Vitaly woke up in an unfamiliar room. From the first seconds, he realized that he was in a hospital—the distinctive smell of antiseptics, white walls, and the typical hospital setting left no doubt. «What nonsense?» he thought. He distinctly remembered stopping at a road sign, surveying the landscape before him, and smiling, recalling how he wandered the streets of this city in his childhood.
Those were the days! Even though the caretakers sometimes locked him in a closet for days, where, by the way, there were mice. Vitaly did not hold a grudge against them—there were too few of them to cope with a crowd of unruly children, and they had to somehow maintain order. However, having left this city, he never thought of returning. And now here he was, in a hospital, without the slightest understanding of how he got here.
He remembered how he drove into the city, stopped at a small shop to buy water and ask if there was a hotel in town. At that point, his memories stopped. How he ended up in the hospital was a mystery. Vitaly abruptly sat up in bed, which made his head spin, and he almost lost consciousness.
«Don’t rush! I’ll call a doctor,» said the nurse and left the ward.
Vitaly lay down again but noticed that it had already gotten dark outside. «How so? I entered the city in the morning!» he thought, puzzled.
A few minutes passed. He was about to try to get up again when the door burst open, and a short man in a white coat literally stormed into the ward.
«Hello! You have cancer,» the doctor announced bluntly.
Vitaly opened his mouth, then closed it. He couldn’t find the words.
«You felt bad, you didn’t come to consciousness for a long time. We took tests. I always tell patients the truth immediately,» the doctor spoke quickly and abruptly. Vitaly even thought he smelled slightly of alcohol.
«But I wasn’t worried about anything!» Vitaly finally blurted out.
«That’s how cancer is. It doesn’t bother you until it’s too late,» the doctor replied and left the ward just as quickly.
The nurse, standing nearby, sighed:
«Please excuse me. Valery Valeryevich is… unique. Not everyone can understand his manner.»
«Unique is an understatement,» muttered Vitaly. «Tell me, is it true? What he said?»
«The tests have been done, and you can, of course, check them again, but…» The nurse did not finish her sentence, but her look said it all.
Vitaly’s vision darkened. «This is nonsense! I’ve always felt fine!» his inner voice screamed. His body became heavy, his ears rang, and it seemed as if hammers were banging in his head. «It’s all over. This disease is incurable. Can I leave?»
«Yes, of course, just be careful. You might faint again. You’re not local, will you seek treatment at home?» asked the nurse.
Vitaly grimaced bitterly: «I should see a psychiatrist first. What a way to deliver bad news! Can I take the test results with me?»
«Of course, I’ll make copies now.»
Stepping outside, Vitaly took a deep breath of fresh air and listened to his sensations. He felt nothing but slight weakness. A minute later, a girl approached him:
«Here, take this. Don’t despair, modern medicine works wonders, many recover.»
Vitaly didn’t want to continue the conversation, but still asked:
«Tell me, is there a hotel in town?»
«Of course. Go straight, turn left at the first intersection, and you’ll see it immediately.»
The hotel turned out to be quite decent. Vitaly ordered dinner in his room, opened his laptop, contacted a friend, and sent him photos of the tests. While his friend studied the documents, Vitaly finished his dinner with appetite and thought with a smirk, «Not bad for someone who just learned of a deadly disease.» The phone rang on the table.
Hello. Vital, where are you? We haven’t decoded such tests in twenty years! Yeah, I’m here, in a small town, 700 km from you. Well, you’ve really gone far! Listen, I can’t say anything specific without a full examination. Yes, it’s similar, but… So, if the tests are to be believed, did that weirdo not make a mistake? Well, it seems so, but you understand, such a diagnosis is not just given. You need to come to my clinic, spend a couple of days on examinations. Alright, we’ll figure it out when I get there. Exactly, come over. What are you doing there anyway? Just decided to return to the past. I see. Vital, the main thing—don’t lose heart, medicine has come a long way. «I’ve heard that already,» putting down the phone, Vitaly thought. «Why did I even come here? Ah yes, to visit my mother’s grave. All these years, while I lived and worked, I thought only of one thing. Why? Why did they abandon me?»
