Revenge

And so, Magdalena became nothing more than a plaything for Alex. On his part, any mention of actual feeling was out of the question; Alex saw in her merely a means for distraction, a passing amusement. With her, he indulged his darkest desires without fear of judgment, for they had managed to conceal their affair quiet well.

No one had time to notice them anyway; the hospital was overwhelmed with the sick and the destitute.

Sara's ear surgery had been a success. Now, time was needed for her to learn to live with the device and undergo therapy. Magdalena was told she had to return home, and she had little choice in the matter. She was sent off with tons of medications and clinical recommendations, all free of charge, to treat her other illnesses as well. She called Alik and bade him come pick them up. As for the child's facial defect, Alex promised he could easily find a sponsor and would call them, though it might require a trip to Europe. Moreover, Alik had bought Magdalena a mobile phone, though he warned her to tell the family it was provided under a humanitarian assistance program.

Who was Alex Weber? A young, 28-year-old physician-on-practice from a wealthy family. His parents were renowned professors in the medical field, held in high esteem. Alex, their only child, had always been an exemplary student in school, college, and university, as well as a figure of admiration among his friends. He had enjoyed an idyllic childhood lacking nothing, traveling the world with his parents, driving his own car, and possessing everything a young man of his stature could ever desire. Ultimately, Alex chose a career in public health and entered residency.

However, establishing himself within an international health organization without practical field experience proved difficult. Thus, he decided to spend a few years on a humanitarian mission in an impoverished nation to gain easy credentials. That was how he ended up in Bostana (a fictional country), where he met Magdalena. He was meant to spend three years here; this was his first. The contract terms were quite favorable with a high salary, leave twice a year, and free housing.

Alex had a fiancée. They were engaged, and upon completing this mission, the couple planned to get married. He had met Gloria in college, where their romance began. She was fair-skinned, blonde, and blue-eyed girl, immaculately refined and cultured, with a deep love for study and order. She was the most acceptable bride for Alex and his parents. They had slept together a few times, though their intimate encounters felt as though they had been executed straight from an instructional manual. Still, Alex was content enough; to him, it made little difference. They had countless plans for where they would live, how many children they would have, and what their future would hold.

When Alex took his first two-week leave, he had spent it vacationing with her. Now his second leave was approaching, and Gloria pleaded to join him, eager to see Bostana and explore the country. Alex hesitated to give his consent, claiming the conditions were poor and there was nothing of interest to see. Gloria, however, remained persistent, arguing that they could save money and enjoy their vacation together.

Then there was Magdalena. Though she was already returning to her village, Alex felt a subtle unrest imagining Gloria staying in the very room where he and Magdalena... At the mere memory, a shiver ran through him. It had been the most intense experience he had ever shared with a woman.

Magdalena returned to her village like a conqueror, having managed to partially restore her daughter's hearing. As soon as their cart rolled into the village, people swarmed around them, asking for news, examining Sara, calling out her name to see if she could really hear. In their imagination, the child should have been able to recite a long poem to them at first glance. Magdalena calmed them all, stepped aside, and with remarkable eloquence recounted everything that had transpired, promising that her daughter would also receive facial surgery in the future. The villagers listened in awe, viewing her as an educated woman. They believed her now; after all, she had lived in the city and achieved the impossible by restoring the child's hearing, something that seemed almost miraculous to her fellow villagers.

Alik watched his wife, his initial admiration slowly giving way to frustration and insecurity. Had the city changed her completely? Yet he didn't dare interrupt her, as respected elders were among those listening. When Magdalena finally excused herself, she promised to explain everything to anyone who came to her for help. In a village filled with the sick and abandoned, her offered hand was a rare beam of hope.

Upon reaching home, she discovered Alik's parents were still occupying her bedroom. Without hesitation, she dragged their belongings out and dumped them in the yard, declaring that she would not raise her child in a shed. The elderly parents quietly began moving their things.

She displayed the child's new toys prominently on the balcony and hung all her new clothes on a line for everyone to see, a deliberate statement that the child they refused to acknowledge was richer and more refined than any of them.

