- So! You are now in a deep, damp, moss-covered dungeon. Your every step echoes through the long, dark corridors built of gray brick. Your torches don't shine beyond your nose, so you have to watch your step. After all, who knows what might be lurking in the shadows if you take a wrong step? Melow created a sense of suspense, gesturing with his fingers and wearing a sly smile on his face as he sat in front of us with a map of the area spread out on the carpet, on which our figures stood.
We were now in a separate room set aside for our board game while the younger children slept soundly in the shared bedroom at the appointed time of 2:00 p.m. And since we had some free time, Mellow suggested we play a simplified version of D&D. At least, that's how it looked to him in most cases, except for a few moments, the name and setting — DNG: Dungeons and Deities, where the game mainly takes place in Greek, Egyptian, Sumerian, and other styles where pagan gods were present. We chose characters whose class depended on the god they worshipped and professed.
And now we had a Greek setting. Anna had a priestess of Poseidon, capable of commanding water and healing. And I had a hand-to-hand warrior and follower of Deimos, capable of fighting enemies with his bare hands and instilling fear in them, strengthening himself and imposing debuffs on enemies. If the priestess Anaphena looked as she should — a stately, beautiful, well-groomed, and slender woman dressed in a long white tunic with gold decorations and lapis lazuli in them — then my character was her complete opposite — dirty, muscular warrior Grotter, whose arms and legs were wrapped in dirty bandages. His hair was carelessly tied in a bun, he had a short black goatee, sharp features, and predatory scarlet eyes.
And now we entered the dungeon, which, according to the task from one of the rulers of the city of Hicks, had to be cleared of various evil spirits that were plaguing the city. Our characters moved slowly, carefully watching their every step. Mine walked ahead, while the priestess walked behind and watched the rear. After a while, they made their way into a huge room, encountering their first enemies — satyrs. Unlike their mythological counterparts, these creatures resembled Slavic devils, or, at worst, satyrs from Warcraft, but much smaller and thicker, like goblins with the same level of development.
Time passed, we rolled the dice for saving throws, and our characters fought various monsters: Arachnids — women with half their bodies consisting of spiders Ghouls — reanimated corpses with elongated claws and teeth, similar to ghouls, various dark spirits, and other evil creatures that stood in our way. This continued until we finally reached our destination. A huge cave lit by glowing blue crystals, tall and thick stalagmites, and a huge lake from which the boss was about to emerge.
- Your ultimate goal has finally been achieved. You have gone through many battles, where each of you fought to the fullest, working as a team and compensating for each other's weaknesses. You are tired, your bodies are at their limit, where the next battle could be your last. And it's not a fact whether it will be victory or your death. Only the finale, which is about to begin, will tell! — he finished on a high note, for which he immediately received a harsh rebuke from Anna, as well as a stern look from me. He immediately apologized in a whisper and continued.
The Lernaean Hydra appeared on the scene, a figure placed by Melow on the map in front of us.
The battle began, and we used everything we had left from previous battles. We used a variety of skills, techniques, spells, and abilities, while the boss used his signature moves — acid spit, poisonous bite, and regeneration. An hour passed, and the hydra was on its last legs, as were our characters. All that remained was to deliver the final blow, use a powerful water spell, and finish off this creature. And she was already shaking the dice, anticipating victory over the powerful boss. The dice were rolled, and in a moment, the results were revealed.
A one on each of the three dice. Her happy smile was replaced by puzzlement, and then her face was covered with horror and shock, frozen for a moment. The spell missed, hitting the wall of the cave. Melo doesn't waste any time, gleefully passing sentence on the priestess. The hydra spits acid and dissolves her to the bone, leaving me alone with the monster. However, only the priestess could have ended the fight, as she had the "Sacred Water Arrow" with her, capable of severing the last head and finally killing this creature. But it didn't work out; the dice had their say. My battle with the boss didn't last long, killing my character as well.
- And... That's it! Your characters are dead, you lost to the boss, and that's the end of the priestess and warrior's adventure!
- That's not fair! - She jerked her hand forward, pointing her index finger at Melow, looking at him with a malicious and determined gaze. Her hair immediately stood on end, slowly reddening and heating up from overflowing emotions. "I demand a rematch!"
- I'm sorry... - Mellow spread his arms wide with a fake look of sadness on his face. - But there will be no rematch, your characters are dead for good. But... - He took out a new card with an image of an Asian dragon. "We can finally play the new edition with Chinese mythology! With new classes, abilities, mechanics, and everything else!" What do you say?" He decided to change the subject.