It had been 15 years since he left the orphanage, but Vitaly decided to dig for the truth. He hired detectives, said money was no issue. Let them dig. The guys tried their best, but warned:
Vitaly Andreyevich, we checked everything a thousand times. But because it was long ago, the accuracy is 90%. We dug up to the moment your mother was buried, but what was before that—unknown. She often moved, neighbors get confused in testimonies. Understood. Did you find the grave? Yes, here are the photos. Vitaly turned the photo in his hands for a long time:
I don’t understand. Is someone taking care of it? It seems so, but the caretaker swears he doesn’t know who. A mysterious caretaker? No, just perpetually drunk. Ah, I see. Well, I’ll figure it out myself. Thanks. And for five years he didn’t go anywhere, he endured. But recently he thought: «Enough, I need to go.» And he went. He decided just to sit by the grave, keep quiet. Nothing special. But he didn’t even notice how he fell asleep. Nightmares haunted him, he woke up shattered.
In the morning, asking for directions to the cemetery, he got in the car. «I’m falling apart. How many times did we boys race here at night. Who was brave, and who was a coward.» Parking the car at the gates, he took flowers from the local market and walked deeper into the cemetery, checking against the photo. Finally, he found it.
Well, hello, mother. Vitaly thought he saw the bushes nearby rustle as if someone was there. He looked closer—no one. It even became a bit creepy. Sitting on an old bench, he said:
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why I came. I can’t look you in the eyes, ask «why?» either. He was silent for a moment:
It feels a bit lighter. He laid the flowers, ran his hand over the cross.
Soon, you’ll probably tell me everything yourself. They diagnosed me in your hospital, not long to live. When we meet, I’ll ask. Although no, I’ll ask now—why did you give me up to the orphanage? I know for sure that I ended up there when I was three. Just why? Think about your answer, and when I come—I’ll tell you. He had a strange feeling as if he was saying something meaningless, like a small child babbling, not knowing how to properly express his thoughts. It seemed to him that someone was looking down on him. Vitaly stood up and said, «I need to go. Okay, mom, see you soon. It’s hard to be alone.»
He slowly headed towards the exit. He again imagined someone was nearby. Somewhere a branch cracked, somewhere leaves rustled. When Vitaly reached the car, he breathed a sigh of relief and said to himself, «What a homeland, anyway. I’ll say, they buried on this cemetery.» He opened the car door and suddenly heard:
«Please, don’t hurry to die.»
He turned around and saw a ten-year-old girl. Apparently, she was from the orphanage or just a vagrant. Vitaly grimaced: «Now she’ll start wishing health and begging for money.» He got into the car, slammed the door, drove around the bend, and stopped on a hill.
The girl was gone. «What got to me? Her expression wasn’t like those who beg for money.» He stood for a moment. «What am I? Am I stingy with money, or what? They’ll soon be of no use to me anyway.» Abruptly turning the car around, he drove back. The girl was sitting on a bench at the entrance and looking at one point. Seeing him, she stood up.
«Hello, take some money.»
«No, thank you. I don’t need it.»
He looked at her in confusion:
«Maybe you want to eat?»
She shook her head no again. Vitaly was completely puzzled. «What am I standing here for?» He sat down next to her.
«Are you from the orphanage?»
«Yes. How did you guess?»
«I grew up there myself. Is Matilda still working?»
The girl bit her fist:
«Yes, she’s very old and therefore very mean.»
Vitaly smiled:
«What are you doing here? Came to visit grandma?»
«Mom is buried far away, but grandma is here. Sometimes I run away to her.»
«And you have no one else?»
«Yes… I thought there was. But now I don’t know.»
«What do you mean?»
«Let’s go, I’ll show you my grandmother’s grave, and you’ll understand.»
Vitaly looked at the girl in surprise. For a moment, he thought she might be connected to criminals, and he was in danger there. But then he thought that no one could have known he would return, not even himself.
«Well, let’s go.»
The girl hurried along with him:
«You see, my grandmother had a very difficult life, my mom told me. Our grandfather gambled, he always had debts. They often ran away, they were threatened, their house was burned down. Then grandfather gambled away my mom.»
