Through Thorns and Roses

Yesterday, Natalia might not have noticed that the atmosphere around her had changed. Yesterday these changes were not that clear. She saw strange looks and mischievous smirks, but found herself a little oversensitive. With the end of the semester, she had so much study on her mind that she spent less time sleeping than she always did, and missed more meals, so not only did she fail to notice that the atmosphere around her began to change, she missed many rumors circulating around the university. Not that she paid attention to rumors often, but she was usually up to date. Since she had never been the object of either of them, it hadn't even occurred to her that it might be so now. And if she is not the subject of gossip, it means that she is imagining something.

Today, however, she could feel the mockery and resentment hanging in the air directed at her. Natalia did not understand what happened. She hadn't done anything wrong. Why did people begin to view her as something contemptible?

Natalia Smuga was not the prettiest girl on campus. She was tall and slender, and had beautiful long hair, but she never cared for it being fashionably combed - she just tied it in a low bun. Always too busy studying, she didn't make any effort to look after her beauty or even to look pretty. She dressed neatly, but as casually as if she were not moving between strangers and in her own home. Natalia was also not one of the most entertaining. She was rather shy, so once she got talked into going to a party, she always stayed out of the way. In addition, she did not like drinking alcohol, so most of her friends found her simply boring. So she was never a threat to anyone, never even caught people's eyes, so why now, so suddenly ...?

Iza, her roommate and dear friend, was just passing by with a group of her friends from the year. All four laughed merrily. Maybe Iza knows what's going on? Is Natalia oversensitive or have people really changed their attitude towards her?

"Iza, do you have a moment ...?"

"Sorry, Nati, let's talk at home!"

"Oh ... ok."

Natalia couldn't insist. Iza was clearly in a hurry to attend her classes.

Natalia stepped back to the windows, through which the bright rays of late spring sun fell into the building. She stood aside, invisible to the passing crowd, in which groups of two or three people alternated with single students hurrying somewhere. The buzz was lively, but something strange was happening to the crowd today. People started noticing her. They started looking at her and showing her to each other, as if to say, 'Look, it's her'. They were looks of curiosity, amusement, indignation and contempt.

The sun's rays illuminating people began to fade. The sky was moved by a heavy, dark cloud that covered the corridor where Natalia Smuga stood with a shadow. In this shade, the atmosphere became even more dense and unpleasant. The girl began to feel that the air was becoming thick and sticky and bland.

Suddenly Natalia felt sick. She ran to the bathroom and locked herself in the cabin. It took a few minutes for her to feel relieved. She was about to leave when she suddenly heard the conversation of her friends from the group.

"I knew Natalia couldn't be that good. I knew there was something behind it!" One of them said.

"Come on! Even she should have some dignity!"

"Dignity? She comes from an illiterate family!"

Suddenly they both laughed and then started talking about their boyfriends.

Natalia's hand hung a centimeter from the doorknob. The two girls might not have been her best friends, but she had never argued with them. They didn't study as well as she did, so Natalia shared her notes with them sometimes. They always had a good relationship with each other, and although they were not close, Natalia believed that they liked her. She liked them. So why are such words spoken about her?

"What have I done wrong?" She asked herself, so softly that even the wind didn't hear her.

She sat down heavily on the flap. With a trembling hand, she reached into her bag and took the phone out of it. She started browsing contacts because she wanted to call someone and ask if she knew anything about it, but suddenly Natalia realized that she had no one to call. Her phone was full of contacts, but they all belonged to people like the two who had just left - acquaintance, who occasionally asked for favors. Only Iza was her friend. But Iza was busy now.

Suddenly Natalia thought that if not only her friends, but also people from other departments look at her in this strange way, she may find something on a group on one of the social media. She rarely used them herself, but she knew that for her friends it was the primary means of communication and obtaining the latest information. So if there is information somewhere why people suddenly looked hostile at her, it must be here.

The girl began to browse the forum, and her eyes grew larger and larger.

Words that cut like knives, that sting like hornets and bite like vipers. Words so ridiculous and so strange that Natalia couldn't believe her eyes. Could people really write something like this…?

