Бесплатный фрагмент - Save the pike-head

1

ТоняTania opened her eyes at the touch. Something slick and sharp scratchedе her arm. She opened her eyes and saw a creature touching her arm. «Who is it? What’s it? Is it with me? Is this a dream? Is that a fish?» the questions flashed through her mind. No, it’s a human being. This is afish-man. More precisely, a man with a fish head, pike-headed. He sat next to her and жалобно looked at her plaintively. It was small and looked like a hunted animal. Tonya assumed that he had been washed up on the beach by a wave during a storm.

Tonya looked around and felt alarmed. Huge waves, endless evening, saltеspray. Not a soul around. She wouldn’t have moved herself, but she felt sorry for the creature. She took a closer look at him. There was either water or frozen tears in his eyesе.

В его влажныхThere was so much pain in his moist, horizontal oval eyes. Tonya looked into them again, and they were so bottomless that she was afraid of drowning. And in the depths, there was a complete sense of hopelessness.

He probably feels the same way I do, Tonya thought. You can speak different languages or not speak any of them, but the look can tell you more than any words.

Instinctively, her hand went to his head, and she ran her hand over the fish’s wet, thick-skinned head. «Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid,» she mouthed.

At that moment, TOnya froze. She recalled an episode from her childhood that she thought she had forgotten about long ago. They were the same fishy eyes, and she recognized them.

It happened on the lake when little Tonya and her parents were resting on the lake, and fishermen pulled out a huge pike. The pike was alive, fluttering, trying to get off the hook, and TOnya saw the horror in its eyes. The pike couldn’t speak, just opened its mouth and looked exactly the same way the pike-head was looking now.

ТShe remembered those fishy eyes and the opening mouth for a long time. The pike washooked, е dragged from its home world to another, alienone, from which it can no longer escape. TOnya could hear the fishermen rejoicing over their catch. «It’s huge! What a catch!» восклицалиthey would exclaim, but Tonya was not happy.

«Let go, letgo ofher!» shouted Tonya. «Calm down,» her mother told her. «This is their fish, which they have caught and will eat.»

С тех пор Tonya had been thinking about this pike ever since. «If only this pike were a human being and could talk or walk,» Tonya thought. «What would she be like if she were human?» «Tonya tried to introduce her.»

ТShe remembered the lake where the pikeго вытащили щуку, у нее was pulled out, and she had the feeling that this was how the fish lived in theirе fish kingdom, where they could walk and talk, only people would never see it. But now this childhood fantasy seems to have come to life and become a reality.

Almost thirty years had passed, and once again she saw those transparent fishy eyes, frightening in their depth. But now it was almost a man, only with the head of a pike. It was a pike-head. And now heел спасти ееhad come to save her, and he did, or she would have been swept out to sea in a storm.

«What should I do? Taniathought. — How can I help you?» Now it’s my turn.», looking around the beach, where the elements were raging, she thought.

***

This idea that someone needed her help and had to live for it was a saving grace for her, because Тshe was now on the hook of a circumstance called betrayal. And yet, just a few hours ago, she was still full of hope and almost happy. She checked into the hotel with her husband, they came for avacation at the sea.

Tonya entered the hotel room and threw up her hands in delight.

— — Наконец-то We finally made it to the hotel! This flight was too tiring. But ahead of tselykh two weeks of vacation, two weeks of happiness! she clung to him, and he embraced her tenderly.

This vacation was also important becauseя Tony’s relationship with her husband had been strained in recentyears. She wanted to file for divorce, but Edd insisted on keeping the marriage going. He said that ten years of their life together were happy for him, even though the marriage did not produce children.

He believed that this tripе would fix everything. Edd worked hard, ran his own business, and Tonya stayed home and worked on her onlineгstore. Before meeting Edd, she had worked as a secretary, but after marrying Edd, she didn’t work anywhere for seven years, because Edd didn’t understand why she should waste her precious time on a meaningless job. It was only now that things started to get betterfor her, and she opened her own little online store selling old things, which happened three years ago. In the beginning, it was just a hobby, but over the past year, her small business has been growingся and making a small profit. Tonya believed that you can breathe new life into old things, and then they will find a second wind. And she believed that her marriage to Edd could be revived, too. She believed that she had to pass all the difficulties and trials, ь but Edd wanted to keep their sevenyu, and they swore an oath of loyalty to each other.

Now Tonya packed up her things and left. With one suitcase that I haven’t had time to unpack since I arrived. As luck, would have it, there was a storm at sea. But she had nowhere to go, soshe went to the sea. This trip was supposed to revive their relationship, but it turned out the opposite. His phone, left on the table, revealed his double life.

