๐๐ณ. ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏโฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆโ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ-๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด."
"๐๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด."
"๐๐ถ๐ต, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏโ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต, ๐๐ณ. ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ."
"๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ง ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ."
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆโ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ด!"
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ," ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณโ"
"๐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ. ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ? ๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ." ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ. "๐๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ดโ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ."
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ."
๐๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฅ. "๐๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ตโ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐บ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ด. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ช-๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ. ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ," ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฏ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. "๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด."
"๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต?" ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต. ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต, ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ.
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ."
Mischa lied down on the couch, twisting until she found a nice crevice to put her face in. Maybe she wanted to struggle a bit, maybe just suffocate at this point. It was building too much and it wasn't even Oktavia's faultโshe knew what happened. She knew, but the undertones of trauma and tribulation curled at her chest, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was afraid. She couldn't throw herself between memories, she could only remember the days when they were discovered, how naive she was then; she curtly shook her head, feeling guilt for what she had thought.
She sighed as she turned over, blinking away the tears from her eyes. Mischa was drained.
It was never Oktavia's fault.
* * *
"๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต, ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข?"
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ด๐บ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐๐ณ. ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค.
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ," ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐น๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ต๐ด ๐ซ๐ข๐ธ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ, ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข'๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ.
"๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข. "๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด."
๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ข, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ซ๐ข๐ธ ๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. "๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต? ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ."
"๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต?" ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข'๐ด.
๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญโ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ. ๐๐ถ๐ต, ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ, ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ.
What possessed her to remember more? What possessed her? If it turns out that each fragmented memory was only a piece to ensure her instability, it was working. Oktavia savored the feeling of the memoryโrefracted in her mindโthe tingling to her lips, the buzz she felt flood through her was euphoric.
She stared into the interspace as Mischa slept soundly on the divan, memories flooding herโrepeating, shattering, dissociating. But it was all the same in their intensity and tinge that followed her as a blemish in her programming, each tinge and recollection.
Everything was off. Nothing felt real to her. The air was cold against her face as she sat there for a time, watching each motion of Mischa's figure. "No, I won't do it," the human mumbled, voice dulled with sleep.
She tilted her head, amused, but in some way she thought she could reach what was truly itching at Mischa. Oktavia crouched down, and in her deceptionโ"Do what, Mischa?"
"Don't want to."
"Mischa, just do it. What is the worst that can happen?" She pushed harder to the point goosebumps rushed throughout her spine.
"Everything will be lostโplease, please, leave us alone."
"What would be lost, hmm?"
"Oktavia."
What? What was she even dreaming about? Her brow furrowed until she felt the pressure squeeze her forehead. She dragged her feet back to the chair she was in, her eyes languid as she tried to decipher what that meant. It was just a dreamโyou have your own at times. You create them too in the dreamscape. They mean absolutely nothing most of the time.
But they also use what is hidden in the subconscious; thoughts humans are not aware of left revealed only in the dreamscape. Is this an escape or is this a warning? Her gut churned when she thought more about Mischa hiding from her. This was not the woman she knew. She was gone.
Oktavia purported herself with logic, but her thoughts became unwarranted. She could dismiss them as they appeared, but they followed the emotional stimulation that would push her over the edge. Blanking, she shoved the space away from her almost as if it were tangible; while the air grew thicker in her lungs, while the windows darkened the glade. She wasn't herself. She felt like another person.
No. No. It was happening againโagainโagainโagain. She could break apart the word until it no longer made sense and she was goneโshe wasโ
๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ข๐ฅ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ'๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ดโ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต.
๐๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ด๐ช๐ฏโ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ธ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ'๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ. ๐๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ท๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆโ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ. ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต. ๐ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆโ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ข, ๐ฆ๐ฉโ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด-๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐น๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ (๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅโ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ). ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณโ๐ฏ๐ฐ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด'๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆโ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ-๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด. ๐๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ข๐ฌ.
"๐๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ!?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅโ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅโ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต.
"๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข!" ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ-๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ. "๐๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ. ๐๐ง ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ!"
๐๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. "๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ," ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ'๐ด ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต, "๐๐ญ๐ช๐ข, ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ข!"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏโ๐๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด'๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ฌ๐ต๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Her eyes withdrew from their technicolor abyss; the glow had died down. She made herself shudder, made herself feel chills but still felt a limited capability in such response.
She was made to be human-like, but not to enact on itโall in retrospect it added up. The training, the war simulations, the flatteryโbut there was no love or emotion behind it from her father. Dr. Eaton was sure to proclaim of her human qualities and capabilities, but he never came to love or care about her. He put her, time and time again, on the back burnerโShe trembled both in grief and rage.
She allowed herself to be human now (whatever that meant), and perhaps Dr. Eaton defined that as her illness.
She stared at the woman, ire dissolving, studying each twitch in her aging features, each movement her limbs made, what words she would murmur (they were now silly nonsense, pushed with the occasional, "No, noโฆ"), and how drool would pepper down from her lips.
Oktavia grabbed a tissue to wipe it up this time, unexpectedly waking Mischa up. Her hospitality was greeted with screams derived from horror, until it too chiseled down into nothingness. "What were you doing?" The woman tried to calm her heartbeat.
"You were drooling, Mischa. I didn't want you to stain the good couch for company. I know how you like to make everything seem nice."
The human was at a loss whether to take it as a compliment or passive insult. "Oh, uhโฆ Thank you, I guess?"
"This feels domestic," Oktavia smiled.
Mischa was hesitant before nodding back. "Itโit does, yes, it does."
"Shall I make you dinner this time?"
"No, no," Mischa stretched out her back. "I'll do it, why don't you justโ"
"Why are you afraid of me, Mischa? Every time I say something, it's almost as if I'm cracking egg shells."
"What? You mean walking on egg shells, honโit's walking on egg shells."
"Another diversion to what I actually meant. I knew you were going to correct me, I wanted to see if you would focus on that or address the issue head onโgo figure."
"Alright, arrogant ass, what do you want me to do?"
"I've missed you," Oktavia sighed. "Why do we have to be like this, my Mischa? Why do you keep hiding from me? What is it?"
"Because I have to be like this, Okta. It's for the greater good."
"Butโฆ I love you."
She shut her eyes when she walked away. "I know you do."
* * *
Mischa trembled her hand as she dusted the dirt into the pan. She withheld the tears at the thought of Oktavia, trying to let her mind drift to each minute task.
It had to be done. It was for the best.
On her knees, she swept further under the couch, ad nauseam, that she almost didn't catch the small pin-hole device. Flipping it over in her hands, brushing off the dust, she bit her lipsโshe knew she had a reason to worry from the start; she brought it over to the sink disposalโcrushing it into oblivion until the only static left was from the electric pig.
She could feel the blood rush to her skull.