Midnight Academy. Born at midnight - стр. 5

Well, I winked at her in response, apparently for the first time in my life, earning myself a nervous tic.

Due to zeal, the lens slipped off my eye. I miraculously managed to catch it at the chin, but I couldn’t put it on now after touching it with my hands. It was necessary to rinse with a special solution and leave for at least two hours, which I simply could not do in this corridor, and therefore I removed the second one to put both in a napkin. All our belongings, including our lens case, were still in the rental car on the other side of the city library.

At the entrance that existed in the normal world.

In the ordinary world, in which, apparently, there was no longer a place for me.

I didn’t know who had been stalking my mother so manically for many years. I didn’t know what he needed from us. But three days ago he showed up again, although we lived happily without his presence for the last six months. In a wonderful town called Shepwell, where all the neighbors on the street knew each other.

We rented a small two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of an old five-story building. At night, through the thin ceilings, the steps of the neighbor who lived on the floor above could be heard, and behind the wall at night the water was constantly turned on. But there was a certain amount of comfort in all of this. It was as if we were not alone in the whole world, which was only confirmed as soon as one of us left the apartment.

In Shepwell it was customary to greet neighbors and always find out how they were doing. An elderly woman living across the street would ask me to go to the store, and the neighbor downstairs would always treat me to candy, which I would throw into the trash bin two houses away every time.

I loved sweets, but I couldn’t afford to accept anything from strangers.

Actually, I was just about to leave the house when I saw, through the gap between the thick curtains and the window, a black jeep pulling up at our entrance. It was not parked, the engine was running, as were the headlights, but it would not have been possible to see who was hiding inside even if one wanted to.

The car turned out to be tightly tinted all around.

“Mom…” I called quietly, first turning up the volume on the TV almost to maximum.

Having taken my place, she also did not move the curtains, but as soon as she saw the jeep, she quickly pulled me by the hand, dragging me away from the window. I knew the next steps in advance, having lived through each stage many, many times.

Whatever we were doing at that moment, as soon as a threat appeared, we dropped absolutely everything. The parent only took the laptop and bag in case of escape, and I took the e-reader and backpack. Things, food, water – the minimum set was available in each pre-prepared car. Well, my mother carried money and documents with her, preferring to keep them closer to her hands.

Pull on cloaks, put on hoods. We didn't even take the time to lock the door. They either climbed out through the window or went down the stairs if there was a second exit at the entrance.

There were usually pre-rented cars parked on each side of the house. Of course, in financial terms, such reinsurance cost a large sum, but more than once it came to the rescue and saved us from an immediate meeting with the pursuer.