Strange life on the other side of our land. Resurrected testimonies. What's on the other side of life

Alena had already become so accustomed to pain that when one day she suddenly disappeared, she did not immediately understand - what is this subtle feeling of weightlessness, sweet intoxicating soaring? As if turned off every minute aching source of suffering, changing sleep to oblivion.
And then all of a sudden, silence. And a wonderful feeling of lightness.
And then, softly, gently, something carried me into flight. A slight dizziness, walls and ceiling flashed before wide-open eyes, and - freedom! She rushed up, basking in new sensations, barely holding back a cry of happiness that overflowed in an instant.
Alena glided in space, stretched out into a string, like a beam, not knowing, not knowing where, just feeling with all-consuming joy that she needed to go there, it is important that this is the only way. She herself turned into a continuous flight. I did not look around - it was so unimportant! It seemed like an eternity lasts this wonderful glide in the air.
And suddenly the clouds parted ahead, and a bright light flooded everything around, he called, beckoned, waited for the return, loved sincerely ....
But progress suddenly began to slow down. It was like a stretched spring was getting tighter and tighter. It was as if an invisible leash had stretched to the limit and was now preventing her from moving on. Struggling with all her might, the girl reached out her hands to the light, but she could no longer dive into it, reach out. She looked back at the ruthless obstacle, but saw nothing, only a haze behind, swirling, torn, but tenaciously grabbing her.
A jerk - and Alena rushed head over heels back. Into darkness, into suffering, into the unknown. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the pain. But the pain didn't come. And instead of it - a fall on some kind of elastic surface, like a tightly stuffed feather bed. Cozy, in spite of everything, feeling, in something native. And darkness all around.
Alena thrashed about, trying to grab, grope, understand - what is she, where is she, why? The girl felt that in this impenetrable darkness there was something that prevented her from moving, or rather, she understood, but did not feel the touch with her hands. Then she just stretched out and lay there for a while, contemplating. And the darkness slowly dissipated, along with panic. And now the eyes already discerned cone-shaped outlines, vaults so low that one could not raise one's head. And with peripheral vision, she automatically noted the same close walls. God, where am I?
And before the right thought reached consciousness, the girl screamed. The scream ended as soon as it was born. Not hoping for anything, she rushed forward and ... easily cut through the space.
The next moment she was on her feet.
In the light of day.
In shock, watching the cemetery spread around her.

Quite a long time passed before Alena stirred and, swaying like a child learning to walk, took a step, then another, leaned on the nearest tombstone. Everything inside her seethed, seethed with confusion, misunderstanding. What's happening? Just yesterday, she almost never got out of bed, buried under a slab of illness, still a very young girl. And now he stands and even walks with his own legs? Looking down, I saw small, comfortable, white boats and my footprints on the clods of dirt, traced them ... A lot of bright wreaths, flowers, a towel on the cross, a plate with her name: Semenova Alena Pavlovna. And date.
Alena reread it over and over again, amazed and perplexed: how did the day on which she was so waiting for her friend to visit, Anechka, whom she had not seen for a year, become the day of her death? Strange, however, sensations - no increased heart rate, no cottony legs, no hot flashes and dry mouth, which occur in moments of shock, a surge of adrenaline. Only a slight incomprehensible trembling, but not outside, but inside. Like the flutter of a breeze on your skin.
And an extremely clear consciousness, not a single thought in my head. Understanding that everything has changed dramatically. She just died. Once and for all. There is nowhere more irrevocable. And, oddly enough, internally instantly resigned to this fact. What is most surprising is that she would hardly have agreed to turn everything back and return to a body tormented by illness. And here is eternal memory - “from loving parents”, “from friends”, “from classmates” ...
I didn’t want to look at it, it all caused unpleasant excitement. By an effort of will, the girl forced herself to turn away, looked around.
How strange to see now this place, which I always disliked and even feared. Much clearer and brighter than in life. And completely safe ... what were you afraid of? It's so quiet here, so comfortable, no sound, no breeze. Nothing shakes the grounds of death, the eternal resting place.
A profound peace suddenly filled her. Bewilderedly adjusting the light beige long guipure dress that she found on herself - the very one she was preparing for graduation (graduated!) - Alena wandered aimlessly between someone's graves.
Being alive, she always tried to avoid going here. None of the relatives were here - they moved to this city with their family several years ago, having sold the house far away in their homeland, the girl needed serious treatment. Did not help. A small village cemetery, where all her ancestors rested, including those whom she did not even know, remained thousands of kilometers away. And this huge, alien, cold ... I would cry if I could. Although, what is there to cry about, you just need to somehow understand and accept new circumstances

Hello! - A thin voice interrupted his thoughts, - are you fresh?
A few steps above someone's grave, a dense haze hovered, outlining the silhouette of a girl about ten years old. Small curls to the shoulders, a pink dress and a hooligan sly look.
- My name is Marianna, you can just Marie, - the little girl smiled from ear to ear, coquettishly curtsied, slightly lifting her short satin skirt, decorated with lace, - she rested here five years ago, and you? Haven't seen you before.
- I'm Alena, - the girl introduced herself somewhat surprised, - probably ... most likely today they buried me. I just... uh... got here.
- It's clear! - the girl briskly, skipping, ran up, grabbed her hand.
Amazingly, the touch of the ghostly hand was very tangible.
- Am I a ghost now? – voice trembled.
- What you! - Marianne stroked her hand, looked into her eyes not childishly sympathetically - just a spirit that will live here for some time. Alena, it's good here, don't be afraid, and don't think... we will all help you.
- All? And how many of you?
- Well, here, - the girl waved her hand around the surrounding monuments, - they are. What did you die of?
Such greedy childish curiosity, bordering on impatience, sounded in his voice that Alena smiled.
- I was in a lot of pain.
- And I got hit by a car, - she shrugged carelessly, - on the way from school. I don’t remember anything, I didn’t even feel it, it’s a shame. And by the way, I have such a beautiful house, with a white angel, let's go and show it?
- Marishechka, baby, - from the other side, an elderly woman in a chocolate-colored hat and a fitted cambric dress of a muted brown color (just a gymnasium teacher!) approached them inaudibly. Slender, straight-backed, despite a very respectable age, graceful, they say about such people: intelligent, - you have already turned your head with a newcomer, probably.
- Yes, I didn’t turn anything, Sof Prokofievna, - the girl frowned and winked at Alena surreptitiously, - she simply told. She's fresh, suddenly scared.
- Fresh! - the “teacher” grunted disapprovingly, - I don’t like it, Marie, that you picked up all these words from Gennady. A well-bred girl of your age should absorb only positive examples.
- Oh, come on, madam, - Marianna laughed, - Genka is right, we are all just dead people of different freshness, what difference does it make now who talks how. So Mityai also taught that there are no lifetime rules here.
Sofya Prokofievna grimaced.
- Calm down! - she raised her finger up, - and this is not a reason to lose human appearance. Are you a girl...
- Girl! I will never become a girl, - Marie retorted carelessly, - but everything is possible for a child. And enough to educate already, well, really, they brought up in life, died, I thought it would be easier here - but no, again with teachings!
She made a face, turned around and skipped away without touching the ground. She looked back as she ran and shouted:
- Alenka, see you again!
Alena nodded in confusion.
Sofya Prokofyevna saw the girl off with a reproachful, but with a smile, look, muttering: "Here's an imp," and turned to the girl.
- Well, honey, congratulations on your arrival! I won’t ask how and from what, although it’s curious, it’s still bad form ...
Here the old lady paused, flashing her eyes inquisitively and meaningfully. However, Alena suddenly wanted to show off and support the game. She modestly lowered her eyes and sighed, dragging out the pause.
- And therefore, let's take a walk, I'll introduce you to the surroundings and the locals. This is your home now...for a while. So a good neighborhood must be established!
- I died from a disease, very painful, - Alena admitted, having understood the hint.
- Poor thing, - Sofya Prokofievna perked up approvingly, hugged the girl, - well, now everything is behind you, you are in a good environment, forget those torments. True, I must warn you, not everyone here is ... hmm ... people are noble and with good manners, but it is possible to get used to this. We did not choose where we would be settled after our death, so we need to get along. But I’ll tell you, of course, what and how, I won’t leave you, I’m one of the old-timers here ...
She gently took the girl by the elbow, leaned on her arm, pulled her aside.
They glided between the tombstones, skirting some, flying over some, as if they were not there. Alena was surprised that her feet did not touch the ground, it was unusual, but it was much more pleasant to move around like that and, in general, extraordinary lightness.
- And why do some graves seem to be warm, some even glow, and some kind of emptiness is felt from others, as if they do not exist? - asked the girl.
- Well, first, honey, remember, we don't say "graves", we call our havens houses. And those that are warm are inhabited, they have a tenant. Luminous - the owner of the house, you can visit or call for a walk. And empty ones are empty ones. Abandoned.
- Sofya Prokofievna, where do those who leave their mogs ... at home go?
- Oh baby, we don't know. Here, as in life, who believes in what. Some believe that after the last disappearance there is nothing, as if the lights were turned off. Others say that we are going to God, to heaven. Do you remember the bright light?
- I remember, - Alena nodded, - I flew to him, and then ... returned. And ended up in her coffin. Why is that?
- Who knows... in fact, we, the departed, can eventually understand, learn and read a lot, but only as far as the living are concerned, I will teach you. But we do not know our own fate. And we return not to the earth, but to the body. It seems to me that we remain attached to him for some reason. Matvey Semenovich will express his hypothesis to you on this matter better than I ... In the meantime, listen and remember. This whole place, inside the borders of the cemetery, is our home for a long time now, we are all neighbors here: good and not very good, but we have to be friends together, willy-nilly. You, Alyonushka, do not be afraid, if someone wants to scare you - those who have gone to another world can no longer do anything to each other. So only, according to an old habit, someone tries to command ... And so we are all warm friends here, each with his own past and present.
Alena walked, clinging to the old woman and turning her head. The cemetery shone, shimmered with the lights of the graves, it was very rare to come across orphans, and most of the inhabitants were now “at home”.
- Yes, - Sofya Prokofevna nodded, noticing her surprise, - we don’t divide day into day and night, we walk when we want. There is no need for sleep, but sometimes we lie back to be alone with ourselves, to think over the events of the day or to remember: one of the sweetest entertainments. Bodily featherbeds are our shelters, you will understand ... In the daytime, there are more living people here, and ours too - not crowded, everything is very busy. They buried you just after dinner yesterday, Matvey and I were curious from afar, and you got up just now, you obviously suffered a lot, poor thing, before your death, and rested in deliverance. I even missed my wake. And at night there is relative calm, only the muddy wander, they have their own diet. And your own territory. Rarely does anyone violate. There was such, Mityai, Dmitry Igorevich, he went over to them ... yes, things are already old ...
She sighed with a kind of lively anguish.
- Who is this?
“Then you’ll get to know each other,” the grandmother waved her hand, “not such important people to talk about them first of all!” And so - we eat during the day, they - at night, that's all.
- And what do we eat? - Alenka was slightly taken aback, she thought that there was no body - there was no hunger.
- Another kind of hunger ... - the old woman seemed to read her mind, - you just haven’t had time to feel it yet. In this world, we are half attached to the old, human world. And we need human warmth to live and survive here. Energy, as Petrovich says, and he is a former electrician, you can trust him. People come here, feed us, do not let us sink into oblivion. They bring funeral food. Of course, it is not in our power to eat it, but there is a lot of this very heat in the products. Especially when someone else eats, we also eat. But the most pleasant - remember - the bird's warmth! Previously, a long time ago, such a custom existed, to feed birds in cemeteries - they say, when they peck grain, the dead are happy and blessed. And it is true. Especially if this grain is not on the ground, but poured into something. Few people now remember and know, otherwise, instead of flowers and wreaths, feeders would be hung over the last refuge of the beloved dead. Rarely, but it happens, they throw crumbs and joy to those of ours, at whose house they are or who found themselves nearby - an unprecedented feast! Here, after all, few people have relatives left that they regularly visit and commemorate, more and more random people pass by. All past. And for the abandoned us, there was also a custom earlier - to scatter grain for birds at the gates of the cemetery, we, forgotten and abandoned, come there, stand, sometimes wait for someone to give their mercy to other people's dead. One such gift is worth a lot, and it is useful for the living soul, it seems to do good.
- Birds, then, something like angels for you ... for us? Elena shook her head.
- Something like, - Sofya Prokofievna confirmed, - you will learn to communicate with them and understand them, even be friends. I'll introduce you to Seraphim, this is my raven.
- Wow…
- Oh, look there! - the old woman crept up all over, her eyes sparkled with joy, - and here she is alive!

