Hello, dear reader. My name is Evgeniy, but my friends call me simply Zheka. I’m 16. I want to tell you a story. It happened two years ago, but it doesn’t leave my head and still leaves me in a state of shock.
Autumn... crazy 14 years old... I moved from my hometown to my aunt Anfisa (my parents are just constantly on business trips and there is no one to look after me) and transferred to a school next to her house. I transferred just before school year. The class I ended up in turned out to be very friendly. I made friends with many, but especially good with Oleg. We lived in neighboring houses, so we went to school and back together. Oleg had a younger sister. Her name was Diana, she was 9 years old. She went to the same school as Oleg and me.
The first quarter passed unnoticed. Oleg and his sister went on vacation to the village to visit their grandmother, and I went to my parents for three days.
Finally, the second quarter! I’m not happy that school everyday life has begun, but that today I will see my friend! In the morning, I, Oleg and Diana went to school. But something was wrong. Oleg was somehow sad. And it seems to me that he did not hear what I was saying. By the time, when only one intersection and an alley separated us from the school, I noticed that Diana was wearing only one shoe. The right one was missing. But she, without noticing this, walked next to her brother, holding his hand.
I asked: “Oleg, where is the right shoe?”
Oleg's tears flowed in a stream.
I'm confused.
Oleg began to unzip his briefcase and rummage through it.
I waited and did not understand the reason for my friend’s tears.
Suddenly, he took out a small shoe from his briefcase. Yes, exactly the shoe that should have been on Diana’s foot. The shoe was tattered and covered in blood. Oleg could not stand it and fell on the sidewalk.
Later, having calmed down, he said that when they were at their grandmother’s, they went for a walk near the field where the harvest was going on. Oleg was talking with his friends whom he had not seen for a long time. But suddenly he heard a piercing scream that echoed throughout area and made his legs give way. It was the cry of his little sister. He ran towards this cry and saw a crowd of people surrounding the combine. Oleg came closer and was paralyzed by what he saw. In part of the large harvester there was a bloody and bodily mess with tufts of hair and clothes. By the pieces of fabric and the color of shreds of hair, Oleg hardly recognized his beloved sister, who was alive two minutes ago. All that was left of Diana was her right shoe, spattered with blood. Eyewitnesses said that the girl was playing with a young dog, Dick, but then a furry friend took her from Diana's shoe ran across the field and threw it there. The girl went to get her shoe, but did not notice the approaching combine harvester and fell right under the bucket...
I was dumbfounded by what I heard and looked towards Diana, who was walking next to Oleg, but there was no one there...

This summer, Dima was sent to his grandmother in Ukraine for the holidays. It didn’t work out with the camp in Alushta, my father didn’t get a permit at the factory, and it was impossible to leave the boy in the city for the whole summer. In addition, my father’s mother, Matryona Nikitichna, had already asked me to show her my grandson more than once.
“I haven’t seen him for three years, I suppose the boy has grown too tall, you should bring him to stay for the summer,” she complained in her last letter.
And in fact, over the past year, Dima has stretched out a lot and at 14 years old he looked much older.
On the first day, immediately after breakfast, Dima went to the river that flowed not far from the village. The local boys were wary at first, but when he took fins and a diving mask out of the bag, there was no limit to their delight. All day long, the kids took turns diving in the deepest place, at the foot of a high hill at a bend in the river. The guys assured that in the hill, according to the stories of the old people, there were caves storing treasures. But no one discovered any caves, and by evening, when the sun was already setting, the boys were shivering from the cold.
“There’s not a damn thing there, it’s all lies,” Dima firmly stated after another attempt.
“No, I heard it with my own ears, grandfather Matvey told it,” objected Tolik, the smallest of the guys.
“Yes, this grandfather has been senile for a long time,” Petro, the eldest in the company, supported Dima; he strived to lead and therefore behaved respectably. - Indeed, it’s cold already, let’s go home.
The guys came out of the water and ran in a crowd to get dressed.
“Guys,” suddenly came the cry of the red-haired Genka, a short and nimble boy, in Dima’s opinion the most unfortunate, “let’s go to the quarry tomorrow.” With these things,” he pointed to the fins and mask that Dima was just hiding in the bag, “we can get to the very bottom. “There, I heard, there are catfish like this,” he spread his hands.
