 - You've seen?  One of the boys whispered softly.
 - I told you, but let's go ... Just like a girl ...
The first boy blushed a little with shame.  Seeing this, the second boy offered to follow the dwarfs.  Quietly, trying not to lose sight of them, they followed them, making their way through the thickets, which were shrouded in the mountains.  The path narrowed, more and more travelers came across sharp branches, huge boulders, large spiders with drawings on their backs.  But the spiders did not touch them, but only looked at them and immediately hid behind a huge leaf or ran away along a branch into their hole.  Huge, black ants were dragging something on their backs.  The most important of them stood aside and urged them on:
  - Live!  Live!  Do not push!  Watch your step!  Live!  One or two!  One or two!  - when the last soldier caught up with him, he followed him.
Opening their mouths, the boys watched as the unusual detachment disappeared from sight, lost among the huge, rough, green leaves, on which something was also hiding.  Coming closer, they saw the familiar aphid, which is the ambassador of their "cows" on a green leaf.  "Cows" sucked the plant juices, drinking to the full.  The two boys, following their example, also kissed the leaf and drank white juice, which tasted like cow's milk.
  - Tasty!
  - Aha !!  - the second wiped his dirty mouth with his sleeve and walked away from the leaf, having drunk "milk".  Looking around, he did not find the dwarfs.  Having understood.  That they were lost, he got scared and shook up his friend, not allowing him to drink enough "milk".
 -What are you doing?  I got drunk myself, but I can't ?!
  - I am oppressing them!  We are alone here!
  - How not ... - he was frightened and immediately peeled off the sheet, to which he had sucked like an aphid the day before. - What to do now?
  - Hush ... There seems to be someone ....  The first boy whispered.
  And indeed voices were heard.  They came closer, hiding behind a spreading bush with black and blue berries and saw two women, an old woman and a young woman in a hood, standing near a small stone house with a thatched roof.  They spoke quietly, barely audible:
 - You brought me that ... - asked the old woman, angrily drilling her eyes, checking her guest from head to toe with an X-ray look.
  - Yes ... - the girl also answered quietly and opened the bag that she had been carrying with her all this time.
The old woman put her head into the bag and began rummaging there, counting something and finishing, emerged from the bag smiling:
 - Come in ... - she offered to enter the guest in a satisfied voice.
  For a moment the old woman, smelling something in the air, sniffed, noisily inhaling a stream of fresh forest air into her huge pimply nose.  She felt something smelling of milk, but not seeing anyone as she didn’t try to make out the bushes nearest to the house, she realized that she most likely just imagined and, scolding herself for being too intrusive, again invited the guest to enter her mansion.  She entered and the doors were immediately locked from the inside, emitting a characteristic, quiet, slightly scraping sound of rusty iron ...
The boys, like secret spies, crept to the very house of the old woman and looked through the window.  Through the dull, long-unwashed window, covered in rain streaks and dust, they saw that on a huge oak table all over the room lay all kinds of food, herbs and roots.  In the corner there was a large, old, stone stove, from where an earthen jug was smoking, which stood directly on the fire.  Flames licked it greedily, trying to swallow it in one gulp.  The old woman went to the smoking cauldron, which also stood in the stove, behind the jug, and.  Opening the lid, she began to throw cooked roots and herbs into it.
  - Borscht cooks, probably ... - the red-haired boy licked his lips.  For a minute he remembered his home, his mother, his little sister, and tears rolled treacherously down his childish cheeks.  He wiped them off with the palm of his hand and continued sniffling.
  - Yeah ... - confirmed the second, smelling the delicious smell of cooked borscht.  But then their gaze noticed one strange detail: there, among a heap of all kinds of drugs, a human head rolled out of the bag with pitch-black hair
  - A-ah!  - screamed the frightened children in earnest and rushed out of this house straight into the forest, not making out the road.
  Hearing extraneous screams, the old woman left the house and, seeing the children running away, was at first surprised, then delighted at the unheard of luck and tomorrow's hearty dinner, rushed after them, saddling a rather tortured, broken, just as old as herself, a large broom that stood  near the front door, propping up the wall.  But tomorrow's supper had already disappeared into the woods.
