Chapter Text
It was a normal Thursday night. Anna left the toilet and headed to the wardrobe. After a short queue, she picked up her down jacket in the wardrobe, and went looking for someone from her dance group. Their class ended, as did several other groups. Parents came for young children of preschool age. Some older girls were met by their boyfriends.
There was a lot of people in the spacious hall, laughter and talk could be heard from all sides.
Anna saw a familiar silhouette near the sofa in the corner. Tall and slim Arina stood with a guy in a black jacket and quickly told him something, actively gesturing with her hands.
Placing her bag next to her briefcase, Anna turned to the mirror and began to dress. Seeing that her friend was already leaving, Anna decided to talk.
– Arina?
– Yes? – The girl looked back.
– Are you going to the bus stop?
Her boyfriend grinned and rolled his eyes in a picture. His pupils made a complete revolution in the orbit of the eyes and he shook his head, pretending not to believe that someone could ask such silly thing.
– No, we'll drive a car. Bye.
– Bye.
Anna was not sure that she was heard in this noise. Her friend and her boyfriend turned around, joined hands and quickly went out.
The tall and massive polished wood doors opened and closed every now and then. A small crowd formed at the door, everyone wanted to get out as soon as possible.
– Come on, move. No one will wait forever for you.
The voice of one of the old women was loud and demanding. An elderly woman, about seventy years old at first glance, in a long coat and with red lipstick on her lips, looked dissatisfied at the crowd of guys in front of her.
Anna turned to the mirror and began to dress slowly. There were fewer and fewer people in the spacious lobby of the concert hall. The girl looked at herself in the mirror for the last time, took her bag with clothes and headed for the exit.
She went through the first doors with two girls a little younger than her. In the small space between the doors to the street and the doors to the hall, several people stood, and spoke quietly, periodically looking back at those who came out. The second door, which led to the street, was held by a bald full man in an unbuttoned jacket.
–Thanks. Anna said, looking into the man's eyes.
– Get moving.
"Well, that was rude," she thought, going out onto the stairs and stepping aside.
The frosty air stung my skin. This week of winter was really cold. Yesterday afternoon it was -28°C, a really low mark for these places. A little girl slipped on the last step and fell to her knees. Without wasting a second of time, she quickly got back to her feet and ran towards one of the cars with a white bag in one hand and a backpack with fairies in the other hand. The lanterns were burning brightly, it was snowing, and conversations could be heard from all sides. Small groups of children stood in several places near the lanterns and talked noisily. Cars drove out of the gate one by one.
Anna went down the steps of the wide staircase, passed through the wrought-iron gate and headed along the fence towards the bus stop. It wasn't far to walk, about three or five minutes. The road to the bus stop was screw ap by the fact that none of the lanterns were lit on this section of the road. Except for the headlights of passing cars, it was pitch dark to walk.
The girl had to travel 9 stops, fortunately without transfers. Getting on the right bus and getting off at the right stop was not difficult at all. She was old enough to do it on her own.
_____________
– Don't let her ride alone, do you understand me? Don't let that happen, period.
This was not the first time this evening's conversation had taken place. Grandma was sitting on the couch with a newspaper in her hands, marking with a pen the TV shows she would watch next week.
– Mom, that's enough. We've already discussed this. Before that, we lived in a big city, a regional center. I went to the ice rink with a transfer. My friend and I sat down and drove together. And no one took us by the hand. We were independent children. And my brother Sasha also traveled very far alone, and everything was fine.
Mom came home from work and had dinner in front of the TV.
– Sasha was a boy. I didn't have a heartache for him as much as I did for you.
– And I was a girl and for years I traveled alone or with a friend to one distant area, then to another. Remember for yourself how far away the pool, ice rink, and other places were. And nothing bad happened, I'm still alive. And my school friend too. Let's close this topic.
Grandma sighed heavily and adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses.
– Is it a good borscht?
– Yes, it's delicious. Well done.
– I tried, I cooked for half a day.
Mom didn't say anything to that, just kissed her old mom on the temple.
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Anna was standing at the bus stop. Several mothers with children were standing next to her. Two men were standing nearby, smoking. One of them had an old blue tattoo, which one she couldn't tell, although she occasionally glanced at the stranger's hand.
Generally, the street looked empty. Some in her group, as far as she knew, went for a walk in their companies of mutual acquaintances. It was a long way to walk home, and there was no one to go with.
A bus came around the corner. It would have been possible to drive away in it, but he did not turn onto her street, but drove past. Of course, it would be possible to leave on it, but you would have to walk two stops. It was quite late, and Anna decided to wait for the next bus.