When Edd went to the bathroom to clean up after a long drive, his smartphone, which was lying on the table, signaled a new message.

Tonya went to the desk and picked up the phone. She took it by accident, confusing it with her own, because their phones were similar. At that moment, she didnе’t even know thatе ждеshe was waiting for an event that would changeе her life. There is always an event that will change your life without leaving anything the same, and this was the event that started so normally.

The message was written to the spouse by a woman who was recorded in his phone as «Alicia Monova work». But this woman did not write at all for work. At first, Tonya did not understand the meaningof her message, which was only one sentence long: «I’ll miss»you,» she wrote, and at the end she put three love emoticons. This made Tonya think, and she took his phone to read all the correspondence.

The conclusion was shocking: the husband is not just a random woman, but a second family in which Rebyenok grew up. Everythingе swam before Tony’s eyes, but through the fog she couldе still see the face of the woman in the avatar, and Tonya remembered that she had already seenе her next to her husband. It was at his corporate party, and she gave him a very nice wave, and Tonya gave her a nod of greeting. Tony had no idea that there was a connection between them.

Tonya had never picked up his phone before, she trusted him, and as it turned out, she shouldn’t have. He had a second family for a long time, and resuscitation of their ten-year relationship was out of the question.

***

She stood and listened to the sound of running water in the bathroom. «What am I going to tell him?» she thought. Several scenes flashed through her mind: she tries to scream, but can’t make a sound, tears choking her. The only way out is to just walk away. What to do next and how was unclear.

She couldn’t understand how he could hide his affair with another woman for so long. But on the other hand -, Edd always came in late, worked hard, and sometimes went on business trips, but not so often.

Tonya really wantedto give birth to a baby herself, it wasе her dream, but nothing worked out. All pregnancies ended as soon as they started. In the end, she decided to live like this, and Edd yeye supported it. When she told her friends about him, she always noticedеhow thoughtful and thoughtful he was, and they envied her.

But in recent years, their marriage began to crumble, but Tonya believed that thisе was her fault. She stopped being affectionate, there was a feeling of discomfort and cooling to her husband. But he said that they will be able to return everything. They went to the seaside hotel where they spent their honeymoon, it was supposed to revive their relationship. But this only completely destroyed them.

Tonya just picked up her suitcase with the things she hadnе’t unpacked at the hotel yet and left the room. As Tonya was coming down, a woman approached her at the reception desk. Tonya didn’t immediately realize who she was, even though her name and title were written on the badge. Everythingwas a blur.

«We don’t advise you to leave the hotel,» the woman said. — A storm warning has been issued.

«I know,» Tonya said, nodding to get her out of the way.

Tonya didn’t even pay attention to the commotion around her. The hotel lobby was noisy, everyone was returning from the beach. Tonya could hear the wind howling, bringing relief with it. But even this storm was insignificant compared to the storm in yeye’s soul.

Tonya rolled her suitcase down the path leading to the sea. Until recently, she and Edd had walked down this path holding hands, and now she was walking alone. She didn’t care where she was going. She didn’t want to talk to him or hear his voice. She couldn’t even bring herself to write him a goodbye message.

She didn’t think about the future, and the past just seemed like a failure. People were passing by, rushing to the hotel because of the storm warning. And Tonya wanted to run out of the hotel as fast as she could, because the storm was inside her. Her legs didn’t seem to obeyеher, as if she was slowed down. Tonya walked straight to the sea, slowly and without turning away from the path, as if she didn’t care.

Not far from Morya there were benches for relaxing. Tonya sat down on a bench and stared at the big, heaving waves for a long time.

«Girl, are you out of your mind? It’s dangerous here, the storm is coming, get out! a couple shouted as they ran past, carrying a tent with an awningthat was flapping in the wind.

«Right away,» Tonya said, butе her wordsfell to thewind.

Soon the beach was empty. She had the urge to lie down, and the memories came back to her one by one.

She didn’t understand how it was that people loved each other, and then the end came. She couldn’t understand: where does the borderline go, where is the click, short and dull, that triggers the mechanism of irreversibility?

Tonya remembered their wedding, where she was in a gorgeous snow-white dress. Details came to mind: the veil, the white flowers, the sea foam covering the shore in a white veil. It looked like the train of her dress or a veil.

«It’s bitter!» the guests shouted, and broke the dishes. «For luck!» the guests shouted, and frothy champagne was poured. Lots of guests. A huge celebration. She remembered, and it was so far away and close, and now it hurts so much.

