Chernobyl’s Revenge

VII*

I wake up in a very bright room. The light is radiant and brings me a sense of peace. I get out of my bed and look out the window. I see a large park covered in roses, with children playing everywhere. I recognize three of them and greet them; they also notice me and smile. I try to move my body to look around the room, but I can't control it; it seems to have its own movements, and I... am simply an observer.

While I was lost in my thoughts, a woman's voice called me to come downstairs. I leave my room and look to the left, where the stairs leading to the first floor are. When I reach the top, I realize that the house I’m in is quite small. On the first floor, to my right, near the front door, there's a small living room for about four or five people, a bathroom just below the stairs, then a short hallway, and at the end, a wooden door. I walk happily in that direction, open the door, and find the same beautiful woman from my previous dream—my mother. I sit at the table in the middle of what seems to be the kitchen. My mother notices my presence, turns to look at me, and smiles with a sweetness I had never seen before.

“… I’m glad you’re down. Today, I made your favorite meal. Don’t forget to have everything ready for the afternoon… remember, your father is coming today.” Again, the same sensation I had in my dream, there was something unclear in her words; parts of it sounded as if I were underwater.

“Yes, Mom, I’ll just play for a moment with my friends outside. I saw them from the window, and it looked like they were waiting for me. I still need to pack a few things, but don’t worry, I’ll have them ready.”

“I know this is hard for you, son, but I promise we’re going to a better place. You’ll be able to make new friends.”

“I know, Mom.” I rolled my eyes in annoyance; I had heard that same speech a million times before and was tired of it. “You’ve said that a million times.”

“Well, son, take care.” My mother glanced at the window for a moment and whispered, “I have a bad feeling.”

I looked at my mother. Even though she tried to make sure I didn’t hear her, I caught every word, and it puzzled me. We lived in a very safe and peaceful place; almost all the neighbors knew each other and helped each other out. It was highly unlikely that anything bad could happen. Deep inside, I had a strange feeling. I knew that, in this place, not long after, the greatest nuclear disaster in history would occur. However, at that moment, I could only think that my mother was talking nonsense.

After finishing my breakfast, I said goodbye to my mom and quickly left the house. Outside, three boys my age were waiting for me—my neighbors, whom I had known since I was very little. We were all around the same age, but Avgust, my oldest friend, was the tallest of us all. I’d say he looked more like our older brother than a friend.

Avgust was the first to approach me. In the past few days, we’d gone out to play whenever we could. Deep down, we didn’t want to say goodbye like most people did. We didn’t want to look sad, but unfortunately, we both knew I would be leaving Pripyat soon, and we wouldn’t see each other again.

“We were waiting for you. We need to play one last time before you go,” said Avgust. I could see the sadness on his face, knowing that his lifelong friend was moving to a city far away from Pripyat. Suddenly, I felt a pang in my heart. My eyes began to tear up, but I didn’t want to cry. I wasn’t someone who showed a lot of emotions, and I certainly wasn’t going to do it with so many people watching. I held back my tears by clenching my fists tightly, looked at my friend, and smiled.

“So, this will be the last time I’ll beat all of you,” I said in a teasing tone. Despite my attempts, my friend Avgust noticed my sadness, but like me, he wouldn’t let anyone see how much we were going to miss each other.

We played like never before, starting with hide-and-seek, then tag, and later, whatever came to mind. We made the most of our time, and after about three hours, I felt something strange behind me… My body started to feel a chill. I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around to find the person behind those eyes, but saw no one…

“Avgust! Look at that!” When I heard my friend, Lesya, I turned back to them. I could see she was raising her left arm toward me. Instinctively, I turned to look at what she was pointing at. I scanned the area with my eyes and finally spotted it—at the far end, toward the nuclear plant… a humanoid figure, gigantic, seemed to be about two meters tall, completely black, with two huge wings on its back. It was a terrifying creature heading straight for the reactors of the nuclear plant. I looked around, and everyone was completely stunned, watching how that thing moved.

“Ky… wh-what the hell is that?!” said Avgust, extremely frightened.

“How should I know? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” I was surprised to respond. The name Avgust had mentioned wasn’t Kreves, yet my true name was still protected by my subconscious.

“You read about that kind of thing…” replied Avgust, his voice trembling.

“I-It’s the Mothman,” said Yuri, pale as a ghost. Like all of us, fear was evident in him.

“What does that mean, Yuri?” I asked. I needed to know more so I wouldn’t run back home in terror. Suddenly, a voice from an adult came from behind us.

“The Mothman is a creature of ill omen; it has been seen in the United States and England. Kids, go back to your homes. It’s not safe for you to stay here.”

We all turned our disbelieving gaze toward the man. First of all, none of us knew him, but he had some resemblance to the Burakov family—honey-colored eyes, brown hair, tall and muscular—but I didn’t recall ever seeing him before. Also, none of us believed in supernatural things, and now we had one right in front of our eyes, one that brought bad news. If that was the case, then what could the tragedy be that was about to happen? We looked at each other, unsure of what to do. We all wanted to leave, but none of us had the courage to do so. I felt an immense terror. I didn’t want to be outside with that creature. Its gaze disturbed me.

It seemed like a hawk searching for its prey, yet it felt like we had all been petrified and, at the same time, intrigued by the bad omen it represented. It was then that I heard the voice of my salvation. My mother called me at that exact moment to come inside, and all I could feel was a great sense of relief. I turned to look at her and responded that I just needed to say goodbye to my friends. I looked at them and could clearly see the terror in their eyes. That was when I decided to approach my closest friend, Avgust. I gave him a tight hug, and he returned it. Before he let go, I heard him whisper in my ear, "Don’t leave, I have a bad feeling." Unfortunately, this was a decision I hadn’t made, and there was nothing I could do to change my parents' minds, so I simply looked at him with deep sadness and told him I couldn’t stay. As for the rest of my friends, I just gave them a shy smile and quickly said goodbye. I wanted to take refuge in my home as soon as possible.

When I got home, I went straight to my room. I didn’t want to tell my mother, and I doubted any of my friends would either. Adults didn’t believe in these things, especially not in a city as safe as Pripyat. My mother would probably think I was imagining things or making excuses to avoid moving.

I felt very uneasy. In the morning, my mother had told me she had a bad feeling, and now I had just seen the embodiment of that bad omen. I couldn’t think of anything else but the figure I had seen. I was so lost in my thoughts that I forgot I needed to finish packing my things. I simply sat on the bed and tried to steer my thoughts elsewhere, but all I could see was that being... it wasn’t human, but it looked like it. Something inside me told me that things weren’t right. Everything pointed to a disaster happening, and the question was figuring out exactly what was going to happen.

For most of the morning, my mind wandered with the events I had lived through. I didn’t dare to tell my father, even though he had arrived home hours earlier. As I paced back and forth in my room, I heard the doorbell ring again. I ran to the door thinking it might be my father returning, since he had gone out earlier in the afternoon for some errands. When I reached the stairs, I realized the person at the door wasn’t him...