- We can try...
- No! I refuse! I've been leveling up my character for a whole week! I'm not going to lose him so easily! - Anna was not going to give up, clinging to any opportunity to finish the boss fight and fully level up her character to level 20.
- No, Anna. - Melow also stood his ground. - You've already used up your resurrection stones in the dungeon. No more leniency! And it's just a character! You can easily create another one and level it up!
- Just a character?! - Anna was outraged by such a statement. - She's the best priestess in all of Greece! She's capable of...
And so another argument between them flared up with renewed vigor over another trifle. This would go on for a long time, so I lay down on the soft carpet, thinking about my own affairs.
Three months. That's how long it had been since I ended up here. Three months were calm, peaceful, and not stressful in most cases, of course. Except for a few moments, but more on that later.
I didn't waste any time, doing what I could — gathering information and training. Although there were some minor problems with the former: most of the books in the library were children's books, fairy tales, or educational books for the youngest readers. There were a couple of novels and poems by a poet and writer unknown to me. There were no books about the history of this world or the surrounding world, not even a banal children's atlas. The only source of information was the teachers, but even they seemed unwilling to tell us anything about it. I understand that there are very young children here. Only the three of us are older, but they could have given us at least a little information. And there were no computers in the library, and trying to sneak into the teachers' office, where there was one, was a pointless risk. There were cameras everywhere, and it wasn't always possible to spot everyone in time. The only thing I could find out was that we were in the state of Ohio, in its northern part.
So there was only one thing left to do — train and develop, which I was good at. At first, I remembered my long-abandoned training plan, which I had followed when I was a kid and went to a sambo club. I also remembered a couple of exercises from there along with the plan. Then I wrote everything down in my notebook, which I asked the librarian for to keep records. And then I started following it, training at 12:00 and 18:00 for an hour and a half. At first, they were easy, with short sets, but gradually I increased the load and the number of sets. It was hard, really hard — this child's body had not really been physically active. And his parents did not send him to any clubs for obvious reasons. Another question arises — why was he not sent to school at the age of seven, despite the discord in the family? Max did not have a definite answer, but one thing interested me.
The son once asked his mother a question about school. At the time, they were in a room where his mother was dressing him in warm clothes to go for a walk in the autumn. When she heard the question, she fell silent, her eyes stared into space for a moment, her pupils narrowed, and her breathing quickened. Then she came to her senses and said that it was too early for him, quickly turning away and walking with him to the exit. If we are to believe the child's description from memory, we can understand that the mention of school clearly evoked unpleasant associations in her. I really hope that my suspicions are unfounded, because there is only one reason for such behavior — the FPE and all its inhabitants, teachers and other monsters. I already have enough problems with the psychos, monsters, and maniacs from the Dangerous Forest, which I may still encounter. And if this school exists here too, I'll have to buy some sedatives.
All right, let's continue. Over time, my body quickly adapted to such intense training by the end of the first month. But even so, it was hard, even for a growing body with enormous reserves of energy. There were moments when I was vomiting saliva just to finish the damn set. This, by the way, happened almost at the end of the third month. I had to try hard to calm the coaches down and explain that everything was fine. They only backed off after I promised that I wouldn't push myself so hard anymore, otherwise I would harm my body (which was the right thing to do. I understand what can happen if you don't exercise moderation).
But still, after three months of intense training, I finally saw the results of my efforts: slightly bulging muscles that became a little stronger and firmer. My brain began to function much better than before, and my endurance increased, as did my metabolism. Other mental problems, such as stress, disappeared. You could say that I became much more tolerant and calmer than before. Of course, this was not enough for my future, but as a foundation for puberty, which will cause a "boom" in the body, it will be just right. The main thing is not to skip training, but also not to overdo it.
But enough about me, I would like to mention the moments when it wasn't boring at the orphanage. Especially for us, the head boys, and for the teachers. We have a trio of kids who sometimes get themselves into such trouble that even my nerves almost gave out. Oh, how I wanted to yell at them and whip their crafty asses with a belt so they would calm down for at least a few days. But I couldn't bring myself to do it, because it wouldn't have done any good. Especially considering that they were just ordinary kids with a screw loose... and a wild imagination.
A long-haired blond dragon with black scaly legs, arms, wings, tail, and horns. An eternally sleepy girl whose eyes are constantly closed, with soft pink curly hair and curved ram's horns. And the last of the trio: a bald boy with a maniacal smile on his face, showing his sharp shark teeth. Shirtless, with a bare torso and baggy pants, and constantly sparkling dark skin. A trio of hooligans, troublemakers, and simply jokers (unwittingly reminiscent of another trio). They had to be constantly watched to prevent them from causing another riot or making a bad joke — their names were Darris, Mori, and Phil.
