“What inspires you?”

“Life itself inspires me! Performances in front of the public are charged with special energy. After successful concerts, new songs are often born.”

(from Rina's interview to Art portal)

She was awakened by the birds, which screamed so loudly and hysterically, as if alarmed by a sudden disaster. And then a rook crashed against the window pane. Rina jumped out of bed, almost fell, tangled in the bedspread, and jumped out into the yard.

The sky darkened because of a black cloud that turned out to be a flock of birds. The birds were rushing chaotically, huddled together, flew apart again, collided and fell to the ground. At some point, the ‘cloud’ stretched out, turned into a funnel and rushed on, sweeping away everything in its path.

“Oh my God!” Rina exclaimed in fright and rushed back into the house to put on her shoes and put on her jacket.

Fortunately, Nikolai was still asleep, so she managed to escape without any questions. Already heading to the place over which the ‘tornado’ appeared, Rina thought that Nikolai would interpret her disappearance as an escape. And that's even better.

She wasn’t at all surprised to find that the tornado was hovering over the river - over the very place where the whirlpool had appeared the day before. What has already begun has received the expected continuation. And although the informant was still silent, Rina already understood what was required of her. A portal began to open here, through which monstrous creatures could break through. It seems that whoever sent her here knew about it, but for some reason wished Rina to see everything for herself. She saw - at this point the line between the parallels thinned so much that the creatures inhabiting another world became visible for periods.

Rina ran up to the bridge and stopped. The river swelled up not with one, but with several whirlpools, bubbled. Rina recoiled in fright, but, gathering her will into a fist, looked into the water. The bottom, which until recently had been crawling with algae similar to giant braids, was now split by a wide crack, from which oily and black, like fuel oil, bubbles escaped. The algae had dried up to rusty tangles scattered on the silt.

Rina involuntarily shivered and, hearing an alarmed bird cry, looked up at the sky. A tornado of birds hovered over the place where a water bubble was maturing like a giant abscess. The tornado and the bubble were reaching out to each other like two hands, just a little more, and they would lock in a strong ‘squeeze’. Rina turned her gaze to the crack and saw that it was spreading further, striving to reach the point where the tornado and the bubble were about to connect. And when that happens, the portal will open. She immediately imagined whitish creatures with long arms and sharp knife-claws breaking out, staggering to the nearest village. And they kill Liza, Stas and Galina. Rina even groaned at how nightmarish the vision turned out to be, shook her head and tried to focus on what was happening.

A year and a half ago, she closed a large and complex portal near Tivastopol. Then Rina specifically asked to include that small town in her concert tour. The organizers, of course, were surprised by her decision, but Rina had her own ‘bills’ and obligations. She arrived in Tivastopol full of determination, strength and energy, which she learned from enthusiastic spectators in other cities. Therefore, she was able to do what she did – close all the ‘doors’ open there between the parallels. But she didn't feel so strong right now. It will be happiness if at least for a while she ‘patches up’ the gap.

Recent sad events have devastated her, and her performances usually filled her with strength and energy. Recently, Rina has not sung even for herself, so her voice, weakened by silence, now sounded uncertain and muffled. And yet she continued to sing, imagining how she stitched the crack with large stitches. But with each false note, the ‘stitches’ were torn like rotten threads, and the crack ran further - to the water bubble, in which the flickering creatures were already clearly visible.

The monsters bared their sharp teeth and tried to tear the walls of the bubble with their knife-claws. Then Rina cut herself off in mid-sentence and imagined how the bubble was enveloped by a sphere of thin, but dense silvery material capable of containing the creatures. And when it seemed to her, she smiled: the first, though not an easy victory! But after that, Rina saw that the tornado managed to touch the bubble. For a moment, despair overwhelmed her, but it also gave her determination and strength. She began to sing again, softly at first, trying each note as carefully as a foot on a swamp hummock. But gradually her voice regained its former power. A gust of wind tousled the braid and threw the strands wet from the river dampness into her face. Rina smiled at the wind like a conspirator, and it picked up her song and carried it on - to the tornado and the water bubble, to the meadow and to the weeping willow stretching its flexible branches to the river. Rina sang for them, admired the purity and power of her own voice, not constrained by the walls of the concert hall, and mentally applauded the ‘backing vocalist’ wind. Having finally caught the right wave, she felt the returning power.

And then Rina imagined how she was shooting down a tornado: collecting the energy bubbling in her and ‘hitting’ the dark funnel. When the tornado was blown away, it ‘hit’ the bubble. It shrank and clouded, and the creature in it scratched the wall with a claw and grinned angrily. Rina took a deep breath before a new ‘blow’ and at the same moment noticed and recognized a man on the opposite shore. She smiled involuntarily, thinking that Stas’ drawing turned out to be visionary again. And although Nikolai would hardly have noticed her smile, she smiled at him and sang again - as in those days when she still lived with love warming from the inside, when she believed and dreamed. Like those times that won't come back.