  In the blink of an eye, rising to the height, she flew over the forest, looking out with her keen eyes, drilling a plasma beam, among the thick trees of small, frightened children.  Wherever her gaze fell, clouds of gray smoke and burning immediately appeared.  Finally, she noticed the fugitives and was about to grab them with her bony, long arm, which looked more like a roomy, deep bucket than a human hand, as these two tomboys immediately disappeared into a small cave among the cone-shaped mountains, where entry for the old woman was contraindicated.  Flying over the cave two more circles, the old woman disappeared over the horizon.
- Ugh ... We barely got off .. - one of them said with a heavy breath.
  - D-ah ... Carried away ... - sighed the second.
  They sat in the cave for a long time, afraid to get out.  Only the next morning, they hesitantly leaned out of it and realizing that nothing threatened them, they boldly left, stepping firmly through the forest.  Examining the nearby bushes in search of something edible, they noticed a lake nearby.  The crystal, cool, clear lake was among the "gnome hats". A beautiful panorama opened up to their eyes and the more they admired it, the more peace and tranquility reigned in their hearts.
Having decided to swim in the lake., They threw off their clothes and ran into the water, laughing and hooting.  There, inside the lake, nature is even more colorful than outside.  Flocks of small, multi-colored fish swam here and there, and under the feet of the children there were corals and underwater bushes of mysterious plants that looked like marmalade and caramels.  Accidentally touching them, one of the divers broke off a piece of “caramel” and pulled it into his mouth.  Expecting a burn, he, on the contrary, felt a real caramel, which quickly melted in his mouth.  And then he saw a beautiful underwater tall tree.  The most real with a solid trunk and crown, albeit not as branched and wide as on the surface, but still with a crown and leaves.  It swayed, slowly dancing with the flow.  Having admired them, the children swam to the surface and, having built something like a bag out of wide leaves, they dived back into the lake and collected sweet caramels.  Tucking into both cheeks, they completely relaxed and fell asleep.  During the night a cold wind blew and poured rain, and they again had to take refuge in a cave.  Shivering from the cold, they could not fall asleep for a long time, listening to how the ice rain was crying hysterically and the strong, stormy wind mercilessly tormented the trees.
On the other side of the forest, a huge sandy, hellish desert has grown.  The sharp contrast between the two completely different worlds lent mystery and attracted travelers.  A stranger in rags, leaning on a stick, walked past them.  He had been on the road for a long time.
  The two boys, without hesitation, followed.
  They walked for a long time.  Finally, when the sun was already close to the horizon, they stopped to rest.
  Pulling an antique leather bottle from his bosom, he took a sip and tugged at it.
 - No, ... We don't drink.
  - Drink, I say ... - he insisted, in a voice that could not tolerate objection.  It was very hot and thirsty.
 
  Taking a sip, one of the boys spat out its contents.
 “Ugh, what’s it…” he asked, wiping his mouth with a dirty sleeve.
  - Water ...
 - She's so smelly ...
  - Which have…
 - I only drink the canteen at home, I don't even drink from the tap.  And here.  Fu.  Such an abomination ...
  The stranger lit a fire and silently fell asleep.  He did not say anything to them and did not ask them anything.  The children just lay down next to me.
The next morning, they set out again.  We walked for a long time.  Finally, they came to some old city with tall, colored, like sweet sugar marshmallows, towers propping up the sky itself.  The city was surrounded by a high stone wall.
Entering the city, the boys cheered up.  And the stranger himself, too.  The city just boiled with its own life.  The shops were simply full of different utensils and food.  A stranger stole a couple of apples from a shop where they sold apples and gave them to the children.  Those greedily began to grumble, gnawing on both cheeks.  The colorful bazaar gave way to narrow, quirky streets paved with fine stone.  Beautiful carts rushed past and the travelers now and then had to let them pass, making way for them.
 -But!  Caution!  Make way!  Make way!  - shouted the coachman and people in a hurry made way, nestling almost close to the nearest wall of the stone house or to its wooden gate.  All the houses were colored, painted in different colors.  The windows are tall and long, large in the entire wall or vice versa, tiny, under the very roof, looked out on a fishing rod.  People in strange, long, floor-length robes walked here and there.

Suddenly, when the travelers left the street onto the wide road, a bearded man in a heavy, red brocade robe and with a turban on his head approached them:
  - What did you come with?