Suddenly she felt a cold sweat on her back. Her lungs ran out of breath and her eyes grew dark.

No, people can't be that cruel! They can't, right?

Natalia didn't know she was running out of the bathroom. She didn't realize that she was running down the sidewalk with her phone in her hand. She had no idea the first heavy raindrops had fallen from the sky. She only stopped in the park when the rain was so heavy that its streams flooded her mouth and nose, making it difficult to breathe. Only then did she realize that she was in the park, soaking wet, and on her face cold rain mixed with hot tears.

She wiped her eyes and sniffled. She looked at the phone in her hand, which gave her so much pain. She squeezed her hand on him, but the phone itself was not to blame for anything. It was just an ordinary device.

Resigned, Natalia began to regain her composure. Okay, someone spread malicious rumors about her, so what? People spoke badly of her, but that's alright. After all, all these words, all of their words, had no truth in them, and therefore were completely worthless. Why should she care what others think of her? After all, these are not her friends, but college friends, and most of them she has never met and will never meet. What might she care, what do they think of her?

Yet she did care.

Why do people spread such hideous lies about her? Did Natalia do anything wrong to someone that she was attacked in this horrible way, or was she an accidental victim? If she has hurt someone, she will gladly repair the damage, but why didn't that person say it to her face, but spread the rumors behind her back? What if she's an accidental victim…?

Never in her life has Natalia Smuga been so confused and so lost. The rain was still falling, and she stood in its streams, unable to move. She was paralyzed by the absurdity of the facts she had learned. Slowly she began to realize that she had become a victim of hate.

But why?

The question rang in her mind like the echo of the largest church bell. Natalia was not someone famous or important. She was an ordinary student just like everyone else, completely ordinary and gray. True, she was good at science and the professors foretold her a bright future, but that was her only advantage, while others had beauty, money and connections so they deserved more jealousy. So why her? If not out of jealousy, why?

Was it because she had no money and no connections, that she was a gray mouse, practically nobody, so someone thought she would be the perfect, because a completely helpless victim? Was it about bullying a weak person and watching her suffer?

The rain had stopped a bit. Natalia bit her lower lip. She took a deep breath. She will come back to the dormitory, to her room, which she shares with Iza, and there she will calmly consider what happened? Iza is her friend and will certainly help her solve this problem.

Natalia was about to turn back when something flickered in front of her eyes. It was as if the streams of rain suddenly rippled and lost their sharpness. As if the picture began to break down and blur, twitch and flicker right in the spot where the beautiful antique fountain was.

The girl did not have time to think if what she was seeing was real or if she was being deluded, because the image changed again, showing her eyes something else, or rather someone. A shape appeared in the blurry image that more and more clearly resembled the silhouette of a tall, slender man with long, ebony-black hair. The image became more and more clear and Natalia could already see the details of his outfit, which looked as if it was taken out of an Eastern-style fantasy novel. His chest and shoulders were decorated with a light white gold half-armor with a red gold floral ornament. Natalia saw more and more clearly the man's face, so beautiful that she took her breath away. His black, glittering eyes looked straight at her, but as if they didn't see her at all, as if they were looking not "at" but "through" her. Beautiful eyes as eye-catching as a magnet but also a bit scary.

Natalia Smuga, whose heart was just at the bottom of despair, completely forgot about the cause of her sadness. The man in front of her was so captivatingly beautiful that his existence was almost impossible. After all, there cannot be a man who eclipses even the most beautiful women in the world with his beauty. At least he cannot exist in this world.

The man raised the hand in which he held the golden bow. He pulled the bowstring aiming directly at Natalia, but did not put an arrow on the string. The arrow began to materialize on its own, as if it were made of billions of particles of reality around it - a luminous, golden-white arrow that looks like a ray of purest light.

An arrow that was aimed directly at Natalia.

Anxiety began to grow in the girl's heart. Whoever the stranger was, he looked like he was getting ready to shoot. Whether he was real or just an illusion, Natalia felt real fear.

"Wait a minute," she began to say with trembling lips, but the sound that came out of them was too soft for the archer to hear. She took more air and opened her mouth again ...

Too late.

The man, still completely ignoring the girl, fired an arrow at her.