On the left, along the path that was visible between the tombstones, a brightly shining spot was moving. At first Alena even gasped, in the first second she almost went blind.
“Close your eyes,” Grandmother advised, “and squint first. Later the eyes will get used to it.
Alenka obeyed and through non-existent eyelashes she saw the silhouette of a young guy, thin, lanky, with a backpack on his back and a player in his ears. She heard the music that screamed in the headphones, twitched with her whole body - she did not like this in life, too rumbling, meaningless.
- Be careful, - the companion warned, - do not immediately pour into him, and you will bring harm to yourself and to him.
Alena was trembling with her whole invisible body, as if she had been twisted in a centrifuge, squeezed out. And now she suddenly felt the very hunger about which the old woman narrated. An irresistible craving for a heat source. It was like a chill that could be healed by a warm blanket carried her away.
The guy walked along, whistling something, not noticing and not feeling how two ladies in peculiar shrouds were swimming behind him. If he had turned around, perhaps he would have seen something, because Alyonka was trembling so much that for some time she acquired quite dense outlines, appeared, and was imprinted in space for a second.
- Quiet, quiet, more careful, - Sofya Prokofievna reassured her, holding her hand, - look as you need.
She lightly stretched her hand towards the slowly moving away guy, as if invisibly touching him in space, then made a gesture as if beckoning. And a thin stream of radiant warmth rushed towards her, like a thread from a ball that rolled further and further. The old woman rolled her eyes, drawing in this ray, as if drinking through a straw, an extremely sweet, healing drink. She even blushed.
Alyonka immediately waved her hand and greedily pulled another thread towards herself, whose tip, at the wave of her hand, separated from the shining ball of a living guy. She pulled this thread so that the guy stumbled from scratch. But Alena did not notice anything around, Oh, how warm and comfortable she immediately felt, so good, like hot tea in a chilly, chilly apartment in early autumn, like a soft woolen blanket on her shoulders and affectionate hugs from her mother. She drank and drank greedily, filled with strength and energy unknown during her lifetime. Overflowed.
- Stop! - the old woman suddenly bitingly hit her on the arm, cruelly tearing her out of the blissful fog of pleasure, - you can’t do it, baby! You will kill him!
Objects around took shape, and Alenka saw how a very tasty guy she didn’t know walked off the path and sat down on the nearest bench, took out the headphones from his ears, turned pale, took a breath, as if he had suddenly become ill. Then he lit a cigarette with trembling hands.
- You must be moderate! - Angrily, but warmly, Sofya Prokofievna admonished, - I, stupid, did not explain right away ... warmth is their own life. If you drink it all, the poor fellow will die.
- I didn't want to, - Alena was frightened.
However, I was frightened somehow lazily, well-fed, in the back of my mind. She was very, very good now. And only a little did the feeling of guilt stir for the fact that the guy, hunched over, significantly dimming, was now sitting and smoking, burying his frozen gaze into space.
- Sofia Prokofievna! A reproachful female voice came from somewhere behind. Something light, resonant swept past them like a whirlwind. In the next moment, the guy's shoulders hugged thin arms, his radiance intensified, and the girl's glow, on the contrary, faded, thinned.
- Svetlana! - the old woman exclaimed in fright, - well, stop it! What will happen to him, well, he'll get a week's flu in bed! And you, how will you be? I'll tell Kesha everything, he'll put you on a diet.
The girl broke away from the living and rushed towards them, in a moment she was already face to face opposite her grandmother.
- Sofya Prokofievna, how can you do that! Well, I asked you not to torment them, not to dry them up!
The bottomless blue eyes were burning, the chestnut hair scattered over the narrow shoulders of this fragile figurine girl trembled in time with her anger. The pale pink dress fluttered as if in the wind. A kind of translucent ghost through which the interiors of the cemetery were visible. It even looks a bit sad.
- Baby, it happened so by chance, - with dignity, but guilty, began to make excuses, - by accident ... Here Alyonushka explained, taught ... did not have time to stop.
- A! – the stranger's stern look stopped at her, - brand new, then?
- Fresh, - Alena nodded, remembering Marianne's terminology.
Sofya Prokofyevna grimaced, but the girl, dumbfounded for a moment, suddenly burst out laughing loudly. Her anger vanished.
- And you're cool, - laughing, she announced, quite lively extended her hand for acquaintance, - I'm Sveta.
- Alena, - she answered, relaxing. It looks like they could become friends.
Not understanding how and why, but while shaking hands, she seemed to unconsciously sent a warm impulse into her palm, a ball of heat, passed it into Svetlana's hand. It twitched, froze, and suddenly shone, ceased to be transparent.
- Well, why? - with a slight sadness asked the newcomer - thank you, of course, for your support. Just don't do that again, okay?
- OK.
Alena did not even understand what she had done that immediately erased the smile from the face of a new acquaintance.
- I can't do that, - Sveta relented, - I'll explain everything to you later.
- Yes, tell me now, - Sofya Prokofievna wedged in, - you better talk, the young will understand the young faster, at least one and with a fool ...
- Sofia Prokofievna!
- ... but I have to go, - the old woman continued imperturbably, pursing her lips, - Agrippina Valeryevna has been waiting for her already, today is her anniversary, after all.
And she solemnly, without looking back, swam among the graves.
Alyonka wanted to shout after her words of gratitude for her help and mentorship, but she did not have time - she treacherously took it and simply disappeared into space.
- Passed the baton. That's fine! - Svetlana confidently grabbed her new friend by the arm, - let's go quickly, until you meet someone else who will teach you bad things. Here everyone thinks only about himself and how to survive, as if this is the only purpose of our existence. Well, everything is like in life! The death of people does not change, alas ...
- And I read ... I thought that after death the soul becomes, as it were, enlightened, sees everyone and knows about everything. Flies everywhere.
- You can fly wherever you want, - Sveta nodded, - while there is time. Up to forty days. And then only exist here.
- But I don’t want to, - Alena was confused, - she doesn’t pull anywhere: neither to relatives, nor to friends.
- And rightly so, - Svetlana approved, - it is not necessary. Well, they feel everything, and your visits to the cemetery will pull them. And here there are so many who want to taste human beings ... speaking of the enlightenment of the soul.
She grimaced so that Alenka was surprised: if the energy of the living is the only food for them, what does this fragile ghost girl eat?
“I never ate anything in my life that was killed for the sake of consumption, and now I don’t want to be the cause of the troubles of living beings,” Svetlana proudly declared, “and if for this you have to quickly leave this world, I agree.
- And you're not afraid? No one knows what is there, after thinning, - Alenka repeated the words of Sofia Prokofievna.
- Whatever it is, it's better than getting muddy. Maybe…
- And who are these muddy?
- Oh, - only Svetlana said.
The girls reached a beautiful bright green fence, Sveta made an inviting gesture. They went inside and sat down on a bench. Alena mechanically read on the monument: Svetlana Timofeevna Ryabushkina. By the date, I calculated that the girl died at 25 and has been resting here for the third year. Wow, and the grave is lined with bouquets, as if fresh.
- Yours?
Light nodded in disdain.
“They take better care of her than they took care of me in life. Until now, always flowers. It was worth it to die ...
- How did you die? - Alena asked carefully, - no, if the question is inappropriate or uncivilized, you can not answer!
- Yes, what kind of culture is there, I drowned, - my friend said simply and indifferently, - I fell off the bridge.
Alena did not dare to ask for details, and from Sveta's suddenly tense face, she realized that she had done the right thing.
“Tell me about the muddy ones,” she asked, “otherwise everyone mentions them, not without a shudder, very curious!
- Everyone is Marinka and Sophia? - Svetlana chuckled, - these are all because of Mityai. He broke their hearts. There was one tipchik here, I found him already in the process of degradation. A former athlete, and then a bandit, died in a drunken fight from a stabbing ...
Svetlana's eyes sparkled, and Alena realized that the girl takes special pleasure in telling: who died of what.
- ... until the age of forty, he did not have time to start a family, nor children. So I got attached to Marinka here when she appeared, three years ago. And the girl also took a liking to him, all the time they wandered everywhere together, he taught her everything, defended her. She became a little sister to him. Rolled up to me. Such a funny man, he knew how to both make laugh and bewitch ... And our Sofochka saw her son in Mityai, she also followed him on his heels, taught all about life. Maybe that's why he ran away to the muddy ones, - Svetlana giggled, - our Sofya Prokofievna will get anyone you want with her teachings. Turbid are spirits that degrade after death. They uncontrollably drink the energy of the living and become an inveterate drunkard. Lose their human form. And it’s hard to control yourself once you try it, you understand?
- Yes, - Alena nodded, remembering the sensations, the taste of living energy.
- Gradually, but very quickly, becoming a vampire, the spirit loses its clarity of features, sometimes blurs, ceases to be transparent. Here you and I are now very similar to the living from the outside, if we do not take into account the density. And the muddy ones are like plastic bags filled with grayish smoke, a terrible doll, in which later the borders also disappear. A terrible sight. No one expected that Dima ... Mityai would become like that. Although, probably, the fact that he was killed was some kind of prerequisite. Sometimes spirits get angry at people after this. That's how Andrei Andreevich is. The most scumbag of the muddy ones, he rules everyone there, stay away from him. A former military man, an Afghan, went crazy in this war. He returned home and began to kill people, taking revenge for his crippled life. When trying to detain him, he began to resist - and they shot him. I spent so many months in hot spots, but I found a bullet under a peaceful sky ...
Light sighed. Alena was silent, trying to consistently digest and remember new names.
- But be especially careful with Mutny Stas. If you see the monument to Stanislav Kalyakin - run, just like from the fire. He always wanders nearby, gets drunk on people and composes songs. Until his death he was a musician, sat on heroin, died of an overdose. Someone thinks: he did not even realize that he had died. He thinks that the arrival of another rolled. Only now the living, their energy, have become a dose. Walking, drinking, singing...
But what should I be afraid of? Alena smiled.
- Clings - will not get rid of, - Svetlana shook her head, - a terrible bore and his songs are the nonsense of a madman. I would have killed myself if I had been tormented like that in the other world. Lucky alive, his work rested with him. But you shouldn't think it's safe here. If you fall into the clutches of at least two or three muddy ones, they can suck you out too. Remember how I transferred energy to that guy on the bench, and then you to me? That's how muddy. Only they will not be able to drink by force, but you yourself will give it back. Voluntarily.
- Like this?
“They have methods,” Svetlana answered evasively, turning away.
At that moment, Alena suddenly saw a picture: a frightened, disoriented Svetlana, surrounded by several muddy, vague figures, laughing and howling, covering her ears, screaming. And then another ghost appears, a young guy: tall, fair-haired, grabs the girl by the hand and drags her away, the muddy ones part for some reason and let her through.
- It was Kesha, - Sveta sobbed, - yes, that's how we met. I barely got here, I immediately came across the muddy ones. I didn’t know yet what kind of fruit they were, but I was relieved that I was not alone here. And they were delighted with the fresh meat, they decided to have a bite of me without noise and dust. Well Keshka passed by, he saved me.
Alena's goosebumps ran over her non-existent body.
But don't be afraid of them. They put more and more pressure on fear, it is worth being scared - and you are in their clutches. The more confidence and arrogance in their direction, the less chance they have with you, understand?
- Yes, - Alena nodded, remembering, - and Sofya Prokofievna said that it was safe here ...
- Sophia is an old horse, - Sveta snorted, - even vampires don't like her. Do you know how old she is?
- She didn't tell.
- Reposed even before the revolution! She was a teacher during her lifetime, somewhere she taught Russian and literature to noble maidens. And she died stupidly: they slaughtered her in a dark alley because of her wallet. This is such an insidious death, it does not make out: an intellectual or a bandit. Even worse: I suspect that the grandmother tried to teach the robbers, they could not stand it. At least Sophia didn’t get angry with people after that, but she still loves to set the right path. In this regard, few people here love her. Marinka is perhaps, but she reaches out to everyone who is ready to show attention. She died quite small, at the age of eleven, so she misses her mother.
- How did she die? Alena breathed out with bated breath.
- The car was hit three years ago. The girl was such a lively girl during her lifetime, but she did not have time to dodge.
- You know about everyone who got here somehow, but you don’t ask me. Not interested?
- Funny! I know about you too. And you can find out about anyone, if you want it, just by sitting next to him. I tell you about others so that you don’t have to strain yourself, I give you information in advance, so to speak. Okay, we chatted, and Keshka is waiting for me.
Svetlana suddenly jumped up, mechanically smoothed her hair, straightened her dress, as if going on a date.
- Well, now you know where my house is, come, - she nodded to Alenka and turned to the exit.
- Eh, uh...
But Light is gone.
- ... can I come with you? - Alena finished to nowhere, - clearly, it is impossible.
She was in a bit of shock at being dumped like that all of a sudden. However, my head, overflowing with information, itched and asked for peace, in order to somehow put everything I heard in it, put it in order. The girl swam over the fence and looked around.