  - ... - the eldest of the trio cast a glance at the two boys he had brought with him.
  After examining them, counting their teeth, looking behind the ear, the fat bearded man nodded his head affirmatively and, pulling a tightly stuffed bag out of his pocket, thrust it into the seller's hands.
  Then two tall guys ran up and, putting shoes on the boys' heads, led the bearded man, hiding in the crowd.
  The seller, having turned into a miserable snake, quietly disappeared into a dark corner.
In the evening in the big arena, where all the inhabitants of the ancient city gathered, strong men performed.  They fought with each other with swords. But not everyone expected it.  The most tasty morsel was ... how a huge snake would devour its victims.  A terrible, bloody sight.  But the winner of this insidious snake is offered a whole chest of gold!  A huge chest of gold!  That is why this spectacle attracts many people.  The cobra itself belonged to the same bearded man.  Who bought two poor little slaves.
 “I’ll grow them into fighters.  And if it doesn't work out, I'll feed this snake. "  thought, combing his curly beard with a golden comb.
  While he was combing his beloved beard, which had reached in size right up to the waist, fist fights and sword fights were long gone and a strong, dark-skinned slave in a loincloth was brought to the stage.
  The block was removed from his head, the chains from his hands too.
  The audience began to rejoice, anticipating the spectacle.
  From the other end of the arena, an iron, lattice curtain was raised and a huge cobra slowly crawled out of its hole.  Feeling the smell of blood, with which the arena itself had already been abundantly watered by the previous participants, she hissed, opening a huge mouth.  And swelling in the hood
From fear, the poor man did not know what to do and where to run.  Grabbing a forgotten sword on the ground that was lying around, he rushed to the cobra in despair and was immediately swallowed by it like a fly, it was so huge.
But this sacrifice only made her angry.  She was not enough, and she pounced on the crowd of onlookers, breaking huge, iron, thick chains.  In an instant, having swallowed all the spectators or almost all, well-fed and sluggish, she calmly retired to her hole, where her kids were waiting for her - a small clutch of eggs in the most remote corner of the hole, where a ray of light almost does not penetrate and which no one knows about.
  The fat bearded man, sweating with excitement and excitement, signaled to his nukers and also hurried to his luxurious mansion.

 
Chapter 10. Visiting Degtyarev.  Mortal Kombat of the Titans.
 - She (wife) as she found out about my second marriage, raised such a scandal!  She threw everything, whatever could fall under my arm.  And what… I was silent.  He stood rooted to the spot, like a fool and was silent.  I tried to explain, but it went even further apart.  She collected my belongings and threw them out of the door.  Straight like a dog ... in the rain.  And Kristinka was still small.  Years 8-9.  She looks at me with her clean little eyes and almost cries.
 “Daddy don’t go away…” - she wrapped her arms around me and did not let go.  And I cry….  And my wife grabbed her hand and pulled out my hands too.
 "Do not approach, shouts, to her!"  It got so bad.  I loved my daughter.  Very.  Spoiled her.  She went all over me.  And her character is mine, proud, stubborn!  I secretly ran away from home to the other side of the village to see me.  Mother does not let her in, locks her, and at night she will jump out through the window and walk towards me in the backyards, along the canal.  And she didn't care what my mood was, she would hug me, wrap her arms around me and smile.  Well, how can you get angry!  Sometimes I’m tired from work, sometimes I’m not in the mood, I quarreled with my superiors or something, but she doesn’t care what I am.  He will hug me with his little arms, press against me and will not let go.  Then I gave up.
 - Have you tried to take her to your place?
 - I tried it.  The court did not give it back.  Then she worked in a store.  Here are the judges and gave the daughter.  You can't give up your mother.  And do not care who the daughter wants.  When already an adult began to disappear for a week.  Well, I invited her to stay with me.  I gave her a room.  She always had her own room here.  There are two boys from his second wife, but most of all he loved his daughter.  Oh, she has character!  I went in for sports and studied well.  And then she dropped everything.  Parties, parties.  I told her then, if you want to live with me - live by my rules, follow the rules.  The nose turns up!  Eyes sparkling.  I did not comply.
- Were you too strict with her?
