A sharp pain pierced my chest, tearing me from the darkness. I opened my eyes, confused about where I was. Above me, a grey sky, around me, ruins of some sort… Memories flooded back instantly – the dark cave, the monstrous fish-men, the terrifying fear, then Alex’s face, his eyes filled with determination, and the blow…
“You killed me!” I cried, feeling tears stream down my cheeks. “Why?!”
Betrayal. Pain. Despair. All these emotions mixed in my soul, transforming into a blinding rage that erupted in a fierce slap. How could he?! After saving me, protecting me…
“Aha, pierced your heart with this staff,” he smirked, raising the very weapon that had taken my life just moments ago.
He smirked! He was smiling as if he had just told a funny joke! Hatred for this man engulfed me with renewed force.
“It had to be done, put some clothes on, I'll turn away,” he continued, as if nothing had happened, and handed me some clothing.
I looked at myself and realised with horror that I was lying half-naked on the cold concrete. Betrayal again, pain again. How could he?!
“What? You also undressed me? You’re a pervert! I'll...” gasping for breath from indignation, I began to dress, ignoring the spilled blood and strange symbols drawn on the floor.
But I didn’t manage to finish my sentence as a sharp shout interrupted me:
“Freeze! Hands on your head!”
Three police officers burst onto the platform, pointing their automatic rifles at us. My heart pounded faster, and the thought flashed through my mind: “This is the end.”
I huddled against Alex, not knowing what to do, but he silently raised his hands, as if surrendering! The police rushed towards us, their faces tense, their eyes cold and tired. They roughly grabbed Alex, twisted his arms behind his back, and slapped on the handcuffs.
"What's going on here?" one of them asked, looking around the scene.
Still trembling with fear and indignation, I pointed a finger at Alex and, feeling tears welling up in my eyes, shouted, “Arrest him! This bastard killed me!”
I saw surprise flash across the faces of the police officers. They looked at each other, as if unsure how to react to my words.
"He... killed you?" the shocked law enforcement officer asked, looking at me with disbelief and then shifting his gaze to the leader of the group, questioning him: "What do we do?"
“Yes,” I nodded quietly, answering the officer, though I understood how insane it sounded. “He pierced my heart with his staff… And then…”
The police officers shifted their gaze to Alex, who stood silently, shocked by the girl’s statement, then exchanged glances, and the senior officer commanded: “Pack these two up and take them to the station, let them sort it out there.”
At the police station, Alex and I were separated. I was taken to the doctors for a medical examination, while this psycho was sent for questioning. Serves him right, he’ll know better than to mess with me!
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The first doctor who examined me was a gynecologist. And he brought me unexpected news! No signs of assault were found! I was still completely innocent! So why was I undressed? This bastard, who disrespected me? Am I not pretty enough for him? Jerk! When I told the next doctor everything I remembered, trying not to miss a single detail, he looked at me very strangely, then ran out of the office like he had been scalded. He returned with another doctor, a psychiatrist, as I later learned. And I had to tell the story again about the caves, about the fish-men, about Damon’s attack, about how Alex first killed him and then me. The doctors listened attentively, but I saw disbelief and skepticism in their eyes. They asked clarifying questions, checked the story for logic, but it was clear that they didn’t believe me, and saw only what they wanted to see – a young girl who had experienced stress and was now fantasizing.
"You’re just tired,” the psychiatrist finally concluded. “You need peace and rest. And maybe some medication.”
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I nodded, though I understood that no medication could help me forget what had happened.
They led me out of the forensic department to the police station like a little girl, holding my hand. On the way, the doctor and I met Alex, who was just leaving the station.
“Masha, everything okay?” This bastard tried to strike up a conversation.
I didn't react, simply walked past him, head held high. He went, with his "everything is okay," far and for a long time. This bastard killed me! What kind of "okay" can there be after that? My anger at him knows no bounds! It doesn't matter, I'll make sure this goat gets locked up! At least for killing Damon, if not for me.
