Trying to Understand

"Watch out!" Someone shouted and lunged at Natalia. The girl fell to the ground and in the arms of another man she rolled on the wet grass. For a moment she thought she saw a great body of a white lion flying over them.

White - WHAT?

Natalia was so surprised that when she saw the shiny black eyes of the man just above her face, she was unable to utter a word.

"Are you okay?" He asked with obvious concern.

Still unable to make a sound, she just nodded.

"Good." He smiled happily like a spring daisy and stood up.

Natalia was still lying in the wet grass and the rain was falling on her face. She blinked her eyes nervously, trying to understand what the hell was going on here, but she couldn't. The bizarre events were happening to her so quickly that she did not have time to cool down after one, and the second followed.

"You should be careful," she heard the voice of the man who saved her from the arrow. "That girl clearly saw you! You could have killed her by accident."

There was no answer, but Natalia felt a majestic presence in the air. This presence pierced every cell of her body, making Natalia feel very tiny and meaningless. Instinctively, the girl wanted to run away, but again it all happened too quickly. The presence was already beside her.

"Why do you see us? Who are you?" The voice was deep and cold. Natalia turned her head towards him and saw the most beautiful man that could ever exist. For some reason it wasn't raining on him, as if he was surrounded by an invisible barrier. .

"I don't know," she said, sitting down. "Maybe because you are a figment of my imagination? Why should I not see my own hallucinations?"

In fact, that was the only rational explanation she could think of for the situation. She was shocked to find out that she was a victim of hate and her mind found an escape into the world of fantasy.

Natalia looked around and saw that the other man, the one who had saved her, was examining the body of a white lion.

Natalia heard that someone could see white rabbits or white mice after consuming alcohol or hallucinogens. Some also mentioned white elephants, but white lions? This was something new. Especially since she had never drunk alcohol, and she would never in her life take a filth like drugs into her mouth. So the lion had to be a voice from her subconscious. She will have to check in the dream book what means when someone dreams of a lion. Someone is killing a white lion - I wonder what the dream book will say about this? The white lion was disturbing in itself, but Natalia also hallucinated in seeing two beautiful men dressed like the heroes of an oriental romance.

"Who are you?" She asked, but was completely ignored by the beautiful man.

"We're going back," he announced to his companion.

"What about her?"

"She doesn't matter," he replied. The air around him, the other man, and the lion rippled and the three figures blurred in the pouring rain. There was absolutely no trace of them left.

'Doesn't matter?' Natalia felt her cheeks start to burn. How dare he? But wait, since this was her own hallucination, didn't she think that about herself?

She sighed and stood up. The rain had stopped, but she had green and brown stains on her clothes after she had rolled through the wet grass several times. How will she wash them out? An even more difficult question is how will she get home like this?

"Well, great! Just great!" She snapped. "Wait, and where is my phone?"

The phone fell from her hand during the fall. She didn't want to lose it as it was a new phone she had only had for about a month. She looked around and found him nearby. She was pleased to find that it was working. Ha! It was worth buying a fall-proof model!

At least one victory on this gloomy day.

Natalia picked up the rest of her things, somehow tidied herself up and headed towards her dorm. Before she returns to class, she will have to change and dry. She checked her watch. She wouldn't have to rush. Today's class ended five minutes ago.

WHAT? Five minutes ago? But… how is that possible? Was it really four in the afternoon? After all, she left college a little after eleven. She remembers it well because she was waiting for her philosophy lecture. How could she have lost so many hours in such a short time ?!

The explanation that came to her mind did not satisfy her at all. She figured out two possibilities - either the shock was so great it knocked her out of her sense of reality for longer than she thought, or she slipped in the rain, fell, hit her head, and lost consciousness. Both cases would explain her hallucinations.

Natalia smiled a little thoughtlessly at the mention of the handsome archer. Archer, that's what she'll call him in her mind. The man was so wildly beautiful that at the mere mention of his face, his shiny (but dark) black eyes, the girl felt a thrill of excitement in her heart. His eyes were like two galaxies filled with the light of a billion stars, but as cold as the vacuum of space.