The cemetery was bathed in the rays of the daytime sun. It was the very middle of June, it was hot, probably decently. Alena did not remember the summer, she did not get out of the house for a year and a half, she lay. And now, as a spirit, she did not feel the temperature, only saw the light.
The ubiquitous sparrows chirped merrily, occasionally crows croaked lazily and lazily, tulips, violets and pansies bloomed on the graves - an intoxicating, must be aroma ... the girl also did not feel the smell. To tears, it's a shame to enjoy all this beauty so one-sidedly! Why, during her lifetime, even before her illness, did she not appreciate what so naturally surrounded her everywhere? Smells, taste, touching the skin of the warm rays of the sun or a cool breeze ... I can’t even remember the sensations.
Alena walked between the graves, some kind of force pulled her forward, as if calling. But she turned her head and noted that the area was full of spirits. People of both sexes and different ages, appearances and moods wandered alone and in groups, turned around at her, waved their hands at her, but no one bothered, apparently feeling what the young dead woman was going through now. Respected her need for solitude.
Meanwhile, her feet led the girl back to her own grave. To the place where early in the morning she began her journey in a new wonderful world. Alena raised her head, stumbled and froze in place.
Near the monument with her name, the living gathered in a group. Mom and dad, grandmother and aunt. All the relatives came to commemorate and were now laying out delicious food on a nearby low table.
- We should dig our own table and bench, - the grandmother said warmly, - so that Alyonushka had somewhere to sit.
- Mom, what are you talking about, - Alena's mother said in a dull voice, - our girl is now in heaven, there is only a body. What are fantasies?
- Who knows, Lisa, - grandmother turned away, brushing away a tear, - but it's supposed to be. And not by us.
- Alyonka was exhausted enough to wander around the world later, - aunt nodded, standing on the side of her sister, - all this is more needed for the living, for self-complacency.
Alena listened and barely held back her tears. How she wanted to run up on healthy legs now, hug her mother, kiss her father on the back of the head, stroke her grandmother on the shoulder, and whisper in Aunt Katya's ear: “you're right!” But the legs treacherously did not obey.
And then she saw something that sent a shiver through her invisible body. Around the living, at some distance, the dead closed in a wide but dense ring. The spirits, attracted here by the light of life-giving energy, slowly converged, forming a circle, closing the family from the girl. They looked at her family so eagerly that Alena could not stand it.
- Stop it! she shouted, rushing forward, “get out of here, don’t touch them!”
The departed parted, missed.
- Are these yours? they whispered back.
"Don't touch them," Alena repeated desperately, hugging her mother.
The dead understood and also slowly, as if reluctantly, began to disperse. Probably, there was a peculiar etiquette here, which they adhered to. Respect for the living relatives of one of them.
Elena relaxed. She went through her mother's graying curls and whispered in her ear that everything would be fine, that everything was wonderful and she really felt better here. It doesn't hurt, at least. She smiled warmly, looking into her father's eyes, stroking her grandmother's back.
“Alenka is ours here,” she said suddenly, “it’s good for her. God bless. May the earth rest in peace for our girl.
Everyone was silent. They ate in silence, pouring strength and light into their daughter and granddaughter, sitting on the edge next to their mother. Everything inside Alena sang, it seemed that she was at home again, that everything was as before, that now they would always be together.
She rejoiced and did not notice how from afar, from behind a tree, an unpleasantly blurry, blurry silhouette was attentively watching them.
And when the simple meal was over, and the relatives were about to leave, and the grandmother began to pray, Alena realized that the miracle was ending. And now she will be left alone again, except perhaps with new acquaintances, the same poor fellows who are forced to be here on a leash, at their graves. She moved to see off her loved ones to the very gates and already there she remembered the words of Svetlana and promised after the retreating backs: “I will come to you, soon, definitely, wait!”

When she returned, she sat down at the empty table and began to think - how is this done? What do you need in order to be transported to your apartment, to visit your family? Just a desire or some other actions? Don't go on foot.
- I'll help you, girl.
Behind her, a female spirit approached her, walked around the bench, and sat down next to her.
“Angelica Polonina,” she introduced herself, “and if you obey me, I will teach you how to exist here in order to return to our Lord as soon as possible. Including visiting relatives you can easily, but only up to forty days. And then the ban! Souls must adhere to the law. Although, some do not understand this and drive themselves into sins by temptation.
Alena looked at her new friend with interest. Quite young, about 35 years old - and not a little serious. In a strict scarf, a closed dress, she looks like a nun, but there is no kind of monastic blissful light in her eyes. Most likely, a laywoman, just a very religious person. And dark circles under the eyes - the seal of flour. She died of an illness, Alena realized and felt a certain affinity.
- Yes, Alena, we are similar, - Angelica nodded, - therefore we must stick together and together we will move into the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Um, - Alenka was confused, - where is this?
- There, - the woman reverently raised her eyes to the sky, - to our Lord!
- It's clear ... Why didn't we immediately go to him, how did we die?
“Because they lived unrighteously,” Angelica looked sternly, “now here we will have to go through ordeals before we cut off all our earthly attachments. Then the angels will take us away.
- Angels? Alena was surprised.
“Yes, yes, I saw it myself,” her interlocutor suddenly whispered with inspiration, “the shining ones descend to the earth and carry away the soul, the one that has already completed its journey here, finally torn off from the body.
Alenka became uneasy. Even during her lifetime she was not a religious girl at all, and even more so now. If there was a God, he would have taken it right away, but why this layer between the worlds, this buffer?
- Lika, are you torturing a new victim? - a ghostly man in a cap and dark blue overalls slowly waddled up to them, sat down on a bench opposite. He put his elbows on the table, resting his chin on them, staring at the girl intently.
Alena never liked this type: a simple-hearted hard worker who loves to lay well, in a simple way, behind the collar after a work shift. In general, a kind and unpretentious human specimen, but somewhat gopovaty. Still quite young, about 30 years old, but already with traces of stormy feasts on the scarlet fleshy nose and with bags under deep-set sly brown eyes.
Angelica grimaced, crossed herself and snorted:
- There is no prophet in his fiefdom. So everyone laughed at the Savior ...
- You are our prophetess ... God's punishment soon! Would you be better off at least here to the fullest, during your lifetime, have you surpassed the nuns in tediousness? Do not sin, but death gathers everyone in one place. So it's better to walk!
He winked cheekily at Alena, switching to her:
“Are you the fresh guy that Marie was buzzing my ears about?” Nothing so exemplary. Yes, don’t be afraid of me, ”he laughed, seeing the girl’s confusion,“ I’m good, even ask someone. Gennady!
He held out his hand for a handshake. Alenka hesitated for a moment and answered anyway.
- Does your mother need an otherworldly son-in-law? An excellent man, in the very juice, with his own land on the churchyard, kind and attractive - Gena pulled off his cap in a picturesque way and bowed.
- Call him, of course, I'll take a look myself first, - Alena grinned, gaining presence of mind.
- Ah, the ulcer! - the interlocutor admired, - you don’t climb into your pocket for a word. Let's work, as they say!
- Gena, now leave us, - Angelica asked through her teeth, lowering her eyes, - Alyonushka and I need to discuss something else.
- Oh, girl, - Gennady got up and grimaced a pitiful face, - hold on! Lika will cling to his church pincers, and will bore him to death!
He laughed, pleased with his joke.
- See you again, - and sauntered along the graves.
- Jester! Balagur unfinished, forgive me, Lord. He was shocked like an electric shock before his death, so he is still hit on the head. Anyway. You tell me this: have you already flown home?
- No, - Alena shook her head, - I'm here for the second day, I'm still getting used to it ...
- That's wonderful! - Angelica exclaimed, - it means that I met on time. Listen carefully and remember everything I say, it will come in handy. So that you don’t break firewood yourself, and don’t give your relatives to death, into the power of the devil. And you must certainly visit your native home and do something there ...

Once inside the cemetery gates, Alena stopped for a moment, wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to keep warm. The dead don't freeze. But the soul can become cold, even petrified.
But the strange thing is what happened to her now. Some kind of incomprehensible relief, detachment from the sadness that tormented me five minutes ago, touched weightlessly, softly. Otherworldly delight swirled throughout her invisible being.
And right in front of her, along the paths and between the graves, hosts of ghosts walked, wandered, sat, in companies and one at a time, in pairs. - the height of the day.
Alena looked around slyly, and then suddenly squealed from an excess of feelings and jumped up. The feeling of unreality, “like in a dream”, tore off the ground, threw it up, carried me up. She tumbled low above the ground, then soared higher than the crown tui, frightening a flock of crows. Flew on a "shaving" flight through several empty tombstones. I caught a lot of smiles and a couple of strict condescending glances from more transparent ghosts. Serious subjects, however, apparently soon they will already ascend by the statute of limitations, not to stupidity and frivolity. Well, what about us - Alena thought - we will “live”!
And with this thought, she sat down on a branch of a spreading acacia about one and a half meters above the ground.
A crow croaked loudly nearby, outraged by her solitude so brazenly violated.
- Hello, - Alena smiled, - I'm sorry that without permission. During my life, I would not allow myself this, but now I wanted to play tricks.
She held out her hand, as if to a person, as if to say hello. And the bird fluttered and ... sat on her wrist.
- Wow! - Alena almost fell down from surprise, - well ... great, okay, let's be friends, then.
The crow quickly and tenaciously ran all over the hand on the girl’s shoulder, buried its beak in her hair, and then the unexpected happened. Alena could have sworn she heard a voice in her head:
- I'm Liana. You can enter me.
In the next moment, the crow was already sitting next to the bough and looked searchingly.
- It's like ... - only the girl could say in surprise.
But the bird was silent. She just stared intently: eye to eye, tightened, turned her head. And all of a sudden everything started spinning, spinning, like in a crazy kaleidoscope. And then Alenka realized that she was looking at the surrounding reality from a completely different angle - through the eyes of a crow! The head began to spin, the world began to spin like a top, and the girl fell off the branch like a bag. But, before reaching the ground, it suddenly instinctively rushed back, expanded in space, opened its wings and shot up. After a couple of seconds, she was sitting again, clutching the tree with her alien claws, looking around in a dazed way.
"Wow…"
And then she caught her breath, looked around, holding herself, balancing in an unusually heavy bird carcass, looked around. My God, in such a wealth of colors, no one for sure sees the world! Transitions and overflows of shades ... took my breath away, from an excess of feelings, Alena croaked at the top of her crow's throat. And from admiration - fluttered up. Now she has fully mastered the bird's body, including feathered reflexes to the fullest. Soaring over the cemetery, which from a height of flight seemed geometrically bizarre from monuments and colorful from flower placers, the girl cut circles, then descending, then rising higher. She flew over the paths, screaming with joy, making the living below cross themselves, and the dead smile after them. They probably saw and understood who is actually enjoying the height now.
Alena realized that in the body of a bird there are no boundaries and barriers for her. Now she can easily leave the territory of the cemetery and fly anywhere. Whether it's home or somewhere else. Moreover, even in the body of a bird, she retained that ability with her soul to instantly determine where and which of her friends or relatives is in order to immediately go there. And now she had a strong beak and a loud voice - she could attract attention, make herself felt. But joy quickly gave way to understanding: no one can see Alenin's soul in a crow. They will also take it as a bad sign. Better not.
With regret, having calmed down a little, the girl flew some more, and then she felt that she was tired. Enough for the first time. The bird must be released. Now they are already friends, connected by an invisible thread, at any moment Liana will be able to briefly become her guide in the world of the living. And this thought warmed me.
Flying up to her grave, Alena sat down on a bench and expressed her intention to disconnect. Immediately, almost without dizziness, she found herself next to a ruffled, disheveled bird. She tilted her head, looked at her friend with one eye, and it seemed to her that Liana smiled contentedly.
“I wonder what I give her with this symbiosis?” - visited a curious thought, - "why did she suggest ..."
But the crow chose to remain silent. She shook herself, croaked briefly, jumped away a couple of times on the bench, then turned around, looked farewell: “see you. Call if anything, ”and flew away.

