Irina Muravskaya - Trap. Fantastic fiction

“Where can I sleep?” Victoria asked boldly.

“What? Chests make a good bed,” adjusting the pillow, the woman looked at Victoria in surprise, waved her hand and turned to the wall.

“Okay, I understand, good night,” thought Victoria.

“Rest, I had such a nice quiet day today…” she heard in response.

Victoria didn’t want to make noise, although she really needed to find a mirror in the house. She curled up on hard chests and instantly fell asleep.

In the morning, Victoria woke up with an insistent knock on the window. The room was empty, the woman left at dawn. The murky glass hid the one, who was knocking, so she went out into the street.

“What is it you want?” Victoria asked a large bird, who continued to tap its beak on the glass. She noticed the girl, stopped and twitched, quickly nodding her head.

“All right,” Victoria replied with a nod. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a clue of what you’re saying…”

The bird waved its wings, made a circle over the hut and sat next to Victoria.

“I still don’t understand, sorry…” Victoria said, looking at the bird.

She pecked Victoria in the leg and flew away.

“I might not be the nest talk partner, but it hurts!” Victoria shouted after her, rubbing her ankle.

The water in the creek was pure ice, but Victoria didn’t pay attention to the cold. She washed herself, thinking how to open the chest and where to find the mirror.

“And those hares… I need to cook them somehow, maybe, just fry them,” she thought. “I am about to settle down here. I wonder if her vacation is for long.”

After carefully inspecting the house, she didn’t find a mirror, so she started cooking. Then, choosing a book in a thick old leather binding, she tried to read it. It was dark in the house, so, she went out into the street. She had just opened the book, as the bird returned. She heavily pecked it in the hand, so that the book fell down.

“Do not read anything!” She heard a piercing whistle in her head.

“Fine, I won’t! You should have said so at once…” Victoria tried to find the bird, but she disappeared.

“This whistle sounds familiar to me, like a voice,” she thought. “Okay, perhaps, it just seemed to me…”

But she still closed the book.

Victoria tried to open the third chest once more, and then she sat on it, legs tucked, leaning against the wall.

“Shall I try with a knife? It seems to have no lid, where am I to use it…” She thought.

Suddenly, she felt an unobtrusive chill. Victoria sharply recoiled from the logs on the wall and began to scrutinize them carefully.

“Usual logs they are… But something’s not right…” Stroking the logs with her hand, Victoria could not feel the joint. “The glass! The glass is a mirror! A disguised one!”

Carefully feeling the mirror with her hand, she could estimate its size, but there was no reflection.

“How do I open the chest? The woman said: ‘Look in the mirror,’ well, I do look in one, but this mirror does not want to reflect anything… May be, I should clean it?” Victoria rushed to the stream to get water.

“Genius lies in simplicity…” Victoria whispered, slowly washing the mirror with water. She already saw herself in reflection and whispered to the mirror.

“How come did you hide in the logs? It’s just incredible! You absorbed the environment…”

The mirror was made of thick glass, like windows. It gradually became clean and studied Victoria carefully, while she smoothed her hair and looked into the eyes of her reflection.

“I’ll bring more fresh water,” she winked at the mirror and got off the chest. She reached the door, and slowly turned back. “Eyes are not playing tricks on me!”

A slightly open lid appeared on the top of the chest. Victoria slowly put the barrel on the floor.

“Bingo!” Victoria smiled, barely restraining her curiosity. She brought some clean water and washed the mirror to the shining state.

In the third chest, she found a long, ancient dress of black color. Victoria took it out and examined carefully. The two parts of it were completely different from each other.

The big collar was also black, but it was made of a different, gently and airy fabric with elegant embroidery on it. A thick net of animal skin, mixed with wool, covered all the dress down to the hem.

“Kinda queerish,” thought Victoria, ‘the net seems superfluous to me.”

Looking at the mirror for a second, she froze in shock. She looked at her mirror reflection, wearing the dress… But the dress was lying on the chest!

“If you ask me, I’d say it suits you well…” A husky voice behind Victoria helped her wake up.

“Well, yes…” Victoria answered quietly. “The net seems superfluous to me.”

This net hides you from any animal or human being. So, it’s not superfluous,” the woman grinned. “You put it on and go into the woods. I need to sharpen the paling in my pit. And, by the way. I need a new shawl. You are to knit it for me. This one is old.”

Victoria looked at the woman in amazement. Her old ragged shawl was tied around her waist. She asked timidly:

“What about the wool? Besides, I know nothing about knitting…”

“Well, you do now. The wool is your concern.”

“I never asked what your name was,” Victoria said more boldly.

“I’m Trap, call me this…” the woman laughed and sat down at the table.

“Well done with these fried hares. I like you. Get dressed while I eat,” she added.

“Maybe it’s better to climb in the pit, wearing a sport suit?” Victoria asked busily.

“Put on a dress! A fat lot of use you are, wearing this sport suit. You can’t even lift up a wild boar,” Trap said, grimacing.

“Surely, I can’t. It’s a boar ,” Victoria smiled, taking Trap’s words for a joke.

“This is not a joke!” Trap suddenly became angry, putting the hare leg aside. “Take a look at yourself, you’ll be blown off with the wind in moment. You can’t lift or carry anything. And the dress will give you strength enough to do what’s required. Is this clear, point-head?”

“Excellent!” Victoria was surprised. “I felt that I’m pretty weak…”

“Well, now you do not have to worry. You may easily take out a bear. Okay, get dressed and let me finish, I’m no chatter-box. You could have read everything yourself, the books are for you.”

“The books…” Victoria stepped aside and rubbed her aching arm, pecked by a bird.

“So, here’s an ax, careful, it’s sharp, and a rope. There’s a boar in the pit. Bring it here, and then fix the paling and sharpen it with an ax. The second pit is near the lake. There’s a fallen tree, you’ll see it right away. Don’t fall in there. I removed the branches, but you need to watch your step anyway.” Trap instructed Victoria. “I’ll be back by night, I still have a lot to do.”

Victoria crouched, peering into the pit.

“Trap, I can see a boar, but there’s also a man there! Look!”

“We don’t need him. Put him in a corner.”

“What do you mean? Should I bury him?” Victoria looked at Trap in perplexity.

“Well, OK, bury him, good Samaritan. There’s a shovel in the attic, I guess. He spoils my pit! It’s not his grave.” Trap snapped, and disappeared among the trees without uttering another word.

Victoria sat beside the pit in confusion for a long time, occasionally throwing dry grass-blades into it. She sadly examined the spoiled manicure, while biting the tips of her dirty hair pulled up in a tail.

“My life has sure changed dramatically in the last few days, to an incredible degree, and it’s me who brought it upon myself… I’ll wash my head, I can heat up a pot of water… But how am I supposed to bury the corpse? A-a-a!” Victoria began to cry and covered her face with her hands.