The Bells of Bucha
Each Halloween night, the people of Bucha heard the ghost-bells of St. Mykhailo’s church—a church long destroyed, its tower gone, yet the bells still rang through the mist.
They said:
“When you hear them, stay inside. Never follow.”
But Kateryna couldn’t obey. Her brother, Petro, had never returned from the war. When the bells began that night, she walked into the fog, candle trembling in her hand.
At the ruins, a shadow waited—a soldier’s figure with empty eyes.
“Petro?” she whispered.
“I couldn’t leave,” he said softly. “Remember me… and I’ll rest.”
The candle’s light wavered, and countless ghostly soldiers appeared, tolling unseen bells in the dark.
By morning, the village awoke to silence. For the first time in years, the bells of Bucha did not ring.
And on Kateryna’s windowsill, her candle still burned—steady as peace finally found.
stake id; tnew