Daria is eleven years old now. She is a very serious young lady. Everyone she knows calls her Dasha, but she only calls herself by her full name. Of course, she's an adult. Still, there are things that still surprise her. Like today, her grandmother called and said that if Daria wants, she can go to the flea market with her grandmother this weekend. And Daria wants to go because, first of all, she has never been there before and secondly, she wanted to surprise her family by buying some new toys for the Christmas tree. And at this flea market you can surely find unusual ones.
- Daria, get ready! - Mom's calling her - Grandma's here!
- I'm coming!" and Daria races to the door. As the door closes behind her, her mother says:
- She's as happy as a little girl! What did she want at the flea market?
To be honest, that's what Daria thought of the flea market:
- I'll take the Christmas decorations, if there are any, and we'll go home.
When she got there, her eyes just went wide. At first. But then she took a closer look, and it turned out that there was nothing interesting there. At least, there were no Christmas toys. Daria had already decided that she had come there for nothing, when suddenly she saw a poster about a marionette show. She tugged her grandmother's sleeve:
- Bah, look! It's on tonight! Can I go?
- But you weren't even interested in such things when you were a child, - the grandmother was surprised - although, - she added, seeing her granddaughter's begging look - okay, go - she gave Daria some money and let her go.
The performance was to be at the local house of culture, which was not far from the flea market. Daria arrived in advance and decided to take a little walk through the corridors. By the way, there were almost no people there - the audience could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
- Well, good," Daria thought, "no one will interfere.
She was walking down the corridor, and suddenly she heard a voice behind one of the doors. At first Daria didn't understand what he was saying (and she wasn't sure she was imagining it), so she listened.
- Help... save me..." someone asked in a thin voice.
- I'll look in," Daria decided, "in any case, there's nothing dangerous going on in there, and most likely someone is just rehearsing - And she opened the door.
Daria found herself in a room that no one could rehearse anything at all - because it was dark... and completely empty.
- Interesting picture - thought Daria - and then who was calling for help?
But then the voice came again, and Daria realized it was coming from somewhere on the shelf. There were many strange objects on the shelf, and when Daria picked up one of the boxes, the voice came again. The box was slightly larger than Daria's hand. When Daria opened it, some strange creature flew out of it. There was more than one.
- Ah! - Daria shouted when she saw them - Who are you? Ghosts?
- Almost no one here remembers their names," began the one who apparently shouted "Help! - but I still remember that my name is Misha, and I also remember my mother and the house where I lived.
- How did you all get here?
- We were lured here by the puppeteer. He saw that we were often bored, so he lured us here. After the show, he called us backstage... I don't remember what happened next... That's how I ended up here.
- Is there any way to get you out of here? - Daria asked.
- The puppeteer has a small chest in his room," the other ghost began, "that no one has ever seen. And if we can find the key to that chest, we'll be saved. No one told me, but I know. And hurry up, you don't have much time, only three days.
- Do you know what's in that box? - Daria wanted to ask, but the ghosts heard a noise in the corridor and hid.
Daria left the room and ran into some old woman with sly eyes.
- What are you doing here? - She asked in a squeaky voice.
- Nothing. I'm looking for Tu-alet. Here. - Daria answered stammering.
- It's in the other direction," the old woman replied and chuckled nastily. Daria grimaced.
- What a person, I should stay away from her, she thought. But, fortunately, the play had already started. And Daria went into the auditorium.
The play told the story of a girl Sophie who lived with her grandparents. But when Sophie grew up, she was taken away and her grandparents were forbidden to see her. The grandfather did not sit idly by and decided to find a brigade of helpers from the children who lived in their town. He decided that it should be the most intelligent, kind and hardworking children of the town. By the way, almost all of these helpers had to be boys. Grandma helped him in his search, too. But... the end of this story had a sad ending: they didn't find anyone who fit that description. Not a boy, not even a girl. But grandfather and grandmother still don't give up hope that Sonya (who has already grown up) will come home someday.
Daria liked the story, even though it was sad. But there was one thing she couldn't understand:
- What kind of a man is this puppeteer," thought Daria, "worse than an ogre himself, and yet he tells good stories?
Back in the room with the ghosts (for some reason she was sure that both the casket and the key were there), Daria continued to think about it. And suddenly, because of a sudden guess, she almost fell down. The grandfather in the story is the puppeteer! All these years (and the story was not new) he had been telling the story of his life! But then where is the grandmother? Is she not alive anymore? And then Daria realized everything. That unpleasant old woman she had seen before the performance was Sophia's grandmother!
- But," Daria thought suddenly, "how could there be something here that the puppeteer and his wife didn't know about? It could be, unless... unless Sofya came here, couldn't meet her grandfather and grandmother (or she wasn't allowed to, or perhaps she was tricked) and sent them a parcel through someone she knew. But just what could it be?
Daria turned on the flashlight on her phone and shone it. Okay, what do we have here? Boxes, boxes, boxes... What's this?
In the corner near the shelves stood...a puppet that was an exact replica of the puppeteer's granddaughter, and it was a regular puppet. Not a puppet. And at the bottom, underneath the doll's feet was a sign that said Sophie. And next to it... next to it was a chest and a small key on a chain. Daria decided to try to open it. It worked, so there was no mistake. And as soon as Daria put the key into the lock, the lid of the chest opened and....
Usually these chests turn out to be jewelry boxes. Sometimes musical. This box could make a sound, too. But it wasn't music at all.
- Grandpa, it's me, your granddaughter Sonia. If you and grandmother want to meet me... - Then Sonia gave the address and phone number where she could be reached. At the end she added: "I will be waiting for you very much.
- So that's how it is! - shrieked the puppeteer, who had not been noticed by Daria - She wanted to meet me! And waited all these years... And I, the old fool, didn't know it... And I tortured other people's children. - With these words, the puppeteer rushed to release the ghosts, and Daria... found herself at home.
- Mom," she asked, "did Grandma and I go to the flea market?
- Flea market? - Mom was surprised. What would you do there? There's nothing interesting there.
***
That's the story. Daria never realized whether it was real or not. But she did find some new toys on the tree.
The end