Her in-laws were relieved about the child, yet they had grown frail. The father-in-law suffered from joint pain due to old age and could no longer trade as effectively, leading to financial hardship. The mother-in-law was also declining, suffering from weight issues and undiagnosed diabetes; she simply knew she felt ill. The entire weight of the household fell onto Magdalena and Alik.

Magdalena treated Alik's parents with cold severity. She instituted a strict dining schedule, refusing to feed the poor elderly couple every day. Nor did she bring them water on time, spending her entire day trading at her stall.

"Would you prefer I sell our belongings from the house?" she would reply when they pleaded that they couldn't endure such hunger. Magdalena paid them no mind.

"Doctors say that it isn't necessary for a person to eat every day, a meal every other day is quite enough. Don't worry, it is for your own good, and it helps me economize." If Alik happened to be late on a scheduled meal day, Magdalena would deny them food altogether.

Why was she so cruel to them? Because she did not even realize she was being cruel. She had grown up in such an environment and had seen the exact same behavior from her mother-in-law. She recalled how the older woman would lock the cabinet whenever there were honey sweets in the house, while a pregnant Magdalena stood watching, swallowing her saliva and weeping in secret. During her pregnancies, when she suffered severe morning sickness, her mother-in-law blamed it on overeating and restricted her food. Thus, to Magdalena, this was merely normal treatment toward a family member. Or perhaps, deep down, she was exacting her revenge.

Among the villagers, she quickly earned a reputation as a wise, educated woman. People constantly came to her for advice, offering small sums of money or food in exchange for using her mobile phone. Alik was away for most of the day, meeting her at her stall only at nightfall so they could ride home together.

Slowly, Sara began repeating sounds and responding when called. Her progress was remarkable.

Magdalena thought of Alex every day; he was her ray of light, her hope for the future. Though Alex had warned her never to call him, one day the longing to hear his voice became unbearable, and she dialed his number. Gloria had already arrived, and they were taking a walk together when Magdalena's call came through.

"Ah, hello, Miss Magdalena. Yes, it's me. How are you? How is Sara? How is the healing progressing?"

Magdalena found his formal tone strange, but Alex gave her no room to speak differently.

"Yes, I am very interested in the child's condition. I will have you come to the clinic in a few days so we can observe her. It is important for our records and statistics."

"Doctor Alex... I miss you," Magdalena whispered.

Her words of affection were met with total silence.

"Very well, Magdalena. Goodbye then, and I will certainly be in touch."

Alex turned to Gloria. "That was the mother of one of my patients. We fitted the child with a hearing aid, and she is gradually recovering her hearing. Isn't that wonderful?" he asked his fiancée.

"Yes, darling, it really is wonderful. I would love to attend her check-up and see this medical miracle with my own eyes. Could you arrange to call them in before I leave?"

Gloria, an earnest and dutiful future doctor herself, was genuinely fascinated by the opportunity.

"I wonder how you manage to do so much good, Alex. I heard about this child from the senior doctor. He said her parents were utterly uneducated and had no idea the child even had a chance at recovery. Is that true?" Gloria felt a surge of pride in her fiancé's kind heart.

Flustered, Alex replied, "That's true." It seemed his colleagues had been quite talkative with Gloria. I hope they didn't exaggerate anything, he thought anxiously. Guilt weighed on him. What had transpired between him and Magdalena, though recalled with pleasure, was entirely unacceptable in his social circle. He desperately hoped he could erase the memory of it for the rest of his life.

Magdalena, however, had entirely different plans for Alex. She believed he would find a sponsor for Sara, take them to Europe without Alik, and that she would remain there with him, living happily, bearing his children, and running a small handmade souvenir stall so he wouldn't have to work so hard. His cold demeanor on the phone had surprised her, but she reasoned he was simply busy and unable to speak freely.

The couple decided to take Sara to the city for her check-up the following week. They set off without informing Alex in advance. Magdalena was restless, counting down the moments until she would see the doctor again.

