Chapter 1

The fact that now May was strongly reminded of two things: the approaching of long-awaited vacation on the calendar and summer collections in stores.

Valya walked to the subway hungry, cold and angry. The devil pulled her to sit on this protein diet. The result is zero, at least on the scales, but there is an abundance of irritation and negativity. Well, it is impossible, it is impossible to starve in this climatic zone, the body must "heat" itself nine out of twelve months a year. Mom called on Viber: "It's very cold here, have you put on a hat?"

"I put it on," said Valya, pressing her icy ears alternately to the collar of her icy coat.

It started snowing. Very nice, Valya thought. Of course, I didn't take a hat, but my boots are winter! Clever. Then she thought and added: "I should get a pair of sweaters from the mezzanine, it's good that knitted socks are always at hand. The month of May, after all.

The snow was melting on the wet asphalt and it was pleasing. At least there are no snowdrifts, Valya thought, watching the unfortunate man handing out leaflets at the subway.

– Give me two, said the compassionate Valya and thought that only kind people take a leaflet not because they are interested in a discount in an intimate store around the corner, but because they feel sorry for the giver. The advertising agent beamed. His eyes read: "Well, girl! Well done! It can be seen that she takes a discount for herself and her friend! Or maybe just a good person."

The leaflets flew into the nearest trash can, but before that, tactful Valya intuitively left the promoter's field of view. Why upset a person, let him think that he is doing something necessary and useful.

The descent to the subway necessarily passes through the caste of elite beggars, where grandmothers are as sharp-sighted as a hawk, and young people have more gold than you have at home. And not Chinese. Chinese gold is also good – Valya quickly reassured herself. And suddenly an accordion started playing nearby, Valya's feet carried her to the sounds of the charming "Murka". Where Valya had a craving for Chanson and dashing 90m is unclear, but the fact that she loved it was the most inexplicable fact in the world for her husband. Valya frantically rummaged in her pockets – empty. It's inconvenient to leave, Valya thought under the heavy and unpleasant gaze of the underground artist. Valya opened her purse, something tinkled sadly. Valya began to look for the cause of the sound. Damn, the inner metal lock, not that. Valya reached into her purse, the harmonica player openly mocked her with his eyes, saying, "walking around like beggars." So, 500 rubles in one piece of paper. Hey, man, I'm sorry, I'm going to sing "Murka" so much for 500 rubles that mom will cry. And already under the pejorative gaze of the artist, Valya turned around to shamefully retreat, like the French near Moscow, when she saw 10 rubles in her pocket. Hurrah, thought Valya. And with the face of a man who invented a cure for all diseases, Valya threw a trifle into the cap. The accordion player nodded condescendingly. And a phrase from Ilf and Petrov's "Twelve Chairs" flashed through Valya's head: "I'll give you more at the best of times." Better times will come soon, however, this does not apply to street children”.

Then, without incident, Valya got into a subway car, opened an e-book and went deep into reading. The cars were steadily accelerating and braking, people were coming in and out, passengers were reading, sleeping, sitting, standing, listening to music. How warm it is here, Valya thought and saw......

Chapter 2

Is he really? Valya was sitting in a subway car of a train that was rapidly taking her to the Strogino district, but looking at Ilya's serene face, Valya was transported back to 2004.

Ilya was not a handsome man, they would rather say charismatic, cute, pleasant, but not handsome. Height 165 cm, eyes protruding, short hair with a red tint. If you compare Ilya with someone from Hollywood movie heroes, it was a degraded copy of Peter Parker, spider-Man. Natasha met with him, Valya's sworn friend and neighbor on the landing. For his sake, Natasha left the guy she had been dating for two years. It was a terrible scandal and a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare's pen. Vadim (the abandoned guy) constantly pestered Valya with stories about his heartache, about the injustice of life, that all women are corrupt bitches and in some ways he was really right. But it became simply impossible to bear it. Valya's personal life was so meager and uninteresting that Vadim's sobs turned her (personal life) into a fly in the ointment in a barrel of tar. As Vysotsky sang: "I'll come home, you're sitting there." Valya began to avoid Vadim, taught everyone to lie on the phone, including the cat, that she was not at home. And if Vadim was guarding her at the entrance to the yard, Valya climbed the fence from the other side and flew into the entrance with an invisible sniper bullet. Vadim was not discouraged, because the reason to come to Valya was Natasha, love and a corrupt bitch. She greeted him politely and walked royally to the elevator. It was precisely such meetings that Vadim, a madman in love, was waiting for, who, with the persistence of a maniac, continued to hope that all this was a dream.

Soon Natasha moved in with Ilya and came to Marino district less and less often, only to visit her mother and younger sister Nina.

But Ilya. It really was a dark horse. Natasha stopped communicating with Valya, of course, Vadim, who was hanging on Valya with a suitcase without a handle, also contributed to this. And yet Natasha has changed. If she had a bad temper before, it was still fun, cozy, reliable with her. A lot of good and kind things were connected with her, so Valya was sorry to lose communication and friendship. But you can't order your heart, each of us chooses his own path and Natalie chose her man.

A few months passed, Natasha finally stopped appearing in her home. Valya learned from Nina that it was unpleasant for Natasha to face Vadim. Fortunately, Vadim did not know Ilya's address, so Natasha began to invite her mother and Nina to her new home.

And then a terrible thing happened…

Chapter 3

Valya was returning from her regular workout. Nothing foreshadowed trouble. The air was fresh and clean.

"It's my birthday very soon," Valya muttered to herself without much enthusiasm.

Twenty years… she was afraid and waited for this date. She really wanted to make sure that life would be different, that something would change for the better, that this was the threshold, the threshold of an adult and happy life, on which she was already standing with almost one foot. And I was afraid, because somewhere deep down she was sure everything would be the same. She lives with her parents in a one-room apartment in Marino district, interrupts casual earnings, studies philology (Karl, philology, well, who in the twenty-first century goes to study to be a teacher, this is a rhetorical question) and in her personal life she has a complete failure. Well, as a failure, it simply does not exist. She's a fool, waiting for at least someone normal to prove to everyone that she's not an old maid.

– In twenty years everything will change! Valya promised herself firmly and stepped out of the elevator into the dark stairwell of the floor.

– The light bulb burned out again – Valya only had time to think when she realized that there was someone on the steps near her apartment.

If she hadn't been breathless with fear, she would have screamed at the whole house. But terror seized her throat with sticky tentacles, all she could do was roll her eyes and freeze in place to get used to the darkness. The elevator left a long time ago, judging by the sound to the tenth floor and there far away, in a parallel universe, it took away the happy residents of the house with a serviceable light bulb on the floor. And here, on the fourth floor, a girl was dying of fear, having never met the man of her dreams.