Everyone who was standing next to her got in and drove away. It was uncomfortable standing alone, but what could be wrong?
A minute passed, then a second, then a third. A car came around the bend from the side of private houses. The black Audi slowly pulled up to the stop, the right passenger window slid down. Anna became nervous.
– Can you find a lighter, honey?
The girl shuddered. The voice sounded unnatural. The intonation wasn't threatening, but there was something about him. Taking a step forward so as not to raise the volume of her voice, the girl spoke.
– I don't smoke. There are shops down the street. Anna pointed to the right, there really were grocery stores further away.
— You don't smoke, do you?
— No.
There was no response. The sound of a door opening was heard. Someone squeezed her arm above the elbow with great force, and Anna shuddered all over, sucking in air noisily. The bag with her belongings was pulled off and thrown on the bus stop bench, the phone flew next. They shoved her into the passenger seat of the car and closed the door. The driver returned to his seat. The sound of the locked doors seemed to her the loudest in the world.
– Please, no. Let me go.
– Stay quiet.
– Please.
– Shut up.
– Please let me go.
The passenger she was talking to exhaled heavily. He got up from his seat. Anna looked out the window. Her reflection was looking at her. The windows were probably tinted. The door on her side opened and the guy with glasses sat down next to her, forcing her to move to the center of the back seat.
The car started moving. They reached the nearest turn and turned right.
Anna couldn't remember the license plate of the car. Was he there at all or not?
Anna held out her hands in front of her, which the guy ignored. He loomed over her, placed both of his hands above her elbows, firmly locking her in the seat. Her hands were on his arms. Such physical intimacy in the confined space of the back seat of the car horrified the girl. She tried to jerk, struggle and scream, but her attempts came to nothing.
The guy took off his glasses and threw them on the first seat. The red eyes met the gray-blue ones. Anna shuddered and fell silent, frozen in one place and not moving. An unpleasant shudder went through her body.
He was fair-haired, with a nondescript pale shade. A blue winter sweater hid his figure, but he was obviously physically stronger than her. His face was strange and unnatural. There were no wrinkles, scars or moles on him. There was no hint of stubble or acne. The skin color was also unnatural. It felt like looking at the face of a wax figure, a dummy or mannequin.
– Calm down, don't buzz.
The car wasn't going very fast, but it was hard to tell exactly how fast they were going. Anna began to breathe deeply through her nose. My eyes stung unpleasantly.
– What do you want from me?
The guy turned his head towards the driver.
– Always the same naive questions.
– Make her calm down.
The words of the man behind the wheel made Anna feel even worse, she was breathing deeply and noisily.
– You must be hot. Let me help you.
He stroked her cheek with a cold hand, took off his hat. With his left hand he took the jacket under her chin, and with his right hand he confidently took the puller and unbuttoned the green down jacket. He took off a scarf the color of melted milk, but did not put it anywhere. The guy froze in place without a single movement. There was no visible breathing movement, not even blinking or eyeball movement. Nothing at all. It's like the robot was turned off in the middle of the action.
Anna shuddered lying under him and tried to move away, but to no avail. It noticed her nervousness, blinked and stretched its lips into a small smile. It got even worse, even more alarming. Now it looked like a bad 3D animation from a cartoon or video game. When it is noticeable that the creators tried to give their character a human facial expression, but something went wrong.
The creature blinked once more and put the scarf on the first seat. Anna pulled her arms out of the sleeves and lay down on top of the down jacket. The creature hovered over her again and fixed her again. Anna made a sound like a whimpering puppy and tried to remove the creature's hands.
– We haven't done anything wrong to you. Don't make any noise. Just relax. Calm down and lie still.
The half-smile remained glued to his face. The creature that loomed over her was very inhuman. He apparently tried to make his voice soothing. The monotonous intonation was smooth and calm, penetrating into the skull. The creature's voice was disturbing, sounded alien, otherworldly. His palms were uncomfortably cold, which was felt through his clothes.
The driver, most likely also a wax figure, handed something to the blond man. He rolled up the sleeve of her blouse and injected something into her arm. The empty syringe was thrown into the front seat. The creature sat down, put her booted feet on his feet and put his hands on top, not allowing them to be removed.
– That's it, rest up.
Anna raised her head and looked at the creature, which at first she mistook for a human. My eyelids started to get heavier.
– It was a sedative, wasn't it?
– Yes.
– What's going to happen to me?
Anna sobbed, tears welled up in her eyes.
– Calm down and go to sleep.
The car continued on its way in an unknown direction. After a while, the girl fell asleep.