The moment they arrived, she left the child with Alik, claiming she would go ahead to prepare the doctor. She headed straight for the residential wing of the clinic. Finding Alex's room locked, she rattled the handle repeatedly. Suddenly, the lock turned, and Alex opened the door, bare-chested.

"Magdalena? What are you doing here?" Throwing on a shirt hastily, he stepped outside.

"Why are you rattling the door like that? Is something wrong?" he asked in a harsh whisper.

"I brought the child, and I thought I would see you before the check-up. Are you busy, Doctor?"

"No... Magdalena, I am busy. You should have called before coming. But fine, it doesn't matter, I will examine Sara. Listen to me," Alex said, pulling her away from the door and whispering urgently.

"Go to the reception and wait for me. I will come with another physician, a female doctor who is also interested in Sara's progress. It would be best if you spoke as little as possible during the exam. Do you understand, Magdalena?"

"I understand, Doctor," she replied submissively.

They waited an hour in reception before Alex appeared, guiding Gloria into the room to examine Sara. The hearing tests went exceptionally well, demonstrating remarkable progress; within a few months, the child would be able to form full sentences. Gloria was delighted by the results, praising her fiancé and turning to congratulate Magdalena.

"You are so fortunate to have met someone like Alex. Not many people get such a chance in life."

Magdalena bowed her head timidly and thanked her.

She sensed that this woman was no ordinary visiting doctor, but what could she say? Alex had warned her not to utter a word.

It was agreed that Magdalena and the child would return to the village. However, she persuaded her husband to stay in the city for the night to rest and begin their journey the next morning. They rented a cheap hotel room near the clinic, bought a few groceries from the market, and had dinner. That night, once Alik and the child were sound asleep, Magdalena took her phone and quietly slipped out of the room.

She called Alex. He answered after several rings, his voice laced with fury.

"I told you to stop calling me! Didn't I warn you?!" he whispered harshly.

"Doctor Alex, I am standing under the linden tree near the clinic entrance. If you don't come down to talk to me right now, I will come up myself."

Terrified, Alex rushed out to the meeting spot, furious.

"I'm listening. Tell me quickly, what is it?"

"Doctor, I just wanted to see you. I want to be with you. My husband is asleep and won't wake until morning. Let me into your room," she pleaded, her glowing eyes, white teeth, and ragged breath piercing the darkness.

Alex lost his composure.

"No, Magdalena! You can't be with me anymore. We can't do what we used to do, do you hear me? We just had fun, we enjoyed ourselves, it was a game and that's it. We can't go on."

"Why can't we keep playing, quietly?" Magdalena asked, utterly bewildered.

"Because we can't, and that's final!" Alex shouted. Seeing her tear-filled eyes, he tried to force an explanation.

"Hush, don't cry. You remember the woman who examined Sara today? That is my fiancée, Gloria. She was my fiancée long before I met you. We are getting married very soon. That is why there can be nothing more between us. Do you understand now, or do I need to explain it in another language?"

He was deliberately cruel, speaking to her as though she were a slave, irritated that he had to offer any explanation at all.

"Go back to your husband right now. When a donor is found for Sara, I will connect them directly with you. I can do nothing more for you, Magdalena, or rather, for Sara. I kept my promise, didn't I? Now it is time to end this."

Alex turned around and walked swiftly back toward the clinic. Magdalena ran after him, but having lost sight of him, she headed straight for his room, determined to burst in and cause a scene in front of his fiancée. As she began rattling the door handle and pounding her fists against the wood, a strange man, a member of the clinic staff, opened the door with a bewildered expression.

"What is going on, ma'am? What do you want?" he asked, startled, thinking a lunatic was attacking his door.

"I... I am looking for Doctor Alex. He lives here..." Magdalena stammered, caught off guard.

"Looking for Doctor Alex like this? What kind of behavior is this? He doesn't live in this room anymore, moved out yesterday. Now he is staying in a rented apartment with his wife."

Devastated and consumed by rage, Magdalena turned away. The walk back to the hostel was short, but her feet felt heavy. Her dignity had been shattered; Alex had humiliated her, dragging her through the dirt. In her mind, he had used her, stripped her of her honor. Driven by a burning desire for revenge, she lost all grip on reality, wishing every conceivable horror upon Alex for what he had done to her.

