After the death of his father, Pavel couldn't access the inherited garage for a long time due to more pressing matters. When a free weekend arrived, he decided to clean up, discard unnecessary trash, and contemplate a worthy use for the real estate. Personally, he didn't particularly need a garage; he kept his car under the house. Besides, there was no need to go to the edge of the city where it was located.
During the cleaning process, among various old items and unnecessary utensils, he found it: a small humanoid figure about thirty centimeters high. It somewhat resembled the bas-reliefs of the Incas or Aztecs shown on TV. Black in color, made of an unknown but very durable material, it initially seemed like stone or iron. However, the figure was too light. It had a disproportionately large square head with bulging round eyes, a huge rectangular mouth, and monstrous teeth, with small arms folded on the chest. The figure was covered with strange writings and what looked like small drawings depicting scenes of bloody violence. The origin of this figurine was unclear.
After some thought, Pavel concluded that his father had brought it from a business trip to Cuba when Pasha was very young. It seemed like it had nowhere else to come from. It was unlikely that his father would buy such a thing locally, and Pasha didn't remember being given something like that. Anyway, the thing was intriguing, and Pavel decided to take it home for decoration.
No sooner said than done. Upon arriving home, he placed the idol, as he dubbed it to himself, on the chest of drawers and immediately forgot about it. Only Pavel's pet, a German shepherd named Dobryak, somehow shrank and whined at the sight of the idol, hiding behind the owner's back.
That same night, a terrible and inexplicable event occurred. Pasha was never particularly afraid of the dark or loneliness, except at a very young age. He woke up in the middle of the night, feeling scared and creepy as never before in his life. It seemed like a monster lurked in every dark corner, and indeed, that's how it was. There was a howl, lingering and plaintive, full of fear and hopelessness - it was Dobryak howling.
Pasha did not remember what happened next. Apparently, he just opened the window and jumped out into the street, so scared. Fortunately, he lived only on the second floor. Pasha sat until morning on a bench near the entrance. Only at dawn did he decide to go up to the apartment. However, naturally, he didn't have the keys. A neighbor on the ninth floor and an old friend Kolya had a spare set. They had been friends since childhood, and Pasha always kept spare keys with him in case his personal set was lost.
Kolya didn't ask anything; apparently, he just hadn't woken up yet. And, yawning, he held out the necessary bunch of keys. Probably, when he finally wakes up, he will think that Pashka was just drunk. But now it didn't matter. What was important was what Pasha saw when he got into the apartment. The entire ceiling and all the walls in his room were splattered with blood. He could not even imagine that a living creature could have so much blood, except for an elephant. In addition, in the middle of all this bloody hell lay Dobryak, his German shepherd. His chest was torn apart, as if he had just given birth to a monster from the movie Alien. Alternatively, somebody just wanted to rip out his heart. The idol, as if nothing had happened, stood on the chest of drawers. That same morning Pasha took him back to the garage.
Several years have passed. Pasha's small business has developed into a small but fully functional company. Money appeared. Pasha transformed into Pavel Alekseevich, even started wearing a tie, something he had never seen before. Got married, and together with his wife, he moved to a new, more spacious apartment on the twentieth floor of a prestigious new building.
They lived normally for a couple of years. And then the problems started. It doesn't matter how it happened or who is to blame. Only things were heading towards the now inevitable divorce. Moreover, this threatened Pavel Alekseevich not only with moral, but also with quite material problems. Without going into legal details, we can say that he would have to give half of his money and other assets to his wife. There was, of course, no prenuptial agreement that would have stated otherwise. Pasha didn't want to share at all. It was money earned by him and only him.
It was then that he remembered the black idol kept in the garage. The plan was simple, and Pavel immediately began to implement it. Under the guise of a gift from employees, the idol was transported home and placed on a shelf. And that same evening Pavel was already going on a business trip, leaving his wife at home alone...
"Horrible! Believe me, I sympathize with you so much," Sveta said, stroking Pavel's hand.
They were sitting in a cafe not far from his house. Sveta was his wife's best friend. And now, after his wife's sudden and mysterious death, she considered it her duty to support and reassure the grief-stricken Pavel in every possible way.
- What a terrible death! - she said, looking into Pavel's eyes. - And there's more than one here. Two corpses were found in the apartment. Her and some other young man. Pavel, I'm very, very sorry.
Her big eyes looked tenderly and persistently.
A year later, they got married. This time Pavel was smarter. And the marriage contract was drawn up in such a way that in the event of a divorce, everyone remained with their own. Only in the event of the death of one of the spouses, all property and money went to the other. Now Pavel Alekseevich could not fear for his acquired wealth.
About another year passed. Pavel returned home in a good mood. Today was his birthday. And here's a pleasant surprise. Sveta, his new wife, had to go on a business trip. This business trip could not be postponed. She was very sorry that she would not be able to congratulate him in person. She promised to call. She said she would leave the gift at home. Moreover, he was only glad. Pavel was already looking forward to how he would invite Kolya, and they would sit over a bottle of cognac, like in the good old days.
In the living room, on the coffee table, a gift was waiting for him - a small box wrapped in gift paper and a card. Glancing over the card, full of banal outpourings of love and devotion, he tore the paper from the box and opened it. A small black figure stood in front of him. Thirty centimeters high. It resembled an enlarged copy of the Indian demons he had seen in the Hermitage. A multi-armed and multi-legged monster frozen in an absurd dance. With a large head, huge round eyes, and a wide-open mouth dotted with triangular teeth. The entire figure was painted with small bas-reliefs depicting scenes of violence.