My friend's girlfriend

It was around the beginning of summer 2004. I had a friend named Dima who invited me over. He wasn't staying at his place at the time, though, but at his girlfriend's. The girl was very beautiful, but there was a certain coldness and cynicism about her that would make any misanthrope envious. So, I went over to their place. We sat, chatted, drank beer, and watched TV. Then the girl said they had a reunion of former classmates that day and she'd be gone until the morning. My friend and I were overjoyed—we'd be able to talk freely about all sorts of things without having to worry about the girl's presence. She left, and we went out for more beer and bought some food for dinner. Naturally, I decided to stay the night.

Everything was wonderful, and I don't remember exactly what we discussed, but at some point Dima said, "It's fine here, except sometimes things fall off the shelves at night." I'd never really believed in mysticism and hadn't encountered anything like it, but I was curious—like, how could this be? A friend told me that something devilish often happens in the apartment at night, and he'd also found what looked like a spell on a piece of paper in his girlfriend's desk. I was astonished and demanded to see it. We went into his girlfriend's room, and my friend pulled out a notebook page from the desk, noticing that it had clearly been written more than before.

Taking the page and reading what was written, I experienced a storm of emotion, because the page did indeed contain real spells, and some ominous ones at that. I don't remember the text, but the notes began with something like, "Devils, come and feast on blood..." In the 21st century, a serious, educated girl harbors some kind of medieval horror... And yet she always said she didn't believe in God or the supernatural and considered herself a modern person. I suggested burning the piece of paper, but Dima refused and suggested leaving the room as soon as possible.

Night fell, and the apartment truly did feel eerie. I tried to chalk it up to my sensitivity, but surely two people couldn't see the same thing at once? First, we heard a distinct rustling sound in the next room. Then, sitting in the kitchen, I glanced into the hallway and saw a black cat staring at me very intently. The whole point is, there had never been a cat in the apartment! My friend was standing at the stove, making dumplings. I muttered his name in a strangled voice, not taking my eyes off the cat. Dima, without even turning around, asked, "What, did you see a black cat? I see them sometimes too." Goosebumps ran across my body. The phantom beast leaped into a corner somewhere, and I never saw it again.

We slept in the same room, as sleeping in separate rooms here seemed insane, especially in that witch's room. Dima also told me for some reason that he once dreamed the apartment was entangled in some kind of black threads. He walked around the apartment, searching for where the threads led, until he found an old book under the bathroom tiles. Somehow, I finally fell asleep, though I was afraid my hair would turn gray by morning.

I woke up at just after three in the morning, listened closely, and heard the linoleum creaking in the hallway, as if someone was walking there. Oh, how scared I was... I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that all this was really happening to me. Like a child, I pulled the blanket over my head and tried to breathe as quietly as possible, lest IT enter the room. Somehow, I finally fell asleep again.

In the morning, I told Dima about the footsteps in the hallway. He said he'd heard them too, but in a small room. Then I went home.

A year later, Dima finally broke up with that witch (or whoever she was), and she married some old, rich man. I try not to remember that sleepover, even though ten years have passed. I still find it hard to comprehend that such evil spirits exist among us. It's one thing to read stories about ghosts and monsters in books or online, and quite another to encounter the inexplicable firsthand.