NO CHANCE (SHORT STORY)

8

I wandered down the path that led away from the house. I felt alone in the world. The snow crunched under my feet. I walked, nobody was around. What was it? Paradise? Hell? Maybe a purgatory? Peculiar. No, it was something else.

This was a reality.

- Help me! - there was a scream nearby.

I hurried to the voice. My fingers were numb with the cold. Only now I realized that I had only jeans and a light blouse on. Probably should have taken her  dress, I grinned at my thoughts. Maybe it would have been much warmer now.

- Please, you, girl! Please!

I looked around. The voice sounded very close, but I didn't see anyone.

- I'm upstairs!

I looked up. From the window of the second floor, boarded up with bars, hand sticking out, barely discernible was the girl's face.

- I'm here! - she waved at me, glad I'd finally found her.

- I can see you! - I shouted to her, but my voice was weak and hoarse.

- Please don't go, help me, get me out of here! Please! - the prisoner cried. - Please, just don't go! Don't go, I beg you!

I remembered my own words, which I desperately shouted into the phone, hoping for salvation. I'm not leaving this girl. I had to think of something urgently, but I felt that I was completely frozen and was about to lose consciousness or even die.

- Hey! - I tried to make the girl hear me. - I'm not leaving, okay? I'm not leaving, you hear me? Hey, can you hear me?

- Please don't leave me here! - screamed the girl again.

- I'll help you, okay? I will help! - I couldn't say anything else. My vocal cords just wouldn't work.

I should have brought help. Find someone. Well, someone had to live in this fucking village! There was no way to be just the two of us, apart from the pervert pianist and his ward.

- I'll be right back, - I whispered.

The girl in the window, of course, could not hear my words, and seeing how I was leaving, began to cry and beg me to come back for the sake of all the saints.

I tried to give her some indication that I was going to look for help, but in vain. She became hysterical. I typed in lungs of more air and shouted:

- I will seek help! Hear that? I'll come back; I won't leave you! DO NOT GIVE UP!

The girl continued to weep, but there was no point in wasting any more time calming her down. I was starting to lose my mind. Legs became wadded and ceased to obey me. My eyes darkened.

- No, you silly, go on! - I ordered myself. - Keep walking!

With my mind alone, I forced my body to walk and finally turned the corner of the house.