My friend Seryoga and I went on vacation on bicycles. That year I took my son with me. It was the fourth day of the campaign, and it was getting dark. I looked around for a suitable place to sleep.
Not far from the highway, a narrow river flowed, a bridge was thrown across it, a little further off was a white limestone hill with scraps of bushes, and under it was a beautiful meadow with old willows and a sandy descent to the water. On the left was a black coniferous forest, on the right a meadow was dazzling, and immediately behind it was the village.
- Well, you guys, set up camp, and I'll hit the road to the village.
When I reached the last house, I saw an elderly woman in the yard. I dismounted, walked over, asked where the store was and if milk was sold there.
- What kind of milk is in the store? I just milked Zorka.
Remembering the long-forgotten taste of fresh milk, instead of a liter, I took three. And at the same time he asked the hostess if she would sell any vegetables and fruits.
- Choose what you like.
I bought cucumbers, tomatoes and a whole package of "white filling" apples.
Promotional video:
- And this is for your boy. Say: a gift from the woman Klava, - the hostess held out a jar of ripe raspberries. - Where will you spend the night? I have a free outbuilding, I'll take it inexpensively.
- No thanks. We have already set up our tents - I waved my hand towards the camp.
- Under the Devil's Mountain, or what?
- Yes … Why is the Devil's Mountain?
- Bad place … In your opinion, according to the scientist, - anomalous zone. Our locals don't go there unnecessarily. It's dangerous there …
I decided that the woman was frightening on purpose in order to earn money by letting us stand. Smiled:
- We are not afraid of anomalies.
Already drove off a little when the old woman shouted after:
- If you don't have enough money, I'll let you in for free. No need to spend the night there!
He waved his hand: don't worry …
After dinner, Antokha leaned against me and immediately fell asleep. I took him to the tent. Sergei also went to the side, but I stayed in the clearing to smoke a cigarette. Overhead - a scattering of stars, willow branches rustle sleepily, not even mosquitoes. How could such a place be bad?
I don't know how long I sat by the fire. I was about to go to bed when I suddenly saw a dark figure heading towards our camp from the direction of the forest. I felt a thick stick in the grass - just in case. When the man was very close, I was surprised to recognize in him … Sergei. And how could he pass me by unnoticed? I haven't slept!
- Why are not you sleeping? - got up to meet his friend.
- I'm sleeping. We are all asleep …
The answer was strange, but even more surprising was the voice of his friend - unnaturally low, rough and coming not from his moving lips, but as if from somewhere under the ground. But even more than his voice, I was struck by his face. It seems that everything is Seregino - eyes, nose, mouth, a scar on his temple (he "earned" on physical training in the fifth grade), but at the same time there was a feeling that this is someone completely alien, dangerous.
- Who are you? - my voice faltered. He didn't answer. And then the unimaginable began. There is not a breath of breeze in the clearing, and the surface of the river is calm, smooth, like a mirror. But the forest … Have you ever seen twenty-meter pines bend like willow twigs? An eerie sight! It became really scary.
Not for myself, for my son. I wanted to rush into the tent to wake up, take away from this place and the terrible person who for some reason pretended to be my friend, but he grabbed my hand:
- You - there! - pointed to the enraged pine trees and with superhuman strength dragged me towards the forest. For thirty-five years of friendship, Sergei and I have never fought, even in childhood. And then I swung and hit him in the eye with my free hand. My fist … did not meet any obstacle, as if it had hit not a living person, but a ghost.
Nevertheless, I swung again, but did not have time to hit - from the tent came the cry of my son: "Dad!" I turned around at the call, and after a moment I discovered that there was no one else around. With a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes, and when he opened … The sun was almost entirely out of the horizon, the birds were singing, Serega, snorting, washed, standing up to his waist in the river.
- It's a wonderful morning! he shouted. “Have you been chilled by the fire all night?” Did the mosquito eat?
- Didn't eat. And you … Did you leave the tent at night?
- Hey. Slept like a dead man. Woke up recently.
So it was the most common nightmare! Yesterday I heard enough of the old woman's ravings, so I dreamed of various nonsense.
I jumped into the water with a whoop. I swam to my heart's content, and when I went ashore, I suddenly saw bruises darkening on my forearm. It was in the very place that the Dark Man grabbed me in a dream. Or was THAT not human?
Sleepy Antokha appeared on the shore:
- Dad, what do we have for breakfast?
- We'll have breakfast later. And now we are quickly closing the camp - I was close to panic.
- Well, pa-up … - finished the son. “You promised that we would stay here for a long time.
- Sasha, what happened? - asked a friend concerned.
- Here at night strangers roamed about, - said half-truth, half-lie.
In general, the campaign was a success. We returned home tired but happy. I quickly forgot the devilry of that night, and perhaps never would have remembered, had it not been for something strange in one of the printed vacation photos. No, not strange - scary!
Near the tent, set up at the foot of the limestone mountain, stand, embracing, Seryoga and Antoshka. Both have smiles from ear to ear. And behind them … a dark figure! On a blurred, as if blurred face, a grin of a horrifying devilish grin clearly appears.
I immediately burned that picture, and flushed the ashes down the toilet. I put all the rest in the album - as a keepsake.
Alexander