On way, Alik kept asking his wife what was wrong, as she sat on the cart in absolute silence throughout the journey, tears silently slipping down her cheeks from time to time. Alik sensed something was related to doctor Alex, though he could not accuse the him with any certainty. He had disliked that "blonde physician" from the start, because he was far too groomed and refined for their world, carrying himself with his head held high, like a ruler of the earth, like someone better then them.

"Won't you speak already, woman? What happened?" Alik finally snapped, unable to contain himself any longer, his voice rising over her silence.

"How long are you going to stay quiet? Something clearly happened. Did that white little bastard do something to hurt you? Tell me, and I'll split his head open."

Fire gleamed in Alik's eyes.

A flicker of hope sparked within Magdalena, hope that Alik would never let anyone get away with humiliating her. She let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll tell you everything, just give me a moment to catch my breath."

She was about to confess everything about Alex right then and there, but quickly realized she lacked answers to many questions he would inevitably ask. She needed to weigh every detail carefully, crafting her story so seamlessly that no one could ever doubt her truth. Slipping closer to her husband, she wrapped her arms around him, soothing him softly.

"I'm not keeping secrets from you; just give me a moment to gather my thoughts, and I'll tell you everything."

Magdalena left herself no way out. Alik yielded to her touch, his connection to his wife operating on a purely animalistic instinct. He trusted her implicitly, and it was precisely this trust that Magdalena seized upon to set her cruel plan into motion.

They arrived home late into the evening. Magdalena set a bountiful table and fed her in-laws. Starved and malnourished for days, the elderly couple looked at her with eyes full of gratitude, the woman had even shared with them the smoked sausages she brought from the city. Magdalena moved about like a proper mistress of the house, periodically catching Alik's eye and gesturing for him to be patient, assuring him that all was well.

Later that night, as they retired to bed, Magdalena slipped a strange, white nightgown over her bare skin under the pale glow of a candle. She slid into bed beside her husband with passionately movement, pressing her lips greedily against his. She ignored the prickle of Alik's rough beard, though every spot his beard brushed burned with sharp discomfort. Their lips grew numb from the intensity of their kisses, and Alik reached his climax before they could even fully begin. Still, Magdalena caressed her husband with wild, primal urgency, granting him the freedom to act just as fiercely. At last, Alik gripped her hair, pulling her close, turning her from behind and taking her with rough, animalistic pushes.

Spent and emptied of passion, husband and wife lay flat on their backs. Magdalena enjoyed the physical act with her husband, yet in her thoughts, she believed that doing this with Alex had been vastly more pleasurable, because she had loved Alex. She had loved him then, but now, she hated him.

Alik had forgotten all about their unresolved conversation, but Magdalena refused to let it wait.

Through heavy sobs and trembling crying, she unleashed a torrent of lies, swearing him to secrecy for the time being so they could plan their next move together.

She claimed that from her very first day in the city clinic, Alex had been pursuing her, eventually even offering her money in exchange for sex. She had refused, of course, but he persisted. Magdalena explained that she had wanted to tell Alik everything, but feared Alex would throw them out of the clinic and refuse Sara's surgery. The poor woman, forced to endure such crushing pressure alone.

"I kept giving that doctor false hope; I never gave him a flat refusal so he wouldn't complicate things for our unfortunate girl's surgery and kick us out. You have no idea what I went through. After the operation, I called you secretly to come pick us up and slipped away from the ward so he couldn't corner me. And last night... after you and the baby fell asleep, he called me and lured me outside. Alik, are you listening?" Magdalena checked, gauging his reaction.

Dazed and on the verge of sleep, Alik slowly snapped awake, a burning fury consuming him. "And then? What happened?"

"He brought me outside, Alik... under the linden tree. And... he forced himself on me. He raped me right under that tree, Alik!"

Magdalena let out a theatrical wail, her sharp eyes carefully tracking every shift in her husband's expression.

Alik leaped out of bed.

