Lady in Black. Yuliya Alpagut
the skin. The woman now and again shook from the cold as if in the midst of a warm spring, winter had suddenly come.
2. All is well…
– Oh my god! Mama! Where have you been? I almost lost my mind! Thought something happened to you! – worried and indignant at the same time, Diana said when Eleanor entered the house.
– What? – woman said with incomprehension.
Eleanor really did not understand at all why her daughter told her what she had said. After their conversation, the woman lingered only twenty minutes.
– Mom! Where have you been so long?! – Diana asked again, – And why didn’t you answer the calls?!
– What are the calls? – still not understanding what was going on, Eleanor asked.
Diana looked at her strangely.
– Mom, are you okay? – she asked.
The woman, without answering her daughter, put her hand in her large bag and, after half a minute finding her mobile phone, turned it on and looked at the screen. Two in the morning and a few dozen missed calls from children and husband.
– Oh my God… – breathed Eleanor, – What is it?.. – she muttered barely audibly and, with a detached facial expression, slowly walked into the living room.
Diana followed her.
Still looking at the screen of her mobile phone, Eleanor quietly sank onto the sofa.
– Mom where have you been? – Diana asked again.
Eleanor looked at her daughter with some crazy eyes.
– At school, – she answered.
– In which school? – the girl was outraged, – Have you seen what time it is now?!
Eleanor looked at the clock on the phone again.
– Two in the morning, – she said softly as if she couldn’t believe it.
– Oh god! Mom what’s going on?! – throwing up her hands, Diana exclaimed and, sitting down next to her mother on the sofa, looked into her insane eyes.
– Nothing, – a little coming to herself, Eleanor answered her, – Everything is fine dear.
– Fine?! You should have come home a few hours ago! Where have you been? Something happened? – taking the mother by the shoulders asked her Diana.
– Nothing. Nothing happened, – Eleanor shook her head, – I just… Just met a long-time acquaintance, and we decided to sit in a cafe for a while, – she lied.
Eleanor did not want to tell her daughter about her strange vision. And not only to her. The woman decided not to tell anyone at all.
– Why didn’t you warn me? I waited for you! Why didn’t you answer the calls?! – standing up, Diana spoke indignantly.
– I’m sorry, my dear, I really forgot that we agreed with you… – looking at her daughter imploringly, Eleanor said softly.
– Forgot? Ok… You forgot. But why didn’t you answer the calls? We were worried about you!
– I probably did not hear, – Eleanor once again lied, – Inside the cafe was so noisy… And… I completely lost track of time…
– Ufff… – breathed Diana, – Ok… Go to sleep. It’s late, – she said.
– Yes, Ok, – mother answered her.
The girl was about to go to her room, but Eleanor called her.
– Diana, – the woman called her.
– Yes mom?
– Where is everyone?
– Mom! Two in the morning! Alice and Calib have been sleeping for a long time!
– And your father?
– Father left a couple of hours ago.
– Left? – asked Eleanor, – Where?
– Yes, mom left. To work.
The woman turned on her mobile phone again and looked at the screen.
– Today is Saturday, – she said, – It’s already saturday…
– Yes. You forgot? Dad said on Monday that he is working this Saturday.
– Yeah right, – breathed Eleanor.
In his youth, Marcus, Eleanor’s husband, was a marine, and now, for many years, he worked at night as a security guard in a large company in the city of “L”, that was located twenty kilometers from their small town “D”. Because of night work, Marcus only saw his family on weekends. He came home from work when no one was home. He had dinner, took a shower and went to bed. And he left home when everyone was asleep. On weekends, he didn’t often spend time with his family. Mostly only on holidays. Such as Christmas, Halloween, and other. On a typical weekend, the man tried not to be at home. He was constantly found new hobbies for himself to see his wife as rarely as possible. Gym, martial arts, Latin American dances… Or just spending time with his friends and girlfriends. If Marcus managed to persuade his son to spend time with him, the man gladly went somewhere with him. But Calib was no longer a little boy. And he preferred to spend time with friends than with his father.
– Mom, is everything okay with you? – Diana asked again.
– Yes, everything is fine, dear. Forgive me. We agreed with you, and I…
– All right, mom. Do not worry. The main thing is that you’re okay. Go to bed. Too late. Tomorrow we will talk.
– Ok, – the woman agreed, – Good night, – she told her daughter who was already standing in the doorway.
– Good night mom, – Diana said and went to her room.
Eleanor was left alone in the living room. She turned her vision over and over again. The woman could not understand how could a few hours fall out of her life. She tried to remember what she did after she left the classroom. But nothing besides that strange and frightening vision, a lady in a long black dress and black hat, did not occur to her. Completely exhausted, Eleanor lay down on the sofa in the living room, right in the clothes she wore and, having closed her eyes, fell asleep.
3. Just a dream?
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