Глубокий вдох.
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSSoyDrW6c
Maxim sat on the cold floor, in complete darkness, leaning against the door. It had been about ten minutes since he decided to hide from Lapin, yet the trembling in his fingers refused to fade. His heart was pounding wildly, tears streamed down his hollow cheeks on their own.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyKIaShirz
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkXUFHI2DZ
He couldn’t anymore. He was done.
As if on cue, the neighbors decided to start yelling too. Strangely enough, he couldn’t make out their words this time. Maybe his brain had simply switched to a more pressing danger?303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWdyQIVtPU
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFiqZXwsUz
A deep breath—and still nothing. The air seemed unable to reach his lungs. Maxim exhaled quietly, pressing his forehead against his knees. The cold from the floor seeped into his bones, but at least it was something real. Something that actually existed. Unlike everything else.
In truth, he had no idea how long he’d been sitting there—maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour. Time had stretched out, thick and viscous like tar. Each second pressed down on him. He closed his eyes, hoping that if he just sat a little longer, everything would disappear. That the door wouldn’t tremble. That there wouldn’t be footsteps behind it.
But his hearing betrayed him—there it was, an echo, like someone dragging their nails along the wood. Maxim flinched, clutching the sleeve of his hoodie so hard that his nails dug into the skin through the fabric.
“Just my imagination… just that,” he breathed almost soundlessly, trying to convince at least himself.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Tf1Z0hqWR
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6Z8a3nRdW
He remembered the look in Lapin’s eyes when Maxim had dared to fight back.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltd9Zh007Q
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vqwJ7nFYz
Yeah… he was definitely playing with him.
A floorboard creaked somewhere above. Maxim lifted his head.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6m7D92ii9p
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQYe0vWpi1
Silence returned—dense, suffocating, as if someone had wrapped the entire house in cotton.
“I’m not going out,” he whispered. “Not a chance.”
He slowly straightened up, feeling the numbness in his legs. The trembling hadn’t gone, but something new had taken its place—an exhausted dullness, bordering on indifference. Maybe this was what the end of panic felt like—when fear burns down completely, leaving only ash behind.
He ran his hand along the wall, feeling the familiar uneven surface. The house had never felt like a safe place, and now less than ever.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOik8wWd1Dv
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzOfF4mrL1
A glint caught his eye—something shining in a sliver of light leaking through the cracks in the door. Maxim squinted, stepped closer, and picked it up.
“A shard…”
He stated it flatly, and his thoughts drifted, unbidden, back to his school years.
Children’s laughter. Wobbly school desks. Chalk dust. A mocking giggle behind his back.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9mbMgNLxa
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyRoNqAnWx
Little Maxim stood in the middle of the classroom, soaked from shoulders to heels, a rag hanging from his head like a crown—what his classmate had called “the Garbage King’s crown.” The air reeked of bleach and dust. The teacher pretended nothing was happening, letting her gaze slip past him—as if he simply didn’t exist.
He remembered how, for the first time, that hollow ache had spread under his ribs—not pain, not even humiliation, just cold.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYvawIOmIS
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqK5UdBeX8
Just like now.
Maxim clenched the shard in his hand, the sharp edges biting into his skin and pulling him back into the present.
“Everything comes full circle,” he whispered, as if confessing a secret.
He uncurled his fingers: a thin red line crossed his palm, blood slowly gathering into a bead. It gleamed faintly in the dim light—cold and lifeless, just like the shard. There had never been any light in his past… almost.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwplcQo14S
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMHuArBRZH
Something flickered nervously in his chest.
After yet another round of mockery, Maxim couldn’t take it anymore.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2keJV0YjLs
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4l80hl6VA
He stood up in the middle of class and left for the bathroom without asking the teacher. He was done. He didn’t care.
The shouts followed him down the hall:303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6b5i7QYQTY
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81lLsk0Fl4
“How dare you, you stupid street rat!”303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyzmVsCqUi
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aAXn7wEpA
“Oh, look, the motherless freak’s leaving!”303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcftJEmKPbK
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFcmX6Hpxz
“Nice clothes—did he dig them out of the trash?”
He was used to it. He didn’t even want to hold on to the anger anymore.
When Maxim entered the bathroom, he wasn’t thinking about anything at all. Just a little sleepy. A little tired. Mostly… nothing.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2XzpyP9ub
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0Ec18C1ye
His head felt heavy, and all he wanted was to lie down and sleep.
At twelve years old, he didn’t know what to do. He never did.
He went to the sink and turned on the tap—a thin stream hissed, as if offended by the touch. Maxim looked up, and in the cracked mirror before him, a face he barely recognized stared back.
His messy blond hair hung over his forehead, long unacquainted with a comb. Dark circles shadowed his eyes—not from sleeplessness, but from something worse. His lips were cracked, his skin so pale it was almost translucent. His cheeks had sunk, his cheekbones sharp beneath them.
He wiped a blurry spot from the mirror with his finger. The reflection moved with him, and he noticed—how thin he had become. His school shirt, once too big, now hung loose like a sack, emphasizing his narrow frame and slouch.
His brown eyes—once warm and alive—were dull now, hollowed out, burned from within. There was no anger in them, no resentment. Only exhaustion—thick, sticky, bottomless.
He exhaled, struggling to keep his gaze steady. For a moment, it seemed as though the mirror had darkened, and the face in it wasn’t his anymore.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS74zvH2LXw
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97hr9jFFjW
As if someone else was looking back at him from the depths—303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDqwHdOGJ6
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKPbgcJD8s
Someone who already knew there was no escape.
And back then, the small boy had noticed it too—303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMc3fLgFVt
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKbV9J6ErU
that same glint.303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWN48YtyMuy
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OaXWh7Tvh
Yes. The shard.
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFEJEWI0YW
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt2fRefSSR
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZ3eRnOJPy
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCeJLBeRg5
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWQJKzuBk9
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVpU5Jx7V4
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCZjBB7JpY
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyzCxObZXz
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuN2zP6Ial5
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfOOskOOvh
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37sFZrvZrC
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUT5CdS8dZ
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcSdjZH52G
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGycLysjaj8
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDhjXzSCYV
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQL22qIckw
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9ZCtlWyxc
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3j8NQ5dbX
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe3f6mfQBu
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8z0Wp80B9
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09oLg5s6ea
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwv1y8XdHp
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbN1Npa6qf5
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDt7AZG1WT8
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgrsd6w6Sg
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3NB291kHy
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bEa5yLkoE
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMtrTsYIP5
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwpdTQR39G
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiCd0b9sb4
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3Mt2Jvaxf
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5NUT8GUqX
303Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPEFWvKeXT
and then Add to home screen.