"I'll kill that little bastard! I'll slit his throat right now!" Wild with rage, he scrambled for his clothes in a blind frenzy.

"Why didn't you scream, woman?! Why didn't you call for help?!"

"I was terrified, Alik! He carries a pistol, and I was ashamed also, how could we bring such disgrace upon our family publicly? Please, calm down and let us figure out what to do. We must have our revenge, but we have to be smart about it, do you understand? We cannot let this stand, no one gets away with robbing me of my honor! But we must be clever, Alik, so no one separates us. Imagine if you hurt him, they'll arrest you, and you know the punishment for assaulting a guest in this country. Then that villain wins, and Sara will be left without her surgery. Sit down and calm yourself. We will figure this out together."

Alik listened. Lacking the capacity for deep calculation, he surrendered the entire matter into his wife's hands.

"So, what do we do? How do we handle this?" Alik asked, staring into her eyes. He was so hopelessly simple-minded that he didn't ask a single counter-question, not one of the probing inquiries Magdalena had spent the journey meticulously preparing to answer.

"I have already thought of everything. Let us sleep now, and tomorrow I will tell you in detail what we must do," she replied calmly. "Just prepare yourself to travel to the city tomorrow."

With that, they turned their backs to one another and drifted off to sleep. And Magdalena slept peacefully, without the slightest ripple of agitation.

The morning started early when Alik's wife shook him awake, pushed a quick breakfast in front of him, and sent him off toward the city. Her warning was sharp and uncompromising: "Everything depends on you. If you mess this up, we're both finished."

Alik trusted her completely, spending the entire ride running through the script she'd laid out for him.

By 11:00 A.M., he had parked his cart and mule under the shade of a linden tree near the clinic entrance. Staring over at the spot where Alex had "raped" his wife, a wave of cold anger washed over him, locking his decision into place. "My wife is smart," he thought to himself. "What a plan."

Inside the lobby, Alik marched up to reception and demanded to see Dr. Weber immediately. When Alex finally stepped out, he looked visibly uncomfortable, he definitely hadn't expected to see Alik again so soon after yesterday's discharge.

"Alik? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"Nothing's okay, doctor. It's my daughter," Alik blurted out, rattling off his rehearsed lines at breakneck speed.

"The second we got back to the village yesterday, she collapsed in pain, screaming and clutching her head. We could barely get her to calm down. She woke up this morning doing the exact same thing. You have to come back to the village with me right now, doctor."

Alex's face tightened with concern.

"Wait, why didn't you bring her in? I need to examine her here at the clinic. I can't just leave for a drive that long on short notice, Alik. Bring her to me."

"She's in too much pain to travel! I couldn't sit there and watch her suffer all the way here!" Alik put on a frantic, hysterical act, raising his voice.

"You did the surgery and you must have damaged something! You need to fix this today!"

Feeling cornered by the pressure, Alex gave in. "Fine. Give me a minute to grab my kit."

When Alex walked outside and saw the cart, he stopped.

"Wait, seriously? If this is an emergency, we can't take a mule cart. Leave it under the tree, we'll take my car."

Alik went along with it. It didn't matter how they got there, as long as he lured Alex back to the village.

As they drove, Alik glanced over at the doctor's neck, thinking more than once about cutting his throat right then and there. But his wife's strict warning echoed in his mind, keeping him in check.

Alex left in such a hurry he didn't even get a chance to let Gloria know. He tried calling her from the road, but the signal was weak and kept dropping, so he gave up, figuring he'd examine the kid quickly and head straight back.

As they drove, he kept voicing what could possibly go wrong with Sara.

"Honestly, pain or complications like this almost never happen at this stage post-surgery," he mused.

Alik cut him off, his voice laced with venom.

"Look, doctor, I'm not a doctor. All I know is you messed up, and you're the one who's got to fix my poor girl."

The hostile tone caught Alex off guard, setting off quiet alarm bells.

"Look," Alex reassured him, trying to keep things civil, "I'm confident this pain has nothing to do with the operation. But if it comes to it, I'll bring her back in my car and get her taken care of at the hospital."