“Nope, you can’t go there, I’m afraid to go there, and my mother forbade it,” Tolik squeaked pitifully.
Petro looked gloomily at Genka and expressively twirled his finger at his temple. The others were silent.
Dima became interested.
- What kind of quarry is this, and why can’t you go there? - he asked the guys, but for some reason everyone looked away, and only Petro, after thinking a little, answered:
“You see, over there,” he pointed with his hand somewhere to the right, about two kilometers from here, there is an abandoned sand quarry, and in it there is a pond. But you can’t go there, it’s a bad place, there, last year one of ours, Mishka, disappeared.
- Drowned, or what? – Dima asked.
- I do not think so. Divers searched all day and found nothing. The pond is actually not very deep.
- So where did he go?
- Who knows. I'm telling you, this place is a mess. Old women say different things. It's better not to go there.
And then Dima was suddenly overcome by some strange spirit of contradiction.
- Either you listen to some old men, or old women. Me too, brave souls! But I still have a camera at home for underwater photography. Let's go there tomorrow and take pictures of these catfish. Weak?
The boy suddenly caught admiring glances at himself, everyone’s eyes lit up. The kids were blown away by the wind, the boys instantly threw away their clothes and quickly surrounded Dima and Peter in a tight ring. Frozen, everyone waited for what the gang would say, only their impatient snoring could be heard. Dima didn’t even expect such a reaction.
“Wow,” Petro got angry, “now this newcomer has also begun to command here.” No, dude, this won’t happen!
- Well, shut up, I also found a smart guy! “This is your first day here, and you’re already coming up with God knows what,” he suddenly shouted at Dima.
Everyone was silent.
Petro glared at the boy from under his brows, as if he was about to attack him. Dima tensed, preparing to fight back.
“Well, what about the first day without a fight,” flashed through his head.
But Petro remained in place. Slowly, still sulking, he looked at the guys and muttered through his teeth:
- Assholes, do you want anyone else to disappear? One Mishka is enough for us.
Then he spat with relish to the side and commanded:
- Well, that's it, it's good to talk. Home.
The boy turned around abruptly and walked away. The disappointed guys dejectedly followed him in single file. Dima looked after him with resentment.
- Here I will bring underwater photographs, you will be jealous!
- Come on, come on, the law is not written for fools, came the answer.

The next morning, having put a camera in the bag in addition to yesterday’s kit, Dima went to the quarry. He didn’t ask his grandmother; most likely, she wouldn’t let him there, since the pond is so famous. The boy reasoned that some noticeable road should lead to the quarry, even though it was abandoned, so he chose a wide route going in the right direction and walked along it. And he was not mistaken; after about half an hour, a huge hole opened around the next bend. Running to the edge, the boy gasped, a majestic panorama opened to his eyes. The cut was huge; along the edges there was a road, pretty much broken up by dump trucks. But cars, apparently, haven’t driven here for a long time; the road surface is quite overgrown with grass. In the depths of the quarry, a large purple blot, that same pond, glimmered dimly blue. It was cloudy and foggy, the quarry was shrouded in a damp bluish haze, and the pond was barely visible. But then the sun came out from behind the clouds and everything suddenly changed dramatically. The world has become bright and colorful. Sunlight penetrated into the depths, reflected from the surface of the water and blinded Dima. He closed his eyes, but then opened his eyes again.
Wow! The boy took his breath away, it was so wonderful here. Perhaps the pond could be called a lake. At the far end, the gap became more gentle, and the forest approached the water closely.
“I’ll go down there,” Dima decided. But first I’ll take a couple of pictures, it’s really beautiful here. Yesterday, in the heat of the moment, he lied to the guys, his camera was simply waterproof and was not suitable for underwater filming. Clicking a few times to be sure, he ran to the water. Having carefully looked around and not finding anything suspicious, the boy quickly undressed and plopped into the lake with a running start. The water turned out to be clean and unexpectedly cool. Snorting with pleasure, Dima made several long swims and lay down on his back to rest. The weather was wonderful, the sky was clear, a light refreshing breeze was blowing. Basking in the sun, Dima even almost took a nap. Half asleep, the boy quietly dreamed.