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My anger was cooled somewhat by the detective handling the case. No, at first he listened attentively, never interrupting, but then… Then he told Alex’s version, which was so believable that if I hadn’t still felt the echo of pain in my chest, I would have believed it myself. He must be a smooth liar! He made me look like a psycho! And most importantly, any evidence is now powerless. No murder weapon, no bodies - not found! Even the rings and coins, this bastard hid them somewhere! But how? I distinctly remember him getting into the police car with the rings!
I left the police station completely shattered. They didn't believe me and sent me home to heal. At least they didn't lock me up in a mental hospital. Though, nowadays, they only put you in there if you pay for the treatment yourself, or if you're extremely violent. I know this as a future doctor.
Walking to the taxi stop, I met Alex again. I didn't feel like talking to him at all.
"Masha, let's talk,” this persistent guy clung to me. What does he want from me? He already made me look like a fool in front of everyone.
"What is there to talk about?" I tried to brush him off, putting as much coldness in my voice as possible, “You already said everything, making me seem almost insane!”
"Masha, I understand you're angry at me. And you have every right to be. Believe me, I didn't mean to hurt you, and especially not to make you crazy, but I also don't want to go to jail because of your 'murder'." The peaceful tone of my interlocutor only further enraged me. How can you be so calm after personally driving a piece of metal into my heart?
"You don't want to? What do you want then?” I barely held myself back from delivering another delicious slap to this bastard, continuing the conversation, “And you didn’t just ‘kill’ me, as you put it, but you also cut up Damon!”
"Maria, wouldn't it have been better to let that bastard rape you and then let him kill you?” The voice of my interlocutor remained just as quiet and calm, but for the first time, something else was seeping through - fatigue, exhaustion, and a kind of doom. Unintentionally, I even felt sorry for him, but I immediately suppressed this feeling, not letting it take root in my soul. He just admitted to me that everything I had experienced was real! It’s a shame there’s no voice recorder, because nobody heard this.
"So, it definitely wasn't a hallucination. It wasn't acting, a prank, or a figment of my imagination?” I asked, not so much for myself, but more with a subconscious hope that someone else would hear us and intervene. I even raised my voice for this, but in vain.
Alex tried to ineptly deny it again, watering down his words with talk of a cruel world, but I was sick of it, I was tired. It finally dawned on me that this whole conversation would lead nowhere and I wouldn't be able to prove anything to anyone. They just wouldn’t believe in magic!
"Alex, don't play the demagogue. I already understand that no one will believe me. And complaining to someone would only get me a ticket to a sanatorium for the mentally ill. What else do you want from me?” I voiced my thoughts. It’s time to end this conversation. The taxi that the detective ordered and paid for should be arriving soon.
"I want you to take your staff and spear. And the coin with the skill too." This lout tried to buy me off! He wants to bribe me with my own stuff! Never! He can go to hell!
"I refuse. I don't want anything to do with you or the System! I’d even give you this devil’s cloak if I had anything else to wear!” I spewed out my accumulated anger and headed towards the arriving car.
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With a forceful slam of the taxi door, separating myself from Alex and his insistent desire to help, I felt the driver’s disapproving gaze on me. Did I slam the door too hard, or something?
The ride home was filled with reflection. My anger towards the boy gradually subsided, giving way to confusion and fear. What now? How to live on, knowing about the existence of the System, magic, and other worlds?
The home atmosphere, though filled with anxiety, brought some peace. My parents were thankfully at their dacha, far from the city, and my brother had been living separately for a couple of years, so I didn’t have to invent explanations for my absence and strange appearance.
The following events were a blur. I don’t remember clearly how I changed and went to bed. The only thing I know for sure is that I managed to eat dinner, because the hunger had stopped tormenting me.
But waking up was unforgettable - I was woken by the sound of an air raid siren on the street. Though I didn’t immediately understand what it was. At first, I thought it was my parents forgetting their phone and setting a new ringtone on the alarm. But the phone was nowhere to be found, and as soon as I got up and looked around, I saw a note and three game coins on the bedside table. The spear, the skill, and an empty coin from under my robe.
“Alex! Did you read my diary?!”