Тёмная Башня. Dark Tower. Премия им. Э.Т.А. Гофмана / E.T.A. Hoffmann award (Билингва: Rus / Eng)

Dense and utterly ghostly souls, dressed in clothes of completely different centuries and nations, were looking for something, climbing ladders or simply walking through the air, periodically hovering over their discoveries, and some were sitting with books at tables by ancient lamps and lanterns and drinking tea or coffee.

I turned to the Angel in confusion.

«There are so many books here! Where should I look for mine?»

«Whatever is truly yours will find you by itself,» he said, and I immediately noticed a shimmering book on the shelf right under the ceiling.

I looked around for a free ladder, but the Angel just grinned.

«Hold out your hand,» he said, and I obeyed, and the book flew smoothly off the shelf, waltzing towards us.

«This book is too big!» I whispered, barely able to contain my excitement. «It must have been wrong! I have a few miniatures as sketches only.»

«Have you already forgotten the stories told you by ghosts today in the Land of Mists?»

«Tales of Ghosts,» I read the title, and the book began flipping slowly.

Yes, the Angel was right. The stories thrown by souls into the bonfire on the side of the foggy road to the Heaven Office; the cases of the defendants in the Courtroom; the restless ghosts’ confessions on the bench by the Customs and the novel of my red-haired guide, who worked with antidotes in the laboratory of the local Alchemist… all that flashed before my eyes!

Only the last part of the book, «Tales from the Land of Mists», partially included my tiny sketches I had already written on Earth.

After passing through Passport Control, on the Border between the Land of Mists and the World of Illusions, I was saying goodbye to the Angel.

«Promise me, that you will meet me here next time and won’t leave me alone in the Courtroom,» I asked.

«I will always be by your side on Earth as well,» he assured me and smiled. «It’s just that all the angels become invisible beyond the Border.

I was sad and even scared to go back. It felt like an eternity had passed since the moment I had left my physical body in the hospital and ended up there.

«Everything has its Time, my dear,» the Angel whispered and held out his hand to me. «Well, let’s go?»

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