Although Natalia saw handsome actors from all over the world on the screen, none of them made such a deep impression on her as the Archer. She sighed. If her subconscious beauty standards are so high, it's no wonder she doesn't have a boyfriend yet. Not that she needed him at this point in her life, but ...

'Did she really do it with the professor? No wonder that she was the only one to receive such a high grade in the test. '

Her mood immediately worsened. She hasn't done 'that' with any professor, doctor or student. She got a high mark because she likes to study very much and for this test, about which there were legends, how difficult it is to pass them, she prepared really hard. From the older years, she got the questions the professor had asked in previous years and analyzed his pattern. Instead of going to the beautician, she picked up the dustiest books on the subject in the reading room and worked out the topics she considered most likely with such precision that she astonished herself. She even took the trouble to come up with examples herself. That is why she was the only one in seven years to receive the highest grade in the test. Not because she did 'that' with the professor. The professor was pleased with her and praised her because, unlike some, he believed that a woman could also be a good scientist. But apparently there were also those who thought that good results could only be obtained by a woman through bed.

Was that what caused those awful comments? Could someone bear not the thought that the girl turned out to be smarter than all men and beat them intellectually? If so, then the reason for the hate was pathetic.

But is there ever, or was there a good reason to hate?

Natalia gritted her teeth and lifted her head high. Her achievements are real. No matter what others think!

Yet it did matter. After all, man is a social being, or, as others prefer,

herd animal. She didn't come up with the pyramid of needs, it was Maslow. Social affiliation was quite close to its base. Okay, right in the middle, she mentally improved, but it's a pretty important position anyway. Natalia did not want to be socially excluded. Maybe she was not the life of the party, she did not go to parties or shopping with her friends, but she could talk freely with everyone. If she is forcibly disfellowshipped, she will have to spend the rest of her studies entirely alone. After all, she will not be able to ask Iza to stand next to her.

She wondered why people engage in hate? Are they unaware of the consequences of their actions, or do they not care that they are hurting others?

Natalia has not suffered so much yet. People looked at her bizarrely, unpleasantly, but had not yet begun to exclude her. The situation has not gone too far and maybe Natalia will be able to prevent greater consequences?

Maybe, she sighed. Because if it wasn't a stupid joke, if someone really hated her so much that he wanted to destroy her life, would she be able to stop him? If she managed to meet this person, talk to her, they would certainly be able to clear up the misunderstanding, but will Natalia manage to find out who was the first to spread rumors about her?

Thousands of thoughts circulated in Natalia's head. Some of them were totally ridiculous, but wasn't the girl just in a completely ridiculous situation? Completely innocent, she suddenly became the victim of an unexpected, malicious network attack that could completely destroy her life.

***

"Is that her?" Asked a woman of dazzling Eastern beauty, looking down at a wet, tall, thin girl walking down the sidewalk with long hair tied in a low bun.

"Yes," replied the man accompanying her. Unlike the woman, he did not stand in the air, but crouched down and propped his chin in his hands. He was looking at the girl with great interest and clear sympathy.

The woman showed no obvious dislike, but her companion sensed it easily.

"Look," he exclaimed with sudden enthusiasm, "She senses us!"

"Impossible," the woman announced.

"But watch the way she looks around as if she knows someone is watching her."

"Maybe she realizes how pathetic she looks?"

The man didn't answer, but his head rested on his hands, he was still staring at the girl. There was in her - in all her aspects - something original, something intriguing.

"And yet I think it's worth a closer look," he said.

"Do as you like," the woman announced. "I'm returning."

"If you say so," the man stood up and began to fall down like a feather to the ground. The air around him flickered, rippled, and his oriental attire began to turn into fashionable pants and shirt, which he saw in the shop window. His feet gently touched the ground and his smile did not disappear from his mouth. - Now we'll begin!