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[Alexandr Korol]

Chapter 39. Saint Petersburg

What happened next? When I arrived in St. Petersburg, I stayed in an
apartment where I had never lived before. There was a large storage of things
there — items I had bought while traveling the world and sent back to Russia
to keep safe. There were various interesting paintings, artifacts, and assorted
tableware. Also, people close to me who had given me gifts for New Year’s
and birthdays had simply stacked them on a shelving unit in that apartment.
On my first day, as I walked through the apartment, I passed that shelf and
felt a literal shiver go through my body. It was like a surge of fear, something
dark and unsettling. I didn’t give it much thought. Another day passed, I
walked by again, and felt the exact same thing. I looked closer, and saw a
small handmade craft — a miniature fairy-tale scene of an office or a library,
and there, on a tiny desk in the back, stood a miniature version of my book,
“Alternative History”, the white book. I realized that this craft felt incredibly
gloomy to me; it reeked of something unpleasant, something scarier than
the underworld. It made me feel genuinely uneasy, like the presence of
a poltergeist, a house spirit — something not very kind. I didn’t touch it;
I just made a mental note.
Then an interesting incident occurred. I went to my dacha, where friends,
relatives, and my construction crew were gathered; we were sitting at the
table, eating. One of my relatives — I don’t know who, my mother or father
— called my employee and asked him to bring a certain gift that was being
kept for me. I remembered that my mother had sent me a photo of this gift.
I can’t say for sure, but I think it was for my birthday. What was it? A doll.
A super scary doll. My mother passed on the message that this doll
represented “The Writer.” I looked at this doll, and I felt sick. I stopped the
conversation of everyone at the table — there were all kinds of people there,
family and outsiders — and said: “Guys, wait. I want you to witness
something very interesting. Do you see this doll? Do you feel the darkness
emanating from it? How it makes you feel faint and uneasy, almost
terrified?” Many said, “Yes, yes, there’s definitely something.” I told them:
“Let me tell you the full story.” I told them I just remembered that over
the course of many years, this had happened before — specifically women,