style="font-size:15px;"> – Later, guys. I’ll tell you everything.
These are the stars who have affairs with fake kisses on camera. That’s why they are stars, to shine for everyone. For the common man, love hides behind the curtains: the fewer witnesses, the stronger the connection.
That night she came in a dream for the first time. This time I managed to see not only the diamonds of her bottomless blue eyes and the unnatural blackness of her hair, but also every curve of her body. A sculptor creates a masterpiece from some detail, and then fills in the missing parts. I slowly reached out to her, afraid to wake up from any sudden movement and frighten away my dream. She hit me on the arm and pouted playfully.
– Impudent. Not on the first date. Otherwise I will never come to you again.
– What is your name?
«Try to come up with a name for me yourself,» she glanced briefly from under her lowered eyelashes.
– The name must be unusual. Secret. Yes, I would call you Mystery.
«You can call me Mystery if you want.»
– And my name is…
– Sorry, not today. Let’s agree tomorrow.
An alarm clock is a guardian of time. Every morning he reminds you how fleeting the nights are. You’ll sleep an extra minute, then another one the next day, and you won’t notice. How life goes by. But that morning I didn’t want to wake up at all. Maybe a dream is reality, and what we consider reality is just a simulation? Get crazy. It would soon be night again.
Mint flavor of toothpaste. Two eggs on a hot frying pan. The bitter taste of invigorating coffee and the poisonous smoke filling the lungs – there is no way to wake up without them. The Ministry of Health warns, but what in city life does not harm our health? Maybe stress at work is good, or the crush on the subway?
All in all, an ordinary morning. Only this time I eagerly peered into their faces, hoping to see the one and only thing. During the break, I went to the same cafe and sat at the same table, but she was no longer there. The only time in my life that I appreciated my introversion. I also often spent an entire shift in silence, so even today no one noticed anything unusual in my behavior. I didn’t want to explain anything to anyone. I really wanted to fall asleep quickly.
As soon as I closed my eyelids, she was there again, only this time naked.
– I told you that nothing would happen on the first date, but today is the second.
She pressed her lips to mine.
***
Cold and dark. There seemed to be no beginning or end to them. A man’s silhouette shone like a bright spot, like a lighthouse in an endless ocean. Wait, it’s me! My face, my appendix scar, my angel tattoo. But why am I there, on the bed, and here, in the dark? So cold! Just yesterday I was ready to take off my shorts and go to work, just to escape the heat, but now I’m shaking like I’m in the cold.
A man who looked so much like me opened his eyes. There was darkness all around, but the glow of his (my?) body made it possible to see the room a few centimeters away from him. I swam after him. For some reason I didn’t need to lift my legs. To move. No-I went to the kitchen and took the salt shaker. Not-I surrounded myself with a circle of salt. No-I smiled… where did I see that smile? That’s her smile! Having examined not-myself more closely, I recognized her features.
– Secret! It’s you! I am so glad to see you! What’s happening? Why is it so cold?
– Sorry.
«I have nothing to forgive you for.» I love you. But I don’t understand what’s happening.
«I almost fell in love with you too, but do I have a choice?»
– What are you talking about?
«I’m sorry…» she whispered. I feel like I’m almost crying.
– Explain to me what the hell is happening here!
– Okay, you deserve it.
Having drawn a circle, she continued to pour salt, pinch by pinch, onto the floor, creating an incomprehensible pattern of symbols and runes.
– In addition to the three dimensions of the material world known to you, there are seven more that belong to the ideal world. Small particles, like an electron, can exist in all ten dimensions, but living beings cannot perceive the shadows of an alien world until death. You know, this very world is not so ideal. The stars shine and warm only the three dimensions you are familiar with, and in the other seven there is cold and darkness. Therefore, one of the afterlife engineers came up with a way to return to the familiar world. The main thing is to create a quantum entanglement of two souls and then break it. In this case, the dead can take the place of the living.
I was once as naive as you. I met HIM: handsome, tall, muscular, black-haired with blue bottomless eyes. I looked for his reflection in everyone I met, but he came to me at night. And when I fell asleep in his arms, I woke up here. I have no choice: in order to live again, I must kill you. When I finish drawing the runes, our connection will be severed, and you will no longer be able to find your body. I will become you.
– And what about me?
«And you can find yourself a naive girl to become you.»
A single tear flowed down my cheek, but immediately froze in the surrounding frost of another world. No-I finished drawing the runic script and put my hand to the floor. A flash of light – and then nothing, empty, dark and lonely.
***
There was no time here. How long did I wander in the dark: a day, a year, or maybe a century? First, endless darkness. I could go up as easily as turning left; there were other, previously unknown directions. but soon I learned to pull out of the darkness the silhouettes of people – those who were still alive. And once I even managed to catch the eye of one girl for a moment. This was enough to connect our souls with an invisible thread. When she fell asleep, I gently stroked her glowing hair. Without waking up, she opened her eyes and looked at me.
– Who are you?
«You can call me Mystery,» I whispered.
She tried to touch my chest, but I took a step back.
– Sorry, not on the first date. I will come to you tomorrow, and then we will stay together forever.
Pain is like a stone thrown into the middle of a lake. It is inflicted on you by those who were hurt, and you, in turn, will try to pass it on to someone else, who will pass it on to someone else. But the circles on the water will fade away one day, but the circle of pain is endless. Or not?
I want to live. I want to touch my three-day stubble again, eat my usual scrambled eggs in the morning, and wash it down with a cup of harmful strong coffee. I want to hear Ilya’s stories during lunch. I want… You know, but for me in the whole world there is nothing left but me. me, and all around was darkness and cold. I know what
