Читать книгу Lady in Black - Юлия Алпагут - Страница 5

Saturday was like it wasn’t at all. Marcus came home in the afternoon. He took a shower and went to bed. The man slept until the evening.

Diana was walking with her friends. Alice was visiting her friends. Calib read some book in his room. Everything was as usual.

And only Eleanor could not find a place for herself. “Who is she? What was that? “Thought the woman. She asked herself dozens of questions, but she could not find an answer even to one of them. Although sometimes it seemed to her, she had once seen the face of this lady in black. But Eleanor could not remember where and when. “Who is she? Why come? What did she want? Ghost? Spirit?.. Or am I just crazy?..”

In the evening, the whole family gathered in the backyard. Marcus cooked a barbecue and after dinner everyone went to their usual places.

***

Sunday. Morning. The Ramirez family was going to church. They were all Baptists. And, as an exemplary family, every Sunday they all went to their Baptist church in the city “D” together. Although none of them wanted it. But these were also their roles, which they all had to play.

This morning everything was as usual.

When the sermons and chants were over, they all left the church and headed for the car. Everyone wanted to get home quickly to go about their business.

Marcus took the wheel. Diana, Alice and Calib – in the back seat. Everyone waited only for Eleanor. But she, standing right by the car door, just froze and looked away into the distance.

There, across the street, Eleanor saw a lady in black. A completely black figure with a white as snow face stood motionless and seemed to be looking straight at her.

“Pain… Pain…” – was heard in the head of a woman. Eleanor closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them – the vision disappeared.

The woman quickly got into the car.

– Everything is good? – asked Marcus.

– Yes, – she answered uncertainly.

***

This Sunday was the same for everyone as always. For everyone, but not for Eleanor.

The children went about their business. They met with friends, walked and had fun. Marcus played some kind of game in his mobile phone. Only there he felt like a real man. No one in this game knew who he was, what he looked like, his age and status… Absolutely nothing. There, Marcus was like a different person. Everyone thought he was a famous actor or some other popular person. And the man liked it. He tried to make people think that he was a “star”. Marcus wanted respect and recognition. He dreamed about it. He needed that. Maybe because he didn’t get it from his wife, or maybe because he was just sick. As the disease affects the cells of the body, the lie struck his soul. And it gave rise to all the big lies.

Marcus felt like a man, a hero and a commander in his game. And, satisfying his spiritual needs for respect and love, there he was even a little happy.

Eleanor sat in a chair on the veranda in the backyard and, watching her two cats and a dog, thought of the lady in black.

***

After this strange vision in school, Eleonora tried not to linger at work anymore and leave with all the other teachers. If the woman did not have time to do something, now she took the work at home.

So two weeks passed and everything seemed to be normal. Eleanor even began to forget about her vision. And now what happened seemed to her just some strange, terrible dream. “Maybe it was a dream?” – she thought.

Ultimately, the woman came to the conclusion that it really was just a bad dream. She apparently fell asleep at work and black smoke, and the lady in a black dress she just dreamed. And the fact that she saw this strange woman there, not far from the church, was simply the fruit of her frightened imagination.