***

Tonya lay down on the bench, and she didn’t understand how she was drawn to sleep. She fell into it briefly. Tonya opened her eyes and sighed, realizing that she was awake. She was lying on a bench, and the sea spray drifted upto her. The storm water was very close, but Tonya didn’t want to leave. Her legs were heavy andе опять she was beginning to feel sleepy again, but sleeping in this weather was very dangerous. Tonya did not think about the danger, because it seemed to her that the worst had already happened. She closed her eyes againand drifted offлаto sleep.

«Hello, hello!» the little drummers exclaimed happily — they were toys fromе her childhood, and she smiled sadly. Sleepwas taking ee away..

She had a dream in which there were many children’s toys. An ocean of serenity, an island of peace from herтchildhood, when she would come and immerse herself in the world of toys in her room, where she could play for hours. And now she was playing them again, but only in her dreams.

As the weather grew, the dream carried her further and further away, and the waves came closer to her. пасность нарастала, но сон уносил ее все дальше и дальше, а волны приближались к ней.

* * *

At this point, pike-headел came tohelp her. He’d been washed up on the beach by a wave, and he’d woken her up with a touch. When she opened her eyes, she saw this strange creature. It looked like a man with a pike’s head and a body covered in scales. The creature was small, only a meter and a half in length. Now she knew that she had to save herself and save him, not only from the storm, but also from people. After all, nothing good was waiting for him here.

As Tonya was walking towards the seashore, she noticed a cave in the rock and thought it might be a good hiding place. She was glad that no one was around to see him.

Tonya wanted to leave her suitcase here, but pike-head was too weak to walk on his own. He could hardly move. Then Tonya decided to throw things out of the suitcase and put the pike-head thereщукоголового. Fortunately, the suitcase was very roomy and on wheels. She quickly began to throw things directly on the sand, so that she could quickly get the pike-head out of here.

— I’ll help you, I’ll help you, «she said, knowing that he had saved her from certain death. «We’ll ride out this storm together,» she said to pike-head, opening his suitcase to help him into it.

2

The cave was damp. It’s stuffy and not entirely safe. Tonya opened the suitcase, but he hid his head. In the suitcase and didn’t want to stick his head out. He was weak and afraid. Tonya watched from the cave as the storm grew stronger. When she looked at the raging sea, the wind, and realized that she was losing her sense of time. It alternated between speeding up and slowing down.

«You don’t have to think about the bad stuff. You only need to think about the good things, «Tonya encouraged the pike-headed man during the stormщукоголового. «When the storm’s over, we’ll go home.

The casual use of the word «home» made her shiver, because they didn’t have a home. They were both left without a roof over their heads. Salt spray drifted up to them. The sound of the waves, the wind, the sea seemed to yearn with a violent force, unleashing its anger on the shore.

«Just a little more and we’ll go,» Tonya said again, as if trying to convince herself of that. In her small shoulder bag were her phone, the lipstick she always carried with her, and some wet wipes. There was no need for wet wipes now, because there was already water everywhere. Tonya was afraid that the phone would stop working because it was so wet. She will be out of touch with the world.

But as soon as she thought that it would all be over soon, it became even more terrifying: the storm grew stronger and it seemed that it would never end. Pike-head was sitting in the suitcaseщукоголовый, and she was looking at his motionless head. He didn’t say anything, but at some point he felt cramped and moved. Tonya touched the suitcase and felt the pike-head tremble. She squatted down and hugged the suitcase.

Tonya was wearing a wet peach-colored dress with small flowers that stuck to her body. But she didn’t feel the cold. She wanted to warm himup so that he would stop shivering. She hugged the suitcase, trying to keep it warm. Soon he stopped shaking, and Tonya dozed a little, leaning against the suitcase. Then she opened her eyes again and didn’t know how much time had passed.

«Hey, how are you?» «What is it?» she asked pike-head, but he didn’t move.

To lighten the mood, Tonya started making up names for him. She wanted him to respond to one of them. She called his name and watched his reaction.

«Kirill,» Tonya was saying. She had the feeling that she was talking more to the suitcase. — Timur, David. Stan, Daniel. She paused after each name and listened for his reaction.

«Ivan? she froze again.

Only when she said the name «Ivan» did he start.

«Ivan, then?» — What is it? «she asked, not understanding his emotion. Pike-head paused and looked at her warily from under his brows. «Okay, then not Ivan,» she sighed. Then she continued sorting through the names.

«Demyan, Albert, Stepan, Leon,» Tonya would say.

In fact, she didn’t expect him to immediately respond to a certain name. She just wanted to distract him from his sad thoughts, and herself as well. She suspected that the pike-head was lost and now it was hurting.

«All right,» she said suddenly, and waved her hand. «Tell me yourself, then, what was your name?»

Tonya didn’t expect him to say anything, but suddenly she heard him say something that sounded like «um-um». Her eyes widened in surprise. His husky voice, like a rustle from the abyss, made an impression on her. She didn’t think he even had a voice.

