Have you noticed that at dusk everything around you seems different from what it really is. What is familiar and understandable during the day takes on bizarre, strange and even scary forms in the dark. Summer twilight, on the border between day and night, is a time of visions, amazing transformations and mysterious metamorphoses. The moment when the sun has gone beyond the horizon, but the world has not yet plunged into final darkness, I especially do not like. Apparently, in the depths of the subconscious, the very primitive fear that gripped the ancestors every day with the setting of the luminary beyond the edge of the earth begins to stir. The imagination helpfully draws bizarre visions, the mind realizes that this is a fiction, but it is difficult to keep emotions under control.
Or maybe these are not visions at all, but the same reality. Who knows, maybe with the onset of dusk, not a fantasy is played out, but a portal between the worlds opens, the thin line between reality is erased.
Usually I flaunt: they say, I don't believe in anything, I'm not afraid of anything. To me, an experienced witch, no evil spirits and otherworldly forces are a decree! This is what I love to play in public, but in fact, an ordinary person. With their fears, violent imagination and amazingly sensitive perception of the subtle world. It would be better if it were not there, this sensitivity, honestly! It would be much easier to live in this world.
We were recently on a hike with my spouse. Well, it's like a hike: we arrived at the location on Friday, set up a tent and went about their own business. He, with his miraculous device for finding lost things from the past, climbed into the nearest forest, and my dog and I went in search of adventure.
There is no other way I can name this outing. Tell me why a man should go for a long walk with his dog almost at night! Well, walk along the edge of the forest leisurely, breathe in the smell of pine needles heated during the day, listen to the fish playing in the river. No, we, as true Leninists, will go the other way. Shouldn't you and I, my tailed friend, walk to the nearest sight - the remains of a church. No sooner said than done. Walking not far, the sun has just sunk below the horizon, our eyes are used to the semi-darkness, we have an excellent scent, strong sneakers, stones and roots sticking out of the ground are not a hindrance.
I'm just kidding and making fun of it. Later that evening I was not in a laughing mood, friends. In the silence of the night, I didn't even hear my steps: soft sand hid sounds. We walked slowly along a path winding through the bushes and leading directly to the old building. In the dark, it seemed to me that it did not look as harmless as during the day. The cross, recently erected on the old dome, did not save the day. On the contrary, the cross protruding from the dome overgrown with bushes looked intimidating. The trees, which by some miracle sprouted at the height, looked unkind and ominous. It is in the light of day that thin twigs of birches and mountain ash are pleasing to the eye against the majolica background of the August sky, and in the blackness of the night, they seemed to be hands thrown up to the stars.
I decided that it was my fantasy that was played out too much, especially since my "fearless" companion behaved very calmly.
But at some point, my bravado faded. It seemed to me that from the darkness someone was watching us intently. Oh, what nonsense! So my rational part thought. The irrational gave a signal - danger, turn to base! For some reason, inappropriately, I remembered that not far from the old cemetery. And after a few more steps, details that were completely unnecessary in such a situation surfaced in my memory: next to the skeleton of the church there are two crosses and old gravestones. It is already impossible to disassemble anything on them, but obviously they are not just put, but in the memory of those who are buried.
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The feeling of being watched grew stronger. It was finally dark around and a suspicious silence settled. This happens before a thunderstorm. The air thickened, and even breathing became difficult. The dog is finally alert. She stared into the darkness with a concerned look. Birds? Mice? Not! I clearly understood - we are not alone. Someone or something of clearly intangible origin was watching us. From where it was observed, you ask. And that was the worst thing: it was everywhere! I could not accurately determine the direction of this "gaze", it was around: on the ground, in the sky, in the air. The presence of something unusual, unearthly, inhuman was felt in everything. Imagine that you are in the center of the intersection of millions of views, as if you are standing naked in the square, and everyone is looking at you. A very rough comparison,which roughly reflects the essence of my feelings.
I called the hushed dog and began to slowly move back. Without taking his eyes off the cross outstretched in the black sky. Having gone a considerable distance, I decided to turn my back to the church. At the same moment, I distinctly felt how the hair on the back of my head seemed to burn. But not warm - cold. Shackled by horror - it's about me! An eerie, indescribable feeling. And the cold, just inhuman frost, passed from the back of the head down the spine to the very heels. How I didn’t scream out loud, I don’t know, probably my throat was paralyzed. I couldn't even run: my legs were numb and rooted to the ground.
The uncontrollable panic lasted for several seconds. Remembering the rescue breathing exercises, I tried to pull myself together. Carefully rearranging her legs, trying not to run, she wandered towards the parking lot. It seemed to me that as soon as I ran, this SOMETHING would follow. The dog sped up involuntarily, and I had to constantly pull up the tape measure. Measured clicks of the locking mechanism returned to reality. I was even afraid to look back.
Finally, we passed a dangerous place. The feeling of anxiety was gone, the heart stopped beating. The feeling of the outside Force in the air was gone.
I managed to safely reach the camp. From afar, the abandoned church and its surroundings did not seem scary. The cross did not look threatening, and the bushes on the dome finally merged with the dark sky. Nothing special, normal night landscape. But from that moment on I gave myself a vow - not to boast of my permissiveness and not to flaunt in vain. Why “call fire on yourself”. Strength does not like when it is not respected and underestimated!