Carefully, I gathered a few of the seeds onto a piece of paper and began examining them.

They were too hard and dry to be anything alive. But still — how could they have ended up under my mattress?

Honestly, I was shocked when I realized what they were. 😱 Have you ever seen anything like this? I tell the details in the first comment 👇👇

To calm myself, I took a photo of the find and sent it to a friend who’s into herbs and Eastern medicine. Her reply came almost immediately:

— That’s kalindji! Black cumin seeds! Someone must have put them there on purpose.

I didn’t believe it at first. But when I looked it up online and started reading, I realized she was right. These seeds have been considered a charm against evil and illness for centuries. People used to place them under mattresses, at door thresholds, or even sew them inside pillows so that “the house wouldn’t let in envy or bad dreams.”

At first, I got scared — what if someone had done this secretly, without my knowledge? But then I remembered: a month ago, my grandmother had come to visit. She always believed in old traditions and used to whisper that “a young home should smell of kindness, not fear.”

That evening, I called her.

— Grandma, did you put something under my mattress?

She laughed softly:

— And you just noticed now? That’s kalindji. Let it protect you. I can tell you haven’t been sleeping well lately.