Poor Alex had no idea what kind of trap he was driving into.

Alik knew that according to the plan, he was supposed to lure the doctor into the house, Magdalena would poison his tea, and then they would place his corpse inside his own car and roll it, along with the vehicle, down the first ravine on the road leading toward the city.

Everyone would perceive it as a car accident, and no one would cast suspicion on them. Not a single question crossed Alik's mind: What if the doctor doesn't drink the tea? Or what if the poison doesn't affect him, what happens then? He blindly trusted the murder planned by his "smart" wife.

They soon arrived in the village. Magdalena came out to meet them and told them right at the door that the child had just fallen asleep. Alex was eager to turn back, but what could he do? He sat down at the table in the living room and began looking at his watch. At the same time, he had Magdalena go over the child's complaints once more from the beginning.

Magdalena had given Sara a sleeping aid, so she was not waking up in time. Then she convinced Alex to have some tea and told Alik, "Go and fetch some sweets from the shop."

According to the advance plan, this was a signal for Alik to bring the black cloth sacks hidden in a hole specifically dug at the end of their plot of land, so they could quickly and unnoticed place poisoned Alex's body into the car.

As soon as Alik stepped out, Magdalena brought in the poured tea, quickly set it on the table, locked the door, and rushed over to Alex.

"Alex, my Alex, I didn't have time to warn you. Alik found out everything about us and is planning revenge! He made up the story about the child being sick."

"What are you saying, Magdalena? What are you talking about?" Alex went mad with panic and grew deeply agitated.

"Alik is determined to kill you. I know for sure that it's true. He spent the whole night planning this with his father. Now he's gone to fetch an axe, Alex! Save yourself! Think of something, or he'll kill you and throw me in alongside you!" the woman wailed, scratching her face.

"Yes, but who told him? Who else knew besides you?"

"I don't know, doctor, I don't know! He knows everything in detail and he is enraged. Now he'll come up and kill you together with his father. I know it for a fact! Let's run, Alex, we still have a chance to get rid of them and escape together with Sara. You will save me, won't you, doctor? You'll take me away from here, won't you?"

Alex roughly pushed away the woman clinging to his knees.

"Have you lost your mind, Magdalena? This is no time for that! Didn't I explain to you that everything between us is over?"

"When Alik comes, I will explain everything to him and speak to him like a man. If he doesn't listen to my reason, I'm no coward either and I'll defend myself. But it's better we do it another way, Magdalena. We have to deny everything, understand?!" Alex shook her.

Magdalena's crying intensified.

"It's already too late, they are coming to kill you! If you want to defend yourself, here is a second axe, and as soon as he steps in, get straight to business, otherwise the two of them will overpower you. If you survive, they'll drag you to the village center and publicly lynch you. Otherwise, they'll hang your corpse on a tree as an example for the predators."

Poor Alex, so utterly overwhelmed by the stress, believed the manipulative woman and picked up the axe. Magdalena hid behind the door in the middle of the room.

The sound of Alik's footsteps drew near, though to Alex's surprise, he heard the footsteps of only one person, even though Magdalena had told him he would come with his father.

Confused, Alex felt a flicker of doubt, but there was no time to figure things out; he did not move from his spot and waited.

Alik pulled down the door handle, but found it locked. He pulled hard two or three times, and when it didn't open, he began pounding heavily on it.

At that moment, Magdalena let out a terrifying scream:

"Help me, Alik! The doctor is assaulting me again! Let go of me, you bastard, let go!" she shrieked from somewhere inside.

Alex stared in complete shock and made no attempt to silence her, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Outside, Alik was roaring and swearing, while inside Magdalena was screaming for help, though she was in no need of saving.

Alex realized everything and prepared for the decisive fight.

Finally, Alik kicked down the house door. He took his first step inside cautiously, axe indeed at the ready, because "the doctor was raping his wife."

Terrified, Alex swung the second axe, the one Magdalena had given him, at his head with all his strength. He aimed for the head, but it struck Alik in the neck, opening his main artery, and blood began to flow like a waterfall. Before he even hit the ground, Alik was already dead.

