Ghost Girl

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Once there was a husband and wife who were neither powerful nor rich. They only made money by selling vegetables they grew themselves in the local market. But they were kind people and loved each other. And they dreamed only about having a child, beautiful as spring and wise as a saint. Day after day, they thought only of that. And so they dreamed that once they sold only one kilogram of potatoes to an elderly woman, although she paid for two.

Arriving home, the woman weighed her potatoes. And just imagine her rage when she discovered that she paid for two kilograms, and received only one! And this woman was a witch. Everyone was afraid of her anger and tried not to anger her, because they knew that the retribution would be terrible.

In anger, she returned to the market and said:

- You! You lied to me! And for this you will be punished!

- Please, my dear, kind old woman, - answered the seller, trembling with fear, - Take what you want, but just do not curse us! If we deceived you, it happened by accident! It happened only because we were all in thoughts of our unborn child!

- BUT! cried the witch. - You thought about the baby! Well, here is my curse: you will think about your child incessantly! And if you don't do this, if you start thinking about someone or something else more than about your child, you will turn into ghosts! So is your child! If he or she thinks of something or someone more than you, you too will become ghosts!

And she left the market, furious as a beaten macaque. The couple cried, and everyone felt sorry for them, but no one could help.

Soon the poor tradeswoman became pregnant, and although she wanted a child more than anything, both she and her husband were very sad. Nine months passed, and the woman gave birth to the most charming girl, and she really was as beautiful as spring and as wise as a saint. But her parents were afraid to leave her alone for even a minute. If the girl (and her name was "Samantha", which means "Flower") played with friends, her parents were always there. And when she went to school, her parents were waiting for her near the school, even when she became such an adult that she could go to and from school by herself.

Samantha was terribly embarrassed by their behavior, but she could not change it. Once, while playing with friends, she noticed that her parents were talking enthusiastically. The girl quietly got up and left the yard. She just walked the streets of the city, and felt such happiness, such freedom! She looked at people, smiled at them, chatted with strangers, admired the shop windows. She returned home late in the evening. And the first thing she saw were the tear-stained and judgmental eyes of her parents.

Her mother fell to the ground, threw her arms around her legs and cried out:

- Thank God you're alive!

The girl was terribly frightened, and from that day she never left her parents. But she grew up, and one day love came to her. He was a classmate of hers (she could not get to know anyone outside the school or yard, because of the behavior of her parents). The guy also fell in love with Samantha and they decided to get married.

But when the girl told her parents that she wanted to get married and move to another city, her mother fainted, and her father clutched at his heart. The young woman felt very guilty.

“Mom, Dad,” she said, “I love you, but I also want to live my own life!

- My dear daughter, - the father answered sadly, - you are old enough, and we can reveal to you the truth.

And they told Samantha the whole story: the old witch and her curse. The girl was shocked. She did not sleep a wink that night.

In the morning she made a decision:

- I must sacrifice my happiness, but save my parents. They have always been so loving, so caring. I should be grateful.

And she told her parents about her decision. They were happy and moved. But from that day on her eyes had lost their sparkle. The girl met her fiancé and said to him:

- Forgive me please, but I cannot marry you and go with you to another city.

He begged her to change her mind, or at least tell her what happened, but she was as if frozen. In the end, he left the city alone, and in the new city he met another girl and married her. And Samantha got sick. She fell ill all winter, but her beloved spring brought relief, and the girl went on the mend. Her parents were so afraid that she would die! Indeed, in that case, they would, no doubt, turn into ghosts. The mere thought of this was terrifying! But she survived, and they also survived.

On April morning, mother entered Samantha's bedroom and said:

- My dear, we are so grateful that you stayed with us! We want to thank you. Your father has found a wonderful young man who will become your faithful husband. And you both can live in our house. Is not that great?

The young woman, whose eyes no longer shone, agreed to marry the said man. After the wedding, they began to live in her parents' house. Parents were in seventh heaven, and Samantha … she was just calm. Soon the young woman gave birth to a boy. He was so sincere and sweet that for a while even the sparkle returned to her eyes. But Samantha's parents stated that they know better how to take care of children (after all, they raised her herself). And soon they were controlling every step of the young mother. And she did everything as they said. And if she acted in her own way, they became sad, and then the woman felt guilty, and did as they wanted.

Outwardly, everything went well. But one day Samantha wanted to take a saucepan to boil milk for her son. She took the pan and it … fell! The woman did not understand what had happened.

Maybe I just needed to hold her tighter, she thought, and tried to lift the dishes. But when she almost put it on the table, the pan fell again.

- What's happening? the husband asked.

“I… I don’t know,” Samantha replied.