One night, when all the children were asleep and the teachers were busy with their own affairs, Darris decided to, so to speak, play a joke on an elderly woman when she decided to leave the library for a while. When she returned, Darris shone a flashlight directly in her face and contorted his face into a toothy monster grimace in front of her. To say that the whole orphanage was in an uproar at that moment would be an understatement. The woman almost had a heart attack as she recovered from the shock. The boy was then thoroughly punished, given a long lecture, and then forced to watch over the entire library while the librarian rested. After that, he didn't do anything so harsh again, but he didn't stop joking around with everyone.
Mori, unlike her dragon-like friend, joked in a different way. She simply used her magical (I can't explain how they work other than magic) yawns to make those standing nearby slowly fall into a deep sleep. It seems like a harmless action at first glance, but after that, you can't really wake anyone up. Everyone sleeps for several hours, disrupting their sleep balance. Especially if you were put to sleep during the day and woke up at night, unable to fall asleep again. That's exactly how our second guard, a chubby old man who replaced a young man at work, fell asleep because of her. How? She waited for him, then talked to him, yawned, and left, leaving the sleepy guard behind. Fortunately, the teachers knew about her actions, except, of course, the guard. So somehow they couldn't wake him up in any way — she got a good scolding for that. Not like Darris, but they had a talk.
Phil was up for anything, as long as he didn't have to sit on his ass and had somewhere to channel all that energy that was oozing out of him. So, one way or another, he was always with them. His main joke was to turn off the lights in the entire shelter by short-circuiting the electricity with his own. We sat there... for about three or four days, I think, without electricity? The wiring burned out badly, so it took a long time to repair and replace it. Karma caught up with him too, even though he didn't learn any particular lesson. And despite all this, they continued to joke around and play pranks for fun. That's why I naturally had to watch them for several hours at a time, almost missing some training sessions in order to keep track of them. Lanna and Mellow were oh so unsuitable for this task. They would scold them, spank them, and put them in the corner — but did that help? No, they became more cunning and inventive, escaping the pursuit and surveillance of the two head boys
But that didn't really work with me. And instead of scolding them or raising my hand, I decided to do things differently. I gave them tasks that they either didn't like or couldn't do easily or properly, otherwise they would have to do everything all over again. For example, after their latest prank, I made them collect dirty dishes from all the tables left by other children, or clean up the playroom when everyone else had already gone outside to play, and they had to clean up after them. And they also had to help sort books in the library. Because of this, they don't like me very much now. Although they don't show it outwardly, they are afraid that I might come up with something else terrible, heh heh... At least they didn't suffer any physical injuries such as redness or abrasions. Otherwise, I couldn't look at them, it would be disgusting and I would feel sorry for them. Although I understood that sometimes it can help in raising a child. But only in certain situations.
And then I suddenly remember an acquaintance — Anova with her spidery face.
Things with her were... complicated. At first, everything went slowly but surely — the children weren't particularly friendly at first, and she herself wasn't in a hurry to interact with other children, keeping her distance from everyone. Not because she wanted to be alone or didn't want to meet anyone. She was just afraid to take the first step, to do something wrong, and then beat herself up about it. And that was not surprising, because no matter how calmly the children treated each other for their peculiarities, there was one thing that none of them could escape: the fear of spiders. The children literally avoided her, especially those who, logically speaking, shouldn't be affected by her venom, if she even has any. Not to mention Melow, who is made entirely of chalk. Fortunately, he understands that she poses no threat to him. But as he told me then, "No matter how calm I am about her, I feel a strange uneasiness in my body when I stand next to her. Although I don't really know why this happens..."
After analyzing everything I saw and thinking it through, I came to some fairly obvious conclusions — the evolutionary adaptation of humans, which is also present in these children. As well as a cultural peculiarity regarding spiders. It's no secret that these creatures are extremely dangerous and deadly because of their venom. And most of them were not cute or beautiful. America is not far behind in this regard.
That is why children, no matter how unique, unusual, and beyond the bounds of human nature they may be, all look (completely or slightly) human and behave like humans. It is not difficult to guess that they also have human characteristics (although I may be wrong, because they may look like humans on the outside, but on the inside or in their behavior, they are nothing like humans). But what I saw perfectly confirmed my conclusions.