"Magdalena, why did you do this? Why did you set your husband against me?" The enraged Alex rushed over to the woman, who was struck mute with shock and muttering to herself:

"Alik is dead... Alik is no more... Alik is no more..."

Alex left her alone, deciding to get away from there as quickly as possible. But he hesitated to step outside, thinking Alik's father might be lurking somewhere nearby in ambush, and he didn't want to kill another human being.

He took off his glasses to wipe off the blood and began searching for his phone, cursing his fate, poor soul, for getting dragged into such a mess. He found the phone and sat down at the table to call. His throat parched with anxiety, and he drained his entire cup of tea.

Within seconds, he felt terrible. He could no longer breathe, felt an inhuman pain in his chest area, and finally began to gasp... and it was over.

Even if Alex hadn't drunk the tea, Magdalena had a long, thin knife ready to plunge into his heart. Alex had simply made the job easier for her.

She had given the poison to her parents-in-law a little earlier, and the old couple died in their sleep. She tucked them both into bed as if they had fallen asleep after a delicious meal.

Once Magdalena regained a bit of composure, she slowly and agonizingly dragged Alik's corpse out and placed it in the front passenger seat of Alex's car. Then she managed to stuff Alex's corpse into the driver's seat. It was an immense struggle, and sweat poured off her, but she managed. Then she turned back into the house and cleaned the bloodstains thoroughly with a large brush she had bought in advance.

No one lived nearby because Alik's family, as wealthy merchants with a large land, enjoyed a vast estate and had built their house at the far end of a several-hectare plot of land. Therefore, Magdalena did not fear witnesses.

However, amidst all this effort, she felt someone's gaze upon her. She looked around and saw Niko, the mentally impaired guard of their field, standing among the wheat crops, staring blankly at her with a crazy smile playing on his face. Putting her finger to her lips, Magdalena made her signature gesture, signaling him to keep quiet. Smiling, Niko nodded from afar, agreeing.

It was already dusk when Magdalena finished the task, sat down at the table, and wiped away her sweat. The child was still asleep. Then she picked up the phone and called the clinic.

"Hello nurse, can I please speak with Dr. Alex?"

"Dr. Alex is not at the clinic. Who is speaking?"

"I am Magdalena, Sara's mother. Dr. Alex and my husband, Alik, set off together from the village toward the clinic in the city. My husband left a cart there under a tree, hitched to a mule, and was supposed to bring it back. But my husband hasn't returned yet. Perhaps the doctor knows something?"

The cold-blooded Magdalena disguised herself masterfully.

"The doctor is not here, as I already told you. He left this morning and hasn't returned. What did he need at your place?"

The nurse on duty inquired about the details, and Magdalena recounted in thorough detail how her husband had visited Alex to have the child examined, how her husband had left the cart near the clinic to travel faster by car, how the doctor had examined the child in the village, given a prescription, and returned back toward the city. And that her husband had accompanied him again to retrieve the cart, because surely, he wouldn't leave the mule there, right?

"Now I'm calling because Alik's parents apparently picked some mushrooms, ate them, and both are very sick, and I am alone and don't know what to do."

The clinic's duty officer said they would send an ambulance, which would take about 40 minutes to arrive at the location. "As soon as Alex appears, we will ask him to contact you."

Magdalena had only 40 minutes. Just as she was getting into the car parked near the dugout, someone put a hand on her shoulder. Magdalena shrieked in fear. She turned around, and Niko was standing in front of her with flashing eyes. Snot, drool, dirt… everything was merged on his face, and with drool pooling, he looked at the woman's chest. Magdalena understood what Niko wanted; she turned around, pulled up her dress, and bent over the hood of the car.

"Quickly, I'm in a hurry," was the only thing she said to Niko.

Niko squeezed her breasts and massaged her buttocks for a good while, then pulled out his dick and slipped it straight into Magdalena, causing intolerable pain. Since she was in a huge hurry, she offered no resistance, as long as he finished the business quickly.

When it was all over, Magda warned him once more: "If you say anything anywhere, you will never see me again."

