Escape

“Escape” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Meuyert Sissenbayeva, Nazarbayev Intellectual school of physics and mathematics, Aktobe, Kazakhstan.

Escape

‘Why won’t these guards calm down?’ I thought. I was tired of running, hiding and shuddering from every rustle.

What was valuable in this artifact which looked no better than a simple stone from the ground? Everyone realizes when the end comes, thinking ‘here it is - death.’ For me it seemed, too, such a moment had come when horrendous eyes were glowing with yellow colour from that corner. I wanted to scream and I did not care if the numerous guards of the capital were looking for me, but I could not. As if my voice was stolen, and then indifference came, as if I had lost all my feelings.

‘Do not be afraid of me. I will not do you any harm’, the non-human said to me.

What else could I do? Then I was blinded by a very bright light and I fell into the void.

When I woke up it was already dawn and I was in an unknown room without windows and lights. I thought something was wrong with me. And how did I get there? Portal or what? Nonsense! No one has been able to build them for 200 years, especially without a special arch. So, having no time to think about that, I had to try to get out of the room. Was I in prison? It didn’t seem so, there had to be a window and a grille.

Fortunately, I had night vision. I did not know where I got it from, like I had a werewolf in my great-grandfathers. My mother also had it. I easily found the door. ‘What kind of corridor is this?’ I wondered. ‘Just go ahead and do not think about anything’, whispered a man's voice in his head. ‘What a nice situation for a day like this’, I thought.

Then I almost failed the task. I met a mighty magician. I felt being a schizophrenic also. It seemed I was going crazy, but we needed to move forward. We needed to think about what to do next.

Since I felt so stupid, I had to at least fulfill the order. I wondered what city I was in. ‘You are in Zingaresca. This is the village on north of Runvark,’ the voice said. ‘What? What a nonsense!’ I cried. I could not be at the other end of the world. Only 5 days were left. I did not manage to give the artifact to the Boss. Damn guards, you damn magician.

Liv laughed at my reasoning and suddenly stopped. Probably taken aback by that name that I gave him. I went for half an hour, but I didn't see any way out. I passed 200 yards, 500, and 2000... And then there was bright blinding light and I felt a wave of remembering.

Some people came to my mom. They had a serious conversation and of course I was sent to my room. Barely half an hour, I heard a shrill cry mom. I was scared, but I literally seconds after ran to the living room and saw the scene for not sensetive. Those people were not there, and the eyes of my beloved and so dear mother was filled with pain and fear. Not for herself, but for me. And I shouted so hard that all the glass and mirrors shattered. I had weak healing abilities (from my grandmother) and I tried to cure the wound, but nothing could save my only relative. Since the age of five, I had been alone. Neighbors helped me, they cooked and tried to soothe and amuse me. I was very grateful to them because they brought me back to life.

A sharp flash. A second memory, as the same people who killed my mother, again came to me. They came with an apology and said that accidentally eliminated the wrong person and said it was ready to repair the damage. I clearly remember how I was angry at their words about money and about the death of the dearest person in my life. I just turned fifteen, but in ten years learning how to fight, I took my sword, first time killed a man. Then the second one… The third could react, but on that occasion I had a gun. He, too, died. I had revenge for my mother.

The third and the brightest flash struck me. I was lying in the woods covered in blood and wounds. I couldn't move and it hurt to breathe. I asked the God for a miracle and thought that nothing had been accomplished in my short twenty years of life. Suddenly the pain disappeared, and the eyes were not pastilles fog, I started to move. When I finally got up and looked around, there was nobody there. Although I distinctly heard and felt that someone was here. Whoever it was I was grateful. ‘Thank you!’I yelled and fell into the void.

Everything passes, but not everything is forgotten.

I was back in that ill-fated corridor, but with the door.