horror effect

Klodkov, the caretaker of the church, closed the door of his room, took the vodka bottle from the cupboard, and poured it into a glass.He soon discovered that there was not even a full glass left, which annoyed him and threw the empty bottle in the trash.

At this moment, the doorbell outside the gate rang. Klodkov tried to pretend he didn't hear it, but the bell kept ringing, so he had to go to open the door.He opened the door a crack, looked out, and saw Julian Raymond standing outside.

"It's closed, come back tomorrow." He said angrily.

"Wait, Klodkov." Julian stopped him. "I have something to ask you."

"I don't have time," replied the administrator. "And I'm in a bad mood tonight." He continued after a pause. "Why, don't you want to know why I'm in a bad mood? Well, I'll tell you, because I'm out of wine. And, you promise How about some wine for me?"

Looking at Klodkov's rolling eyes, Julian understood that he wanted to drink, but Julian was in a hurry now and could not attend to the administrator's request. "Okay, I'll buy you a drink later. But now you have to answer my question."

"Hi!" Klodkov snorted, "It's agreed that you want to invite me. Then tell me, what's the problem."

"When did the tombstone of Boris Moratov in the cemetery come in?"

"That's all. I don't know, I didn't work in church then."

"Was that tombstone always there?"

"Look at you asking, does the tombstone get up and move around in the middle of the night? Of course it's always there."

"Nothing else?"

"What else do you want me to say." Klodkov was a little impatient.

"Okay, okay, that's it. Thank you for answering my question, I'm leaving..." Seeing Klodkov open his mouth, Julian immediately remembered their agreement, so he said, "Don't worry, I don't Will forget your wine. I'm leaving." Julian waved and left the church.

Klodkov closed the door and went back to his room.He was thinking that Julian Raymond was a strange man, interested in cemeteries, and why?He thought for a while, but couldn't think of a clue, so he started to do another thing - looking for wine bottles. He opened the box and cabinet, but he didn't even find a piece of glass. At this moment, he suddenly froze, full of With a puzzled expression on his face, he said to himself: "Strange, how did he know which one is the tombstone of Berkes Molatov?"

Herbert Wernstein was driving along a mountain road.

He had been staying in the city a few days ago and was busy negotiating to join the hotel alliance. In the end, the two sides finally reached a preliminary agreement. After the Christmas and New Year holidays, a formal agreement could be signed.This pleased Herbert, who whistled as he drove.He drove to the front of the hotel, and the waiter was about to open the door, but Herbert accidentally saw a figure of a woman outside the iron fence wall not far away. Tourists don't seem to be invited either.This aroused Herbert's suspicion. He handed over the car to the attendant and walked up to the woman himself.

"I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked politely.

The woman turned around in a little surprise.Herbert discovered that she was very young, not more than thirty, and very pretty, with golden curls falling back from her forehead, bright gray-green eyes, and her lips were round like a child's mouth, Cute frightened emoticon.

"Well, it's nothing. I think I may have gone the wrong way." She was a little embarrassed.

Herbert, remembering that he had never seen her in the town, and she did not look like a tourist, said, "You have just come here?"

"Well, yes, I just arrived last night, and I plan to look around today. I heard that there is a good rental bookstore here, but I can't find it anywhere."

"So that's how it is." Herbert laughed, "Lin Nong Rent Bookstore is hidden in an alley, I'll take you there."

She smiled and waved her hand. "Thank you, but you can tell me how to get there. I can find it myself."

Herbert squinted at her until she was bewildered.

"Really?" he said, "do you really want me to accompany you? Please don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no wrong thoughts. Seriously, a lady like you, it is best to have someone by your side, father, brother, or Nanny or something, in short, you can’t let you run around in the mountain village alone. Especially in this mountain village.”

Hearing this, she laughed, with the corners of her mouth raised, looking very sweet.

"I'm not an innocent and gullible girl in my teens, nor am I a delicate noble lady in the eighteenth century. Besides, I don't think there will be anything wrong in this small town."

Herbert pursed his lips and began to shake his head. "You think too simply, miss. Just focus on this, I'd better go with you." He stretched out his hand and made a particularly elegant "please" gesture, which amused her.So they walked down the valley together.

On the way, Herbert introduced himself first, and then asked her name.

"Anne Bouilly," she answered.

Hearing the name, and especially the surname, made Herbert suddenly feel his nerves and muscles throbbing with excitement and longing. "Ah! Then you are the wife of M. Mihail Bouilly?!"

Anna nodded shyly.

Herbert squeezed his hand tightly and forced himself to be calm, he was afraid that he would burst into a fit of laughter.What a young and beautiful woman!That fellow Boyle has married such a beauty!What would Dr. Hostatova look like if she knew!He found himself gloating, and though he knew it was mean to think so, he couldn't help saying to himself, "Let me be mean for a while, and then punish me."

