The widow secretly placed her husband’s mistress’s photograph in his coffin: and a few days later, something happened that the entire village would remember for a long time 
Maria hated Anna. For two years, the young paramedic had never left David’s side — Maria’s lawful husband. Anna always found a reason to be near him: an urgent call, a “chance” meeting outside the store, or a conversation that dragged on after an examination. She smiled too confidently and looked at him as if the wife standing beside him simply did not exist.
Maria did not stay silent. Several times she directly told Anna to stay away from her family. But Anna calmly replied that David was a grown man and decided for himself whom he chose to see. Sometimes she added with a smirk that if a man were happy at home, he would not seek attention elsewhere.
Maria could not forget those words.
David had recently turned forty, worked hard, and often traveled around the district. And one evening, his heart simply stopped. Everything happened quickly.
When Anna heard the news, she came to Maria’s house to say goodbye to the man she loved. At the funeral, she stood aside, not approaching the coffin. She understood she had no right to stand there. She was pale, her eyes red. The widow approached her and quietly said she would never forgive her. She accused Anna of destroying their family and driving David to his grave.
“You will die soon, because I placed your photograph in the coffin beside your lover.”
Anna said nothing and left. And a few days later, something unbelievable happened 
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On the night of her husband’s death, Maria took an old photograph of Anna out of a drawer. She looked at it for a long time, then quietly, while no one was in the house, approached the coffin and placed the photo on David’s chest. She felt that in doing so, she would punish her rival.
The widow herself told the mistress about the photograph in the coffin. And she did it deliberately.
Maria knew that their village lived on rumors and superstitions. People here believed in signs, curses, and the “evil eye” more than in doctors. That was exactly what she was counting on.
After the funeral, she approached Anna and loudly, so the neighbors could hear, said that she had placed her photograph in David’s coffin. She added that one always has to pay for such things.
People immediately grew suspicious, exchanged glances, and by evening, rumors were already spreading through the village.
But the real reason was different.
Maria decided to get rid of her rival quietly, in a way that no one could link to her.
A few days later, Anna suddenly began to feel unwell. First weakness, then nausea, severe stomach pain. Within a day, she could no longer get out of bed.
Rumors quickly spread through the village. People whispered that it was the widow’s curse. They said you must never place a living person’s photograph in a coffin, because the dead take with them the one who appears in the picture.
The old women by the well crossed themselves and insisted that everything had happened according to the law of the “higher powers.”
Maria remained silent. She pretended to be surprised herself. She even made a show of going to church.
But Anna did not believe in mysticism. She was a medical professional and knew her condition resembled poisoning. The symptoms were too clear.
She remembered that neighbors had brought her food in recent days. Water had also been passed to her through acquaintances. Anna stopped eating anything she received from others’ hands. She switched only to supplies she bought herself. She began drinking water from sealed bottles.
After a few days, she felt better.
Then she realized that someone truly wanted her dead. And the only person who benefited from that had already loudly announced the “curse” to the entire village.