She started the car and drove toward the exit of the village. She didn't know how to drive well, couldn't figure out how to turn on the headlights, and in the dark, she almost overturned into a ravine herself.

She reached the designated spot shortly; it was the largest ravine she knew of.

From the canister she had brought along, she poured kerosene near the fuel tank of the car, released the handbrake, and stepped away very quickly from the car rolling down toward the ravine, a car carrying two corpses.

The car rolled down, overturned, and with the sound of smashing and crashing, barely reached the bottom of the abyss before exploding.

Magda wanted to watch until it burned completely, but she had no time left; she had to return home immediately.

Magdalena returned home; the child was awake, but couldn't stand on her feet from weakness. She picked her up, put a piece of bread in her hand, and caressed the child, at which moment her mobile phone rang.

"Magdalena, is that you? I'm calling to inform you that the ambulance crew will be a bit delayed. As we were told, they came across a car accident on the road and had to stop. How are your parents?"

From the other end of the receiver came Magdalena's indifferent, frozen voice:

"You don't need to hurry anymore, Doctor. The parents have passed away. I left their room to feed my child, and when I returned, they were no longer breathing. Both... have died."

Magdalena burst into tears.

"Calm down, my dear, perhaps you are mistaken and they have fallen into a coma. I will notify the ambulance right away to hurry; there's nothing to be done for the passengers of that car anyway, they have been reduced to ashes, poor things. I didn't want you to learn this from me now, but high likely, that is Dr. Alex's car, Alex Weber's. And the remains of two corpses were found in the vehicle. We don't know for certain yet, but since you mentioned your husband accompanied him to the city, I am warning you."

Magdalena put on a well-disguised hysterical cry. She rushed outside and had to scream and wail for a long time before her voice reached the first neighbor.

Thus, did Magdalena mourn her parents-in-law and husband in public. But Alex she mourned silently in her heart.

And just a few days later, Niko, the field guard, was also found dead in Magdalena's field; "died of a heart attack," the fellow villagers concluded. But Magdalena always suspected that Niko had always been stalking her while bathing, from the wheat field.

No one suspected anything, no one asked questions; after all, the police in Bostana existed only nominally and committed severe crimes themselves.

A few months later, Magdalena was notified by phone, that a donor for Sara's plastic surgery had been found, and their trip to Europe would be fully funded. 

The bloody housewife sold everything, including her father-in-law's estate, and decided to move to Europe permanently. Into her suitcase, she packed her handmade souvenirs, textiles she used as clothing, and most importantly, her childhood dolls. She still loved playing with them to this day and could never part with the emotionless, speechless dolls her aunt Tamia had given her.

Before leaving, she visited her parents' house, with whom she had intentionally avoided contact for several years. Her father had grown old and seemed to regret his harshness toward his daughters.

Magdalena's brother, though physically normal, developed worsening mental problems as time passed; he was ten years old and still unable to speak.

When the father saw Magdalena, he begged her through tears, "Perhaps you could take care of your brother too, just as you healed Sara?"

"Isn't there a cure for muteness, my child? We saw that there is, didn't we?" her father pleaded.

Magdalena stared at her father with frozen eyes and laughed.

"Yes, there is, Father. But do you think I would go through the same agony for his sake as I did for Sara's? I am leaving this place. I will heal Sara, and I will heal all the wounds you inflicted on me, and I will never think of you again, Father. As for you, you will live in this dump, in hopelessness and cruelty, just as you forced me to live."

Her sick father died a few days later.

And so, Magdalena settled in Europe. Sara underwent surgery, and her facial defect was corrected. Magdalena successfully built a small business, earning enough to easily secure their daily bread. Yet her animal passions and terrifying desire to punish people had gone nowhere.

She never returned to the village, calling only her aunt periodically, the only person she ever helped. She no longer remembered her own sisters either, having never considered them true friends.

She erased everything from her mind, as if she had never lived there, as if she had never fallen in love with Alex and then taken revenge on him. Had anyone reminded Magdalena of the atrocities she committed in that village, she would never have believed that it was she who had done it all.