She was already an adult, and to save her grandfather from being killed, she had to marry my dad. Dad was the same, and I don’t even remember him. Mom worked a lot to pay off all the debts left by dad. But she overworked and died somewhere in the north. Grandma died a long time ago, and no one knew where grandpa was. That’s why I was sent to the orphanage.
Vitaly shook his head:
«Wow, what a life you’ve had.»
«We’ve arrived.»
Vitaly raised his eyes and nearly fell. They stood at his mother’s grave.
«What? What does all this mean?»
«I, when I heard you call grandma mom, I almost fell myself. Then I remembered that mom said—she had a brother, but he died very early. And now I also don’t understand—if you died, how are you here? Did you come back?»
Vitaly grabbed his head. His brain seemed to explode. «Looks like I won’t be leaving today.»
«So, stop. Who have you been living with all this time while your mom was earning money?»
«With Aunt Nina, mom’s friend. She wanted to take custody of me, but they wouldn’t let her.»
Do you know where she lives? Of course, I often stop by. Let’s go to her. Interesting, what kind of friend is she, that they didn’t give her custody. They stopped at a small neat house. Vitaly walked in. «Anyone home?» Something rustled, and a young woman in a wheelchair rolled out of the room. He felt so ashamed—he had imagined her drinking and indifferent on the way.
Hello. Are you Nina? Yes, hello. Are you just passing by? A girl flew into the corridor and threw herself around the woman’s neck.
Oh, Dasha-dragonfly, did you run away again? Yeah! And not for nothing. Do you know who this is? Nina looked at him with her big beautiful eyes.
No. You’re confused. Vitaly sighed:
Nin, can we talk? I don’t understand anything anymore. Of course, come into the room, and Dasha and I will make some tea. Vitaly looked at the photos. Here’s Nina, very young, with a medal near an air ring. More photos, more medals. Many snapshots, but they all ended when she was 18 years old. Then—none. «So, she was injured in sports,» he thought.
He had to stay in town for almost two weeks. Such details surfaced! It turned out, when his father was pressed again, he simply surrendered Vitaly to the orphanage.
His mother was in the hospital at the time after his beatings, and his father convinced her that the child had died. Dasha’s mom was born later, three years after Vitaly ended up in the orphanage. The story was too complicated.
How it all happened, how it was with the documents—no one really knew. They said: «Back then, anything was possible! It was a troubled time, buying a new passport or a death certificate—matter of five minutes.»
Dasha, let’s go to the car! The whole orphanage came out to see Dasha off. The girl, in new fashionable clothes, with a beautiful haircut, was unrecognizable. She jumped out of the car three times to hug everyone, including Matilda. She, by the way, recognized Vitaly and even snorted:
They’re making a person out of you! Finally, he got behind the wheel. Dasha looked at him:
Are we just going to drive away? Vitaly shook his head. A difficult conversation took place with Nina. He wanted to take her, show her to doctors, but Nina resisted:
I won’t go. Why? She looked away and said quietly:
I can’t. It’s hard to be with you. And if they can’t help me? I can’t survive that. He didn’t sleep that night, pondering her words. In the morning, it dawned on him: «What if Nina was just scared? She liked him, what if he liked her too?»
Dasha, do you think Aunt Nina likes me? The girl sighed: She loves you. I saw her cry, watching you through the window. Are you sure? Well yes, I’m already grown-up. Vitaly smiled and started the car. When he seated Nina in the seat and tossed her bag in the trunk, the phone rang. It was his friend.
Vital, have you left that town? Yeah, just about to. I allow you to go and punch that doctor in the face. I don’t understand. Basically, I contacted the head of that SES. That doctor mixed up the tests. There’s a grandma being treated, they couldn’t understand how her tests came back like an astronaut’s. Vitaly put the phone in his pocket and laughed, looking at the frightened Nina.
Nin, I really like you. And I don’t care about your chair. I just want to help you, you and the child. I like you just the way you are. Nina shyly smiled:
Are you saying something new is starting? Exactly, for all of us. And he pressed the gas.