“Rina!” Nikolai shouted, trying to point something out to her.

However, she did not stop: if she gets lost, then all efforts are for nothing. And so, because of a second's delay, the tornado hovered over the bubble again. Nikolai shouted something again, but Rina didn’t hear. Now she has enough strength to patch up the hole and avoid misfortune.

She sang and imagined how the bubble shrank to a negligible point, how the tornado crumbled into the river like dead birds, how the crack at the bottom tightened like a wound. But, concentrating on the bubble and the tornado, Rina didn't notice that another whirlpool was spinning under the bridge.

“Careful!” Nikolai's cry broke through to her ears, trying to point out the danger to her.

Concentrating on something else, Rina didn’t even notice how much the whirlpool was bubbling under her. And at the moment when a tornado broke from the final note of her song, and the bubble, deflated, went under the water, Rina triumphantly took a step forward, but the rotten boards cracked under her, and she flew into the water - straight into the funnel.

Wet clothes clung to the body, seaweed wrapped around the ankles and pulled to the bottom. Through the murky water column, Rina saw a figure approaching her, and for a second the saving thought flashed that it was Nikolai. But a terrible whitish creature surfaced nearby, stretched the toad's mouth in a sharp-toothed grin and smeared near the face with a clawed paw. Rina tried to scream, but only choked on water. The world suddenly turned upside down, and where the sky was still bright, there was a muddy bottom. The vile creature ducked under her, grabbed her hair and dragged her along. Rina struggled, resisting and already realizing that attempts to free herself were like agony. The creature will drag her into its lair and tear her to pieces there.

But instead of a dark bottom, a lightened sky suddenly flashed. Rina felt that she was being dragged not down, but up - to the air and life. Another moment, and she was on the surface, took a breath and coughed. But the savior didn’t let her come to her senses, but quickly grabbed her armpits and dragged her away from the whirlpool. A vile creature managed to emerge from the closing funnel, and a toothy mouth flashed next to Nikolai. Suddenly, he gasped softly and, without releasing Rina, jerked to the side, trying to dodge the knife-claws this time.

How they covered the remaining distance, she did not remember. Nikolai dragged her to the shore and pushed her, weak and terrified, onto dry land. Rina sprawled on the ground and coughed. But Nikolai didn’t let her recover here either, picked her up in his arms and rushed with her to the car parked behind the willow.

“Later, later,” he muttered as he ran.

What - later, Rina didn’t understand. Nikolai put her in the passenger seat, hastily strapped her in and took his seat. Rina closed her eyes and took a slow breath, wanting to even out her breathing. She did not open her eyes until she got home, feeling not so much scared as exhausted, and feeling grateful to Nikolai not only for his rescue, but also for his silence.

He parked right in front of the porch, Rina got out of the car first and hugged herself. She was shivering - not so much from the cold as from the experience. Nikolai would probably ask a lot of questions after what he saw, but right now she didn't even care about that.

Rina felt something was wrong when she was already on the porch. Her rescuer hesitated for some reason. She looked back and saw that he was standing bent over and holding on to the railing with one hand, and bloody water was dripping from his clothes on the steps.

“Nikolai?!” Rina exclaimed in fright, instantly forgetting about the shock and the cold.

She went down to him and already ducked under his arm, hugged him and gently led him into the house. A toothy mouth and a clawed paw that emerged from the water flashed before her eyes again. So, the creature has touched Nikolai after all.

“Where is it taking you?” Rina asked, seating him on a chair.

She asked, but Rina didn't have to ask, because his wet T-shirt on the right side was much darker. Nikolai clamped his side with his hand, and Rina saw two long and deep cuts on it.

“Okay, now,” she muttered, trying not to panic, because she didn't even have bandages.

After thinking about it, Rina pulled out an armful of clean towels from the kitchen drawer and carefully slipped one of them under Nikolai's arm.

“That's it. Press down…”

“There's a first aid kit in the car. There's something you need.”

“You need to go to the hospital!”

“Can you drive?”

Nikolai shook his head and for the first time in her life, she regretted very much that she had not passed for a license.

“Well, that's it. And I won't get there myself,” Nikolai smiled weakly.

“I'll call an ambulance!”

“One more arrival of the ambulance here - and you'll be in all the news, singer,” he teased her without malice. “The first aid kit is in the car. Get. We'll manage on our own.”

