CHAPTER 1: JUST THE BEGINNING

"Good morning, New Orleans. The sun hasn't risen, but the day has begun. The forecast for today, February 15th, 1946, calls for heavy rain, so grab your raincoat or umbrella and have a great day!"

And another day dawns in the city of New Orleans, which has been experiencing heavy rain for the past three days, causing a certain stir among some merchants who plan to sell various products during Mardi Gras. The past few years have been tough because the event was canceled during World War II, and many merchants lost their most profitable day. But this year, things will be different, or at least that's what everyone believes. "Ah, damn radio. Every day, my neighbor plays it so loudly just to wake up other people," - muttered Alextrov Morosova.

Still rubbing his eyes, Alextrov looks out of his window and realizes that it will be another rainy day. Although he's on vacation from his job as a professional boxer, he would at least like to go for a run and exercise outside, but the rainy day has dashed his hopes.

Getting out of bed in his pajamas, Alextrov leaves his room and notices that his parents are downstairs, engaged in conversation while listening to the radio.

"Well, dear, at least we won't have to water the garden plants. The rain is taking care of that for us,"- says Mikhail Morosova, the family's father. He is a man in his fifties, standing at approximately 1.90 meters tall, with blond hair, blue eyes, a graying beard, and most of the time, he thinks positively.

"When we lived in Russia, there wasn't so much rain, and it didn't disrupt our commute to work, but at least we live in a wealthy area here," - Anna Morosova, the family matriarch, retorted. She is a gentle woman with brown hair, deep eyes, a slender body, and a height of 1.84 meters.

As they heard someone coming down the stairs, they turned to see who it was and realized it was their son, Alextrov.

"Ah, it's you, Alextrov. We thought it was your sister, Yelena, but it seems she's not showing any signs of improvement, despite the medications prescribed," - Mikhail and Anna said.

"I thought she had already come downstairs, but it seems I'll have to take her food up," - Alextrov replied.

Alextrov goes to the toaster, takes two slices of toast, fries two eggs, and grabs some orange juice from the fridge. With a tray in hand, he carries everything to the second floor of the house, to his sister's room. Knocking on the door, he hears a very weak voice telling him he can come in.

As he enters the room, he realizes that he has just woken up his sister, Yelena, a 20-year-old girl who, two weeks ago, radiated health but now has lost at least 8 kilograms. Her clothes hang loosely on her, her face is pale, dry, and her sunken eyes exude an air of debilitation. Her room is dark, illuminated only by a window, but with the gloomy weather, it can hardly be called illumination.

"It's you, Alextrov. I'm sorry for being like this. You had to bring me food. I'm sorry," - Yelena says.

"Don't worry, I was going to make it for myself anyway. Making it for one more person is not a problem. You need to focus on getting better. You're almost my height, but your weight is way below normal. On top of that, you've been fainting, so you must eat well and not skip meals," - Alextrov says.

After that, Alextrov opens his sister's wardrobe and hands her some clothes for her to change into. Then he leaves the room and goes downstairs again to talk to his parents. The rain and thunder make the atmosphere in the house very heavy, and due to the poor natural lighting, the house becomes quite dark, illuminated only by the windows and occasional flashes of lightning.

"All right, I've delivered her food. But how did all of this start? Two weeks ago, she was perfectly fine and happy, and then she just passed out right here," - Alextrov commented.

"Well, after she passed out, we took her to the hospital. They conducted some tests, and everything seemed fine. We scheduled another appointment for another day, and her test results came back normal. But she kept having these frequent fainting episodes. In addition to that, she started losing a lot of weight and saying some strange things. Even her behavior became odd. Have you ever seen her staring at the wall? It's quite unsettling," - Anna said.

"Well, I know you're not very religious, Alextrov, but Anna, your mother, and I are quite religious. Yelena thinks she may be undergoing some divine punishment or satanic possession. She asked us to call a priest, and we agreed. He will come this afternoon. If the medications haven't worked, it's likely something spiritual or something of that nature, so it's worth looking into," - Mikhail adds.

Even though he was unhappy with what he had just heard, Alextrov accepted the decisions that had been made, or at least that's what everyone thought.

After breakfast, his parents left to go grocery shopping since they had run out of rice and pasta. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Alextrov went to the phone and, after his parents' departure, dialed a number and asked:

"Hello? Is this Dr. Walter?"

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Continued in the next chapter...