In the sunset shadows, Alena wandered between the graves, looking for those with whom she had already met. Again and again I thought about the day inside myself: meeting with my family, turning into a bird for a while. And, immersed in herself, she did not immediately notice the swearing ghosts in the direction. More precisely, the girl cursed. The boy at the table listened in silence, imperturbably, smiling the way parents smile when their children are angry with them for something. And Alena noticed them when she heard familiar notes in her voice and recognized Svetlana.
- You know what, - she shouted, - you're nobody to tell me and generally teach life ... that is, death ... but don't care! Kesha, I did not choose you as a teacher, mentors, breadwinner, after all! Why the hell are you dictating my diet to me. I didn’t eat the living during my life and I won’t after death, I’m a vegan, do you understand?!
Alena quietly darted behind the tree, like a living person trying to hide, so as not to be accidentally caught by a witness to someone else's quarrel and not to embarrass everyone. But, apparently, the ghostly Light was deeply indifferent: who will see and what they will think.
- Sunny, - Kesha said quietly and calmly, trying to touch her shoulder, but she pushed her hand away indignantly, - there are other laws here. Moderate feeding on the energy of the living does not kill them, but gives us the opportunity to prolong our existence in our world. At least enough to understand why we are still here and what to do next. Is there a way forward?
“Maybe I don’t want to prolong my existence here!” - Svetlana snapped, - I want to become thinner and leave like the others. But I can not! Does not work! Everyone who wants it succeeds, but I'm like a damned one, I just suffer and that's it, I suffer from hunger, by the way. And here you are, with your teachings, temptations!
- You are suffering because you are picking up miserable crumbs from the graves.
From behind the monument, the electrician Gena stepped towards the couple. He grinned, straightened his cap, ignoring Sveta's furrowed brows, and sat down on the nearest bench.
- Another specialist ... - the girl muttered, but calmed down a little. She finally gave Kesha a hug.
Gena nodded to the guy in greeting and continued:
- You were a vegan there, but here you are an anti-veg. You eat the remains from the graves of departed souls, and the fact that the professor and Keshka feed you. It's kind of like not drinking from the living, right? Dead food. Spirit vulture. And you build a subtle nature out of yourself, ugh!
He spat to the side. The girl's eyes glittered angrily.
- You don't understand me, drunkard! - she said with a grin, - you just have to stay here, because the only way forward is to hell. If it exists. This is how you enjoy every evening. You know that living friends will feed you for a long time to come. More precisely, solder. Are you pushing me with morals?!
Alena stopped hiding, came out from behind a tree, the dialogue was developing very interestingly.
- They remember and love me, it means something, - Gennady nodded, - and who remembers you? Except the ones I slept with, maybe sometimes. The one for whom you jumped from the bridge, go and not blow in your mustache, not that he was not in the cemetery, but also laughs, remembering a rare occasion by chance, huh?
- You are evil, - Sveta sobbed, buried her face in the chest of the fair-haired Kesha. He shook his head in the direction of the electrician, calming him down.
- Eh, I would behave like a person, and not like a pretentious chicken, no one would offend you, - Gena got up, - Keshka, what a wonderful, bright guy. I could have left a long time ago, but sticks out here, messing with you ...
- He helps me to carry out my mission, - Svetlana muttered, cooling down, - to instruct you, stingers on the true path.
At first, Gena froze in puzzlement, his eyebrows crawled up, then he waved his hand and went home.
Do you also think I'm wrong? - The question addressed to Alenka caught her by surprise.
- I don't know…
- Out, out, look! - Svetlana laughed hysterically, poking her finger in the direction of Gennady. He walked and walked, but suddenly stopped. It froze, and then it shook. The silhouette began to fill with some unpleasant density, lead-colored smoke. And then the man moved already on tangled legs, holding on to fences and bushes. Having moved a dozen steps away, he started the song at all.
- What's wrong with him? Alena asked, delighted to be able to change the subject.
- Drink his former colleagues at work. They commemorate right now, - Kesha explained, - and when the living drink for the memory of the dead, we are also very drunk here. Sometimes you don’t even rejoice that you are a ghost, when the next morning it breaks and twists just as much as after a human hangover. It would be better to eat something tasty. I used to love chocolate all the time. And no one will remember a tile or two, with a seagull.
He smiled absently, patted Sveta on the head:
- How are you calming down?
- Yes ... - she nodded, - thank you.
- Please don't do this anymore, okay?
- What are you talking about?
- You know. You cannot leave this world in the same way as you do from the world of the living, even if you try very hard.
Svetlana said nothing, but her ghostly cheeks seemed to blush.
- I won't. Sorry. Nerves. And habit.
Alena did not understand what it was about, but stood silently. And the couple, as if forgetting about her, turned away and, also in an embrace, went away.
“It’s good that our family doesn’t drink alcohol,” Alena muttered, “otherwise I didn’t try it during my lifetime, I wouldn’t want to start here ...

You are wreaths of sonnets and songs
Bring to my sorrowful end
This world would be so small for me
In this world, I was not a tenant -
melodious and mournful somehow sounded nearby. Alena turned around curiously.
Between the graves, in the gathering twilight, a lanky male silhouette wandered in her direction. As he approached, the girl could make out long, greasy, carelessly thrown hair over her shoulders, a T-shirt with skulls, faded jeans. And very close - a crazy look. It seems that he is not a young guy, but a man who has not crossed the 35-year mark either. There was something very unpleasant about him, gray. Facial features seem to be blurred. And only the eyes are clear, burning, otherworldly, goosebumps ...
- She doesn't need my anagrams,
She drinks in the alley for life,
She gets high real drama
I get high on the way to a pure high -
suddenly, from a high syllable, the guy jumped to some kind of yard slang, rattled off a verse, looking directly into Alyonka's eyes.
She did not have time to jump back, as he grabbed her hand:
- Let's go, girlfriend, get drunk, shirnemsya, drive off, huh?
- N-no ... - the girl shook her head, trying to escape, - let go.
- Come on, come on, here, too, you can revel! And then I'll immortalize you in song. Together we will drink living light and immerse ourselves in it. Pure inspiration!
I would break the sails that are carried away
But the cobwebs in my hair are blowing my mind.
Visions are evil, like a snake, empty and rare,
Let them rot among the living, but I'm out of the cage!..
Alena made another unsuccessful attempt to pull her hand out. Something disturbed her and strained in this guy. Somehow he was strange, muddy ... MUDDY!
- What is your name? she whispered.
- Stas. You're so sweet…
He leaned over trying to kiss her?
Alenka squealed and pushed away this gray clot with all her might, jumped to the side.
- Don't come!
- What are you? - he was surprised, - so nervous? New girl? Don't be afraid, I'll show you all the beauty of the underworld, let's go. We will drink and sing while our mortal bodies smolder, gnawed by worms...
Alena was shaking. She convulsively looked around, but, as luck would have it, not a soul was around. Literally. And twilight deepened. And the inadequate Stas was approaching, and the boundaries of his silhouette were almost invisible, so much he merged with the darkness.
And then, literally a few meters away from them, a small glow appeared, broke through the bushes and monuments, it approached, expanded ...
- Man .. - Stas licked his lips carnivorously, - how by the way. I invite you, lady, to a glass of living light!
Elena shook her head.
It was evident that Stas hesitated for a moment. And then he chuckled and said:
- Well, okay. I'll drink everything myself. Then I'll find you, beauty. Do not disappear!
And he rushed away, to the radiance, to that unfortunate one who had the imprudence to wander, looking at the night, along the cemetery paths.
And Alena rushed in the opposite direction.
Well, it wasn’t enough to get into a bind with a crazy ghoul. During her life, she diligently avoided the bad guys, was somehow afraid of them a little. And here, it turns out, there are unpleasant sticky. And what to do with such, how to send off impudent ones?
- It's very simple, - Alena shuddered in surprise when someone's voice sounded nearby, - dear girl, you need to be a little more impudent and self-confident, in such types, only such tactics work. Allow me to introduce myself, Matvey Semenovich at your service.
Turning around, Alena saw an old man at a distance. Such a wonderful: small, round, gray-haired - a head like a dandelion, hair - fluff. Dressed in a formal suit, but old-fashioned cut. The posture is not inferior to Sofya Prokofievna, but at the same time she holds herself more simply. Such a type could well be military. Or a professor.
“Professor of Philosophical Sciences,” the new acquaintance inclined his head.
- Alena Semenova, - she introduced herself in turn, - how glad I am for you, you can’t imagine!
- And I am glad of our unexpected meeting and acquaintance. I have been watching you for a while, hold on very dignifiedly for the young deceased.
- I was scared, - she explained, - you saw everything, why didn't you help?
- I would help if you couldn't cope on your own, - the elderly man smiled warmly, paternally, - dear, you need to learn to fight back degradants. It is in life you can call the police for help, but here everyone defends himself. And believe me, ma'am, it's much easier here. They can hurt you only as much as you let them.
- Tell me? - Alena was delighted with a completely different level of communication, a spirit from which one could draw wisdom, as she immediately felt.
- Certainly. Let's talk, - the professor nodded, - I actually already came to my room, but I can take you, my dear, to your house.
Alena followed her gaze and read on the monument:
"Matvei Semenovich Prigozhin" By date, she quickly calculated that the old man had 69 earth years, not so much, but not a lot, when compared with another with whom she had already managed to communicate. Yes, he has been quiet for a long time. Of course, later than Sofia Prokofievna, but not by much.
- Yes, go ahead, please! - she agreed with relief, - I have enough vivid impressions for today, I want to relax.
The professor gallantly put up his elbow, Alena politely bowed her head, clung to him, and they, right through other people's graves and benches, bypassing only those who were in a hurry to dive into their mound, moved towards her last refuge.