After he calmed down, he said, "I didn't expect you to come so soon. Please allow me to congratulate you and Mr. Bowai and wish you happiness."

He threw his arms around Anna.

The time was short, but during this brief embrace Herbert glanced at the windows of Sister Tofana's house, which was not far away.As expected, he saw the corner of the curtain swing as it was drawn down quickly.He smiled, then turned around and continued walking towards the bookstore with Anna.

When Valentin Linnon saw Herbert Wernstein walk into the bookstore, his heart was filled with happiness immediately, as if his existence was just to wait for Herbert to walk in here one time, and he Indeed came the same.

"Herbert!" he cried, his eyes shining.

But then, Herbert turned to let out the door, and a beautiful young woman appeared from behind him.who is she?Valentine's face changed, and he thought anxiously, he had never seen this woman before, could it be that Herbert brought it?He stared at Herbert again, asking with his eyes.

"Hello, Valentine." Herbert greeted him with a smile. "I bring you a new customer. If she can live here, she will definitely become a regular customer here. Am I right, Anna?"

"That's right. Thank you." Anna had already walked between rows of bookshelves.

At the counter near the door, Valentine tugged at Herbert's sleeve and whispered, "Who is this woman?"

"Oh, I bet you can't guess." Herbert smiled mysteriously, and continued, "You know, Bouy got married in Italy not long ago..."

Valentine's eyes widened in surprise. "She is—!"

"Hush!" Herbert put his finger to his lips, and beckoned him to speak in a low voice.

"How did you meet her?" Valentine continued.

"At the door of the hotel..." Although Herbert was talking to Valentine, he kept looking at Anna. "Hi. Don't you think she's beautiful?"

"...Yes, very beautiful."

Herbert didn't notice that Valentine's tone suddenly became cold, and he still said in an admiring tone: "Not only is she beautiful. I think she looks like a fairy, or a princess in mythology—Cassandra, Danae, or Medea, whichever is fine. I have never seen a woman of her age with such a gentle and innocent expression..." He straightened up and walked towards Anna.Behind him, Valentine stared at him with a meaningful and painful gaze.

The young man's jealousy was rushing through his veins, and Herbert's and Anna's voices and laughter behind the bookshelves were like lead weights on his heart.

When Herbert Warnstein accompanied Anna Boai back to the door of the Boai family's mansion, there was already someone there.Herbert recognized that it was Theolos, the owner of the lumber mill, but it could be seen that he was not allowed in.

As Herbert and Anna said goodbye to each other, Theoros kept looking at them both suspiciously.As soon as the gate was closed again, Theoros immediately approached Herbert and asked, "Who is that woman?"

"Well..." said Herbert, looking at him, "what do you want to do here?"

"Damn it! I'm asking who is that woman?"

Herbert shrugged his shoulders. "There are comings and goings, and there are goings and goings. The principle of a businessman."

"Bah!" Theolos spat, "Stop pretending! Don't you just want to see me make a fool of myself! I came to borrow money, but I was blocked from the door. How? It's up to you."

"Good. She is Bouilly's new wife, Anna."

Theolos' eyes widened. "Such a young and beautiful wife!"

"Not only that, but Anna is very gentle and lovely. Compared with her husband, she is the opposite kind of person. A woman like this should be taken good care of. It's really careless that Bowai let her go out alone. You Did you mean Theolos?"

"Of course, of course... Well, Mr. Wernstein, don't treat this young lady..." Before he finished speaking, Theoros laughed.

Herbert looked at him contemptuously and said, "I don't like this type of woman, she is too weak and easily bullied. One can imagine that she will pass out like the lady in the movie when she is in danger. This It's so boring... Ah, I have something to do at the hotel, so I'll go first." He left quickly, leaving Theoros staring at the wall of Bouai's mansion in deep thought.

When Anna Bouilly returned to the living room of the mansion, she saw a stranger.It was a woman about her age, and her whole body was mainly in dark colors: black hair knots, dark brown top, black thick long skirt and leather boots, as if this person had been filtered by an old-fashioned movie Too serious and deep.

Anna remembered that Bowai had said that his daughter Renee Hostatova, born to his ex-wife, was a stereotyped female doctor, which made Anna a little scared.But she also thought of Renee's loss of her beloved husband ten years ago, and a wave of love and pity for her rose in her heart.

However, no matter what Anna thought or how her expression changed, it had no effect on Renee. She didn't like Anna from the first moment she saw her.Renee admits that Anna is very young and beautiful, with graceful and gentle posture, but it is precisely because of this that she thinks that Bouai's betrayal of her biological mother is unforgivable.