Realizing that this would not work, I decided to take a step towards her. One day, I went up to her in the game room, where she was sitting alone, away from the others, playing with stuffed toys in the shape of plants. I sat down next to her and introduced myself, causing her to look at me in surprise. Not noticing her surprise, I decided to strike up a conversation. At first, she either didn't answer, turning away and ignoring me, or answered too quietly and briefly. I took my time, slowly approaching her favorite topic — plants, or more specifically, cacti. When she heard me talk about them (remembering as much as I could about these cacti), she began to chat with me more animatedly. Oh... I understood. At her age, she could know something about them, but not that much! Her love for cacti was somehow unhealthy... Either her parents were famous biologists who told her many interesting things about them before she ended up in the orphanage.
But I listened to her silently while the others looked at us with interest and surprise. Time passed, I spent my free time with her, took care of the plants, and told her interesting things I knew about them. Then I listened to her stories about cacti and what new things she had learned. It got to the point where even Vatni and Iris, who were always hanging around me, came and got to know her! They talked, told her about themselves and their names, and then all ran off together to play outside. It was a success: the children themselves began to get closer to her and communicate with her, and maybe even be friends with her! You could say that the child's socialization was successful.
Until then... Until one incident occurred..
Two months had passed since her arrival, and the weather was bright and warm. Everyone was outside, and I was training on a hill, at the top of which were three children. And then, as I was finishing my set, I heard a sharp cry, followed by the flapping of wings and a thud on the ground. I immediately stopped exercising, got up from the ground, and started running toward the oak tree where the cry had come from.
Stopping, I looked around: Anova lay on a thick branch of the oak tree, her eyes expressing fear and horror. Her right hand was stretched out toward the ground, as if she were trying to help someone up or catch someone. A reddish mark was visible on her fingertips. Next to the oak tree stood Vatni, covering her face (or at least trying to) with her hands, looking alternately at the fallen body and at me. Finally, my gaze fell on Iris, lying on the ground, moaning in pain. I was stunned to see his scratched hand: it had turned blue, the veins had swollen, turning an unnatural purple color, and the wounds on his palm had turned almost black.
It was poison. Damn toxin that had entered the body of the boy who was now lying on the ground. Without wasting any time, I took off my T-shirt to tear it into long, thin strips. Once I had done that, I bandaged his arm as quickly as possible to prevent the poison from spreading further. Iris began to sweat profusely, moaning louder from the increasing pain in his arm, his wings shaking nervously. Taking him in my arms, I glance at Vatni, then at Anova. Her eyes were dry, they were shaking frantically, her breathing quickened many times over. She turned her head from side to side, muttering to herself. Damn it, she's only going to make herself worse now.
- Anova! Anova! - Finally hearing me, she turned to me. - You're not to blame for what happened, you just wanted to help him. No one could have expected this to happen. Don't get yourself worked up and get down from the tree. - Vatni! - She looked at me fearfully - Help her, take her to the shelter and stay with her, okay? - She nodded vigorously. Having said everything I wanted to say, I ran towards the shelter, to the medical center.
A day later, an ambulance arrived when it became clear that our doctor couldn't help him with the poison. It turned out to be too strong and destructive, but fortunately, I reacted in time and slowed its spread. The doctors gave him an antidote, although I'm not sure where they got it. Perhaps they had dealt with representatives of her species before. Or maybe they had a universal version against all types of poisons and toxins. In any case, Iris survived and was recovering. He will soon be better, which is more than can be said for Anova. The poor girl was very frightened for her new friend and couldn't take it anymore — she burst into tears. I had to calm her down myself, hugging and stroking her back until she fell asleep, wetting my new shirt with her snot.
A day later, Iris came to. Anova then left, apologizing for what she had done to him. But the boy didn't hold a grudge against her, saying that she only wanted to help, but it didn't work out. And Vatni cheered her up, saying that everything was fine and she shouldn't worry so much. The main thing was that her friend was alive, even though the other children started to avoid her again. And the most surprising thing was that she managed to make friends with three jokers! When she found the time to do so is unclear. In any case, if she had no friends around except me, she didn't leave my side, which was sometimes annoying. But how could I be angry with her? So I wasn't angry, just giving her something to do while I went about my business.
- By the way, Max! - My thoughts were rudely interrupted by Mellow, who turned to me. - You remember that tomorrow we're going to Handel Forest, right?
