my father agreed.
The nurse administered a sedative and Dad continued to talk to his son.
– Remember, we watched the movie «Back to the Future» with you. There the heroes traveled on a time machine! – the father soothed his son.
– I remember. But I didn’t have a time machine!
– Remember! You also wanted, just like them, to travel and see the future!
– I wanted to, but I didn’t know that the forest would turn out to be a time machine.
– And we’ve been looking for you so much! And your friends were all looking for you, too.
– They’re grown-up uncles now, and I’m a boy. I was going to the forest with them only yesterday, and today they are adults. And Mom… died…
Tears were pouring from the child’s eyes.
– Dad! I want to go home.
– Let’s go! We’ll go as soon as we get an extract, and we’ll go.
Igor Mikhailovich was called to the scientific laboratory today.
After all, this day was significant, Igor participated in a trial expedition, for a journey that he had been striving for for the last eight years.
Today he recalled the events of that tragic day when he returned home from the forest, where they had already stopped waiting for him, where he had lost his mother forever, where everything had changed beyond recognition.
He remembered how he met with his classmates and friends who had grown up for twenty years in one day, about a school where his friend taught a physics lesson, and Lena was the class teacher, a classmate whom he always liked, and whom he often pulled by wavy red tails.
I remembered how after time travel I became a brilliant student with extraordinary abilities, how in three years I mastered the school
He entered the physics department at the university as an external student, and two years later defended his thesis on quantum physics.
Today he goes to meet his beloved mom.
He really wanted to see her again and tell her that he had found her while she was still alive. He had thought it all out in advance.
Galina Stepanovna was sitting by the window when he called her softly. She looked around and saw a translucent holographic image of a young man who looked like her beloved son, but only grown up.
– Mommy! – Igor said softly with love in his voice.
Mom didn’t move. She was heartbroken over the loss of her beloved son, and thought she was having a vision now.
– Mom! Know that I am alive. I’ll be back. I love you very much.
Mom smiled back and at that moment the image disappeared.
The village that didn’t exist
By nightfall, the temperature dropped, and Natasha shivered from the cold:
– We’re lost!
– Nothing like that, – her companion, a broad-shouldered and tall guy, shook his head negatively.
– Of course, you will never admit that I am right! She was a little offended.
Although if she is offended, it is at herself, because no one drove her on a trip with Pavel through abandoned villages, especially in autumn, when it gets dark early and the evenings are cold.
– Don’t get excited, we just probably missed the turn. It’s getting late, let’s turn into the village,» her companion suggested.
«What other village?» – Natasha was surprised, – are you kidding?
– No, – and Pavel pointed to the pointer.
A wooden arrow nailed to a tree pointed somewhere to the side. In the light of the flashlight, the girl read
– «Vihreevo», I don’t remember any Vihreevo on the map.
– Well, probably an abandoned village, so they removed it from the map. Let’s go, it’s twenty kilometers to the village, and here for sure, we’ll spend the night in some house, and in the morning we’ll go.
Natasha followed Pavel. They were walking along an overgrown path, it looks like no one has been walking here for a long time. After about half a kilometer, silhouettes of buildings appeared. Coming closer, they examined the village street in the light of lanterns.
The village was probably really abandoned, it was dark in the windows of the houses, you could not hear the barking of dogs, the voices of people.
It was very quiet, and it made them uneasy, although they had already seen more than one abandoned village.
The girl really wanted to turn around and rush to run from here to the nearest village without looking back, she was so scared, but she understood that she was hardly able to overcome such a distance today.
Pavel dragged her by the hand to a small house at the end of the street.
The flimsy wooden door was unlocked, and they entered the dark hall. Inside there were two rooms, one of them, with a stove, apparently served the owners once as a kitchen, the second bedroom and living room.
The furniture was old, worn, but, oddly enough, there was no dust on it, and the house was cleaned. It feels like the owners have gone somewhere for a while.
For some reason it was very cold in the house, even the jacket did not save. It’s good that there was firewood near the stove, and Pavel flooded the stove.
– What if someone lives here, comes, and we are here? Natasha was worried. – He’ll report it to the police!
– Don’t be afraid, – Pavel put his backpack on the floor and searched for something in it, – No one will come. And what can we steal here? Some old things. Better click for the collection.
Natasha took a digital camera out of her bag and photographed the interior of the house.
They had dinner with canned food, which they took on the road, and went to bed. And if Pavel fell asleep quickly, then Natasha tossed and turned for a long time before falling asleep, but she didn’t have to sleep for a long time.
The girl was awakened by a sound. At first Natasha did not understand what it was, she listened – someone was walking outside the window.
Maybe she imagined it? But no, the sound of footsteps was distinct. It was a full moon, and in the moonlight Natasha saw a shadow flicker outside the window, then there was some kind of grinding, as if someone was driving something iron on the outer wall of the house.
– Pavel, wake up! She jumped up and shook her companion by the shoulder.
– Why are you yelling? «What is it?» he asked
