Amin Rismankarzadeh - Darkness Monster

Illustrator Natalya Golysheva

© Amin Rismankarzadeh, 2019

© Natalya Golysheva, illustrations, 2019

ISBN 978-5-4496-5396-3

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

I woke up that morning earlier than any other time. I was very happy, because I was supposed to go to Kristina’s house today. Kristina was my best friend. We were friends from the elementary school until now when we were 16 years old. Two wonderful friends, so that our friends always said you are like two twin sisters. They said right. We really were very similar in behavior, and so we enjoyed our friendship. I and Kristina were separated from our high school. But we have continued to be friends since then. I wanted to be friends with Kristina for the rest of my life. She wished me like me, too. After the time me and Kristina were separated and we could not see each other as before, we went to each other’s house on weekends to remind ourselves of the days we were together, and we spent one day completely together. It was the weekend today, and this time it was my turn to visit Kristina to visit. The days when I met Kristina was very well. We both wanted to be out of time that day. We ran from the morning to night. We played inside the yard, watching TV, playing with the computer, and until the night we were having fun. At the end of the night, we would always be dismayed and again we should wait until next week to see each other. I heard the voice of my mother from the floor saying: Natalya, breakfast is ready. I quickly wore my clothes and came out of my room. I saluted my mom and sat down at the breakfast table and began eating breakfast with appetite. I did not like to eat breakfast too much, but today I enjoyed my breakfast for the sake of happiness! I quickly finished breakfast and got up from the table and said: Thank you, Mom, Delicious breakfast. Then I arranged my hair and told my parents and my little brother: Well, I’m going. Goodbye for now. Dad said: Take care of yourself Natalya. Come back at night soon. I smiled and said: Sure, dad. Mom also said: «Natalya, be careful not to harass Kristina or her family.» Do not play noisy games. Do not break something and… – OK, mom, I’ll be careful. Do not worry. Then I said goodbye and got out of the house. I took my bike from the corner of the railing of the yard and drove it and started moving towards Kristina’s house. The distance from our house to the house of Kristina was not so much. I tried to get to her house as soon as possible. I wanted to get the most out of being with Kristina during that day. On the way, I thought of the games and activities that we were supposed to do that day. I said to myself: Wow, how much fun it is today! However, at that moment I did not even think about what awful things were waiting for us.

(2)

A few minutes later I got to Kristina’s house. I put my bicycle in the corner of the house wall and drove the house. Kristina took her head out of her room’s window and said, «Natalya!» Did you finally come? I’ll open the door now. Then she quickly ran to the floor and opened the door. I salute and went along with Kristina. Kristina said: I wish you would come sooner. I was expecting an hour ago. I had missed you so much. – I also wanted to see you my good friend. Surely today we are very pleased. – Yeah, my parents just got out of the house today. They gave me the home and said to be careful about everything. So, for sure, today we can have more fun than before. – Wow, are you telling the truth? – Yes. Today we can be free. I’m happy in my heart. At moments when Kristina’s mother was at home, we could not have been able to make a noise on this side. Because Kristina’s mother always got headache very soon, and so we had to play very slowly so she would not be annoyed. But now that Kristina’s parents had left the house, we were able to play with confidence and without worry. Then Kristina said: well, let’s go. I want to start playing our game right now. – OK. Sure. Kristina took my hand and said: It’s better to go to the yard first and play a little basketball. – I agree. So we went into the yard together. Kristina looked around, but there was no basketball. So she said with amazement: where is the ball? It was always in the corner of the courtyard. – Maybe your mother has got the ball into the basement. It’s better to look for it there. – I do not know. Perhaps. Good idea. It’s better to look at it. We went basement along with Kristina. Kristina opened the door of basement and we both got in. Then lit the lights and searched for the basketball ball. After a few moments, she said happily: That’s it. I found it. But I did not pay attention to her. Because at that moment my attention was drawn to the odd thing that was in the bottom of the basement.

(3)

I pointed to that strange box by hand and said, «What is Kristina?» Kristina glanced at the basketball ball and looked at that box and said, «Do you say that?» it is not important. It’s an old box. My father brought it some days ago to do some research on it. But he hasn’t not had the opportunity yet. Kristina’s parents were both archaeologists. They always went to old places and were busy with research on historical monuments. Often, they brought some of the newly discovered historical items to their homes and put them in a safe place and were busy reviewing them. I also loved historical things and I always wanted to become an archaeologist in the future. But that day I felt so strange about that box. While I could not take my look out of it, I asked Kristina: «Did you read on the box?» Kristina said with amazement: No. Is something special written on the box? – Yeah, come and read this. We went near to the box with Kristina. Kristina asked: What is written on the box? – Every time the box door opens, the darkness monster wakes up. When I read the sentence on the box, Kristina’s laughed loudly. – What do you laugh at? – At this ridiculous statement. Did you really fear from this sentence? – No, but I do not think everything is as simple as you think. Kristina stopped laughing and asked seriously: «What did you say Natalya?» You mean, if you open the door of the box, the darkness monster will come out of the box? – I do not know, but it says on the box that the sentence has not been written recently. The people of ancient times may have written this sentence on this box. Inside this box may be a monster. Kristina dropped her basketball and said: I do not believe Natalya. I would not have thought at all you believe such a simple sentence. You know, the ancient people tried to take any action in order to maintain their valuable property. I’m sure this big box is full of gold coins or something like that. Everyone who owns this box wanted to keep this wealth out of hand of the strangers. «But I think…» «Okay, now, I’ll now open the box door to prove to you that there is no monster in the box.» – No, there is no need to do that, I just thought it might be better… But Kristina did not pay attention to me. She went towards the big wooden box and opened the box after a little effort. I closed my eyes. What was inside the box?

(4)

I jumped a few steps and said, «Are you in good condition Kristina?» – I am good. Do not worry. – What is inside the box? – It is not clear. A big white bag. Whatever I try I cannot open it. Can you help me? I breathed deeply and went towards the box. Kristina was right. There was a white bag and the door was tightly closed. On the body of the fabric was written in red: Warning, do not open the bag! Kristina said: look, on the bag, we are also asked not to open the bag.