Yeah... I replied, remembering how Miss Stacy had announced yesterday that all the children and she would be going to Handel Forest, one of Ohio's nature reserves. We were going there for educational purposes, but also to give the children a chance to finally get out of the shelter and take a break from it. To see the world around them, to see other people, both visitors and reserve employees. And also to see wild animals such as white-tailed deer, black bears, wild cats, and other inhabitants of Ohio. It's even funny, considering that this state is famous for its pristine lakes, pastoral landscapes, and, of course, nature reserves. In a sense, I was lucky to be in the northern part of the United States, rather than in the south with its deserts and canyons, as well as its megacities. Yuck and double yuck! But here's the question — what was the question?
- Why did you ask? - I stood up, looking at him with a puzzled expression. Anna sat with her back to Mellow, looking offended, her arms folded across her chest and her nose turned up. Bubbles were still appearing in her hair, but the color was not reddish. She was sulking at her friend, but she wasn't angry like she had been a few minutes ago.
- Anna and I discussed one thing. When we arrive at the reserve and stay at the camp, we'll go to a secret place at night. We decided to take you with us to show you our hideout.
- Does anyone else know about him besides you two? - I clarified this point. After all, even though they were adults compared to the others, they were still children. So the so-called "secret" could be well known to most people in this orphanage or to the reserve staff.
- No, of course not! - Anna turned to me with a frown, but then smiled, raised her finger, and continued with her eyes closed - Unlike everyone else, we are the best at keeping secrets, telling only those we can trust! And since you are our friend, you deserve our trust! Right? - Her expression changed back to a frown, she raised her right eyebrow and leaned her head close to mine.
I raised my hands and leaned back a little, replying:
- That's absolutely right! - I smiled nervously. She looked at me for a second, then sat back down with a calm smile. A very colorful group gathered from among the older children at the orphanage. Anna is the main beauty, a lover of all things beautiful and sea-colored, like her lapis lazuli dress. She was a proud, brave, bright, energetic, and sociable girl, ready to say whatever she thought, or even ahead of her thoughts. She was ready at any moment to help children in need, even if it was useless in certain situations. She is also a very quick-tempered and vengeful person, whom I would not advise making an enemy of. You'll be better off. And if something interesting and big is happening somewhere, she's already there.
Mellow, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Anna — a lazy, bored young man, but also quite quick-witted, intelligent, and sensitive, interested in only a couple of things. Chalk, which he eats by the ton, board games, where he always plays the game master with the ability to mess with the players to laugh at them, and drawing, using the same chalk from his body, changing its color and texture. Unlike Anna, who loved to be the center of attention, he preferred to stay on the sidelines and enjoy the peace and quiet, snoring if he had the chance. But that doesn't mean he's a complete introvert; he gets along well with everyone, but spends most of his time only with his closest friends, and even then in small groups. But they had one thing in common — they were both kind children by nature, simple and inconsistent in their emotions and feelings.
- Well, that's great! By the way... What time is it now?
- It's 3:00 p.m. so far, we still have time to rest. So I suggest we play a new game - he held the same card with the Asian dragon. Anna and I exchanged glances, then agreed and started a new campaign.
∆∆∆∆∆∆
Time passed, we spent time together, continuing to play a different version of D&D. But at 4:00 p.m., the children woke up, just as our game was ending. We were all happy with the game, so we quickly went outside with the other children. Several hours passed, the sun was setting on the horizon, and the tired and happy faces of the children headed back to the shelter. We had dinner, washed up, and got ready for bed. I was already in my pajamas, but they were unusual, with a picture of my favorite dinosaur, the spinosaurus. Where did I get them? I found them among the belongings of the former owner of this body. Maybe it looks silly and absurd, especially considering that I'm, like, an adult? But you know what? Who cares! I'm a child now, and I want to have some fun like a child. Especially one who loves dinosaurs even as an adult. And yes, the vulgar owner of this body knows a lot about them. If he were alive, maybe we could have been friends, but not in this life.
The last rays of the sun disappeared, and night took over. The moon once again sat in the sky among the stars. I lay on the bed with the lamp on, casting a dim light on my bed. It didn't disturb the others' sleep, so I could shamelessly take advantage of it and read a book. It was unlike any of the books I had seen in the library. It lay under a bookcase, covered in dust and dirt, so I had to clean it thoroughly. Only after ten long minutes did I hold in my hands a worn but somehow miraculously intact book. The leather binding felt unusual — smooth, slightly rough, and... It was difficult to describe, I just couldn't, as if I was touching something else, something unnatural. I decided to hide it from prying eyes so that I could see for myself tonight what kind of book it was.
