– Why do you hate me so much? – I decided to ask Slavik goodbye.
And again, lightning bolts of anger flew out of her eyes, but she did not say anything out loud, but silently began to continue preparing the festive meal.
Suddenly, the door to the apartment opened and his fifteen-year-old daughter Sonechka appeared on the threshold.
– Hi, – she awkwardly dropped and, avoiding him, ran into the room.
Slavik flew out of the apartment as if scalded with boiling water, threw a backpack on his shoulders and hurried into the forest.
He got to the forest by bus, and then went on foot. He remembered the place where the abandoned house was located very well. It took about two hours to get to it on foot.
When I went into the house, the first thing I did was throw off my backpack and took out vodka, poured myself half a glass. I drank. There was a snack, but I didn’t have a snack. He took a rope and climbed on the table with it, wrapped it around a piece of wood that protruded from the ceiling.
– Well, as they say, Slavik rest in peace – - he said aloud and poured another half a glass of vodka.
From the dose he took, he got a little drunk and people with whom he had communicated before began to seem to him. Vasily Stepanovich, his former boss at work, was right in front of him, he was sitting at his desk.
– Well, bitch, you’re sitting there looking at me with a fat face. With my money, did you fly to the Canaries with your mistress Sofka? Choke on my salary, I won’t need it there. I see you looking at me and you’re glad that I’ll be gone soon.
Well, never mind, you’ll run a little more in this world and come running to me like a darling. And there, Vasil Stepanovich, we will be on equal terms with you. I’ll look at you as you sing.
Slavik looked up and made a Lynch knot on a rope, which he specially learned to knit in a few days.
– And what are you grinning at, Lubka? – he continued, looking in the other direction, – you say an alcoholic is drunk. Did you see yourself from the outside? There are rolls on government goods that I’ve eaten.
You can’t count the salary for this one, you’ll make a mistake for that one. And you yourself live well on our national labor, stuffing your purse and belly.
Slavik lowered the rope, and it hung in the air, and he went down and sat down at the table, took the bottle in his hand and pointed the neck at the glass, but his hand jerked and the contents poured onto the table. He cursed out loud and poured the remaining vodka into a glass, drank it in one gulp and stared at the door.
On the threshold appeared, as it seemed to him, the silhouette of his wife. Maybe the house started drawing these people to him, maybe the alcohol he drank, or maybe even the devil himself. Who knows now?
– Well, honey, you’re an alcoholic and a loser. And when we met in our youth, who asked me to marry just to get away from my stepfather as soon as possible, because he beat you, and from my mother, who kicked you out of the house.
Didn’t you swear to me that you would love me to the grave and support me until death? How so, my dear? Or have you forgotten all the good things over the years? And now I’m not your favorite husband, an alcoholic and a loser.
A silhouette of a girl formed near the mother.
– Well, Sonechka, how are you doing at school? All the kids are there mostly with folders, without him you will not be so comfortable and good. You’ll see. Don’t neglect the folder like that, you have it alone.
– Well, my good ones, I sat here with you so to speak in front of the track, talked. I forgive you all. And I went to meet God.
Slavik poured himself another vodka into a glass, drank it in one gulp and climbed, staggering onto the table and grabbing the rope with his hand.
«Strong, good and holding up – » he said aloud.
Standing on the table, he put a knot around his throat. But then it began to dawn on Slavik that all this was happening to him for real and he was seized with wild horror.
«Maybe it’s not as bad as I imagined. After all, I have a family. And if I stop drinking me, my wife will love me more. And I’ll find another job for myself completely. After all, I’m not even that old, just some forty-two years old. For many at this age, life is just beginning. I’m going to study…»
But his thoughts were interrupted on this, because his feet slipped on a spilled puddle and Slavik slid down from the table while his legs hung twitching in convulsions above the floor. The noose began to tighten his throat more and more. And the last thought that flashed through his head: «I hurried.»
Vampires
Chapter 1
Orphan
Bozhena, what a rare and beautiful name. So the girl was named by her mother in honor of her grandmother. And the girl grew up a happy child for thirteen years and was always bathed in endless parental love. But alas, an accident happened and soon her mom and dad were gone, they drowned in the river. What happened on that fateful day, only God knows.
A very distant relative found out about her trouble, with whom the family had never communicated before «third water on jelly», so to speak, and agreed to shelter the unfortunate. Now Bozhena began to live with her aunt Marina and her large family in the village of Zarechny, Nizhny Novgorod region. They didn’t like the girl, but the most important thing was that no one offended her.
Bozhena helped her relative with the housework, sat with the named brothers and still managed to go to the village school, study perfectly.
There were no friends, because she was always busy with household chores and she had no time left for any walks and conversations.
But still, youth is a wonderful time, it’s time for love and sweet girlish dreams, falling in love and Bozen was not spared, she lost her head from one local guy, he was different from all the guys, fit, tall and very handsome. The locals called him Prince and he was the most important among them.
The Prince had the name Nikola and this year he turned twenty-one. His parents held a high post in the village of Zarechny, his father was the Head of the Administration.
Spring has come. After everyone celebrated Easter, Bozhena’s birthday came along with the singing of birds, the girl turned eighteen years old.
– Well, dear Bozhena, you have become a young and beautiful girl, you are my good one, – Aunt Marina suddenly spoke warmly – - it’s time to marry you, who do you want? Maybe you have a guy that you like, or who likes you?
«I don’t like anyone at all, Aunt,» Bogena said and lowered her eyes to the floor, covering them with long eyelashes like a fan.
– Never mind, the time will come, and you will meet him. And now you need to get ready for the road.
– Where to? It’s my birthday today – » the girl almost cried with annoyance.
– Bozhena, I want to ask you. My dad is in a serious condition, and he needs to be visited and looked after. I have no one to leave the household and the children to now. Will you help me, daughter?
How nice it was to hear my aunt’s words, they just caressed the soul of Bozhena. And no one has said kind words to her for a long time, after the death of her parents. The girl’s heart was kind and it immediately thawed.
– Yes, of course, my dear aunt, I’m going to pack my things and go.
– That’s good. And on your birthday, I baked a pie