Rina ran out into the street, opened the car door left open and dived into the salon. The first-aid kit was really found, but Rina doubted that they would cope on their own. With a first aid kit in her hands, she rushed back, but when she was already running into the house, she heard a ringing voice behind her:

“Vi-i-i-ta!”

Rina looked back and saw Liza approaching the house on a bicycle. The little girl rolled up to the porch, cast a curious glance at the car and asked admiringly:

“Is this your car? Cool!”

“Not mine. I have... a guest.”

“Well,” Liza sighed. “And I thought we'd sit and talk. Grandma gave you some goodies again! For Stas.”

“Liza,” Rina interrupted her, realizing who she could ask for help. Galina! Surely Liza's grandmother will have bandages and disinfectants. “I need help urgently! I have a wounded man in my house. I can't take him to the hospital. And I can't call the doctors here either…”

“Why doctors?” Liza was surprised. “The whole village goes to our neighbor Aunt Sveta! She worked as a paramedic, and is now retired. But she still continues to treat everyone. It's a long way to the hospital!”

“Can you bring her?” Rina was delighted and almost burst into tears with relief.

“I can!” Liza nodded, getting back on her bike. “I'll be quick!”

Rina returned to the house and saw that Nikolai had already pulled off his T-shirt and was pinching his side with it.

“God, I gave you towels,” she muttered and rushed to him. She wrapped his wounded arm with a towel, and pressed the other to the wound on his side, mentally praying that the paramedic was at home, and Nikolai didn’t lose consciousness before help arrived

The sound of a car approaching rang out much earlier than one might have expected. Rina ran out onto the porch and saw Liza jump out of the old ‘Field’ first, then Galina slowly got out. And the driver follows them into the yard. Svetlana turned out to be a woman in her sixties with a short ‘hedgehog’ of gray hair and with large glasses covering half of her tanned face. The paramedic immediately went up to the porch, pushed Rina aside and went into the house.

“He needs to be put down,” she said sternly, instantly assessing the situation.

Rina rushed into the bedroom, pulled the sheet off the bed and quickly made the mattress clean.

While Svetlana, talking quietly with Galina, examined the wounded man, Rina just stood in the doorway. Liza froze behind her, looking curiously over her shoulder.

“And you girls, why are you standing here?” Svetlana suddenly barked at them. “Liza, go to the kitchen! Make this ‘mermaid’ tea with honey. And you - in the bathroom, under a hot shower! I didn't have enough to mess with your pneumonia later!”

Rina only then realized that she was still wearing wet pajamas and sneakers squelching from the water. She hurriedly pulled out a clean T-shirt and jeans from the closet and went, as she was told, to the bathroom.

Under the hot jets of water, Rina burst into tears - from fatigue, fear, understanding that she almost drowned, and feelings of guilt in front of this unfamiliar man who saved her, but he himself suffered. So, crying, she washed herself. But when she heard a knock on the door and Liza's thin voice reminding her of tea, she pulled herself together, dried herself dry and dressed. After a shower and tears, it became easier. And although Rina didn’t want tea at all, especially the sugary-sweet from the honey generously poured into it, she drank a whole mug. And when she was finally called, she jumped up so quickly that she almost knocked over her chair.

Svetlana was already putting some packages and scissors back into her suitcase, Galina was collecting bloody napkins and empty ampoules in a cellophane bag.

“What happened?” the paramedic asked expectantly.

“I... I fell into the water. I stepped on a rotten plank of the bridge,” Rina answered half-truthfully, carefully not meeting Nikolai's gaze. “I can't swim. He saved me, and he hurt himself on something.”

“Hurt himself on something!” Svetlana mimicked her and suddenly grinned. “It almost cut off half of his side, and cut his arm to the bone. Crocodiles don't seem to be found in our river – the climate is not the same.”

A smile flashed on Nikolai's lips, but Rina didn’t smile back, on the contrary, bit her lip and lowered her gaze.

“Oh, okay,” Svetlana didn’t ask further and got up. “In a good way, he should be in the hospital. You never know.”

“I can't go to the hospital!” Nikolai hastily intervened.

Svetlana looked at him in surprise:

“Why is that?”

“Well…” he drawled vaguely.

“Hiding from someone?”

“No, but… just… do without hospitals.”

“As you wish,” Svetlana shrugged her shoulders and went out into the corridor, where Galina and Liza were already waiting for her.

“Thank you!” Rina thanked her from the bottom of her heart.

The paramedic just nodded and left the house.

“Wait!” Rina caught herself when Svetlana had already come down from the porch, jumped up to her and handed her two bills - a large one and a smaller one. “This is for your work!”