From the darkness of the cemetery, from afar, flashes of an incomprehensible muffled light flashed, appeared.
- The afterlife memory also fails, I forgot what night it is ... - the professor smiled guiltily and explained to the looking Alena inquiringly, - in general, if you omit the lecture, today magicians, sorcerers of all stripes, as well as neophytes from esotericism are drawn here like a magnet. So, if you do not sleep, you can see and understand a lot about the relationship between people and spirits. Something you wouldn't know if you were alive. To see, so to speak, the real reverse side of some processes ... And I can show.
- So, let's not sleep, - Alena nodded, - lead!
Matvey Semenovich hesitated for a second, as if deciding their route. In the meantime, more and more lights were lit and flashed around. The inhabitants of the graves left their dwellings and cruised around the territory. Some were drawn to those same flashes, flashes, others rushed to the opposite end of the cemetery. Alena noticed Sophia and Agrippina flying under the arm, the first one winked at her and nodded to Matvey Semenovich.
- So, let's start with a light version of the games on the churchyard, - finally, the professor decided, - especially since they are not for long, and Lilith has not yet arrived.
The girl decided not to ask questions, enchanted by the columns of ghosts moving in the same direction. From their glow, the dull graveyard landscapes showed through a little more colorful, even more phantasmagoric, so much so that it was breathtaking. And then her eyes opened, stood out because of the monuments, a small space, a patch - a source of radiance. Here it gushed so intensely that Alena closed her eyes at first, as taught, and only then made out several human figures. Alive! Here, in the very center of the cemetery, for some reason, a group of living people settled in the night. The dead surrounded them with a luminous ring and looked with interest.
Two boys and two girls, very young, the oldest of them looking about twenty, bustled about, busily laying out something on the ground. They did not see what was going on around them, for them the cemetery was plunged into darkness (the moon had not yet risen), therefore one of the girls, looking around and shuddering, but trying to hide it, lit candles - one after another - placed them on fabrics with intricate patterns and symbols in the right order, apparently. The dead hungrily followed every move.
Goosebumps ran down Alena's back. She guessed why all these souls had gathered here, but she still did not understand what this company needed here.
“Séance,” the professor prompted quietly.
Elena turned around. His eyes burned with the same thirst. It seems that human energy is more attractive to otherworldly inhabitants, the longer they live in this space.
Meanwhile, the youth sat around the fabric with candles, all joined hands, forming a circle. One of the guys, throwing on a hood, as if hiding in it, dragged out some kind of mournful mantra, not a prayer, or maybe a spell. It seems to be in Latin. Others closed their eyes and after a while, barely audibly, uncertainly and timidly picked up. Alena watched with all her eyes and was surprised - if they are going to call the spirits, where is the board with the letters? How will they communicate?
It dawned on her that she was one of the spirits. I wonder which of her "countrymen" present here will take part in the session and talk with the guys? Who do they even want to hear?
And then the guy suddenly howled a few tones louder, Alena shuddered in surprise. The caller was shouting out some names, judging by the context, he was addressing someone: “Astaroth, Asmodeus, Baal…”
- Oh, even so, - the professor perked up, - they decided to call the demon. Do not exchange for trifles, however.
- And what will come? – freezing, asked Alena.
- Hardly. So far, none have come in my lifetime. But ours, I'm afraid, will fight again for taking the chance to be the first to scare the kids. Every time it's such a mess. They even compete to see who can portray the demon better. Or even the devil. And if a demoness is called, then our girls are generally swaggering as best they can. Last time, Marie, despite the fact that she is still a child, came up with a wonderful thing ...
But the professor's words were interrupted by a screech. One of the girls, a pretty fragile blonde, rolled her eyes, shook her whole body and shouted:
- He is here! He came! I feel! He is in me!
Right behind her stood some kind of slender ghost, mockingly grinning, hugging the girl by the shoulders, lightly, slowly drinking. Perhaps she felt it, or maybe it just happened. Other ghosts came closer, targeting the other members of the company.
- Speak! - the guy, the leader of the group, commanded authoritatively, - who are you? What is your name!
- I'm Kali! the girl exhaled, - bringing grief and sowing death!
- ABOUT! - amicably and in unison, exhaled the rest.
A low, rustling chuckle went through the crowd of ghosts. Alena caught herself watching a well-staged performance, but with elements of improvisation, as if in a theater. For a second, she was funny. And then it's scary. The kids didn't know what they were risking and who they were playing with. And there are so many hungry ghosts that everything can end very badly.
- What will happen? she asked the professor in a whisper.
- Nothing, let's play, eat a little and let go, - he answered in the same whisper.
Well then fine. Alena calmed down and began to observe further.
- Oh, great Kali ma! - the guy cried out, - hear us and accept the sacrifice as a sign of worship!
The circle of hands disengaged, the other guy deftly dived with both hands into a black bag standing nearby and pulled out a black ball. It flickered weakly, and Alena quickly made out a small fluffy kitten. The animal was either asleep or unconscious, but was still definitely alive. Apparently, sacrificing an animal escaping and resisting in every possible way was not part of the group's plans.
- Fu-u-u-u ... - Marianne exhaled at a distance, - idiots! You'd be better off cutting yourself. Oh, little one... don't be afraid, we won't let you get hurt.
She and several other child ghosts stepped out of the circle, stepped towards the company, surrounded the guy with the kitten, stretched their arms towards him. The kitten squeaked weakly, opened its eyes, mewed plaintively.
- Andrey! - shouted the second girl, plump, fiery red, - did he wake up ?! You said you won't feel a thing! Now cut yourself!
She was close to hysteria. It’s one thing to take a silent creature, as if it’s no longer alive, to take life, but it’s quite another thing to cry. Psychologically difficult. And the kitten screamed louder and louder, as if he understood what he was here for. Or maybe he saw all this host of ghosts around.
- I need a sacrifice! the steely-nerved blonde yelled nervously, "or I'll take one of you for disturbing me."
The ghost behind her drank in sips, the girl had already turned white, staggered, clutching the ground with her palms. Her friends took it all too literally.
- Andryukha, open it, now Anka will be taken away! shouted the one in the hood, rushing to Kali, hugging the girl, supporting her.
- I'll open it for you! - Marianna hissed, - Athos, silence him!
Another ghost, with a creepy, some kind of robbery, face that was closest to the leader, snarled, stepped and with transparent paws - each the size of a shovel - took the guy right by the head. He instantly somehow subtly yuknul and settled on the ground, swaying.
The redhead showed a great reaction - she squealed, jumped up and rushed to run away, not making out her way, right through the ghostly crowd. And she'd been snatched enough as she tore through them. Breaking free, the redhead stumbled, fell, crawled. She was not pursued.
Andryukha dropped the kitten and tossed about. It seems that friends need to be saved, and one's own skin is expensive. Then he nevertheless grabbed Anka, who was already lying unconscious, dragged her in the same direction where the defender of the kittens had disappeared. A few seconds later, in a circle next to the burning candles, only a guy in a hood that had come down remained. He, looking around with mad eyes, tried to get up, but could not. Afonya overdid it, the boy's legs were paralyzed. Tears of a child ran down her cheeks, and a groan broke out of her chest.
- But nefig - Marie muttered, stroking the kitten, crawling into the grass.
- He sees us! suddenly surprised a dense, squat ghost with a mustache and beard. Probably, judging by the type, he was once either a coachman or a janitor (the clothes are too simple). Or maybe a writer - such a large-format type.
The ghosts whispered and looked around. And sure enough - the guy looked wildly around their cluster, whined and huddled into a ball.
“It’s a pity,” Sofya Prokofievna suddenly uttered somehow coldly and indifferently, “he was a good boy, it was not lucky that he was a medium.
- Maybe not? - Svetlana shivered, - let him lie down and go home.
- And he suffers with this all his life? Now he has no way back, he will see us everywhere, he will fly off the coils, - Gennady shook his head, stepping forward, - Sophia is right, this is inhumane. Drink up and to hell with it. Let him go to his this ... Kali yes?
- Gena, you're not muddy, - Angelica came out to protect the guy, - why so much cynicism. The guy will come to his senses, you never know such people live. He will become a famous psychic, he will help people. Yes, we can use it too. Think for yourself: through people like him, you can connect with family and friends.
- She's right, - Afonya said gloomily, - if I had someone alive, I would like to convey a couple of news. And then all the descendants have disappeared for half a century already, the branch of the family broke off.
- Yah you! - Gennady waved his hand, - if he comes to his senses, consider yourself very lucky. But, in my opinion, this is a hopeless option.
- Drink it and business something! - Sofya Prokofievna objected, - he did not spare an innocent soul, but you are being humane. And what if he imagines himself to be a great sorcerer and then starts looking at human sacrifices? Who knows what went wrong in his psyche. Then you will bite your elbows when the ghouls of his hands are thrown to our churchyard, but it will be too late.
- And you, Sophia, don't you imagine yourself to be the Lord God? - Anzhelika Polonina asked loudly, - after all, you decide too: who will live and who will die? Release the child, I said! Mercy is the guarantee that we can one day ascend and gain eternal life.
- Well, it started ... - Gennady muttered and briskly disappeared into the crowd.
Angelica continued to preach, but few people listened to her, the ghosts began to disperse. In the meantime, Kesha and Svetlana sat down next to the guy, poured a little energy into him and whispered something in his ears. He nodded feverishly, smiled wryly, as if not believing in his salvation. And when the strength returned to his legs, he got up and wandered to the exit from the cemetery.
- Well, that's all, - said Matvey Semenovich to the dumbfounded Alena, - today, I must admit, it was much hotter than usual. But also more instructive. I hope the youth will understand that the power is not outside, but inside them. And all this is nonsense - to give it to the dead, "demons" and others ... Although, if we talk about instructiveness, then the most interesting and terrible, it seems to me, is yet to come. However, Alyonushka, if you are tired, maybe you can rest?
He noticed that the companion was shocked and stunned by what had happened.
- No, no, - Alena protested, - what else do you want to show me? I'm ready! I won't miss this opportunity for anything!
- Are you going to Lilith? - a beaming Marianne jumped up to them, bouncing with excitement, - Seraphim Sof Prokofievna has already reported that she is approaching the gate!
The child in the middle of the night at the cemetery looked so awkward and unnatural, even ghostly, that I wanted to send the girl to sleep. But Alena only smiled tiredly.
- Let's go, - the professor nodded, - is she with Leila again?
- Well, yes, - Marie answered joyfully, - strongly conveys, so to speak, the family craft.
They moved away from the clearing with almost burnt out candles and forgotten cloth, to the side where the crows were cawing with might and main. The birds were calling their dead. Alena felt Liana among them, and then a terrible need to come there as soon as possible and satisfy her curiosity.
- Lilith is a local city witch, - Matvey Semenovich explained along the way, - she specializes, as she herself says, in necrotic magic, cemetery. He conjures on the graves, calls someone, he begins to see us only in a state of trance, and then not for long. In this regard, our new acquaintance (he nodded in the direction of the medium who was born that night who escaped) will soon give her a head start. But it seems like the magic works. Or people's faith in it ... is not the point. And recently, she began to introduce her daughter, Leila, to the witch business. He takes her with him to rituals, shows and teaches what's what. And the little girl is only 11 years old! Lilka has no mind. The daughter herself gives food to the muddy ones.
- Muddy? Alena shuddered.
- Yes, - the professor nodded sadly, - they go to conjure only on their territory. We can't protect the girl there. So Dmitry Igorevich settled down among the degradants.
Here the professor lowered his voice to a whisper, glancing sideways at Marianne:
- You already know that she and Marie were friends, don't spill water? And then Dmitry, well, that is, Mityai, as he is called here, fell in love with drinking energy from children, guarding careless parents in the cemetery until they turned away, lured the children and ate at his pleasure. Couldn't stop. Faded very quickly. Marianne could not forgive him for this, they quarreled. Now Lilith and Leila are a tasty morsel for him and others. The witch believes that she has protection, and so does her daughter. Andrei Andreich maintains this faith in them, strictly controlling that Mityai does not suck out the donor at once. For its part, it gives them the illusion of euphoria, they say, thanks to their magic, they and their daughter are both healthy and prosperous, and everything turns out for them, it turns out like cool witches, and they seem to control demons, as well as dead souls! But Gorlov is not a disinterested philanthropist to always share his energy. One day he will simply give the girls to Mitya and others, and will not look after them. This already happened, several years ago, when the bodies of three girls who called themselves the local coven were found in the cemetery. One, the main one, went crazy and killed her friends, and then suddenly died there from a broken heart. That's how it happens. But this is from official sources. Witnesses told us how it all happened (the girls were buried in another cemetery and we never saw each other on this side). The girls ran to the cemeteries of damage-love spells. To their misfortune that day, Andrey Andreevich was not in a good mood, forgive the pun, he was, so he mowed down the beauties. Otherwise, they could live and live, bring people to the grave with their magic until old age, or vice versa - “save” and prosper. Although, cemetery witchcraft has not yet saved anyone, alas. To whom such people “help”, they also become food for us through the necromagine witches. Radish horseradish is not sweeter. In general, the fact that Lilith and Leila are still alive is not their merit or some forces that allegedly protect them, but the good will of Andreich. He likes Lilith, damn it. I like her lively energy. So…
- Wow, - Alena thought about what she heard, - and everyone else is not afraid to enter the territory of the muddy ones, well, even just to look?
- We have an unspoken agreement, - the professor explained, - we do not interfere, they are loyal to the audience. Angelica and Svetlana are trying, of course, to appeal to their conscience, but in vain. You will see for yourself. Very interesting activity!
They emerged onto the central path of the cemetery, along which a woman and a girl, both dressed in black, were walking softly. The mother was luxurious, delightfully beautiful, as bewitchingly live young women can be, some kind of luxurious, demonic beauty, fatal charm. The girl, a fledgling chick, proudly carried her head and the burden of family heritage on her shoulders. The feline grace and confident tread of both created an aura of admiration around them from those who had long since left this world. The ghosts kept a few paces apart, forming an impromptu retinue. Above the heads of the visible and invisible, black birds circled like a funnel, also accompanying them. Lilith was quietly telling her daughter about something, she was nodding with all the seriousness of an adult witch.
- Let's go, let's take a seat in the front rows, - the professor pulled, - you, like new, have the right.

