look in the mirror all the time. You'll get bored.
Of course, at the very beginning of our acquaintance there was a turning moment.
How much time has passed since then?
Maybe a month from the very moment when I felt her staring caressing look… She unceremoniously examined everyone in the first composition class. But her tenacious gaze, returning every time, was fixed somewhere around my shoulder blades. Maybe someone has wings there, someone, according to Carlos Castaneda, has an «assembly point», but, feeling that she's interested, I just got up, grabbed a chair and sat next to her.
This is how we first met. We fooled around, went to the cinema. We argued and read the same books. Once we even got drunk and, waking up in the same bed completely naked, could not remember if we had done anything. The head just cracked. But from that day we did not think about having sex together or even dream about it.
Or at least it was me who didn't want to.
Not because both of us connected it with a stupid headache. The real reason was much deeper. Somewhere beyond understanding. After all, I really love Taska. I'm jealous. I miss her. I want to spend my time with her. This crap is totally inexplicable.
Then, for some reason, right after that incident, I told her about Kira…
The image of Kira became somehow voluminous. I swear I could even imagine her laughing eyes, green, cunning and so inviting…
It's like circles on the water. The stone has long been at the bottom, while circles still creep along the river, further and further from the center. Therefore, it is difficult to return to the beginning. I do not want to confess in front of Taska again. I don't remember the whole truth myself. The more I remember Kira, the more difficult it is to recall her face. She's just some kind of a bright spot, a smile, a voice. The only constant sensation is a warm, tickling wave in which my heart flutters when I think of her.
Of course, I told Taska different things about mirror theory. And not even to convince her. I myself wanted, voicing a sudden stunning thought, to affirm it in my head. For some reason, our planet is divided into two hemispheres, and if it's early morning in Moscow, somewhere in Florida people still fill up bars and restaurants, having a pleasant warm evening with friends.
And if there are more than seven billion people living on Earth, what is the likelihood that God will have a free soul to fill someone's newly born body? And if this is so, then it is simple to give it, that is, a free soul, to two individuals living on different continents at once. To make it easier for it to return, people should be bound by a special thread… The thread of astral twins. I think those people should look similar. In any case, some habits, preferences and the character of such people will not be very different. Their soul will be forced to put up with life-long throwing, and having no preference for one of them, constantly return and fly away again…
This is probably nonsense. Most likely, this is real nonsense. But how can one explain similar suicides or scientific discoveries made by complete strangers at the same time? There should be a thread that connects different people, but forces you to behave and live according to the scenario intended for them only.
You can, of course, call this the theory of the mirror. Which is essentially the same thing.
Chapter 2
Russian Roulette
Some people find answers to all their questions while reading books, someone on the Web, some particularly advanced ones are dictated by intuition or get tips in the information field. I have more than just questions, and most likely I won't be able to get any answers…
It has long been dark. Tomorrow was a day off and I did not want to sleep. I turned on the telly. There was Top-Twenty on RU TV[8]. Having opened a bottle of beer, I looked for something to eat.
Beer made me feel bad. I turned off the TV, deciding to at least pass the time in non-binding communication…
Heck!
Everything happened by itself…
Having heard about this chat roulette or Chatroulette[9], I went online several times, if you say so…
This time I turned on the computer as usual. At first, some pimpled teenager made my brain explode telling about entering MEPhI, then a horny girl gave me signs until I pressed F9.
Then…
He looked at me, eyes wide, and stuttered. From surprise, I think. At first, I also thought that I was looking at my reflection in the monitor glass. Then he pushed the curtains shut so that the light from the lantern did not hit the window, and went to the screen. His face became brighter. Unlike me, he was wearing a whitewashed T-shirt without any logos, while I was wearing a black T-shirt with a lemon-yellow John Lennon face.
He stuttered in English for half a minute. It is never possible to guess what will happen next with Skype. Therefore, the guy tried to hear something from me, before the connection is interrupted, not even through my fault.
What the hell are the astral twins. I looked at him and saw myself…
I think he saw the same. But he constantly kept talking about some dreams. I understood a little. From the pronunciation of this guy it was difficult to determine his country. Apparently, that was some kind of northern state… This whole situation…
A damn joke!
And then an idea came to my mind. I asked:
«When you were born?»
«August 9th, 1985,» he answered.
«August 9? Right? And where?» Three of my short questions followed at once, but I did not receive a single intelligible answer. Well, at least I could understand and answer something.
«My mother reluctantly talks about it,» my twin said.
«And now, can you tell where you are?»
«Minneapolis, USA.»
«I'm in Tomsk. Siberia! Well, you know: matreshka, lapti and bears!» I tried to joke.
I was not good at joking. A sticky stream of cold sweat ran down my back… Finally, I asked for his name.
«Donald Frost, or just Doni,» he answered. «And you?»
«Dormidont,» I answered for some reason…
He said that he was going to Europe for business or personal reasons and that he wanted to come to St. Petersburg if he was approved by a Russian visa. When I was ready to break the connection, he suddenly, noticing my watercolor portrait hanging on the wall, asked who its author was.
I could literally feel a treacherous cold stream of sweat running down his spine…
«Her name is Tatiana,» I replied, and showed the recent Taska's photo, taken against the backdrop of a gobbled Wolf, «The Monument to Happiness.»
His face changed even more than at the beginning of the conversation.
«I know her! Rather, I saw her. In a dream. Really. I just did not know where to look for her. Whether it is real or just an obsession,» he sighed.
He
Once a week RU. TV VJ introduces the Top Twenty videos based on the results of spectator vote.
(from English «roulette») – a site that allows you to anonymously communicate using video and text chat.
A visitor to the site falls on a randomly selected Stranger and starts an online chat. At any moment of communication, the user can leave the current chat and look for another random person.