The paramedic looked at her over the top of her glasses and quietly, so that only Rina could hear, said:

“Oh, the girl… You don't pay me for my work, but for my silence. Don't be afraid of that,” with these words, Svetlana took one smaller bill from her hand, and already said loudly. “I'll buy everything I need - bandages, ointment and antibiotics. I'll stop by in the evening, check on him, and do a dressing. Make sure that he doesn’t have a fever and if anything, call. I left you my number there. And make sure that this hero doesn’t get up. My head will spin, it will come up - and all my work will be for nothing. I injected him with painkillers, just enough for the evening. And if he falls asleep, then let him sleep. That's even better.”

Rina assured the woman that she would fulfill all the punishments, thanked her again and said goodbye until the evening. And when she returned to the room, she saw that Nikolai had really fallen asleep. Rina adjusted the bedspread on him and lingered, again involuntarily admiring his profile. She admired and was afraid of her own interest, so she hurriedly looked away, feeling as if she had appropriated someone else's.

The smartphone was still on the kitchen table. Rina connected it to the charger so that Nikolai could call his loved ones after waking up. Or to be able to reach him.

She was scared, really scared-to the point of weakness in her legs, because she knew how dangerous the wounds inflicted by such creatures could be. And although she tried to console herself with the fact that they were not on the island - without doctors and medicines, but not far from the city where there is a hospital, and that the paramedic provided the necessary help in time, she couldn’t calm down.

Rina looked into the bedroom again, made sure that Nikolai was still sleeping peacefully, washed both her and his clothes and hung them in the yard. She also put out wet shoes there. The day has flared up with a bright sun, so everything should dry out quickly. When she returned, she soaked her blood-stained T-shirt and at that moment she heard a call on Nikolai's phone. Rina wiped her hands and went into the kitchen. Is it ethical to answer someone else's call? Seeing a woman's name flashed on the screen, Rina hesitantly froze. But then she discarded her doubts: the situation is freelance, first of all it is necessary to inform Nikolai's wife about what happened. And then they will somehow… explain themselves.

“Kolya, finally!” a woman's voice rang out with dissatisfied intonations. “I've already called you! Kolya…”

“I'm not... him,” Rina interrupted and coughed in embarrassment.

There was silence on the phone. And then the interlocutor asked warily:

“Who are you?”

“I…” Rina was confused.

Who is she? She is a popular singer. She is the runaway bride of a famous businessman. She is a monster because she committed a monstrous act. She is the culprit of the fact that the husband of this young woman lies wounded in her house. Of course, Rina didn't say any of this.

“Don't be alarmed, but…”

The conversation, to Rina's relief, turned out to be short. The interlocutor quickly clarified the necessary details and said that she would come as soon as possible.

Everything seems to have been resolved: his wife will take care of Nikolai, and she will decide whether to take him to the hospital or home. This is no longer Rina’s problem. But for some reason she felt sad, as if something good had suddenly ended without starting.

Rina checked on Nikolai again. She made sure that he was still sound asleep, and returned to the kitchen to make soup.

 

 

 

 

 

After reading the sign and recognizing the building, Yura remembered a story that happened seven years ago. No wonder Vika was so nervous when they met in the park. On that topic everyone hyped unless they were lazy, and Yura himself showed indecent persistence in order to get photos that were then stolen over the Internet.

When he returned home, he reread his own and other people's articles until late at night, Googled old news. And the more he delved into that forgotten topic, the more sick he became - from the fact that justice had not triumphed, from the tactlessness of the journalistic fraternity and, first of all, his own greed for scandals. It seems that they performed a seemingly useful task then - they ‘rocked’ the public! But in fact, they inflated the scandal for the sake of hype, and they didn't care about the sisters' feelings.

At night Yura slept badly, thinking about a girl with a funny bright ‘hedgehog’, so he woke up late. The time was approaching noon. He quickly cleaned himself up and went to the office he had visited the day before.

Vika turned out to be at her workplace, but judging by how fussily she was putting stationery in a drawer, she was going to leave. She cast a brief glance at Yura, in which there was unexpectedly no hostility, and turned off the computer.

“Hello,” Yura greeted.

“The office is closed,” Vika snapped, instantly putting on a mask of coldness.

“For lunch? May I…”

“Completely closed!”

Vika clattered to the closet and pulled out her purse. She didn't even look at Yura. He went into the reception room, even though Vika made it clear that she was going to leave, and again tried to win her favor:

“I would like to invite you to lunch. There is one good month nearby…”

“No. Thank you.”