 - Well no.  He asked that she not only come home to spend the night.  I haven't seen her at all.  He will come at night, leave in the morning.  I told her, at least call me so that I know where you are, that you are alive and well.
  I am to blame.  and the mother is to blame.  We missed her.  All because of the divorce.  She wanted to.  So that we live together as before, one family.  Well, where is there!  And when I left for the last time, a year before my death, I was straight, I felt something was happening.  But teenagers don't ever listen.  We are a backward generation for them.  So they call us with one word "ancestors".  The word is what ...
I asked her to call me at least once every two days.  She called, regularly.  The last time I called six months ago.  Well, I went to the police to look for her.  And the police don't even itch.  Well, the application was accepted.  That's all ... not a rumor ... not a spirit ...
  As Arman later finds out, the police really accepted the statement about the missing girl and even filed a wanted list.  But the case was stopped for some reason.  Neither the body nor the living was found.  And so it remained.
  - Can I see her room?
 - Yes.  Sure.  I beg…
  Entering the room, Armand did not see anything unusual.  An ordinary room?  Bed, desk, wardrobe.  Well, that's all.  No computer.  Actually, it was a little strange that there was no computer.  Now everyone has a computer, but here they don't.  Strict everything is so dad.  Looking into a drawer on his desk, he found a box.  It was locked.  Looking in his pocket, Armand pulled out the key and tried to open the box with it.  To his surprise, the key fit.  The box opened and a beautiful ballerina began to dance to beautiful music.
 “Just something, but I was racking my head, why this key” - Arman laughed at himself.  Well yes.  When he was about to leave, he noticed something else.  There, in the table, there was another inconspicuous drawer, opening it, he found a diary in which one page was torn out.  The diary was almost full.

“I don’t know what’s happening to me.  Where does this redness on the back come from?  At first, these spots were small, and then they began to grow.  And itch.  It's a shame.  Because of them I can't go anywhere ... I wear everything long ... even in the heat, in summer.  Everyone laughs at me.  Once at school they came up and tore off my jacket.  And we saw this terrible rash, which was already festering.  I quickly pulled on my jacket and ran out of the classroom.  I won't go to school again. "
Flipping a little forward, Armand read:
  “In vain is my mother shouting at his second wife.  Nothing she.  Delicious cooking.  And then mom's horns are tired.  Oh yes!  Today is my birthday!  She promised to make Napoleon cake!  Super!  We became friends with her.  She gave me her ring.  The same thing with the big green stone.  It's old.  She says her grandmother gave it to her.  I'm happy."
Below, under the signature, were drawn hearts in red ink and little bunnies.
  Armand smiled.  He scrolled further and again found that the pages in the diary had been torn out, "with meat."
  Not that she pulled it out herself.  It was like.  Something in a hurry tore out the pages so that they would not be read.
Here Armand's key fell.  He bent down to pick it up and saw it ripped apart.  Small pieces written with the same pen and the same handwriting.
  Gathering them together, he read:
  "Snake!  She's a snake!  Today I saw at night how a huge snake came down.  She left her father's room.  I quietly made my way after her, and she disappeared into that very hole.  Nobody believes me ... "
  Then the door opened and a beautiful young woman entered the room.  This was Degtyarev's second wife.  She called for dinner.
Armand, somehow managing to hide the scraps of pages, sweeping them under the bed, when he heard footsteps:
  - Yes, I'm coming.  You are so kind.  - he followed her, thinking to himself that she had not noticed anything.
But that was not the case.  Her sharp gaze noticed the diary that he read, or rather, he read only what she wanted him to read.  Everything was as it should be.
At supper, a roast of mutton was served, which Armand devoured by both cheeks.  Then drinks are served.  And a special drink for the guest.
After supper, everyone dispersed to their rooms.  Armand was offered to sleep in the guest room.
Before serving it, the hostess quietly poured sleeping pills into the food so that everyone fell asleep, and when everyone fell asleep, she left the house and disappeared into a dark alley.
  Armand, following her all this time, lost sight of her.
  He did not drink that drink for the guest, but simply pretended to drink.  His eyes drooped.  He was falling asleep.  Struggling with sleep, he walked some distance, and then.  I found myself in the sands.  Alone ... A fierce wind howled and threw sand right in his eyes.  A hooded woman walked ahead.  Approaching, he touched her and ... she crumbled like sand, and instead of her appeared a real two-meter.  a human-sized snake, swelling in the hood.  Armand's legs reeled from fear and he lost his balance and fell to the ground.  Afraid to move, he froze for several minutes.  A huge snake, not finding its victim, crawled past.