Time inexorably rushed to midnight. Wind started to blow. The moon was rising above the horizon, creating a very suitable magical atmosphere. Alena realized that if she had not been on this side, she would have fled a long time ago. Even without seeing with ordinary human eyes all that was happening around, she felt the horror of the very fact of being in the cemetery of a woman with a child at midnight, among the graves, with some incomprehensible goals.
Meanwhile, the witches, with their ghostly escort, approached what seemed to be their destination. Alena had never wandered into this part of the cemetery before, the patrimony of the muddy ones frightened her latently with the stories of the dead about them.
- Look, daughter, - Lilith said quietly, but in the silence that reigned, the girl heard every word, - over there, Vladimir. Today we are to him. Our client is his namesake, so this burial is a good fit. Remember: it is enough to have several suitable graves with common names and use the same dead. Feed them in advance, then they will help in any business. It is important to know what they died from, this is their weak point, the lever that will allow you and me to conjure more effectively. For example, this Vladimir died in an accident while very drunk. Rituals associated with alcoholism, as well as with cars, with driving in general, will go well here. He will help in order to receive in return memory, energy, which is expressed in our gifts. This man smoked and liked to drink during his lifetime. So we brought him this.
She took out a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of vodka from her bag and placed it on the table by the chosen grave.
The ghosts at this time settled down, took their places, who where, preparing to watch. Some sat down on the trees, others - on fences and nearby benches, some did not even hesitate to sit right on the ground. The eyes of many burned with lust towards witch gifts.
- Whose grave? – suddenly there was a hoarse, but imperious voice.
Turning around, Alena saw one of the muddy ones for the first time. This sight was indeed not for the faint of heart: a swirling gray mist, sickeningly vague, only occasionally trying to take on a human shape and, in place of a head, sparkling eyes. An unkind look, a feeling of power, however, very unpleasant, oppressive.
- Andrey Andreevich, my, - somehow obsequiously responded from the crowd, a middle-aged man of a very tired appearance stepped closer.
- Meet the guests, - the head of the muddy ones grinned.
The rest of the owners of this space were already taking places closer to the visitors. Alena avoided looking in that direction, her trembling took from their very sight.
Vladimir obediently and resignedly approached the mound on which Lilith was placing candles and laying out cigarettes. Some muddy literally licked their lips, looking at the "feast table." And when the witch began to pour vodka on the ground and whisper something in unison with Leila, the ghosts sighed and leaned forward. One of them directly reached out to the girl.
- Mityai, later, - Andrey Andreevich snapped him, - don't spoil the movie!
And the dead Vladimir, sniffing voluptuously, was already curling around his mound. The rest looked on with envy.
Lilith finally finished and sat down on a bench. Layla sank down beside him.
- Mom, did everything work out?
- Yes, - the eldest nodded slightly wearily, - you will eventually begin to feel when things are going well.
Alena eavesdropped on them with half an ear, and she herself watched with all her eyes how the muddy ones were slowly approaching the witches. Vladimir, blissfully closing his eyes, absorbed the emanations of the offerings, moving his palm over the wet earth.
Lilith smoked. Around her immediately formed a personal circle of those who during their lifetime tarred and after death desperately missed tobacco. There were many of them. It seemed that they were drawing in not just energy, but the smoke itself - its streams stretched in different directions.
Andrei Andreevich went up to the woman, sat down next to her, and hugged her. Lilith shuddered, as if feeling an icy touch on her shoulders.
- The love spell was a success, - she absentmindedly informed her silent daughter, - now the man of our client will not get away from her anywhere. To the grave board, to the grave mound they will be together. And with no one else.
Alena was struck by an electric current. And, judging by the reaction of the ghosts, not her alone.
- What is it doing! - the elderly lady in crepe de chine on the right was indignant.
- Previously, she treated more and removed dirty tricks ... - the old man nodded from the other side.
"Or she did," Sofya Prokofievna assented.
- So the OK punished, for deeds! Agrippina Valeryevna echoed her.
- Gosha! - Svetlana exclaimed angrily, - is it possible with love? That's... not fair!
But it became clear from her face that she was very sorry that she had not thought about such an option during her lifetime. She would now live with her beloved, tied to her, like a bull on a string, and did not know grief. I definitely wouldn't go for the heat.
- Mom, how are you and Uncle Gena? Leila suddenly asked quietly, - will he live with us?
Lilith thoughtfully dragged on, a pause too.
- Sunny, what do you say if we get together with him? – cautiously said, finally.
- Well, I like him, - my daughter nodded, - did you bewitch him too?
- No, - Lilith laughed, - when there is love, there is no need for it.
- And if he stops loving you and wants to leave? the daughter asked.
Lilith's eyes darkened. But much more terrible metamorphosis occurred with the eyes of Andrei Andreevich. Alena, frozen in place, watched as they turned into two fiery lightning bolts: they flashed and sparkled.
“Then I’ll think about it,” Lilith snapped.
- So you love him and want to be with him?
- I don't need anyone else.
Andrey gently and gently took the witch by the throat.
Lilith suddenly choked on smoke, wheezed, a spasm ran through her body.
- Mom! - Leila exclaimed in fright, grabbed her hand, shook it, - Mom!
The ghostly palms clenched more and more, the energy of life went through them into the body of the muddy one. The witch was shaking as if from electric discharges.
- Yes! Like this! - Svetlana shouted excitedly, stepping in their direction, - drink this creature! If not for you, no one got it. Eh, if I could do this with Borka now ... Kesha, leave me alone!
She pushed away the hands of the guy who was trying to hold back the ghost flaming with anger, but Sveta burst out laughing with satisfaction, sat down next to Andrei Andreyevich, watched him take the life of a young and stupid sorceress.
- She same now dies! Alena screamed unexpectedly for herself, - someone, stop this!
But all the ghosts froze silently under the loud cry of Leila.
- Matvey Semyonovich! – pleaded the girl, turning to the professor, – is it possible?!
- Alas, - he nodded, - games with the world of the dead for the living never end well, baby. Remember this.
- And no one will help her? Alena looked around the crowd with a desperate look.
Everyone froze like statues. She could cry - she would burst into tears from impotence, would rush away so as not to see ... At that moment, Alena suddenly realized why they behave in this way towards the living. For the dead, this gives the illusion of power, the very one that was lost along with the body. Power over the living, fueled by an underlying envy of them.
In a tree, directly overhead, a crow croaked. Liana flew to support. To hell!
And Lilith, dropping her cigarette, sank and turned pale more and more. In the dark, the face now showed through brightly, like a wax mask. Leila squealed piercingly, all over the cemetery, disturbing her mother.
- Mityai! Andrey Andreevich hissed through his teeth.
And he understood. At the moment he was nearby and grabbed the girl in a dead embrace. Layla choked on a scream, instantly calmed down.
- Her something for what ... - Alena whispered, stepping back a step. The professor hugged, supported, whispered in his ear:
- She and Lilith have the same life path, it will end badly too. Humanely, so that the girl does not suffer.
“I don’t understand you,” Alena whispered in shock, “isn’t the extra day lived worth it?
And the girl, unlike her mother, fought desperately for her life. She screamed again, losing her strength and her voice.
- Stop it! - Alena escaped from the hands of the professor, rushed to the muddy ones, tried to push Mityai away, who, rolling his eyes with pleasure, drained the child.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marianne sob and take a step after her. She grabbed Mityai by the shoulder and pulled. The two of them managed to unclench their deadly embrace. Layla fell to the ground and clutched her mother's legs.
- Leave! - yelled Marianne, - run!
- Run ... - Lilith croaked, losing consciousness.
The girl raised her head and ... looked at Marie. She saw both a red lace dress and a face twisted by unchildish suffering. She screamed again and crawled away, howling.
The rest of the ghosts didn't move. It was none of their business, not their disassembly, and curiosity - how it would all end - turned out to be stronger than hunger.
Lilith, on her last breath, stared into the eyes of her tormentor and exhaled:
- Why…
And then she turned off. Layla did not crawl away either, she was crying behind a nearby grave. The heart of the child was eager to save himself, but she could not leave her mother either. Mityai took a decisive step towards her.
Alena closed her eyes and decided to leave. She could not help in any way - it was useless to contact the muddy ones, and watching the murder of an innocent child was beyond her strength. Liana croaked again, fluttered onto her shoulder. And at the same moment, insight! The spirit of the girl dived into the bird and rushed away.
The gatehouse was very close, on the edge of the cemetery, inside the light was on. The watchman was in no hurry with the night round, and why? That something can happen in the cemetery that will not be tolerated until morning. But the long-drawn-out crow's croaking from the midnight darkness and the desperate swotting with its beak at the window will not leave indifferent even the indifferent skeptic. Maksimych crossed himself, took a gun (pneumatic, more for intimidation) and went out on the threshold.
- What the hell, why are you raging, you stupid bird? - he asked sternly in the direction of a crow rushing over his head, and was embarrassed: he’s talking to the beast!)
The crow stopped croaking and immediately, from somewhere on the side, the watchman suddenly heard a child's cry.
“God save me,” muttered the peasant, quickly and decisively heading towards the sound.
He made it on time. Mityai had just bent over Leila, who had pressed herself against him into the cold granite stone.
- Hey!
The cry of a living human made the vampire recoil. Although Maksimych could not see the ghost, he saw the girl in black in the darkness. In an instant, cursing and stumbling, stepping over the graves and passing through the ghostly rows, he approached, squatted down.
- Oh my God, baby, what are you doing here? – he was surprised, holding out his hands to her.
Layla sobbed and rushed to him, pressed herself, almost knocking him to the ground.
- Well, well, - he took her in his arms, like a fluff - thin and light, carried her away, muttering, - now we will come to the house, calm down, we will call where necessary ...
- Mother! - the girl screamed, - there is a mother, she ... her ...
The watchman changed direction and after a while they were standing at the bench with the dead Lilith. Sitting down next to her and coolly checking the pulse on the woman's neck, Maksimych shook his head sadly: poor thing. And looking at the face warped with fear, I realized: a stroke or heart attack brought down the beauty. I didn't even have time to scream.
The watchman tried to turn Leila away, buried her face in his shoulder.
“Now, now,” he said soothingly, turning to the girl, “we will come to the lodge and from there we will call the police and an ambulance. And you cry, little one, it will become easier. Although ... it's much easier there, mother ... And everything will be fine with you.
So, saying, he went away with his burden.
Mityai stood and looked after him. For a second Alena, looking through the eyes of a crow, it seemed that he was about to rush after them. But Marianna stepped up to the man from behind, took him by the hand, tenaciously, resolutely. And he froze in place. And it seems to have become even a little clearer.
Alena left the body of the bird, releasing the exhausted Liana right at the bench with the witch and her killer. Svetlana sat, clinging to Andrey Andreevich's shoulder and whispering:
- You did everything right ... she chose another. But if she's buried here, she's not going anywhere. And Andrei Andreevich tightly squeezed Sveta's hand, gratefully sharing with her the energy he had drunk. Alena noticed Kesha's eyes, lowered by pain from what he saw: his girlfriend is becoming more and more cloudy, losing her outlines. Was she slipping into another state quickly and irrevocably, was she aware of it?

Alenka! - suddenly a cry from Matvey Semyonovich.
The girl looked back. All the ghosts were looking at her. Everyone, without exception, even the muddy ones, silently and shocked, looked in her direction. It looked a little intimidating.
- What? she didn't understand.
- You ... you ... - Marianne choked in emotions. She jumped up and clapped her hands.
- You are getting thinner, - Angelica smiled, - Alena, you are ascending!
“Amazing,” someone from the crowd breathed.
And then the girl felt. It was as if from somewhere inside she was filled with such blissful joy, such light that it is beyond words. Light, it turns out, can be tangible!
And at the same time, from somewhere in the sky, a living, endless stream spilled, enveloping like a dome. hugged. Invisible Living Presence.
- Angels ... - breathed Angelica.
Alena seemed to grow up, rising above the ground. And she wanted to get higher and higher, more and more light, to dissolve in it, to get lost without regrets, to melt, to become this radiance itself! There was no fear, no excitement: what will happen next? She just knew that everything was going the way it should. It was as if invisible doors had opened, where her spirit was now drawing.
And Alena rushed away from the earth, to where the shining Eternity is.

Dmitry PISARENKO

YOU CAN bathe in luxury or live in poverty. You can be seven spans in the forehead or dumb as a cork. From the point of view of eternity, from which we came out and into which we will inevitably leave, our social status, nationality or level of intelligence have absolutely no meaning.

No one knows what awaits him beyond the last line: purgatory or a terrible emptiness? Paradoxically, even modern science, which seems to have found answers to all questions, is not able to decide on this - the most important! - the point of being. As if Providence intentionally protects us from superfluous knowledge, the burden of which the human psyche is unable to bear.

On the topic of death, we decided to talk with a specialist who, by the nature of his work, daily encounters this phenomenon. Andrei GNEZDILOV works as a doctor at the St. Petersburg Hospice (a clinic for terminally ill people. See "Requiem" No. II/2001. - Ed.). In addition, he heads one of the departments of the Bekhterev Research Institute, where psychoneurological research is carried out.

DRIVING TO EARTH AND WATER

- Andrei Vladimirovich, what do people who have experienced clinical death say? Should we believe Moody and his famous book "Life after death", which describes all these phenomena - the light at the end of the tunnel, meeting with loved ones, the feeling of love and peace that surrounds you, etc.?

I heard these stories from my patients many times. In addition, they often have a craving for the earth. Some ask to be put on the floor before they die. Another common image is water. The dying see her in a dream or imagine in reality. It is not for nothing that in ancient Greek mythology there is an image of an underground river in the Kingdom of the Dead, through which the dying are transported by the elder Charon.

- The fact that a person saw the light at the end of the tunnel does not prove the existence of the afterlife. Scientists believe that all these images are nothing more than the last hallucinations of a dying brain.

Then here is a story for you, in which I myself was a participant. A woman was operated on at the oncological institute. Then she was in intensive care, where I visited her. She said: "What a pity that the operation was not done by my attending physician, but by another surgeon." I was surprised: she was taken to the operating room already under anesthesia, and she could not see the staff. The woman said: she remembers how some kind of force pushed her out of her own body in a spiral, and she saw herself from the side. I saw the figures of doctors, I heard: "The heart has stopped, start it immediately." She was seized with horror, because she remembered the mother and daughter, with whom she did not have time to say goodbye. As soon as she thought about it, she found herself at home, 30 km from the institute. And I saw a peaceful scene: my mother is sitting knitting, my daughter is playing with a doll. There was a knock on the door, a neighbor Lidia Stepanovna came in, brought a dress with polka dots for her daughter: "This dress is for Mashenka. I know Yulenka (that was the name of the patient) would be glad, because she loves this coloring." The girl rushed to her neighbor, but touched the cup - it fell and broke. Grandmother wailed, but the neighbor said: "This is good. It can be seen that Yulenka will be discharged soon." Hearing and seeing all this, the woman calmed down and returned to her body.

