An Uninvited Guest

The incident I want to tell you about happened to my cousin, Sveta. It was winter. My cousin came home from school, ate, and went for a walk with her friends. Around 11 p.m., they went home. Since Sveta knew she'd be home alone that day, upon returning home, she locked the front door, turned off all the lights, and went to bed.

She lay there and heard the front door open and footsteps, then the light in the hallway turned on. At first, she thought her older brother had returned—he was supposed to be at someone's birthday party at the dacha that day, but apparently didn't go and came back. Sveta opened her eyes when she realized that the person who had come had entered her room and was standing next to her bed. She opened her eyes and was almost speechless: a man she didn't recognize was standing next to her bed! He looked about thirty, wearing a mink hat, a leather jacket, and trousers... He simply stared at her, breathing heavily.

Sveta, so frightened, couldn't think of anything better to do than yell at him. As she later recounted, at first she didn't realize that an ordinary person couldn't have gotten into the house.

"Who are you? How did you get into the house? Get out of here!"

Sveta's screams had no effect—the stranger was still standing there, staring at her. Sveta, coming to her senses, finally realized he wasn't human at all and buried her head under the covers. She doesn't know how long she stayed there, but eventually, curiosity got the better of her—she decided to see if the uninvited guest was still there. She lifted the covers a crack and saw the stranger still standing there, staring at her. Noticing Sveta looking at her, he turned, took a couple of steps toward the door leading from the room into the hallway, and slipped through the gap between the door frame and the door. He did so from the side where the hinges were—it was through this small gap that the visitor entered the hallway. Then, footsteps were heard again, followed by the sound of the apartment's front door closing.

As soon as everything quieted down, Sveta jumped up, turned on all the lights, and went to check the locks. The door was locked, and the key was lying on the shelf next to the door. Who came to visit my sister that night remains a mystery to this day.