Suddenly, the wind rose again and a huge green dragon, covering the sky with itself, swooped down on her, trying to tear her to pieces.
The cobra hissed furiously, splashing poisonous saliva and swelling in the hood.  She grew even larger and taller, to incredible proportions than a twenty-story building, and began to attack.  The dragon climbed even higher and rushed at her like an arrow, belching flame, but it seemed that the snake did not care.  Attacking the fleeing dragon with lightning speed, the snake stung it, for the umpteenth time, grabbing its tail.  He howled, in pain, and then again and again burst out of his mouth, a huge flame burning everything in its path, in an instant, turning the snake into ash.
Having killed the cobra, the dragon itself was already dying, but it still continued to vomit heat from its mouth until it completely died out.  Armand, watching all this, came out of his hiding place, where he had time to hide when he saw the dragon.  A lone skeletal tree in the middle of the sand, which had become his shelter, swayed pitifully in the middle of the ashes.
Then there was a dull hum from the ground.  The ground opened and a huge worm crept out of it.  He crawled past, leaving a deep trench behind him.  Armand, barely standing on his feet, looked with all his eyes, not knowing what to do and where to run.  The two-meter worm, feeling warmth, pounced on him, ready to swallow in one fell swoop, but the dodgy little man managed to escape, running away from him, jumping over the ditches, until he completely disappeared.  The worm sniffed the air once more and, never finding anything edible, crawled underground again.  Armand stood all this time on some kind of God-forgotten round, flat piece of iron, like a soup plate, in the middle of the sands, afraid to even take a breath.  When all was quiet, he, having examined the bodies of the cobra and the dragon, walked a little further and saw in the sands a small heap of round, smoothly hewn precious stones, sparkling in the light.
This is what she was trying to protect, Armand thought.
He took a couple and tucked them into his bosom.
  Going further, he noticed ... a city surrounded by a high stone wall.
The gates to the city were closed.
This world was completely different, fabulous and alluring to itself with its mystery and dissimilarity.  There, in the depths of the suffocating desert, among the quicksand white sands, lurks an oasis of ... boiling sulfuric acid and poisonous gases, changing their color as the wind blows.  And do not let Allah be there, it will devour you all without a trace, dissolving so that there will not be even a wet place.  Above it, at night, you can often see small dewdrops, frozen at a certain height, like slow-motion shooting, a frozen frame.
  Armand looked up at the sky and saw thousands of small stars.  Admiring them, he followed their call and imperceptibly found himself in an unfamiliar place, far deeper from the ancient city.  A thick, milky mist enveloped the ground.  He saw in front of him a staircase leading straight to the sky.  Carefully stepping on the wobbly wooden steps, connected by threads-ropes and leaning on the same wobbly, unreliable handrails, Armand, closing his eyes so as not to look down at the deep abyss that opened to his eyes, walked half the way.  Suddenly, a strong, through, stormy wind had risen almost to knock him down.  Armand barely had time to grab the handrail when the wind blew him down into the very abyss, the bottom, which was not visible.  But the unreliable ropes broke, and he flew with a whistle to the bottom, to the very bottom.  It seemed to him that his spine was broken, he could not even move, did not feel any legs or arms.  My heart almost stopped, it was difficult to breathe.  He passed out.
Waking up after some time (he does not remember how long after, maybe in five minutes, maybe in two days), he found himself lying on the silky lawn.  The night air smelled of honey and cherry caramel.  Small bright fireflies circled around, beautifully illuminating the darkness.  It seemed that the stars themselves descended to the ground.  It was so beautiful!  An unusual, iridescent tree with a branchy crown caught his attention.  In the light of the fireflies, it appeared to be made of pure chocolate, giving off a pleasant, sweet taste.  Coming closer, he touched it and sniffed.
