Until she was eleven, Diana was growing up to be a perfectly normal child. Cheerful and sociable has always been at the center of all school events. There were always many friends around her. The daughter of wealthy parents, she never needed anything. Life for her was a gift from God, but there is a limit to everything.

Diana sat in an easy chair, took off her wig and thoughtfully looked at the reflection in the mirror. She had long been accustomed to her faceless image, to her frightening appearance. Only here, alone with her reflection, did she turn into an ordinary person. A person capable of compassion and great love. After all, she could be kind, beautiful. Yes, and was very beautiful, but only up to eleven years.

Once, on one of the autumn evenings, she, as usual, returned home from school with a friend. The evening did not foretell to be unusual. From school to home no more than a hundred meters. They walked along a familiar alley, discussing the problems of the past day, how a car stopped nearby.

- Girls! You do not know how to get to Gorky? - from the window of the gray "Volga" called them a young woman of about thirty.

“Aunty, it's on the other side of the city,” a friend hastened to reply. - If you want, we will show you - she was glad to ride on this luxurious car.

- I will be very grateful to you, - the stranger smiled affably. - Sit down!

- Dean, let's go, - the Light did not dare to sit down alone.

Diana, for whom the car was not a curiosity, hastened to refuse, citing the prohibitions of parents. Rumors about abduction of children for ransom began to appear in newspapers. Parents were worried about their only daughter, warning her of the dangers.

- Do not worry you. You will only show me, and I will quickly bring you back, ”the stranger assured in a gentle, motherly voice. - However, if you have no time, sorry. I myself will try to find.

Diana was at a loss. On the one hand, the prohibitions of parents, on the other hand, pity for a friend and trustworthy appearance of a charming stranger. And she succumbed.

By ten o'clock in the evening, the entire police had been raised to their feet. They were searched everywhere, both in basements and among friends. Different versions were worked out, including kidnapping for ransom, but the searches were not successful. The next day, on local television, the missing children were announced. Citizens who know anything are asked to help. Those who were distraught with the sympathy of the audience were watched from the screen by photographs of two pretty girls, one of whom recognized the daughter of a high-ranking official unmistakably. Half an hour later a phone call rang out at the police station. A liftersha from a nearby porch reported that she had seen her friends in the gray Volga last night, but she didn’t remember her car number. For the parents of both girls came the dreadful days. Oleg Vasilyevich, Dianin’s father, having left the business, did not leave the police station, responding with hope to every phone call, but there were no more calls for girls. Three days from the date of abduction, passed like a fog. The parents were already desperate to see the children, as a telephone call rang in Oleg's apartment.

- Alo! - He grabbed the phone, dropping the device. - Any news?

“You shouldn't have done that,” he heard an unfamiliar soft voice. - It was not worth it, was to attract the police. I think we can agree on everything ourselves. In your mailbox is a tape cassette, take seriously what is written on it.

- What's with my daughter? - but the phone answered with intermittent beeps.

The major on duty on the telephone called the special department.

- Well? Recorded? Where did they call from? From the machine on the Kirov. Oper group in place? Good...

A minute later, Oleg Vasilyevich, breathless, stood in the doorway with a cassette in his hand. The major was not embarrassed by such haste of the unfortunate father. It was naive to believe that the criminal left the "fingers".

Muffled by some object, the dynamics of a tape recorder lying on a round table, surrounded by prosecutors, monotonously escaped faceless speech. All silently listened to a fuzzy, specially distorted recording. Thieves demanded money, and considerable. One hundred thousand green. In detail, to the smallest detail was outlined the exchange scheme.

- The main thing is that without the cops. Note the tail, you will not see children. Think carefully before you act recklessly - on a high note the monologue ended, and then, through the tears, there was a clear childish speech.

- Dad! Sweet! Get us out of here. I'm scared, we are beaten, - and the speaker fell silent.

Urgently operational activities were carried out. Thoroughly studied the place of the proposed exchange, the possible options for the approach and departure of criminals. The criminals were obviously impudent, choosing to meet a small park on all sides surrounded by highways with heavy traffic, in the very center of a big city. Roads and the park were securely blocked. Many people have a doubt, maybe this is just a test? And, just in case, in order not to attract much attention, we decided to remove part of the cordon. But, from different sides of the park watched dozens of attentive eyes. For a quarter from the park in full readiness, there were cars equipped for spying. In the dining room on the contrary, a professional capture group. Everything was ready to be seized if the children were with criminals, or to be followed if they were not near.

Exactly at twelve, as indicated on the tape, Oleg Vasilyevich, with a hollow green diplomat, sat on a bench at the very edge of the park, opposite the dining room, and put the diplomat on the ground at the end of the bench, next to the hips. Observers from the dining room did not take their eyes off the diplomat. Time was treacherously slow. Oleg Vasilievich began to get nervous, and the others were worried. Soon, from a corner of a neighboring house, a gray Volga slowly pulled out. Everyone caught their breath, all eyes went to her. Volga left the highway and stopped in front of the bench, closing it from the dining room from the observers. A young pretty blonde came out of the salon, and with a confident gait she walked towards Oleg, taking a notebook book from her purse on the way. Oleg Vasilyevich rose to the meeting, his heart beat quickened. All attention is focused on the blonde.

- You are Oleg Vasilyevich, - a stranger came smiling.

- Yes! - Oleg was confused.

- Excuse me. Your wife asked you to tell you, - and she handed the paper. - She was in a hurry. I really asked ... Take it.

- What is the wife? - Oleg did not understand. In the confusion, he turned around. The diplomat was not there.

No one paid attention to the hatch of the old collector well, hidden under a thick layer of fresh sod at the very edge of the hips.

Diana ran her hand over the burn scar, made a face at her reflection, and dropped her head on the cosmetic table. The nightmare of that distant night came to mind.

Both of them were kept in the basement of a large country house, very close to the city. In the evenings a half-blind, bearded old man came down to them. He brought some food, took the dirty pot and, without a word, breathing heavily, left the dirty basement. That same terrible evening, instead of an old man, an unknown woman descended to them. Beautifully dressed, but with a terrible mutilated face, with a whip in her hand, she looked like a messenger of hell. She approached the girls with a beastly expression and slowly took off her luxurious wig, exposing a completely bald head. With horror in the eyes of the girls huddled into a corner, trying to protect themselves from this monster.

- What? Fearfully? - with a grin she growled. “Your daddy's to blame,” she grabbed Diana by her silky hair. From fright, Dina was speechless.

- They told him without cops, did not listen, old horseradish. We do not forgive mistakes, - she angrily started whipping defenseless children with a whip. - Do not see them anymore ...