She thought of her mother, who was neither beautiful nor smart, but just blindly forbearing, and what the humiliated mother finally got was a divorce agreement, which was the cold wind that extinguished the candle of life, and the veil that covered the blooming flowers. Bingxue, her mother died quietly not long after, like a pearl exposed to dry air for a long time, and finally lost its luster and turned into dust.

Renee loved her mother, so she hated Mikhail Bouy and Anna, who took her mother's place.

In her eyes, all of Anna's friendly gestures—kind handshakes, hugs, soft words—are extremely hypocritical.

Mikhail Bouilly took Anna and Renee to sit next to him, trying to soften Renee's antagonism by talking lightly.But from the beginning to the end, the conversation was not easy, and the situation of the confrontation did not change.Most of the time it was he and Ana who were talking, and Renee had to speak briefly only when asked.

Anna saw Renee's pain, and when she thought about her misfortune, Anna felt that the pain of the other party was transferred to herself, tormenting her soul.So she spoke with more melancholy tenderness, but she didn't expect that this sympathy of hers would make Renee hate her even more.Renee is a woman who does not need sympathy and does not agree with sympathy at all. In her opinion, the word sympathy itself contains a gesture of superiority over inferiors, and a mockery of happy people against unfortunate people. .She would rather that Anna is not the weak woman she is now but a domineering shrew, at least she can have a big fight with her.

But now, the boredom and hatred in Renee's heart had nowhere to vent, it accumulated more and more in her heart, turned into toxins, and invaded her body along the blood vessels.

When Renee finally walks out of the Bouilly mansion, she opens her mouth wide and inhales like a fish thrown on the beach.The moist air, smelling of earth and decaying leaves, made her feel better.

She walked to the ancient stone bridge across the river, leaning on the cold stone railing with both hands, looking at the small river under the bridge covered in a layer of mist.The river is gurgling and making a pleasant sound, but Renee knows that the water is much weaker than in summer, and the two sides of the bank extend to the surface of the water, and there will be another heavy snowfall, and the river will be completely frozen, and it will not come back to life until the next spring .She looked up at the small town on both sides of the valley, and felt that it was frozen like the river, and she didn't know when it would welcome spring.

How much hot sunshine is needed to melt the ice and snow of more than ten years, how can the ice and snow in the hearts of people be solved by the solar energy in the sky.

The top of the hill on Renee's right hand side is the Cedar Hill Hotel. At this time, there are not many tourists and the business is light. Herbert Wernstein is busy preparing for joining the hotel alliance, and Julian Lemon is busy writing his own travel Report; Down the hillside, Father Collivan and grandson Micah are cleaning the tavern, while Sister Tofana on the opposite side is still sitting in front of the window as usual, knitting and observing the outside; near the bottom of the valley is Renee's own In the medical clinic, Nicholas should be seeing a doctor at this time.On her left, the highest point of the hill is the church, and not far below is the house of the Bouy family, and at the farthest end is the lumber mill of Theoros...

All people are busy all day long like herself, Renee thought, maybe these people, like herself, will suddenly look back on a certain mediocre day and find those fragments scattered in their lives, staring at them in surprise. Looking at the memories kept in my heart like buried cultural relics, and found that those broken bricks and tiles were accumulated in the ruins of time in a way that I couldn't understand at all.

We already know that opposite the quaint Four Calendar Tavern is the old house of Sister Tofana that has been in disrepair.

If we push through the peeling paint gate, walk through the overgrown yard, and enter the dark and gloomy porch, we can see a wooden staircase with broken planks and a few pieces of the handrail missing, and our feet are on the stairs. It will make a harsh creaking sound, which is both annoying and frightening, for fear that if one is not paying attention, it will fall into the dark storage room under the stairs.

At the top of the stairs is an open hall, which half a century ago was neat and beautiful, brightly lit and filled with the voices of men and women talking in low voices, is now a cobwebbed, dusty, silent and empty place .

There was a small round table by the window. Sisters Tofana were sitting opposite each other at the table. Their hands were flat on the table, their eyes were staring at each other, and their postures were as stiff as puppets.One of them--as we have seen, it is impossible to tell them apart--said:

"Herbert Wernstein has gone to Constance Marmet's."

"Yes. Collevin called and told us," the other continued.

"He ordered a statue from a female artist."

"But we don't know what kind of statue that is."

"We have to know that."

"Yes. Already told Colleven."

"Mikhail Bouilly and his new wife Anna are back in town."

"Yes, they're going to have their wedding here, for Christmas. But Mihail Bouilly is gone again."

"Yes, he's gone again, but will definitely be back before Christmas."

"These two things are related."

"Yes, it does matter."

"mysterious--"

"dangerous--"

"scary--"

"relation……"

Sister Tofana dragged out that last word until it ended in a nasal whine that, in the empty hall, sounded like the hooting of an owl.