  - Indeed, chocolate!  - smiled Armand.  He heard.  As something inside him gurgled strongly, and felt a strong hunger.  Unable to overcome himself, he eagerly broke off a thin branch and, picking off the leaves in a dream, stuffed it into his mouth.  The chocolate melted in his mouth, dulling his hunger.  When he had eaten, he noticed a pile of precious stones at its roots.  Monolithic, whole large, almost the same size stones are exactly the same that he had already seen, but slightly different, brighter, sunny.  Having stuffed it into his pockets, he looked around like a thief, but not seeing anyone and realizing that he had just found a real treasure (which is in number!), He went on.  Having passed a little bit, he noticed a huge, dilapidated castle with high marble columns visible in the distance.  Out of curiosity, he went into the very interior of it, and when he raised his head to look at the ceiling, he saw a beautiful, starry sky seeping through the stone, circular arches of the ceiling.  It felt like it was not an abandoned castle, but a real interplanetary space station, somewhere far from our native Earth.  The fireflies left him, and he plunged into darkness, but the light emanating from the stars, scattered like sandy sweet white sugar across the sky, suppressed fear and inspired beauty.  He stood there for an hour, gazing at the stars.  And again, nature surprised him.  He noticed how several small stars began to increase in size, becoming unusually bright to the point that he had to close his eyes with his palm in order not to go blind.  Feeling the wall with his back, he slowly slid down it, hiding in the darkness.  He saw how from a huge interplanetary spaceship, more like a sheer rock, frozen in the air high above the ground, small dewdrops-capsules, transparent and glowing with a dull light, spilled out.  And when this "rain" flew up to the ground and sat on its surface, many small snake creatures crawled out from there, crawling out, hiding between tall grasses.  And already from there came ... people or something similar to them.  These snake-people burned among themselves in a strange, incomprehensible language, more like the whistle of the wind.  From fear, his heart began to stop again, it became difficult to breathe.  Trying to get up, leaning on the wall, he walked several steps until he finally plunged into a sweet, deep sleep that suddenly surged in a sticky wave.
When Armand woke up, he found himself near that very old mansion of the Dektyarevs, hugging some huge cobblestone with gray-green specks.  Throwing aside his side, Armand, groping for the jewels in his pocket, took out and instilled them shallowly in the hole, covering them with dry grass and leaves with sweat, got up and staggered, went his own way.
  - Then, I will come and take it ... - he said to himself.  n.
Chapter 11. Solution.
  Finding the half-drunk Aruzhan again, he pounced on her with questions:
 - You must explain everything to me!  What's going on here!  You will tell me everything and immediately or I will ... I will ...
 “What?” The drunk Aruzhan barely breathed out of herself.  - You feed the snake ...
  - So.  So you knew everything.  So.  - he walked away a little, staggering away from her.  A round, palm-sized stone rolled out of his bosom.
 - Seeing him, the always drunk Aruzhan began to come to her senses:
  - Where did you get that?  she asked.
  - I was there.  And I was almost eaten by a snake!  And there is also a dragon ... He protected me and died!
  “He wasn't protecting you.  They just couldn't share the booty.  That is, you and killed each other.  And the stones that you take care of are nothing more than eggs!
After these words, Armand jumped out like an electric shock He pulled out all the contents of his pockets.  The pockets were empty, but a couple of them popped out of one pocket.  but after a moment changing his mind, he again scraped everything in a heap and was about to stuff it back into his pockets, and then Aruzhan pounced on him with renewed vigor:
  - Get rid of them immediately!  Or let me destroy them myself!
  - You can't destroy them!  - shouted Armand - He is needed for science!
   Aruzhan fought with him and tried to pull at least one egg out of his hands, but it slipped out and rolled.  Bumping into a sharp object, it shattered into smithereens and a half-formed embryo of a huge snake fell out of it.
  Aruzhan immediately began to crush him with her heel, but the slippery mucus did not give in for a long time.  Finally, having achieved her goal, she calmed down and, thus conveying them all, began her story:
And she and her friend, who later became the second wife of her husband, left that same mysterious world.  Both can take on human form whenever they want.  But she traded her serpentine nature for becoming a man.  A real person.  I exchanged it with a witch who lived there, in the forest, in that world.  But I didn't take into account one thing.  Her daughter gradually began to turn into a snake.  Genes did their own thing.  To avoid trouble, Aruzhan again, at her own peril and risk, made her way into that world and bought the very old ring with a green stone from the greedy witch.  This ring was supposed to protect Kristinka.  Namely, he had to delay her growing up.  That is, she had to remain a child, the same girl as she was.  Aruzhan secretly met with her friend and gave her a ring.  She begged her to help her, and in return promised.  That he will never again become between her husband and her, that is, will not fight for her husband and family.  At the birthday party, she gave the gift, presenting it as her family.

