The situation in the housing market today can not be called either calm or stable. Apartments in central cities and their immediate environs are in great demand. This, without hesitation, is used by various intermediaries who strive to hand over any shack for decent money. As they say, demand creates supply, so in search of their corner, people are ready to move into even suspicious housing with a bad reputation, knowingly or unconsciously neglecting the possible consequences
The catcher and the beast runs
The idea of staying in St. Petersburg after his studies haunted the young specialist, yesterday's graduate of the prestigious faculty of the Polytechnic University. This happens all the time - after six years living in a big city, without parental care, there is an almost irresistible desire to stay, another thing is that not everyone succeeds. However, Anatoly had every chance - he had already managed to find a suitable job with the prospect of career growth, it worked out well with a girl, however, she was also a newcomer, only housing was lacking. For another month it was possible to wander among friends, but then the problem threatened to stand up to its full height and cross out everything that had already been achieved by this moment.
Tormented by such thoughts, Anatoly went to a cafe after work to have a snack. At the next table was a man, about whom one could say “without any special signs,” and was looking at the young man with obvious interest. Finally, as if making up his mind, he sat down at the table with Anatoly: "Would you like to rent an apartment?" The question brought Anatoly out of his torpor - a ray of light dawned at the end of the tunnel. The agent did not want to pay, so an apartment in the suburbs "from the owner" seemed a suitable option, and why the intermediary does not need money is his own business. Most of all, the low rental price attracted, which, however, was easily explained by the lack of regular transport links with the village of Malye Terpuni. But the distance from the city was not great, and a used car was supposed to solve this problem. Anyway, it was foolish to miss the chancetherefore, Anatoly has planned a trip out of town next weekend.
The hut on chicken legs The
short October day was already coming to an end, and although there were only a couple of hours before sunset, Anatoly planned to return home before dark. The electric train, vigorously tapping its wheels, disappeared around the bend, then it was necessary to wait for the bus or get to the mysterious Malye Terpuni by hitchhiking. The second option seemed more promising - ten minutes later, briskly walking Anatoly did catch up with the Zaporozhets. The gloomy-looking aborigine turned out to be extremely taciturn, but agreed to give it a lift to the destination.
After 15 minutes of driving, a village appeared - several three-story khrushchob, once built for demobilized military personnel or workers of some no longer existing enterprise. The scenery is rather bleak, but it was too late to turn back. The necessary house was found quickly, but with the apartment it turned out to be more difficult: none of the three entrances №43 was listed, which in general did not cause surprise - the house obviously could not have more than 36 apartments. The thought of a stupid joke crept into my head, but then Anatoly came across a plate with the required number. It was fixed under the bell, which was located not inside the entrance, but right next to the front door, on the street. For a minute the man tried to fit this fact into his mind, but remembering that he had already lost a lot of time, he decisively pressed the button.
Shuffling footsteps were heard behind the door, which he had previously taken for a boarded-up basement or janitorial entrance. With a creak, the door opened, exposing the cluttered hallway and the vague female silhouette in the dim light, as if from a kerosene lamp. "Come on in, otherwise I thought my tenant got confused," and the silhouette made an inviting gesture.
Apartment owner
When his eyes got used to the semi-darkness that reigned in the apartment, the potential tenant was surprised to find that the room he got into was much more spacious than one might expect. However, the hostess herself presented a much more intriguing sight. A flirty peignoir was casually thrown over a short silk chemise, from under which sinewy legs with knots of varicose veins protruded. By the most conservative estimates, the lady was at least seventy. Dry hands, a sunken chest, a wrinkled neck crowned with an ugly head with an almost toothless mouth stretched out in a hospitable smile. It seemed that the owner of these "charms" did not notice the absurdity of her outfit, which, of course, looked more advantageous on her half a century ago.
“Run, and the faster the better. How imperfect the social security system in our country is - there is no one to look after the old woman, and after all, there is senile dementia. I hope she is not aggressive”, - all these thoughts rushed through Anatoly's head like a whirlwind.
Noticing his anxious look at the door, the hostess immediately cut off his escape route. “You haven’t looked at the apartment yet, you haven’t talked about the price, but strive to run away right away. Or is something confusing? " In Anatoly's eyes it was quite clearly read what it was, but the hostess interpreted it in her own way - smiled and took the man by the hand. “You would have looked at yourself in the mirror,” Anatoly thought involuntarily. He was sure that he did not utter this remark aloud, but the answer to it was immediate: "Yes, I have not looked there for a long time - it is useless, you still can not see anything." Then the gaze of the elderly seductress fell on the guest's wristwatch, and her face was illuminated by a guess: “So that's the point! You completely confused me with your change of hours, again I moved the hands in the wrong direction. " Really,a large wall clock showed almost seven in the evening - according to the local time of apartment No. 43, the sun should have already set over the horizon, giving the earth to the power of other creatures. "Why, I'm not so sweet to you?"
- the grinning face came close to the face of the man who had died from fear. The stinking breath was the last thing that Anatoly felt before his consciousness left him.
Return
Anatoly's absence from work on Monday caused surprise, irritation, but not alarm. His girlfriend Olga, on the contrary, did not find a place for herself from excitement: it had not yet reached the point of calling morgues, but the news that flashed in the news about a young man who had lost his memory caused quite certain vibrations in her soul. Loving heart did not deceive - it was her Tolik who turned out to be unhappy. The young man was found almost frozen at the bus stop, without outer clothing and documents. At first he carried some nonsense about vampires and other evil spirits, but then he stopped "entertaining" doctors and sympathizers with his tales. It seemed that a week of life had simply disappeared from his memory without a trace. For this, quite trivial reasons are quite enough - binge, head injury,narcotic drugs - any version will be more plausible compared to the attack of an elderly vampire.
Only once did Olga manage to get him to talk about this topic, but failed to verify the information received. The village of Malye Terpuni was not marked on a single map, and no one had ever heard of such a thing. Of course, one could repeat the route from the railway station and try to find a mysterious house with a strange landlady, but Anatoly's gray head and strange scars on his body turned out to be good enough reasons not to do this.