The Early Years: A Marriage That Crumbled
Gulya was only twenty when her family arranged a marriage with a promising young man from Moscow. The union turned out to be a nightmare; her husband proved unreliable and emotionally distant. After ten years of constant conflict, the couple adopted a little girl, giving the appearance of a complete family.
The façade shattered when the marriage ended in divorce, and shortly after, Gulya’s ex‑husband was found dead in his flat, killed by unknown assailants. The case went cold, but a few nights before his death Gulya dreamed of him walking away, whispering a final goodbye.
The Courtroom Siege
Following the funeral, the deceased’s relatives attempted to seize the apartment, claiming it as their inheritance. Gulya fought the claim fiercely and won the lawsuit, securing the flat for her adopted daughter. The victorious verdict severed ties with the hostile relatives, who vanished from her life.
A New Love and Its Dark Shadow
At the school where Gulya taught, a young physical‑education instructor arrived. Their age gap—just five years—felt insignificant; she was 37, a mother, while he was a single father of two. Their connection blossomed into a late‑in‑life romance.
However, his past was riddled with tragedy. His first wife perished in a fire while baking flatbreads in a traditional Uzbek tandoor. Their children were handed over to the wife’s relatives in Ferghana. When he tried to reclaim them, a gang of thugs assaulted him, and the court denied his request, swayed by the in‑laws’ influence.
Unsettling Discoveries and a Sudden Relocation
One afternoon, while cleaning, Gulya discovered a pair of torn, old stockings hidden in a drawer—certainly not hers. She later learned they had been left by the late husband’s aunt, who claimed she wanted to “adopt” her nephew’s daughter.
Soon after, Gulya’s partner confessed that his own family had forced him into a marriage arranged by his parents. Feeling trapped, Gulya decided to exchange her apartment and move to her hometown, abandoning her job, friends, and the place she had called home for over a decade.
The New Flat and the Witch Upstairs
In the new city, Gulya settled into a third‑floor apartment. Directly above her lived a woman who practiced I‑Ching divination and was rumored to be a witch. Intrigued, Gulya began tossing coins and interpreting hexagrams herself.
A Ghostly Warning
One evening, while lying on the couch with her eyes closed, Gulya sensed an unfamiliar presence. A translucent figure of a woman hovered above her, murmuring an indecipherable warning: “You will not live here any longer.”
Poltergeist Activity and Growing Misfortune
After that apparition, the flat erupted with poltergeist phenomena—plates shattered without cause, doors slammed shut on their own, and a constant, low hum filled the rooms. At work, Gulya’s projects stalled, and her new colleague, a self‑styled mantra‑speaker, warned that the woman upstairs was “extremely dangerous.”
A chance encounter on the street turned violent when a familiar woman stared at Gulya with such intensity that Gulya slipped, broke her leg, and spent weeks in a hospital. Soon, apartments in the building emptied, and the remaining tenants avoided the hallway altogether.
The Return and the Saving Blizzard
Yearning for her old life, Gulya arranged an exchange for a flat in a neighboring building. Her friend’s father drove her and her belongings in a Kamaz truck. Mid‑journey, a ferocious blizzard descended: visibility vanished, the road turned into a frozen wasteland, and a massive Kolhida truck spun helplessly in the snow. The two vehicles collided and slid into a ditch, but miraculously everyone escaped unharmed.
Neighbors later whispered that a guardian angel, perhaps sent by the witch upstairs as a final, paradoxical gift, had shielded them.
After the Storm: A Quiet Normalcy
Months later, Gulya’s life settled. She found a new partner, and her adopted daughter—now an adult—has children of her own. The house is calm, yet the memory of being “a beast in a cage” and the unseen forces that once threatened to crush her linger like a faint echo in her soul.
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