- Strange, but this ring was not near the girl's corpse ...
  - Where could it have gone?  she asked.
  And then Arman remembered that when he was talking with Kristinka's classmate, at the moment when he was still persuading him to contact the police, he then noticed an expensive ring on his finger.  But he did not attach much importance to this.
Chapter 12. Sydykov's Secret
  Armand returned to his southern city and first went to the factory.  Finding the same guy in the dining room, he pushed him against the wall and began to ask about this very ring.  He did not want to speak, and then Armand put the blade of a knife to his very throat and repeated his question, chasing it through his teeth.
 - I found it!
  _- You're lying bastard!  I'll take out all your guts now.  - he put the blade to the very throat, to the bluish nerve vein that stood out on the white skin, - dialect.
   - Sydykov sold me for a hundred dollars.
  - Who it?
 - He lives here behind the lines, in his wagon.  Hiding from someone….
  Armand released him and, spitting on the floor, went out.
  Chapter 13.
Sydykov was found dead in his wagon.  His body was torn to pieces, blood was everywhere, even on the ceiling.  It seemed like some huge creature tore him to pieces.  The truck itself was badly dented, the windows were smashed and fragments, like parts of human flesh, were scattered everywhere along with blood.  Having begun to decompose, the human body gave off a sickening smell.  When Armand arrived, the police were already at full capacity.  The main reason why they did this to him is considered by the police as an accident.  Like, the animal just tore it to pieces and that's it.  No valuable items were found, and they weren't here either.  According to witnesses, the only valuable thing that he had, which he stole from his beloved (Kristinka), he sold for a pittance.  Fragments of empty bottles were scattered here and there, all over the broken truck .. Sydykov was engaged in transporting goods from one point to another, from the city to a neighboring village.  He worked for a local private firm.  From which he was fired recently for drunkenness.  He himself is a visitor from somewhere far away, but he settled here for a while.  Together with the victim (Kristinka) they came to the southern city from Kyzylkum.  Love is a carrot.  But lately they began to quarrel more often.  Maybe she's tired of his drinking?  Maybe something else ... Only more than once people have seen and heard their quarrels and scandals.  And then Kristinka disappeared ... Everyone thought that she had returned to her homeland, until they learned about her death.  Greedy, he has long looked at the ring on her finger ... Arai's ex-girlfriend, who even before Christina, assured that he was so greedy that he never gave her anything, not even a flower for March 8.  So she left him.  The police did a great job looking for witnesses and new evidence of Sydykov's guilt in the case of Christina's death.  It remained only to wait for news from the forensic medical examination, carried out a second time.
“So, Aruzhan avenged her daughter… Arman guessed - Therefore the rings were not found or, as they say,“ nothing of value was found. ”
Chapter 14. Men in black.
  A month after the opening of the case, finally, the data that the police had been waiting for came.  These are laboratory data that should have explained the presence of red spots on the back under the shirt of the deceased.
The data said it was a previously unknown infection, more like a ciliate's slipper, causing hallucinations and slow death.

At night, the forgotten cache shone with bright moonlight.  The glowing gems stirred.  First one, then another, third ...
  And from there crawled out pink, still gentle, but already gluttonous creatures.  But not all of the jewels were eggs, some of them were real.  But it is very difficult to distinguish them.  Untouched, the real ones lay in the ground, waiting for their master.
  When a car drove up and the men in black were looking for treasure, they found nothing: neither gold, nor a mysterious hole - a door to another world.  She's locked up indefinitely, maybe forever.  Nobody knows about this.  This thin line between the worlds is very fragile and you never know when you will inadvertently cross the boundaries of what is permitted.
 ... Armand was standing in his bathroom and unbuttoning his shirt he saw something ... In the place where there was a reddened spot with blisters ... green scales appeared, like a snake ...
The end.
 © Copyright: Rаisa Karimbaeva, 2020
Certificate of publication No. 220012601376