I suggested to the patient: let me go home to your loved ones, tell them that everything went well. I was still on the road. She agreed ... When I came to them and along the way began to ask about the neighbor Lydia Stepanovna, about the dress with polka dots and the broken cup, my grandmother's eyes nearly popped into her forehead. The story was confirmed to the smallest detail.

Agree, this proves something. At a minimum, the fact that there are certain states of consciousness about which orthodox science cannot say anything.

WIND OF DEATH

- Patients die all the time in hospices. How do those around you feel about it?

You know, it's like some kind of mystical wind. Patients often die in groups - in different wards, but at the same time. Nobody knows why this happens. As if a powerful funnel sucks in everyone who is currently on the verge of death. Creepy impression, but it makes you think that there is some sense in this.

Sometimes the patient stretches out his hands to the nurse or the doctor and asks: "Come, I want to hold on to you." At this moment, they are like children who cling to everything, just so as not to be blown away by the wind. And some of them die after hugging one of the staff. You can't refuse them this last embrace... The meaning of the hospice is not to make the death of a person easy, but to make the last segment of his life's journey of high quality. Prepare him to meet his death with dignity. Notice that there is no culture of death in our society. How to live life, we all more or less imagine, but how to die - no.

Doesn't religion teach this?

I was surprised to find that our Orthodox Church in practice does not always profess mercy. After the revolution, she was forbidden to do so. In theory, the church contains two directions: liturgical (service to God) and diaconal (service to man). But the diaconal service is not sufficiently developed in our country. The priest comes to the bedside of the dying not to comfort him, but to fulfill the role of an intermediary between him and God. That is, it is also a liturgy.

Do you know that it is impossible to read a prayer at the feet of a dying person? Experienced it myself. You see lines, letters, but they don't add up to words, you can't understand anything. It is believed that at the feet of the dying is the place of the Angel of Death.

- And why are mirrors hung in the house of the deceased?

Because the soul is still here for forty days. She senses the world around her, but cannot influence it. And the mirrors are closed so that the deceased, looking there and not seeing his body, does not experience panic horror.

- Everyone dies in the allotted time?

Death as the psychological end of life is an incredibly serious moment. And sometimes we stumble upon amazing things. It turns out that in order to die, you need to get "permission" for this - from others, relatives, from yourself, finally. After all, a lot keeps us here: connections, unpaid debts, resentment, anger. Why does a person with a clear conscience die easily? Because there is nothing holding him back. He forgave everyone, he asked for forgiveness. And if the conscience is not clear, he will fight for his life and will not be able to get out of this ordeal. Religion is the best psychotherapy for the fear of death.

We are accustomed to treating death as something negative, terrible. But death can be normal - for those who accept it. When a person dies calmly, with dignity, it makes him amazingly beautiful. And in this way, he sets the last example for his children and grandchildren, who are sitting right there, looking at him.

- Probably, people are afraid that it hurts to die?

Yes, the fear of pain is present, but there are few reasons for it. Stanislav Grof, the founder of transpersonal psychology, prepared cancer patients for death by rehearsing it. He gave them different drugs, people experienced a state of clinical death, and their fear disappeared.

The resurrected from the dead is an extraordinary phenomenon, which, however, is also found in modern times. People resurrected from the dead tell incredible stories of their resurrection. And there is documentary evidence of this. Declared dead, Daniel Ekachukwu, a Nigerian, was resurrected a few days later at the evangelistic meeting of evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. Reinhard Bonnke's Christ for All Nations (CFAN) Mission released a 45-minute video of Daniel Ekachukwu's testimony, which tells how a Nigerian pastor was presumed dead and had already been injected with embalming fluid, but was resurrected three days later. People who witnessed this incredible event talk about how it was. Resurrected from the dead. Ekekukwu's wife was so confident that God would bring her husband back to life after he was mortally wounded in a car accident that she persuaded the local mortuary to let her take the body of the deceased to the church where Bonke was preaching. There, the pastors lifted Ekekukwu's body from the coffin, and were surprised when the man began to breathe again while praying for him. The video ends with Ekekukwu starting to move and then later returning to the morgue where his body was placed in a coffin. The documentary "Resurrected" subtitled "A 21st Century Story of the Resurrection from the Dead" features interviews with doctors who acknowledged his death. “It's shocking,” one tells the crew, “to see a dead person who was once dead and then came back to life…it's shocking. Resurrected from the dead. Secrets of the world: https://youtu.be/YUbWAD8eRDE Mysteries of the Universe, secrets of the world, inexplicable phenomena and strange facts have always attracted the attention of people. The whole truth about UFOs, facts and video evidence, eyewitness accounts, as well as documentary videos that show unidentified flying objects. The work of the special services: the FSB, the CIA, MI6 - what goals do these structures set for themselves, what do they want to achieve and who do they actually serve. Secrets of space: the secrets of the Earth, the Moon, Mars and other planets. Interesting scientific films devoted to the study of space, planets, stars, galaxies and the most unusual objects of the Universe - quasars, pulsars, comets, black holes are presented on our channel. You will see the most significant scientific research, scientific discoveries and achievements of science and technology, all new technologies that give us new opportunities for modern electronics and technology. Our society, state and politics are also full of mysteries and mysteries that can be a real discovery for the layman. We will consider many topical issues of politics, social system, secret societies, US policy and Russian policy, the situation in Ukraine, which many call the war in Ukraine.

What awaits a person after his death? Dust and ashes?... Non-existence? Or a new form of life?

In all religions, it is believed that the Soul - the human essence - is immortal ... If this is so, then the evidence of Heaven and Hell can be not just mythological tales, but a real reflection of what awaits a person on the other side of life ... And if hellish torments for mankind have always been quite speculative, then Paradise, both in religion and in art, science, history, seemed mysterious and foggy ...

Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims, Jews have many differences in matters of faith, but there is much in common in the description of Paradise. In all religions, it is associated with the state of eternal bliss that the Soul will experience in the Kingdom of Light. Who is destined for heavenly life after death? In all religions, the main indicator of movement towards Paradise is the choice between good and evil at all crossroads of life. Recent studies by neurophysiologists have made it possible to draw sensational conclusions - the norms of morality are embedded in the very mind of a person.

Even the most convinced materialists and representatives of official science are sure that the concept of paradise is vital for the human psyche and consciousness. Today, scientists are increasingly exploring religious sources, trying to comprehend the phenomenon of Paradise.

How has the idea of ​​Paradise changed over the centuries? What does it mean that in all religions the main signs of Paradise are repeated? Where should one look for the earthly Paradise described in the Bible? Is it possible to see Paradise while still alive? Why is Paradise considered the Kingdom of Light? What is the connection between Paradise and the parallel world? What does the concept of universal resurrection mean? Why is love the main guide to Paradise?

These and many questions are answered in the film by leading representatives of all religions and leading scientists: S.V. Medvedev - Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Director of the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences; N.I. Basovskaya - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, M.B. Mensky - Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, A.V. Yudin - historian of religion, A.N. Fomenko - Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and others.

Also, the results of their research and reflections on the topic of Paradise were shared by such famous people as the world doctor L.M. Roshal, research scientist E.R. Muldashev, psychologist A.G. Sviyash, actors Yevgeny Mironov and Nikolai Burlyaev.

The film uses exclusive shooting, which was carried out especially for this project on Mount Athos. This holy place for the Orthodox of the whole world is called "earthly paradise" in all descriptions. Filming on the Holy Mountain is allowed only in exceptional cases. Only in this film, for the first time, will it be possible to see unique footage of special afterlife rites and hear reflections on Paradise by Archimandrite Ephraim, the abbot of the Vatoped monastery, one of the largest in the Holy Land of Athos.

Current page: 1 (total book has 7 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 2 pages]

Olga Ageeva
Life after life. What awaits us on the other side?

Dear friends!

Every day our circle, the circle of people who listen to the voice of the Universe with great attention and love, is becoming wider. And this cannot please, because it is in this way that the most valuable, true information comes to us.

In addition to information, we get something more. Now the source of heavenly wisdom and love is open to all people in a way that it has never been open before! This means that you can directly and easily come into contact with the creatures that love you most - with the angels that make up your true, heavenly family.

Your heavenly family wants you to remember who you really are, to remember your true self. You are also one of the angels who agreed to temporarily incarnate in a human shell in order to go through all earthly trials and thereby strengthen your spirit and make your energy purer and stronger.

I invite all like-minded people to our website www.angels-help.ru. Here you can communicate with like-minded people, ask questions to the Angels and find out their answer, learn about the real help that our Guardian Angels provide us.

Always yours, Olga Ageeva

Preface to the new edition of the series of books "Conversations with Guardian Angels"

Dear friends!

It has been ten years since the publication of the first books in the Conversations with Guardian Angels series. It seemed like it was only yesterday, but how many events happened, how many people became our like-minded people! Over the years, I have understood the main thing: the books written by me and containing invaluable bits of knowledge that were transferred to us from a Heavenly source are really needed by all the inhabitants of the Earth.

The purpose of these books is to teach that angels simply exist, whether we believe in them or not. Angels are ready to give us healing power, offer help and support, advice and guidance, but for this we must establish conscious contact with them. What is needed for this? How to throw a bridge from the World of Angels to the human world, in order to thereby feel their beneficial presence in our home, in our family? I will try to teach this to everyone. Energy work with the Angels will be a significant support for us and will give us additional strength so that we can more easily cope with all sorts of everyday challenges.

Today the Angels are ready to return to us, but are we ready to accept their help? How can one get in touch with the beings of the spiritual world if we stubbornly deny their existence? Fortunately, everything is changing for the better, books devoted to communication with the beings of the Subtle Worlds have already been published, the word “contact” (or “channeling”) ceases to sound in an ironic and offensive tone. Scientists are investigating the following question: is the existence of Angels possible in our technocratic society, have the lights of their light essences gone out under the heavy burden of human disbelief. Serious researchers have appeared who are interested in this topic, and they are trying to bring together scraps of ancient knowledge, old traditions, legends, rituals with modern observations and discoveries. Perhaps their painstaking work will help even the most inveterate skeptics, and then it turns out that the Guardian Angels have not disappeared without a trace, they are waiting in the wings to return to the human consciousness with brilliance and splendor.

I am glad to present you my books, which, I am sure, will open up new horizons and new colors of life for you.

CONVERSATIONS WITH GUARDIAN ANGELS. BOOK-SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEMS

Here you will find answers to the most common questions addressed to the angels by those who come to the Communication Channel. These are common situations in which each of us finds ourselves, but the right decision can affect our entire future destiny. Love and betrayal, poverty and prosperity, family and loneliness, life and death... Look for answers on the pages of the book!

LIFE AFTER LIFE. WHAT IS WAITING FOR US ON THE OTHER SIDE?

This book is about that Great Transition that awaits each of us - but about which we prefer to remain silent. This book is about death and what awaits us on the other side of life. I would like a person with a light heart and free thoughts to be ready to accept the last hour of his earthly life. Do not rush death, do not wait for it, dying with horror and fearing the inevitability, but when this moment comes, meet it with dignity. It is so important to know for sure that there, behind the veil, is not a gloomy dark bottomless abyss of oblivion and non-existence, but a new life, even more complete, harmonious, rich.

ten spiritual laws of life.

LESSONS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ANGELS

It may seem strange, but there are only 10 spiritual laws that have a real impact on our lives. Only 10 commandments, following which you guarantee the support of the Heavenly forces in your bright undertakings. So, luck, health, happiness, prosperity will become your faithful companions.

I wish you a pleasant reading - and remember that your Guardian Angels are always behind you, ready to help in sorrow and in joy!

Your Olga Ageeva

Foreword

Hello, my dear!

I am with you again, Olga Ageeva. Many are already familiar with my first book, Conversations with Guardian Angels, for the rest, just two words about myself. I am a freelance correspondent for esoteric publications. Most likely, you did not pay attention to the small notes signed with my name. I did not strive for fame, I did not write large reviews and articles. As I now understand, I needed to accumulate strength and impressions in order to sit down on a huge job one of the February days and summarize everything that I learned over many years of communication with a wide variety of people who have access to knowledge of a different, unearthly origin.

