Immortal Ash

Chapter 1

10 years ago

It was hard and painful to breathe, as if small thorns were thickly scattered in the stupefyingly spicy air. Sonya ran, gulping air with her mouth and sobbing, and immediately exhaled. Choking on barely restrained sobs, feeling the infernal heat in her chest, and unable to make out the road, she kept running and running - away from the words that rang in her ears, spoken by Sverova: 'We'll get married after graduation'. Away from the embarrassed smirking Lebedev, who clearly did not like the show organized by Varya. Away from the enthusiastic squeals of her classmates.

Sonya squinted, shaking her head, wanting to banish the picture: Varya Sverova, outrageously happy, holding out her hand and twirling a brush in front of the girls' noses, showing a simple ring. 'We'll get married...' And the moment the classmates squealed with joy and envy at the same time, Sonya died. Again. As she died every time she saw these two, Sverova and Lebedev, together.

It seems that she had run too far, because the historical part of the town was suddenly replaced by the private sector with chickens, geese and cats lazily lounging in sunny puddles. Breathing heavily, Sonya took a step and, unable to hold back, burst into tears. At that moment she didn't care where she was, nor did she care that her disappearance would alarm her teacher. Someone will surely put together two such different, but in fact arising from each other events - the news from Sverova and the disappearance of an unassuming excellent student Kymikina - and make the appropriate conclusions. Let them! She doesn't care anymore. Not around the corner are exams and graduation, after which the beautiful Sverova will marry Lebedev. And unattractive Kymikina will go on that road, which is destined to too clever, but ugly girls - to receive higher education. Sometimes she will cross paths on the street with Eugenie Lebedev, avert her eyes and awkwardly nod in greeting. And even worse - to run into a happy Varya in the store.

Sonya plopped down on a wooden bench in front of someone's yard, took off her glasses and covered her face with her palms. Why was life so unfair and cruel? Who needs her ability to solve algorithms? It would be better if instead of a mathematical mind nature awarded her with a shiny brown mane like Sverova's, dark skin, correct features and pleasant forms. Sonya sobbed loudly. What kind of a figure she had: skinny and unformed, like a circlet! Of all the bulges - sharp knees! Stronger than the figure, Sonya hated only her thin and dull gray hair. And even though her mother consoled her that she had beautiful eyes - big, clear amber eyes with dark specks, Sonya only skeptically hummed: even here she was unlucky, because she had to wear ugly glasses with thick glasses because of her nearsightedness. She barely restrained the urge to throw the hated glasses into the nettles, but instead doomedly put them on her nose, stood up, and only then noticed that everything had changed around her.

The fence had fallen somewhere, along with the striped cat on it, the chickens, geese and the red column had disappeared. Houses and yards disappeared, and in place of the non asphalted street there was a dark forest of pine trees stretching to the sky. Sonya staggered back in horror and stumbled back onto the bench, which suddenly turned into a fallen trunk. How, how had she gotten here? And it was hardly her nearsightedness or the tears that covered her eyes! She'd seen cats and geese and chickens! She had seen the yards with parked old cars and sheets hung out to dry. And under the palm of her hand was a smooth polished bench seat, not a rough, prickly bark. And it smelled quite rustic then: henhouses, smoke, and, pleasantly, baked goods. Now, however, her nose picked up the odors of damp earth, pine needles, and mushrooms. Sonya jumped to her feet again and twisted in place, trying to figure out where to go. When she came to her senses, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and groaned in despair when she saw that the signal was not being picked up. Where had her feet taken her, not even feet, but despair and grief!

Suddenly Sonya heard a growl behind her, looked back sharply and saw a grinning wolf. She didn't even have time to scream in fright, but the beast flattened its ears and jumped.