The book rested on my knees, and on it was a symbol I didn't recognize. A circle with intertwined patterns inside it. It created separate empty spaces in which other symbols were depicted. There was nothing else on it — no title, no author's name, no names of those who wrote it. Shrugging, I opened the page, and there was one sentence:
«Tarus Mugudan.»
- The author, perhaps? - I whispered, turning to the next page. And I realized that it wasn't the author, but the first and last name of the main character. The book tells the story of the adventures of a mysterious warrior traveling throughout Europe, who comes from Kievan Rus. I was a little surprised by this information, because it's not every day that you find a book, especially in a place like this, a state, a country, where the main character of the novel is a Slav, straight from Slavic lands.
The goal of the adventure is to find a mysterious artifact capable of healing his daughter from a curse imposed by a treacherous demon. On his way, he meets future loyal companions and dangerous enemies who stand in his way. He also encounters unimaginable monsters, whose detailed descriptions of their appearance and abilities slightly confused me. The descriptions of his friends and enemies were rather sparse, which cannot be said about the monsters, each of which was unique and inimitable in its own way.
«He wasn't just darkness — he breathed it. A monster woven from thousands of writhing black tentacles, each pulsing like a separate organism. His scarlet eyes, like molten coals, burned through space, leaving behind smoking cracks in reality. Its mouth, studded with rows of crystalline teeth, stretched into an unnatural grin when it sensed my fear. This was no ordinary demon — it was something worse. Its tentacles did not just grab — they absorbed life force, leaving only withered shells behind...»
«Its skin, covered with armored plates, resembled frozen magma — neither swords, arrows, nor even ancient spells left a scratch on it. When it moved, the earth cracked beneath its paws, and trees fell like reeds. His roar shook the air, turning into a shock wave that tore stones from the ground. He didn't just resemble a hill — he became one when he curled up into a ball, turning into an impregnable fortress. And when he stretched out... Cities disappeared in an instant...»
«Her body shimmered like mercury, taking the form of a young girl or an ancient sorceress. Every movement was a dance, every gesture a spell. She did not attack — she played. I saw before me fallen friends, childhood nightmares, and paradise gardens that beckoned me to forget the battle. Her magic did not diminish — it fed on my doubts. The more I resisted, the more sophisticated the illusions became. At times, even she herself forgot where reality was...»
«His flesh was clay in his own hands. His bones lengthened into blades, his skin hardened into armor, his joints rotated 360 degrees. He attacked from all sides at once — sometimes like a giant scorpion with a harpoon tail, sometimes like a shapeless mass of tentacles with dozens of mouths. Even severed parts came to life, turning into new enemies. His laughter sounded like dozens of voices — he enjoyed the chaos...»
«It was not a creature — it was a landscape. The floor sank into boiling tar, the walls came to life and closed like jaws, the air turned into acid, then hardened into glass. It did not attack — it rewrote the laws of the universe. Even time flowed differently here: wounds did not heal, spells broke down into tiny particles, and blows slowed down, as if through thick water. I was not fighting an enemy — I was fighting emptiness itself...»
And yet Tarus defeated and killed them all, finally reaching the highest mountain, where the artifact was located. The artifact for which he had traveled all this way. And when he was about to take it, suddenly...
- Mr. Headman...
- Damn you!
I jumped slightly in fright, closing the book and staring wide-eyed at the uninvited guest.
- I'm sorry!" Anova apologized immediately, seeing my frightened expression and lowering her head guiltily. She was holding a cactus-shaped stuffed toy in her hands, which she loves very much and cannot go to sleep without. She was dressed in lavender pajamas and a special sleeping cap. She looked tired, sleep-deprived, and sleepy, as if she hadn't been able to fall asleep all this time. Or maybe she just woke up at this hour.
Sighing heavily, I closed the book and put it aside, then turned to her.
- Why aren't you sleeping?
- I can't sleep... I'm scared... Can I sleep with you? she replied, lowering her head even further and looking away. Her legs rubbed against each other, her hands clutched a toy, not knowing what to do with herself in this situation because of my request. I didn't answer right away, but after a couple of seconds I lifted the blanket. She looked up at me in surprise, to which I said with a smile:
- Come on in, or my monster under the bed will take advantage of the moment and drag you away. - Hearing this, she quickly climbed in with me, and I covered her with the blanket.
- Thank you... Old...
- Max... Just Max. Anova. We're all family here, not strangers.
- Yes... Max... Good night.
- You too - I replied, turning off the light and going to sleep. Tomorrow will be a difficult day...