She could not hold onto anything that was in the house. It looked like things … were just passing through her hands. But the worst part was that she could not even keep her own son. And soon in the mirror she noticed that …

“I can't believe it,” she said to her husband. “But it seems to me that I… become transparent!

- Nonsense! - the husband laughed. But his laugh sounded fake. After all, he could already see the walls through his wife.

And the situation was getting worse. Soon, Samantha noticed that her husband and especially her son also began to become transparent. She had never been so scared in her life.

“Honey,” she said, “it seems like the curse that was placed on my parents has spread to all of us.

- What do you mean?! - he asked.

And she told him the story of the curse. The young man thought about it.

- But your parents are not transparent! They look like completely ordinary people!

- Right, - Samantha thought, - But what are we going to do?

- I have an idea. Let's go to the witch and persuade her to undo the spell.

It was a great idea! Samantha hurried to her parents and convinced them to go to the witch. At first, they flatly refused to go there, because they were afraid of the witch to death. But when the young woman showed them that she was turning into a ghost, they agreed with a heavy heart.

The whole family came to the witch's house. It was a large black house, three hundred years old. The windows were small, and the walls were covered with ivy. The parents refused to go inside and said they would wait outside. So Samantha only came in with her husband and son.

It was dark inside.

- Is anybody here? the man shouted, but no one answered.

They climbed the stairs and began to open the doors to the rooms, one by one. But all the rooms were empty. Eventually they got to the outermost room, slowly opened it, and saw the witch lying on the bed. She was very, very, very old, and she was dying.

- Hi, Samantha, - said the witch, - I've been waiting for you.

- Do you know why I came? the girl, distraught with grief, asked.

- Yes, yes, I know. You have come to ask me to remove the curse from your parents. But the truth is, I took it off years ago when you were a little girl.

- Why didn't you tell them about it ?! Samantha screamed. - My life could be much happier!

- I tried! I sent them letters, but they tore them without even reading!

“Then why does she turn into a ghost? the young man asked about his wife.

“Because she doesn't live her own life,” the witch sighed. Everyone who does not live his own life turns into a ghost. I have to warn you, girl. If you do not leave your parents before the full moon comes, you will become a ghost completely and irrevocably.

After these words, the witch gave up her ghost. The young couple left her house and told their parents everything they heard from the witch.

- Nonsense! - grumbled the father. - The curse is still alive! - And she lied to you in order to turn us into ghosts!

- But dad, we turn into ghosts! - cried Samantha, but her mother replied:

- Nonsense! You look really good!

It happened three days before the full moon. The little boy could not hold a single toy in his hands, and because of this he constantly cried. A day later, Samantha tried to talk to her parents again. But they were adamant, reiterating that the old witch was just lying to her, and that a good daughter like Samantha would certainly not want her parents to lose their bodies.

On the last night before the full moon, Samantha woke up from the noise. She opened her eyes and saw her husband leaving the bedroom with his son.

- Where are you going? she asked.

“I’m saving myself and our son,” he replied. “I’m not going to stay here and wait for all three of us to become disembodied.

- But my parents! They will be so unhappy! Samantha exclaimed.

- If you are ready to sacrifice your life for the sake of your parents, you have the right to do so. But I am not going to sacrifice myself, and I will not allow my son to be sacrificed!

-Wait! said the young woman. - I'll go with you!

She wasn't sure she was doing the right thing. And yet she took some of her clothes, some of her son's toys, and with great difficulty got out of the window with her things.

- Where are we going? she asked her husband.

- I dont know. I have relatives in the East. We can go there. But the most important thing is that we left this terrible house.

Samantha was silent for a long time. The sun began to rise, and she noticed that the further they went, the less transparent they became. Their bodies returned to them. Tired, they stopped by a large tree. Their son took the twig, and it did not fall out of his hands. He laughed happily.

What happened to Samantha's parents? In the morning they discovered that their daughter had escaped with her husband and son. They cried and lamented over and over again. Their neighbors heard the noise and came running to ask what had happened.

- The daughter left us, and now we have turned into ghosts! they yelled.

“No, you are not ghosts,” the neighbors said.

- Yes, we are ghosts! the couple insisted.

And no matter how people tried to convince the couple that they were not ghosts, it was all in vain. So they went home. And the elderly couple lived the rest of their lives, considering themselves ghosts. And they were so strongly convinced of this that soon they really began to look like ghosts, and their lives were boring, joyless and full of regrets.

As for their daughter, she lived happily in the East, although sometimes she was very homesick for her parents. But every day, until her son grew up, she said to him:

- Son, you must live your life as you see fit.

And when her son had children of his own, he told them the same thing.

THE END