She Is in My Heart

New Year in a winter forest… Spruce trees dusted with snow, the setting sun in a light haze… The beauty here took my breath away. And then… In the first seconds we didn’t even understand what was in front of us. A huge old pine, from whose lower branch… an angel was hanging. A crystal toy the size of a person, outstretched wings, head hanging down, long white curls. The angel swayed slowly, and in the air there seemed to ring a barely audible chime, as if from a multitude of tiny bells. I stared, bewitched, at the figure suspended from the pine. The crystal toy turned out to be a girl. Dead. A layer of snow covered her, and her dazzling white hair sparkled in the rays of the winter sun. And her face… Half-transparent, like rare porcelain. I could barely stay on my feet because suddenly I understood—on the dead girl’s face was my own…