Darkness had already fallen over the forest, and the trees were barely visible in the twilight.
Everyone had long since retreated to their homes, warming themselves with cups of tea or preparing for bed. But in the distance, among the shadows, three silhouettes emerged.
It was an old woman, leading her grandchildren deeper and deeper into the woods.
“We’re here!” Valentina Igorevna announced loudly, almost cheerfully.
“They told me you are evil and must be gotten rid of quickly!”
The boy frowned.
“Grandma, why are we evil?”
“Silence! You’ll turn into worms and devour others!” she snapped, but then immediately softened, stroked their heads, and began to cry.
“Don’t worry, your mother will thank me for ridding her of you,” the woman whispered.
She sat on the ground and began to dig a hole with her hands.
When she finished, she placed an old broom inside—as if symbolizing what was supposed to happen there.
“Grandma, I’m cold… Let’s go home,” the girl asked.
Those words touched something inside the woman. She suddenly burst out laughing.
“No! You killed your mother, so you’ll stay here. You’ll never go home again!” she shouted, stood up, and quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Anya began to cry. Her brother put his arm around her shoulders and led her along a path, hoping to find their way back to people.
They were shivering from the cold—their grandmother had dressed them completely inappropriately for a night in the forest.
Nadezhda had just finished sorting through garbage at the dump.
She carefully collected the most valuable finds and loaded them into a cart.
Her little house was far from the forest—a lonely but familiar place.
Not long ago, she had married a man she deeply loved.
But he was an alcoholic and a master liar, claiming he had once been a sea captain.
Nadya was a hard worker—she worked as a milkmaid at a collective farm and took on odd jobs to make their life a bit more comfortable.
But every penny she earned, her husband would find and spend on booze with friends.
Nadya had two children, whom she often took with her to work.
Gradually, her patience wore thin. Even such a strong woman could no longer endure endless drunkenness.
She decided to divorce him, collected the paperwork, but made one big mistake—she didn’t take the children with her.
That very day, her coworker fell ill, and Nadya had to take her shift.
Her husband was sober at home, and the children were asleep.
But as soon as Nadya left, Nikolai started drinking again.
He closed the chimney flue too early, and the whole family was poisoned by carbon monoxide.
Nadezhda couldn’t cope with the tragedy—she lost her mind from grief.
She wandered the cemetery for days, lost all meaning in life, and eventually began drinking herself.
Over time, she was fired from her job and evicted. That’s how she ended up living at the dump.
One evening, in a state of deep depression, Nadya headed to an old factory to warm up and make tea.
Suddenly, she heard children crying. She stopped. Walked closer.
On a tree stump sat two small, freezing children. The boy was trying to convince his sister to get up and keep walking, but the girl wouldn’t budge.
“Kids, how did you get here?” the woman asked in surprise.
“We don’t belong to anyone… Grandma left us in the forest. She said we bring misfortune. Our mom is dead—she died in the hospital. That’s how Anya and I ended up here,” the boy replied.
Nadya couldn’t believe her ears.
“Come, I’ll feed you, warm you up. Don’t be afraid of me. I had kids your age once too… I couldn’t protect them… I lost them…” she cried.
The children weren’t scared. What did they have left to lose? They followed the woman.
Soon they were in a building that became their warmth and refuge.
Nadya put the kids to bed, covered them with a thick blanket.
She sat beside them, looking at them for a long time—as if she saw her own children in their faces.
“I won’t leave you in trouble. You’ve suffered enough. As long as I’m alive, I won’t let you end up in an orphanage,” she whispered to herself.
Then she took out her own children’s birth certificates from a hiding spot and sat in thought.
Only by morning was she able to get a little sleep.
In the morning, Nadya washed up, got ready, and firmly took the children by the hand.
Together, they went to the train station. A new life was beginning for all three.
At the same moment the children were abandoned in the forest, their real mother was beside herself.
Liliya was a beautiful woman—only twenty-six.
She had many admirers but chose Dmitry—a kind and caring man.
She had finished university, gotten a job as the head of a kindergarten, and had two children.
Her mother, a high-ranking official in early childhood education, had helped her achieve all this.
But over time, Dmitry changed. Having tasted stability and comfort, he turned from a kind, down-to-earth man into a selfish snob.
When offered a job abroad, he left, promising to return for the family.
That promise was empty—he disappeared from their lives forever.
Feeling guilty for the broken family, Liliya’s mother turned to religion.
But she chose the wrong path—falling under the influence of a cult.
Under their pressure, she lost her sanity and signed over all her property to the “spiritual mentors.”
Liliya tried to save her mother, but all her efforts were in vain.
One day, on her way home from daycare with her children, Liliya was hit by a motorcyclist at a crosswalk.
Fortunately, the children were unharmed, but she was urgently hospitalized.
She underwent a complex surgery, but her main concern was her children—how were they doing with Grandma?
Meanwhile, Valentina Igorevna—her mother—had completely lost touch with reality. She spent all her time at “spiritual meetings” and hadn’t shown any interest in her grandchildren for a month.
Liliya knew: if she confessed her fears at the hospital, social services would label them an unfit family and take the children away.
She had no idea of the terrible things her mother had already done.
As soon as she was slightly recovered, Liliya escaped from the hospital.
During her absence, Valentina had sold everything valuable in the apartment.
The woman had gone completely mad—wandering around the house naked, laughing for no reason…
But worst of all—the children were gone.
When Liliya asked where her grandchildren were, her mother only sobbed and laughed hysterically.
Liliya had no choice but to commit her mother to a psychiatric clinic, where she was diagnosed as insane.
Over time, Liliya began to recover.
She managed to return to work. There were moments when she contemplated ending her life, but something inside always stopped her.
It was during this period that a woman named Nadezhda came to apply for a job at her kindergarten.
It was the very woman who had found and taken in her children in the forest.
Nadya had decided to radically change her life—move to the city and start fresh.
Until then, she and the children had lived wherever they could—at the train station, at the dacha of an old man they helped with chores.
But the season ended, and although he regretted it, he had to ask them to leave—the water and electricity would be shut off in winter.
Seeing a job posting for a kindergarten assistant, Nadya came for an interview.
She introduced the children as her own—they matched the ages.
But as soon as she entered the director’s office, Liliya fainted.
“Mommy! Our dear mommy!” the children cried and rushed to her, kissing her hands, hair, face.
Nadya stood there confused, not understanding what was happening.
Once Liliya heard the whole story, she didn’t blame Nadya for what she had done. On the contrary—she accepted her as family.
Two women, who had endured unimaginable hardships, found in each other support, warmth, and peace.
Liliya had her children again, and Nadya became a second mother to them—the grandmother of Danil and Anya.
