A Cold Apartment

My husband's sister, Tatyana, her common-law husband, Anton, and their six-month-old daughter, Vera, were tired of moving from one rented apartment to another, but they had no choice. They found another quiet neighborhood and successfully moved into a new, affordable apartment. For a month, everything was completely calm: Anton worked, Tanya took care of their daughter and the household chores. The only thing was that the apartment was surprisingly cold, despite the excellent heating throughout the building.

One day, Tanya was playing with Vera, and when she saw the child exploring his rattles on his own, she went into the bathroom to do some laundry. She left a small crack in the bathroom so she could keep an eye on the baby, periodically checking to make sure everything was alright. After finishing washing another sheet, Tanya peered through the crack and met someone's gaze. They were strange, cold eyes staring back at Tanya. The girl ran out of the bathroom in terror, but the apartment was empty except for her and the child. Tanya decided she was simply overtired and was seeing all sorts of nonsense.

That evening, Anton came home from work. Tanya put Verochka to bed and went to bed herself. Anton was sitting at the computer, playing a video game. A raspy female voice woke her. "Go away," the voice said. Tanya abruptly lifted her head from the pillow. A cold blast hit her face. "Go to bed," Tanya asked Anton. "Your shooters are making me dream nonsense."

The next day passed peacefully, without any strange happenings or voices. That evening, Anton came home from work later than usual, and the whole family went to bed. Tatyana was awakened by what she thought was a stupid joke Anton made—the blanket above them was slowly lifting. Tanya nudged her husband and asked him to stop. Half asleep, Anton himself didn't understand what was happening. For a few seconds, the blanket hovered in the air, then fell. They didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

Tanya was groggy all day. She called her husband every ten minutes, asking him to hurry. Fortunately, Anton returned before dark. No one was in a hurry to go to bed. Even Vera seemed to sense her parents' fears, but she fell asleep anyway. Tanya and Anton dozed off, too, but only briefly. They were awakened by their daughter's scream: the girl was sitting on the bed, screaming, staring into the corner. With great difficulty, and only with the help of a sedative, the girl fell asleep again. Tanya went into the kitchen for a drink of water, and on her return, she saw the transparent silhouette of a woman in the hallway, holding a baby in her arms. The image of the baby terrified Tatyana—she thought a ghost was taking her daughter's soul. Running into the room, she began shaking the baby. The girl woke up and began crying.

Sleep was out of the question. Tanya and Anton placed candles around the apartment, but they kept going out, requiring them to be relit. They decided to move out. The next morning, while packing, Tanya discreetly (so as not to seem crazy) asked the neighbors if there had been any murders in the building. The neighbors assured her there had been no murders, but one of the elderly women recalled that five years ago, a woman with a small child had been murdered in the courtyard of the building. As it turned out, no one ever stayed in the apartment for long. Even the owner himself couldn't stay there for long—he'd arrive, spend ten minutes, and then leave immediately.