Kukomoya

Once, in the village, they called messes—dirty, unkempt people—“kukomoi.” Mysterious creatures that frightened the residents of Bilocerkovsky settlement also got the nickname kukomoi. But are they truly people? Their empty faces, stripped of any human features, are as black as the rags they’re wrapped in. Nobody knows what is there under those rags—bodies of flesh and blood, or darkness that has seeped in from the other side of the supernatural world.

These wordless creatures make strange sounds: they can howl like an animal or scream like birds. Hearing bird song makes the villagers anxiously look around: could it be that a kukomoi has crept near their homes? They know this—if someone notices a singing kukomoi near a house, then soon someone from that household will disappear.

That’s what happened with Anton’s grandfather—rumors said a kukomoi took him. Soon after, Anton had to bury his grandmother: she fell into a well and drowned. Returning to the settlement five years after the funeral, Anton tries to find out where his grandfather went and what kukomoi really are.