First of all, I will say that I come from Kazakhstan, so do not be surprised by some differences with Western culture.
“October 17, 2021, Tuesday. The time is 7:44. I really want to sleep, I was painting all night, as a result, I got 3 light art that were so second-rate and miserable that they couldn’t even be saved. Where can I use them? Why do I need them? Why did I decide to give up normal rest? The answer is one: “Vovan”.
Since today is Tuesday, the first lesson should be homeroom. Why don’t I sleep on it? There’s nothing important there anyway. While it was not too cold to wear a shift, just a warm jacket is enough so that the cold wind does not freeze your hands.
I went into the classroom, hung up my dark sweatshirt with a white pattern, like those that were popular in the nineties, And headed to my seat. The first desk, the first row, the first option, is almost an ideal place, since teachers do not often check it.
The children of the senior classes communicated with each other as usual, someone got together in small detachments and stormed the dining room, someone was preparing for lessons. But still, most preferred to sit quietly and look at the phone screen, occasionally addressing their peers. And I sat in my seat and tried not to fall asleep. It turned out so-so, I’ll be honest. At the moment when my head touched my left shoulder under the weight of fatigue, a familiar voice called out to me.
“Are you all right?” said Artyom.
The kid is a year older than me, he always spoke directly. Very smart and strong, twice as heavy as me. The glasses perfectly complemented his image, combined with an obese physique, fit well into his appearance. I wasn’t angry at his speech, because I knew he was worried about my condition. His precocious deep voice inspired calmness, but occasionally inspired only fear.
“Not really,” I managed to say in a dead tone. – Couldn’t sleep again.
“Are you a moron? Why the fuck didn’t you sleep again?”– There was a slight spark of anger in his voice.
“What have you got here again?” – jumped up again one comrade.
Sergey is also very smart. One and a half times heavier than me, his athletic physique allowed him to strike with a force of about one hundred kilograms per square centimeter. But he’s weaker in the legs. Also older than me, almost a year. He is also an artist, he draws definitely better than me, but he lags far behind in quantity.
“Everyone is smart, I’m the only one stupid.” – I thought.
“This moron didn’t sleep again.” – Artem stammered.
“Is that it again? How do you do it at all?”
“Somehow.” – I answered sharply. – “Somehow, but I don’t know how.”
8:01 – call. Everyone took their seats. For the first five minutes I listened to the tedious speech of the class teacher, as always on one topic – teenage maximalism. A topic that will be relevant for a long time.
My eyelids became heavier, my hands seemed to have folded themselves into a comfortable position for sleeping. I resisted, so as not to be impressed by the hard and cold desk. First one time, then the second, on the third I could not resist severe fatigue. I fell asleep. The dream was strong and sweet.
I dreamed that I was walking with my friends, very old friends, walking, talking about the eternal, about life, it was so cool. Bright colors, meaningful dialogues, the dream itself was very realistic, almost indistinguishable from reality. Only one thing was strange – a hum. A deep, loud and intense hum. I didn’t attach any importance to him.
Happiness did not last long. As usual, as soon as I go to bed, someone will definitely disturb me, regardless of the situation, anywhere.
This time, the heat disturbed my sleep. It was very hot and stuffy in the classroom, just like if you don’t open the window in the room for a week. This has already caused me some suspicions, because the apocalypse will not come in 5 minutes, although figs knows.
I woke up with a sudden movement. All sweaty and red, I raised my head, everyone was out. It looked like a prank or a joke, but combined with the infernal heat, it was hardly a joke. I got up, looked around, all 32 people were asleep. They weren’t covered in sweat, they weren’t red from the heat, no, they didn’t care. I was already scared, I thought they were all dead, but when I put my finger to the nose of my neighbor at the desk, I felt the air bend around my finger.
“They’re alive,” I thought.
I walked around the classroom, looked at everyone, looked around the office, desks, chairs. Nothing has changed, only condensation has appeared on the windows due to the difference in air temperatures outside and in the classroom. It took about 10 minutes.
Not finding anything interesting, I left the office, and finally feeling the fresh air leaned against the wall, digesting the information received. After 5 minutes, I remembered about the phone, I carefully took it out of my pocket, opened the cover of the case and turned on the device. The time was 17:56.
I slept for 9 and a half hours. I stood in a stupor for quite a long time. But remembering the backpack that was left in the classroom, I went in search of it.
I returned it without much difficulty, and throwing one strap over my shoulder, went to the exit, simultaneously looking into the rest of the classes. Everyone was asleep. Everything, without exception. Even in the dining room, which I naturally took advantage of, replenishing food and water supplies. The time is 17:57, I’m already walking to the gate that led to the exit from the school grounds.
“Well, how am I going to justify myself to my parents?” – I mentally asked myself the question. – “What argument can I counter? Why was everyone asleep? What happened at all? How can I influence this?”
“Will I get in trouble for this?” – with this question, I sat down on a bench standing alone in the middle of the yard.
Opening the backpack, I remembered the loot from the dining room. Two mini pizzas and a half-liter bottle of mint-flavored water.
For this whole set, I would have to pay at least 600 tenge, but I remember how in the second grade a sausage in the test cost only 70 tenge, I remember a lot of things happened that year. Now I am in the ninth grade, I have not decided on my specialty.
The street was empty and quiet, as if all the people had disappeared somewhere. There was no noise of cars from the side of the road, no rattling of dishes or people’s voices came out of the open windows. It was quiet, so quiet that I could have fallen asleep on the spot, but I didn’t want to sleep. Having dealt with the first pizza, I remembered my jacket, it’s still hanging in the classroom.
“Damn…” - I hissed. They’ll have to come back.
I got up from the bench, threw the last pizza and water into my backpack, and headed to class. On the way to the building, I noticed that there were not even pigeons. Okay, cats, they don’t come here often, but pigeons have always been here. Strange. Very strange. When I entered the institution, I heard footsteps, the trampling of twenty, no thirty people! They were coming here, straight to me. I didn’t run, I hoped for the best.
Suddenly I felt someone’s hand on my left shoulder. I started in surprise.
The hand was heavy and big, only one palm covered my shoulder completely, judging by the soft skin, we can say that it was a child about my age, also a ninth grader or even older.
With a sharp movement of my head, I turned around, it was the largest student in the class, bigger and heavier than all the students I knew.
I already wanted to ask the question: “Oh, how is the condition?” as I immediately felt a sharp pain. Sparks flew from my eyes, scarlet blood gushed from my nose. He hit me, and not just hit me, but with a swing.
Out of surprise, I fell to the floor, hitting the back of my head. I lay there shaking with shock and pain. Fear brought me back to reality, I tried to run away, but my legs wouldn’t obey me, they just convulsed. Before I could recover from the first blow, I saw his silhouette flying not me! He weighs under a hundredweight, I’m only 41, what the hell?!
I felt a sharp, unbearable pain in the abdomen and ribs, I heard a crunch. Blood spurted from my mouth. I began to lose consciousness, slowly I began to stop feeling my legs, then my arms. Then another blow, with a run-up right under the rib, the pain abruptly went through my body, but I didn’t have the strength to scream.
It was clear that it was someone else, because the silhouette of the heavyweight had not gone anywhere. Having finally lost consciousness, I still felt my limbs go numb, then my body, finishing blows were inflicted.