— What’s your name?“ — What is it? „she asked again, surprised.

«Um-um,» he said, after a short pause, in his husky voice.

Tonya realized that she needed to find a name that would be similar to what he said. She was so caught up in it that she forgot all about her worries and the storm.

«Maybe you’ll be a godfather, then?» No, let’s be Naum, «she said, matching the name to the consonance, and broke into a smile.

It was funny, because after years of struggling with infertility, when she tried to have a baby but it didn’t work out, her friends got pregnant and gave birth one by one. They often chose names for their children, and Tonya thought how happy it was to find a new name for a new person. And now she chose the name of the pike-head herself and was happy.

She was so happy that she didn’t even notice the storm subsided and then subsided completely, as if it had never happened. She knew it was time to leave the cave.

When Tonya came out of the cave, she was struck by how much damage the elements had done. The beach was devastated, with many benches overturned and trees broken. Water was everywhere.

Tanya rolled her suitcase behind her. She didn’t know where to go. But suddenly, not far from the beach, she noticed a white van and decided to go there to ask for food and drinking water. Even though there was water everywhere, she was very thirsty. I needed drinking water. I also had to feed the pike-head, which was very weak. Tonya was acting on instinct.

As she approached the van, the driver leaned out of the cab and stared at her intently.

«Girl,» he said, «what are you doing here in this weather?» «What is it?» he asked with great surprise, and she felt him look at her intently

suitcase. — Ah, you are vacationers! A sudden thought struck him, and he immediately shook his head. «We must have come to the seaside, and here we are…» he said sympathetically.

— Yes, the storm was really raging. «It was a surprise,» Tonya said, trying not to look too alarmed.

— And I’m stuck, too, I don’t know how much. Half the cars were almost washed away. Can I give you a ride?» «What is it?» he asked, and at that moment Tonya had an idea.

«Yes,» she said. — It was very cool. Take us to the nearest village, please, «Tonya smiled, although she didn’t know if there was a village here at all, because she couldn’t look at the map on her phone, her phone was wet and didn’t work.

***

The driver ducked back into the booth, then leaned out and said, «I’m sorry.

— The nearest village is almost an hour and a half away. In general, I, of course, not on the way. But I can give you a ride, but only on one condition, «he smiled slyly.

When Tonya heard about the condition, she was very nervous. But I decided to listen to him to the end.

«On what condition?» — What is it? «she asked warily.

— I like your suitcase, give it to me!» the driver said with a sudden chuckle.

Tonya tensed, a shiver running through her. Her eyes widened and she didn’t know what to say.

«Come on, come on,» the driver said. «I don’t need your suitcase.» It’s just that you hold on to it as if there are countless treasures and benefits there, «he laughed

Tonya tensed again.

«I am,» she said after a moment, but so seriously that the smile faded from the driver’s face.

«Good,» he said. — We’ll wait for my partner, and then we can go.»

3

Tonya felt a growing sense of unease as the van

continued to move. She was clutching the handle of the suitcase where pike-head was sitting

щукоголовый. Tonya didn’t know what lay ahead. Before leaving, she asked the

driver for water, and he donated them a bottle of drinking water. Tonya

drank some herself, because she was very thirsty, and gave the rest to pike-head. She

would hold the bottle to his mouth and he would take a sip.

There were only boxes of seafood around, half filled

with ice. Tonya tried to distract herself by looking at them, but it didn’t help. Fortunately, the

way to the village was not so long, and soon the door of the van opened. Tonya

was relieved. She didn’t know what lay ahead, but she was glad that

at least they’d made it safely.

«Get out,» the gray-haired driver said. «We’re here.

Tonya pulled out her suitcase and set it on the ground. She watched

the van drive away. It wasn’t until he was out of sight that she

remembered that she hadn’t thanked the driver. Until the last moment, she expected

a trick, because the bitter experience of betrayal with her husband left its mark on her,

and she did not trust men, waiting for another trap.

It wasn’t until the van was gone that Tonya was able to fully open the suitcase.

In the van, it had been ajar so that the pike-head could breathe, and now she opened

it even more, first looking around to make sure

no one was looking. She didn’t want him to be seen by outsiders.

Tonya sighed and looked around the village. It was also affected by the storm,

but there was no obvious damage.

«Well, let’s go,» she said softly, reaching for the handle of the suitcase and

closing it again, but not completely.

From the strong wind, there were broken tree branches under her feet and one

broken tree that blocked Tonya’s path. She had to climb over

it and then drag the suitcase.

«Hold on,» she saidto pike-head, trying to drag him,

because it was even harder to get around him. «Ugh,» she said as