Red and Blue

The Red and the Blue is a creepy story for children about a glass-blowing shop that sells beautiful red and blue glassware. It is based on an urban legend told by Russian children in summer camps. In a big city in Russia, there was a vacant shop. It was located on the main street, in an old two-story building. One day, the 'Vacant' sign was taken down and a new store opened. It was a glass-blowing shop and dealt in all manner of intricate and artistic glass pieces. They sold hand-blown wine glasses, vases, crystals. All of the pieces only came in two colors: Red and blue. But these colors were so exquisitely interwoven that they captured the eye and were a delight to behold. The red color ranged from an anxious, frightening color of burgundy to a gorgeous pink haze. The blue color rannged from the shimmering cobalt of the deep sea to the pale azure of the cloudless sky. Naturally, the store had many customers for their unique glass creations and the word spread for miles around. People heard about the unusual designs and formed huge queues, just waiting to buy the beautiful red and blue products. Many even came from other cities to buy their glassware in this glass-blowing store. Everyone wanted to own one of the pieces, even though the cost was very expensive. Meanwhile, in the same city and its suburbs, a series of strange murders were taking place. Young men and women between the ages of seventeen and thirty years old were dying at an alarming rate. There didn't seem to be any pattern to the crimes. The corpses were found all over the city and none of the victims seemed to know each other. All of the crimes apparently lack a motive. Police scratched their heads and struggled to understand why these people were killed. Their valuables were never stolen and the bodies were often found with money or jewelry still in their pockets. The police were puzzled. Why didn't the murderer steal the victim's belongings? The victims were always killed in the same way. They were either chopped up with an axe or sliced open with a knife. Two detectives arrived from Moscow and were tasked with solving the crimes. They questioned and temporarily detained all of the usual suspects, criminals and mental patients, but they came up empty. They did not even come across the slightest clue that might solve the mystery. Still, the hacked and slashed corpses continued to turn up in alleys and back streets. Then, the chief of police decided to gather a task force of over two hundred policemen. They were ordered to go undercover. They dressed in civilian clothes and placed themselves on duty throughout the city. The murders suddenly stopped. For weeks, there was not one corpse littering the city streets. The citizens began to think that the reign of fear had finally ended. One of the policemen was about to go off duty, when he remembered that he had forgotten his wife's birthday. He needed to buy her a present before he went home. He had heard about the famous glass-blowing shop and the unusual glassware it sold. His wife had often remarked on how beautiful these glass pieces were. He asked his partner to wait for him while he went into the store and bought something nice for his wife. When he walked into the shop, he was greeted by a bored storekeeper who stood behind the counter and showed him what pieces of glass were on offer. The policeman looked over the whole range and was surprised by how drab and uninteresting most of the pieces were. He had been expecting to see something of rare beauty, but all of the pieces seemed to be just ordinary clear glass. The storekeeper told him that they were awaiting a large shipment of the red and the blue glass, but it had been delayed. The policeman looked around for a few minutes, but nothing caught his eye. He picked up one of pieces of ordinary glass and began to make fun of it, saying there was nothing special about it and he could easily make it himself. The storekeeper smiled and listened to him politely, then motioned with his hand and beckoned the policeman closer.' 'The problem is that during the