Confession of a Ghost. F.M. Dostoevsky award. Playing Another Reality. Alexandra Kryuchkova

World, ourselves before incarnation. Well, Library of the Universe!”

      “If you wish, you’ll become a master in any field of creative expression. With pleasure, you’ll shape the artistic taste of children, instilling in them diverse interests. As for religion, outward attributes are important to you, such as singing, burning candles, the smell of incense, icons and liturgy. The outward doesn’t always match the inward. In striving for judging and peacemaking, don’t forget that only God can judge others.”

      “What about love?”

      “You are prone to flirting and falling in love, but people who are not interested in arts won’t be interesting to you.”

      “I’m already eager to love very much!”

      “An open manifestation of tender feelings doesn’t threaten you, but your House No. 5 begins in the degree of loneliness, Saturn and Pluto. It’s a symbol of tragic loss and bereavement. You’ll lose those you’ll truly love, and what your heart will be attached to. This degree is called ‘The burning fireplace in an abandoned house’.”

      “No!” I screamed and tears slowly rolled down from my eyes.

      Suddenly, the man in black appeared out of the clouds right in front of us. I got up, and we hovered in the air, looking into each other’s eyes. He was radiating magical rays of attraction, and pleasant waves ran through my astral body, while he only briefly introduced himself,

      “Pluto.”

      His intonation was so enveloping soft and frighteningly mysterious that I was scared to realize that I had already and completely been under his control. Smiling back, I caught the most beautiful castle – with my heart, and handed it to him. Pluto took my gift and right in front of me…

      “What’s?!” I exclaimed, clinging to the Guardian and sobbing with resentment. “How could he do that? Why did he destroy my castle?”

      Pluto laughed, something diabolical was in his laughter. He handed me a glass filled to the brim.

      “Well, sorry, darling! Drink wine for our acquaintance!”

      I thought that the ruined castle had been an accident or a joke, and Pluto was good, but the wine turned out to be very bitter.

      “What’s this?” I asked the Guardian.

      “The Cup of Pain.”

      “A slow-acting poison,” Pluto clarified. “It’ll slowly kill you throughout the incarnation. Or rather, it’s me to be killing you slowly but surely.”

      “You are evil!” I screamed and covered my face with my hands in helplessness.

      “You guessed it! I’m the Lord of the Kingdom of the Dead, in severe opposition to your life-giver, the Sun. Taking away your energy, not allowing you to shine, not recognizing your personality, I’ll mock your soul in every possible way, but you are drawn to me, aren’t you?” Pluto chuckled.

      Suddenly, a woman in a black dress with sparkling stars appeared next to him. She looked like a vampire and took Pluto by the hand, turning to me with a grin.

      “Don’t be deceived, Rukh. There’s a stamp in your passport, I’m in conjunction with Pluto for all your earthly life. People call me the Grape Picker. I’m the star of loss, taking away everything that one grows with love. When any fruit of your love or creativity is ripe, I’ll come and pick it! It’ll never be yours! Never! Remember!”

      The woman clung to Pluto, and they disappeared in an instant.

      Library of the Universe

      “A fixed star of the second magnitude, Vindemiatrix,” the Guardian commented. “Leeches are vampire creatures that parasitize on a person, feeding on vital energy, which leads to a slow loss of strength and depression. People will mock, torture you in every possible way, stab in the back, deprive of something or someone. Vindemiatrix creates a double-faced environment, isolates and takes away happiness. The star of widowhood, infertility, sudden deaths. Pluto, the Lord of the Kingdom of the Dead, serves to Vindemiatrix, and you have them in conjunction. However, Vindemiatrix has the features of Mercury, who is responsible for the Word and the Mind, and gives a penchant for mysticism and Secret Knowledge, patronizes business and architecture. The star of people with strong spirit and of strong-willed ones. It’s not all that bad.”

      “Is it really?! Tell me, what and where is good? We’ve already visited the 5^th of the 12 Spheres of life!”

      “Your 5^th Sphere is gigantic. We’ve just started to get through it. Anyway, it’s good in the desert, there is nothing that could be taken away, and no one to hurt you,” the Guardian glanced at the opened page of my book. “Not a children’s story. Having a tendency to calculate options, try to remember the Grape Picker in time.”

      I read the story “Stillborn”, in which the main character killed his mistress in order to get their long-awaited newborn daughter.

      “My mother told me the truth! How much did you pay your friend, the doctor, to kill her and declare me ‘dead’? Who was killed and buried then instead of me? You didn’t even show up for the funeral, daddy, while her husband, every year on my birthday, orders a prayer for the repose of my soul in Heaven as for the dead!”

      Stairs

      Ouranoupoli

      I got on the ship. Nobody seemed to notice me. I looked at the world with another vision, for example, I saw the glow of people, different in saturation and shades; pillars of Light over the Athos monasteries, each had its own. The people on the ship were photographing the earthly beauty and impatiently awaiting the arrival of the relics… A boat set sail from the foot of the Holy Mountain, and soon the monks of the Dionysiou Monastery boarded the ship. People lined up to venerate the miraculous icon of the “Virgin Mary of the Akathist”. I stood next to the icon in an empty place so as not to disturb anyone, and prayed mentally. Suddenly, a little girl, kissing the icon, whispered to her mother, pointing at me, “Look, what a strange lady!” The woman didn’t notice my presence and was even afraid for her daughter. I moved to the deck a level higher and found myself right in front of the Mountain. The clouds of white-winged angels parted, exposing its top, and I saw a dazzling Stairway going up!

      Moscow

      As I stepped out of the lift, I bumped into the ghost of my neighbor’s husband. We greeted each other, and I remembered that I had seen him at the Information Desk in the Heavenly Office.

      “I’m waiting for my Lena,” he sighed.

      “Do you know when I left here?”

      “Nine days ago. What’s the point of your coming back?”

      “I need to remember something here.”

      “Sometimes it’s better not to remember,” the ghost said sadly.

      Out of habit, I tried to get the keys out of my bag, but ended slipping inside with my eyes shut.

      “Ugh,” I breathed out as I opened my eyes.

      “Hi,” Ray greeted me in the hallway. “Make yourself at home, but don’t forget that you are a guest. Pay attention to the unusual.”

      I glanced appraising the room and exhaled – there were only icons. Alive icons, the Saints and the Virgin Mary looked at me, obviously trying to awaken my memory, but I went into the kitchen and sat down on the windowsill thoughtfully.

      “Well,” Ray said cryptically, “not bad. And…?”

      “And what?” I got worried.

      “What happened next?” he asked, coming closer to me.

      “Ray, no, I couldn’t!” I jumped off