“Vika, listen, I would like to talk to you too…”

“I don't have time to talk,” said Vika, leaving the office and inserting the key into the keyhole. “Not with you, not with anyone. I need to leave urgently. I'm telling you, the office is closed, and it will be closed for a while.”

“Is something wrong?” Yura was alarmed, because in Vika's intonations, instead of hostile coldness, anxiety clearly slipped through.

“Yes,” she didn’t deny. “With my boss. Said it was an accident.”

“A car accident?” Yura suggested the first thing that came to mind.

“I don't know,” Vika replied, going down the stairs. “Maybe a car accident. I only know that he is injured, but for some reason he isn’t in the hospital, but in someone's house.”

“Are you driving?”

“No. I don't drive. And you?” Vika asked, stopping.

“I'll get a taxi,” Yura decided.

“Don't. It's far away. I myself.”

“Vika, wait!” Yura called out to her as she hurriedly headed towards the metro with a curt nod of farewell.

Vika looked around, and Yura caught up with her again.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Two hundred kilometers from the capital. As you can see, you can't get there by taxi.”

“And why are you going?” Yura blurted out.

“Why me?” Vika was confused, but immediately found herself. “The accident was reported to me because I called Nikolai. I don't have his personal contacts, so I don't know who to call! And with him we are… good friends. He often gives me a lift after work. And at all… How can I leave him?”

“I'll take you,” Yura blurted out.

“For what?” Vika was genuinely surprised and with unexpected fatigue in her voice repeated the question “Yura, why do you need to take me so far? As much as two hundred kilometers away.”

“That's why,” he replied. “The distance is impressive. Yes, and a favor for a favor. You helped me out, or you could have left me where you found me. Just think, some guy is lying under the fence! Big deal, his car broke down.”

“Isn't this the car you're going to take me all this way?” Vika couldn't help but smile.

“No. I'll take the car from my sister.”

And before Vika could object, Yura pulled out his phone and called Manya.

Sister answered immediately, but her voice sounded upset. Judging by the fact that Manya didn’t ask questions or argue, but immediately agreed to give him a car, something really upset her

Yura realized exactly what it was as soon as he rang his sister's doorbell. Hysterical barking was heard from the apartment, and when Manya opened the door, a frantic Shusha ran out into the corridor.

“Do you still have him?!”

“His owner doesn't answer the phone,” his sister answered with a loud sigh. “His phone is disconnected, and Shusha and I are worried. Surely the owner couldn't have thrown his dog so meanly?!”

Yura almost said that many owners abandon their pets without a twinge of conscience, and Pencil is an example of that, but he bit his tongue in time. Moreover, Manya was already looking curiously at Vika, who was standing on the landing.

“Manya, we are in a hurry. Give me the keys, please. I'll explain everything to you later.”

“Are you going far and for a long time?” the sister asked nevertheless, suspiciously squinting behind his back at the guest.

Vika sat down and, smiling at Shusha, held out her palm to him. The dog cautiously approached and sniffed her hand, and then wagged his tail and barked loudly, as if in greeting.

“Amazing!” Manya and Yura exclaimed in unison.

“He is very suspicious of dogs, afraid even of his own shadow,” said Manya, and Yura added:

“A little something - pisses out of fear. He was scared of a cup with pencils - incontinence happened again.”

Vika laughed and gently stroked Shusha:

“Come on, such a brave kid! What's your name, beauty?”

“Shusha. His name is Shusha. And I also have Pencil! But I keep him in another room, because Pencil is the size of a mini-dinosaur, and Shusha has a nervous breakdown on this ground.”

“Manya, we're in a hurry,” Yura remembered, fearing that his sister would launch into long stories about dogs, and Vika would listen to her out of politeness.

Manya handed him the keys, imperceptibly pointed her eyes at Vika and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“I'm fulfilling the terms of your contract, devil!” Yura couldn't help himself, and when he saw how Manya looked at Vika's yellow tights and her ultra-short haircut, he almost laughed. “Thank you, Manya! I promise not to drive fast, take care of your ‘girl’ and call back.”

“Will you at least come back today?”

“I doubt it. We're on business, we don't know how fast we'll manage,” Yura answered evasively and saluted goodbye with the keys.

His hopes that the ice between him and Vika had melted, however, were not justified. Vika strapped herself in and said unexpectedly coldly:

“Don't even try to ask me anything! I won't answer anything anyway. I prefer to be silent on the road. Or sleep.”

“Okay,” Yura was taken aback. “I wasn't going to bother you. As well as molesting, if you're afraid of that, too. You can be calm. I'm taking you out of the kindness of my heart.

Vika looked at him for a long time, but said nothing, just nodded and turned away to the window.

“At least tell me where to go,” Yura sighed. “I can't read minds.”