“Palma, Palma, follow me,” suddenly came child's voice. A girl quickly ran down the slope to the shore, followed by a huge shaggy dog. They probably appeared from the direction of the forest, because otherwise the boy would have noticed them when he came down from above. Dima quickly dived and, slightly sticking his nose out of the water, carefully watched the emerging couple. The girl looked to be about 12-13 years old, short, thin, with short hair. It’s strange that instead of a swimsuit, she was wearing a simple village sundress. The dog was huge, larger than the girl herself, shaggy and scary-looking. She energetically spun in one place and squealed with delight. Suddenly the dog growled menacingly and, tangling his paws in the water, rushed towards Dima in big leaps.
“Ugh, Palma, uh, back,” the girl commanded. - To me!
The dog stopped, spun around and ran back. The girl grabbed her tightly by the collar.
“Actually, she’s usually meek, but she can tear up someone else,” she began to apologize, but suddenly looked at him and frowned, her voice became stern.
- And who are you? Where did you come from here?
- Yes, I'm local. I live here.
- Is it true?
- Well, how can I tell you? Not really. I just arrived yesterday on vacation to visit my grandmother. Matryona Nikitichna, maybe you know, in the village of Krinichki.
- I know. Well, how did you get here?
- Well, I decided to swim in the pond.
- In the pond? What for? Why isn't your river enough for you?
- You understand, boys... They started to intimidate me, - don’t go to the quarry, this is a bad place, a disastrous place, they say here last year one boy drowned, so they attacked me. Well, to spite them, I decided to check everything myself. I thought, I’ll take pictures and show them that there’s nothing scary here. I also have a camera over there,” Dima waved his hand towards the shore. Listen, let me take a photo of you and the dog. This will be great!
“No need,” the girl shook her head, “later.”
- Where are you from? Where do you live?
“There,” the girl vaguely waved her hand towards the forest.
- What’s your name? They call me Dima.
“And me,” here the girl looked down a little, “Ksenia.”
“Ksenia,” the boy repeated in surprise. - Oksana, what?
- Ksyusha.
Then the dog, which was already tired of standing still, broke free and began to quickly circle around the guys. Then, with a cheerful bark, she rushed forward, as if inviting the girl to follow her. Ksyusha and Dima chased after her.
The children spent a wonderful day on the pond, swimming, diving, and fooling around. The girl felt like a fish in the water; the boy could not keep up with her. At noon, Ksyusha called the boy for a snack, it turns out she took food for herself and the dog. Dima got a large boiled potato, an onion with salt and a piece of black bread. After a long swim fresh air it seemed to the boy that he had never eaten anything more delicious.
But when the sun began to set, the girl suddenly became serious again. She took the dog on a short leash and said as she cut it off:
- That's enough for today, we have to go. Don't see me off. No need. If you want, let's meet here tomorrow at the same time. Will you come?
- Necessarily!
The girl let go of the dog, briefly threw over her shoulder, “Follow me!”, and quickly ran up the slope, the dog rushed after her. The couple climbed up and disappeared into the forest.
“Now I’ll keep an eye on them,” Dima decided. You just need to do it unnoticed. It’s okay, the forest is rare, I won’t lose it. If only the dog didn't smell it.
He quickly gathered his things into a bag and rushed after them. Having climbed the slope, the boy distinguished far ahead bright spot a familiar sundress and carefully followed him. The sundress flashed ahead for some time, and then suddenly disappeared. Dima picked up his speed, and in the thickets of bushes he almost tripped over a low cemetery fence. In the middle stood a dilapidated monument with a star on top. The girl and the dog were nowhere to be found. The boy quickly ran around.
No one.
“Some kind of devilry,” Dima muttered. He looked around carefully again. The monument was covered with rust and dirt; it was impossible to read anything on it. On the right, a small cellar-well with a low sloping roof, about a meter high, protruded from the ground. Awkwardly slipped on damp earth, the boy involuntarily leaned his hand on the ventilation fungus protruding from the roof. And then a miracle happened. The roof suddenly gave way, and Dima quickly fell down.