I am writing these lines and I am a little worried: will you be able, as naturally as it happened to me, to accept the information that I have carefully stored for almost a decade, hoping someday to convey to you? After all, I am responsible to many, many people who have entrusted me to become a liaison between them and you, dear readers. The only comforting fact is that dozens of very eminent scientists are ready today to loudly declare the reality of another, other world, the existence of which until recently was so vehemently denied.

After the release of the first book, I began to receive quite a lot of letters from people who are in communication with the Cosmos. And the most amazing layer of information is about communication not only with Guardian Angels, but also with people who have recently passed away - relatives, acquaintances, spiritual teachers. This theme, the theme of life and death, occupied a fairly large part of the notes collected for the first book. But they were not included in the book. Already when preparing the manuscript, I received advice more than once through people who are in contact with the Guardian Angels: there is no time, you should not rush and give out everything at once. And only now I understand why: without a personal rethinking of the material, new facts and unexpected meetings, the story would be incomplete and inaccurate. There was still a lot to see, a lot to experience in order to have the right to touch on this topic. After seeing off one of my close relatives on her last journey, I was able to take a fresh look at the information that I have and understand: this knowledge is not just necessary, it is really necessary.

As you understand, the questions that people asked the Guardian Angel more often did not concern the topic of death in general, but the suffering of a person who is on the verge of death, and, naturally, what happens to those who have already crossed this threshold. Communication with death is a topic completely closed to many of our contemporaries, and we will find out why.

But I am sure that only those who are able to accept the thought of death coming for each of us without fear can become truly alive. I know many whose gloomy thoughts about the inevitable end of the earthly path can poison even the most joyful event. Believe me, these people do not live in the full sense of the word - they tremble over every moment, they jump up from nightmares, they indulge in their dark fantasies, not noticing the beauty and harmony of the world around them, not seeing the point in their existence.

We cannot explain what happens in our life if we do not take into account what happens after. And of course, there is nothing we can do about what is happening. A lot of failures, dramas, tragedies, as well as happy events, occur only in order to provide the soul with the necessary lessons, and the knowledge learned from these lessons will be useful only in another world. Without thinking about this simple truth, we can become like a loser who is forced by “stubborn and spiteful” teachers to learn the same thing over and over again, although the teachers really want their student to grow up and be able to lead a decent and happy life.

From the dialogues on the channel

– Blocking thoughts about death is necessary for those who are very afraid of it and try on their own death from various physical causes. Thus, a person can attract negative events, including premature death. It is harmful for the body when the mind imagines exactly how it, the body, must die. In this case, fear prevents dangerous exercises. It is useless to think in what way you could die, because it does not matter at all. It is important to think and accept for yourself the information about what will happen to you after that.

It is bad when fear clouds the fog of rejection over the entire afterlife, which is much longer than earthly. So the young man does not think about the future adult life, believing that the family will forever take care of him and will never need to decide on his own what to do. On Earth, you are guarded by the events that happen to you, but in our world there is no hunger, no cold, no pain, no other suffering. Already no events will prompt how one should live here in accordance with the Divine laws, the laws of the Cosmos. Only what you have learned in your lives on Earth will really be, and people should think about it more often.

– Does this mean that spiritual development is possible only in earthly life?

- In no case. On the contrary, having made the transition to a different level of existence, you will get much more opportunities to communicate with Angels, High Teachers and the souls of wise people. The only problem is that there is nothing in the Blissful worlds that could make you strive for perfection. Only your inner purity and love that you brought from earthly life, a voluntary desire for development. Here you can rest from earthly life for many hundreds of years, transferring yourself to beautiful worlds, and return to Earth after the allotted time has expired in order to start anew the wheel of reincarnations. Therefore, remember death in order to learn how to live correctly. In the end, this is in the interests of your earthly well-being, which you rightly care about. This concern for well-being – the best opportunity to hear the voice of the Spirit.

I would like a person with a light heart and free thoughts to be ready to accept the last hour of his earthly life. Do not rush death, do not wait for it, dying with horror and fearing the inevitability - but when this moment comes, meet it with dignity. Soaring with the soul - now in the literal sense of the word - to know the bliss of merging with the Upper world. To know for sure that there, behind the veil, is not a gloomy dark bottomless abyss of oblivion and non-existence, but a new life, even more complete, harmonious, rich.

The sun rose over the sea; its rays lovingly warmed the deadly cold sea foam, and the little mermaid did not feel death: she saw the clear sun and some transparent, wonderful creatures hovering over her in hundreds. She saw through them the white sails of the ship and the red clouds in the sky; their voice sounded like music, but so sublime that the human ear would not have heard it, just as human eyes could not see them. They did not have wings, but they floated in the air, light and transparent. The little mermaid saw that she had the same body as theirs, and that she was more and more separated from the sea foam.

- Who am I going to? she asked, rising into the air, and her voice sounded with the same marvelous music that no earthly sounds can convey.

“To the daughters of the air!” the air creatures answered her. (...) On the ship, during this time, everything again began to move, and the little mermaid saw how the prince and his wife were looking for her. They looked sadly at the surging sea foam, they knew for sure that the little mermaid had thrown herself into the waves. Invisible, the little mermaid kissed the beauty on the forehead, smiled at the prince and rose, together with other children of the air, to the pink clouds floating in the sky.

G. X. Andersen. The Little Mermaid (translated by A. Ganzen)

When moving to a different level of existence, the soul will not experience much anxiety or confusion, because it will understand where it is and how best to take advantage of the new conditions. This knowledge gives courage and confidence, it will orient your soul in the boundless ocean, whose name is endless life.

And this sense of security and confidence is not the only benefit of accurate knowledge. A person who feels confident can lend a helping hand to others and soon become a center of benefit and relief of suffering for hundreds of those who have just crossed the border and entered the invisible world.

Part I
Great transition

Every morning think about how you should die. Every evening refresh your mind with thoughts of death. Nurture your mind. When your thought constantly revolves around death, your life path will be straight and simple. Your will will fulfill your duty, your shield will become impenetrable.

From the commandments of the Japanese samurai

Whoever you are, who wants to drive away the thought of death from yourself as untimely, it will be even more untimely for you if, unprepared by reflection, the very spectacle of death suddenly strikes you. No! Now, when death does not seem to threaten you, when you are calm, when you are celebrating, now I find it just opportune to dispose you to attentive reflection on death, so that you can meditate on it in the full presence of the spirit ...

From the writings of Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna

Man is the only being in nature who is aware of his finiteness, the limit of existence. This is the strength of man, and this is his weakness. You and I think a lot about the meaning of life, about its harmony and laws, and we cannot help but think about death. This has always been the case, from ancient times to the present day. But here's the paradox: ideas about what life is are only expanding, acquiring new facets of understanding, as if humanity set out to thoroughly study this phenomenon. The question of death is undergoing “compression”: from ancient Indian and ancient Egyptian teachings overflowing with the deepest meaning, through the fabulousness of Hellenic myths, the cruel categoricalness of Christian Purgatory, hell and paradise, to absolute nothingness, “destruction”, “non-existence”.

The very thoughts of death, which everyone inevitably encounters more than once, we drive deeper and deeper, recklessly turn away from them. For most of us, any contact with death is a battle lost by man, it is suffering, pain and evil. The psychology of modern man is such that even the smallest hint of the illusory nature and finiteness of being causes a painful reaction. Death, as something unknown, unsolved, beyond the scope of comprehension, shocks, undermines our illusion of the owner and center of the universe. Death cannot be controlled, it is uncontrollable, it can be moved away and brought closer, but never avoided. This is how the Christian writer Pavel Rogozin writes about death: “Death is the most disgusting phenomenon in nature, which people do not want to remember, try not to talk about and avoid thinking about it. The person cannot come to terms with it. She is ruthless and rude. It devours everything: beauty, genius, strength, fame, wealth - everything that a person bows before in this life.

The inability to feel what was before birth and what will happen after death evokes in the mind the image of an old boat on the waves of the Cosmos, a boat without a definite path. And consciousness says: if you cannot understand, then you must turn away, or fight, or put up with it as an inevitable and powerful evil.

But this was not always the case, and such a situation, fortunately, cannot be eternal. Today we are ready to understand a different level of knowledge. Modern materialistic science, penetrating ever further into the structure of the physical world, encounters phenomena that confirm the existence of an immortal soul. The time of surgeons who deny the soul because it cannot be found with a scalpel is over.

On the border between life ... and a new life

The most terrible thing for a thinking person is the moment of parting with life. What happens to us at the time of death? Where are we going - to hell, to heaven, to nothingness? What do we experience? A student who is afraid of the final exam can ask his senior comrades about the upcoming one and more or less calmly expect the upcoming test. But there seems to be no one to ask about death?

No, there is such evidence. These are the stories of those who were brought back to life after clinical death. Hundreds of such stories were collected and summarized in his book Life After Life by the American physician and philosopher Raymond Moody.

Moody noticed that the accounts of the experiences of death of a wide variety of people are remarkably similar. Here are just a few examples.

About a year ago, because of a bad heart, I was admitted to the hospital. The next morning, lying in bed, I felt severe pain in my chest. I pressed the button to call the sisters, they came and began to provide the necessary assistance. I was uncomfortable lying on my back, and I turned around. As soon as I did that, my breathing stopped and my heart stopped beating. I immediately heard the sisters shout something. And at that moment, I felt myself detach from my body, sliding between the mattress and the railing on one side of the bed - you could even say that I went through the railing down to the floor. Then it began to rise slowly up. During the movement, I saw how several more sisters ran into the room - there were probably 12 of them. I saw how my attending physician came to their call, who was doing a round at that time. His presence intrigued me. Moving behind the illuminator, I saw him very clearly from the side - hovering just under the ceiling and looking down. It seemed to me that I was a piece of paper that flew up to the ceiling from a light breath.

I saw how the doctors tried to bring me back to life. My body was spread out on the bed and everyone was standing around it. I heard one of the sisters exclaim, “Oh my God, she passed away!” At that time, another leaned over me and gave me artificial respiration from mouth to mouth. At this time, I saw the back of her head. I will never forget how her hair looked, cut short. Immediately after this, I saw how they rolled in the apparatus, with which they tried to influence the electric shock on my chest. I heard my bones crack and creak during this procedure. It was just awful. They massaged my chest, rubbed my legs and arms; and I thought, “Why are they worried? Because I'm doing very well now."

Needless to say, everything the woman said was confirmed! No matter how skeptics try to explain such exits from the body by the state of the brain, by hallucinations, in no hallucination can a person see what is happening outside the walls of the ward. And this is perhaps the most important observation made by Dr. Moody. If you are able to see and understand what is happening far enough from the body, then you can live without a physical body. And this life is not too different from the usual - except perhaps the ability to fly.

But leaving the body is only the first stage of clinical and, probably, physical death. And in total, Moody identifies up to six such stages:

- a flash of light or a sharp sound, a feeling of peace and harmony;

- exit from the body;

– flight through a tunnel, gorge or other type of movement towards something unknown;

- a meeting with a luminous being and the souls of deceased relatives, friends;

- recollection of the past, instant, as in the palm of your hand, assessment of your life;

- return.

It is quite clear that not all of these stages are literally repeated in the stories of people returned from the other world, often one of them is omitted. This is another similarity between sleep and death: in the same way, we do not take everything out of a nightly journey, but only the brightest.

I had a heart rupture, and I clinically died ... But I remember everything, absolutely everything. I suddenly felt numb. The sounds began to sound as if in the distance ... All this time I was perfectly aware of everything that was happening. I heard the heart oscilloscope turn off. I I saw my sister enter the room and make a phone call; I noticed doctors, nurses, and nurses following her.

At this time, everything seemed to grow dim, a sound was heard that I cannot describe; it was like the beat of a bass drum; it was a very fast, rushing sound, like the sound of a stream running through a gorge. Suddenly I stood up and stood several feet high, looking down at my own body. People were bustling around my body. But I had no fear. I didn't feel any pain either, only peace. After about a second or two, it seemed to me that I rolled over and got up. It was dark, like a hole or a tunnel, but I soon noticed a bright light. It got brighter and brighter. It felt like I was moving through it.

Suddenly I was somewhere else. I was surrounded by a beautiful, golden light emanating from an unknown source. It occupied all the space around me, coming from everywhere. Then music was heard, and it seemed to me that I was outside the city among streams, grass, trees, mountains. But when I looked around, I didn't see any trees or any other known objects. The strangest thing to me is that there were people there. Not in any form or body. They just were there.

I had a feeling of perfect peace, complete satisfaction and love. It seems that I have become a particle of this love. I I don't know how long these sensations lasted - the whole night or just a second.

Let's turn to the evidence collected by our resuscitation doctors, enthusiasts in their field, who sincerely believe that life does not end at the moment of the last breath, the last cry.