Inventing Wonders

Chapter 18: Someone Else

On that clear day, as usual, Lara was running. It seemed that over the past weeks, the countess had already run through everything possible, but today she decided to delve deeper into the park, which at some point transitioned into a sparse and bright forest. Lara loved these places. She recalled an old video where her mother carried two empty water bottles, and her father off-camera kept saying, "Lighter steps! Lighter steps."

These paths still didn't hold any memories of Lara's childhood, of her family, they were not marked by the pits of crumbling clay. These places didn't know Lara, but a bittersweet nostalgia played in her soul. It seemed to her that if she turned her head back, her grandmother would appear.

Relying on memory, the countess made her way into the cool wilderness, along the stream to the spring. She held her hands under the cold streams. It had been a long time since Lara allowed herself to drink unfiltered water, but the local spring seemed enchantingly clean—a crystal key. Lara placed her hand on the smooth, unmarked clay and closed her eyes.

"And how does it feel to taste the water again?" a sharp hoarse voice sounded, sending a chill down Lara's spine. "Why are you walking alone, madam, if you're so fearful?"

On the opposite side of the thin brook stood an old woman of indeterminate ancient age. One could only say for certain that she was old.

"Excuse my rudeness," Lara recovered, "but I did not expect to meet anyone here."

"Why did you not expect it? Didn't your thoughts lead you here?" the old woman grimly smiled.

"Excuse me?" Lara frowned, feeling an unhealthy anxiety. "May I know your name?"

The countess tried to stand straight, but inside everything was shrinking: her experience with horror films suggested that suspicious old women in the forest were a bad sign.

"You're a strange lady, Larisa Konstantinovna, you walked a long way, and you ask me questions not from a pure heart," she shook her head.

"And what questions should I ask?" Lara raised her head and involuntarily stepped back.

"It would be right to inquire about your return home, but I can judge that your thoughts are occupied with something else right now..."

"I don't understand what you're talking about!" Lara breathed too loudly.

"Well, if you don't understand, then heed my advice..."

"I'm not sure I need it!" the frightened Lara interrupted again.

"You are right, Larisa Konstantinovna," the old woman agreed, "but soon you will. You must have taken your belongings from your ancestral home. If anyone falls ill, you should search through them. Perhaps you will find something life-giving. And if I scare you, you needn't listen to the old woman, go where you need to, but if someone falls ill, call Aksinya, I am trained in healing..."

Lara screamed and woke up in a cold sweat. Leaving the city should have calmed her, but there was no peace here. She got up and went to the window.

Pelageya, sitting with books in the gazebo, glanced at the house and noticed that the curtains in Larisa Konstantinovna's room had finally been drawn. She pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Is something bothering you, Palasha?" asked Liza, who was embroidering the master's shirt with red flowers.

Pelageya shook her head, not knowing how best to express her concern:

"We need to set the table for breakfast."

***

Lara sat on the bridge, resting her head on her splayed hand. It seemed as if she had just learned a terrible secret and was covering her mouth with her hand so as not to make a sound. Her gaze was directed towards the children playing in the water, but in reality, she could hardly see them. As for the terrible secret, in all fairness, Lara had indeed made a terrifying discovery: she no longer had problems to solve. Each day became like the last.